The All-America Rose Selection committee is a non-profit association of rose growers and introducers dedicated to the introduction and promotion of exceptional roses. AARS operates a nationwide network of 20 official test gardens located throughout the country which represent all climate zones in the U.S.

New rose varieties in the AARS trials are grown and monitored for two years, receiving only as much care as would be given in the average home garden. This sophisticated evaluation process results in a new crop of AARS winning roses each year, guaranteeing that only the best make it into your garden. The winners for this year are 'Carefree Spirit,' 'Cinco de Mayo' and 'Pink Promise.'

'Carefree Spirit' is a shrub rose that exhibits even better disease resistance, habit and blooming power than its award-winning siblings, 'Carefree Delight' and 'Carefree Wonder.' This vigorous, well-branched shrub rose boasts huge clusters of deep cherry red blooms with a white eye and yellow stamens over a very long season. A delightful and carefree addition to any garden.

'Cinco de Mayo' is a wildly colored floribunda rose that offers giant clusters of blooms containing every shade of red, orange, magenta, purple, smoke, and more! Each flower is unique, and a fully blooming shrub is a conflagration of festive colors, enhanced by a fresh-cut apple fragrance you will love. Just the right size for a low hedge, large containers, or mass planting, 'Cinco de Mayo' is a standout in any garden setting.

'Pink Promise' is the official rose of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. This exquisite hybrid tea combines all shades of soft pink on high-centered, perfectly formed large blooms. Arising on long, elegant stems just right for cutting, these lightly fruit-scented flowers convey the essence of romance and promise hope for a cure.

1. Plant groundcovers.
2. Plant a basket of narcissus for holiday bloom.
3. Finish filling flower beds with cool-season flowers for winter and spring bloom.
4. Plant nasturtiums and continue to plant wildflowers from seeds.
5. Plant flowering kale.
6. Continue to plant winter vegetables, including garlic.
7. Prune pine trees and other conifers now through February.
8. Divide and plant agapanthus.
9. Divide matilija poppy.
10. Open up spaces in dense trees to allow wind to pass through.
11. Prune acacias.
12. Prune cane berries other than low-chill raspberries.
13. Cut back chrysanthemums after bloom; clean up the ground.
14. Fertilize cool-season bedding flowers.
15. Continue to fertilize cineraria for growth.
16. Once rains arrive, stop watering succulents growing in the ground.
17. Water bulbs, especially potted ones.
18. Water roses until mid-month--but only if rains aren't adequate.
19. Don't let citrus go dry in cold or frosty weather.
20. Bait flower beds for cutworms, slugs and snails.
21. Stake young trees loosely so they can develop strong trunks.
22. Pre-chill tulips, hyacinths, and crocuses.
23. Wrap the trunks of young citrus and avocado trees with an insulating material to protect them from cold.
24. Mulch, mulch, and mulch some more.

In the rush to celebrate Halloween, and do the early shopping for Christmas, often Thanksgiving becomes merely about football and feasting. We need to think ahead to be prepared not only with fine food and football snacks, but with an ambience that truly reflects the meaning of this holiday. So begin drying your lavender, hydrangeas, and herbs now by hanging them upside down in a warm, dry and dark location--first removing the leaves. Bunch them with seasonally colored ribbons, and hang them in unexpected nooks for surprise texture and aroma. Collect small branches, spray paint them white, and create a forest of "snowy" branches that can be tied with a bright ribbon and hung on the front door. Be plentiful with pumpkins, gourds, fall squash, and Indian corn on your front porch, and luminarias leading up the stairs; the party should start before the door is even opened!

Take a walk around your home. Start collecting colorful leaves that have just drifted to the ground. They should be sturdy leaves with thick stems. When you've collected 30-40 of them, staple them to an orange or red ribbon and hang them across the front of your mantel. A walk in the woods will yield lots of pine cones, which can be used in your table's centerpiece; buy an inexpensive cornucopia made of woven reeds and fill it literally to overflowing with pine cones, gourds, mini-pumpkins, even pears, apples and citrus.

The original cornucopias were made of a curved goat's horn filled with fruit and ears of grain, a decorative motif emblematic of abundance. Scatter cranberries on the table, and slice lemons and limes in segments, arranging them in an arcing form on one of your prettiest salad plates. Intersperse the citrus with blueberries, and watch how they will be used in various beverages on the menu. Keep the palette of your table colorful, and the dinnerware neutral. The goal is color and plenty.

Don't wait until December to put your mini-lights to use; drape them across the center of your table, or along the top of your mantel. Curve the wires and in each "alcove" place a pine cone that you've spray painted white. Adorn with red berries that you've either found in your outdoor wanderings, or purchased in the craft department of your local garden center.

Place cards may be fancy or a family affair. Print out personalized place cards that you can find on many websites. Or to give your guests a sparkly and homemade welcome, several days before feast day, write each guest's name in glue onto cardboard place cards. Then sprinkle the glue with glitter in colors of gold, bronze, or red. Tip to get rid of the excess glitter, and allow the cards to dry for at least 24 hours. Then sit the kids down with seasonal magazines and have them cut out the images that most remind them of Thanksgiving. Pasting the overlapping pictures around the edges of the guest's name card will give it the look of collage.

Using the good napkins? Roll up each one and wrap it with some raffia rather than a traditional napkin ring.

And here's a fun and fabulous family tradition to begin this year. At the beginning of November, buy a large piece of white poster paper and some brightly colored construction paper. Draw a tree with as many different branches as you can manage. Cut the construction paper into leaf shapes (the children can draw an outline of their hands for the perfect leaf). Every day, one member of the family selects a leaf, writes something he or she is grateful for, and pastes the leaf onto the tree. On Thanksgiving Day, the entire family may offer thanks for the items listed on the tree.

In between the madness of removing and storing the Halloween decorations, and choosing and decorating the Christmas tree, take time this year to rediscover Thanksgiving, and celebrate it with the beauty of both handcrafted and store-bought decorations. Our garden center experts will be able to guide you towards the creation of what will become your favorite day of the year!

To some of us, the pansy/viola is a happy, smiling face reminding us of a gardener friend from long ago. The first sign of that special flower brings a smile to our face and warmth to our heart. After all, this flower is known as the "pixie" of the plant world. How perfect is that to have in your winter/spring gardens!

Botanically speaking, members of the genus Viola, which includes the pansy, viola and violets, are perennials. We just happen to treat them as annuals. The varieties that we grow are happiest in cool weather. Planting them now ensures wonderful color in your spring gardens.

There are many different cultivars of pansies and violas offering a wide range of colors and flower sizes: colors from white, yellow, apricot, violet, blue-purple, dusty rose and combinations of all of these colors! The flower sizes range from 1-4 inches.

Pansies perform best in full sun to light shade locations. Plant them toward the front of your flower beds, along with your shrubs and other flowering bedding plants. Just don't place them too close to the edge if your planting area is next to your lawn where weed whackers may chop them off! These plants will also look beautiful in raised beds, planters and window boxes.

Here are a few planting and care tips:

Amend the soil before planting to provide good drainage around the roots. Use a good potting soil--not garden soil--if you have them in planters.

Space them about 6" apart. Water deeply, but be careful to not overwater. Don't leave them in soggy soil. Mulching around the pansies with 2 inches of organic material will help conserve moisture, and reduce weed growth.

Pansies are mostly free of diseases and pests, but if you've had a problem in an area of your garden with pansies, switch and grow them in another area for a year or so.

And here is your number one rule: start your morning with a stroll into your garden to start your day with smiling faces. Oh sure, you can take your cup of coffee or tea along with you, too.

The citrus leaf miner is a new insect pest that has started showing up in Southern California. The larvae are laid by minute, silvery white moths that tunnel within the leaves, leaving snaking trails of dead tissue behind. Other symptoms of infestation include curling of leaves and, in severe cases, even succulent young branches of green shoots may be attacked.

Although leaf miners don't usually demolish an entire plant, they can cause quite a bit of unsightly damage. This makes it important to start controlling this pest at the first signs of attack and following up with repeat applications to break the life cycle of this insect pest.

Citrus leaf miners tunnel between the upper and lower surfaces of leaves to lay eggs. The clear waxy trail they leave behind is unmistakable--and permanent. Once they eat a path between leaf surfaces, they drop off the leaf to pupate in the soil beneath. Then the whole process starts over again, yielding several generations of leaf miners over the course of a summer.

Controlling leaf miners is difficult, even with chemicals, because they are protected by the upper and lower leaf surfaces. We recommend treating your infected plants with an insecticide containing Spinosad. Another effective control is to remove (and destroy) affected leaves. You can also treat the leaf surface with a citrus oil-based pesticide, which can help to prevent tunneling by future generations.

By Tamara Galbraith

Nowadays, Americans are eating five times more fresh spinach than we did in the 1970s. And forget about the canned, slimy stuff Popeye downed in one shot back in the old days; we now prefer our spinach fresh.

And what could be fresher than growing it yourself? The cool temperatures of autumn are perfect for optimum spinach production. Those of us gardening in warmer regions grow spinach through the winter, as long as temps stay above 25 degrees. A light frost will not hurt it.

There are generally two types of spinach: smooth or savoyed. Smooth types are more tender and are best for salads, while the crinkly leaves of savoy spinach can be rubbery and are better for cooking. Some spinach cultivars walk the line between smooth and savoyed and are pretty yummy either raw or cooked.

If you're starting your spinach from seed, soak the seeds in a plastic baggie overnight in the refrigerator before planting. This will soften the hard coating of the seed and allow better germination. Before transplanting, amend your soil with Master Nursery Bumper Crop. Place transplants about six inches apart, and make sure the soil stays moist and cool. The biggest enemy of spinach is heat, so use shade cloth if temperatures rise dramatically during the day. Mulch is also a good addition for keeping the soil cool. Spinach, like lettuce, does well in containers--with the advantage that you can move them into shadier areas if it gets too warm.

You can harvest spinach by individual leaves or by cropping off the entire plant at the base. As long as temperatures remain cool, the plant will continue to produce leaves...and keep those delicious spinach salads coming.

What's the best time to spray my peach and nectarine trees to prevent peach-leaf curl?

Answer:

Peaches and nectarines should actually be sprayed 3 times each winter to prevent peach-leaf curl. The first (and most important) time to spray is in fall when about half the leaves have fallen. We recommend a combination of a copper spray, such as Monterey's Liqui-Cop, with a spreader sticker. The first spray should also include dormant spray oil, such as Monterey's Saf-T-Side, to kill any insects hoping to over-winter. The key is to make this first application before winter storms and while there is still some foliage to absorb the spray.

The second application should be made at full dormancy in mid-winter.

The third and final application should be made during pink bud swell, but prior to opening of blooms.

(We recommend staying upwind from the spray unless you are planning to audition for the Blue Man Group.)