Plants in Flower:

Sasanqua Camellia, Japonica Camellia, Franklinia and Chrysanthemum.

What to Fertilize:

-- Fertilize spring flowering bulbs at planting time with a balanced fertilizer.
--Take soil samples from your plant beds and vegetable garden for testing.
--Soil boxes are available for county residents at the Guilford County Agricultural Center at  3309 Burlington Road, Greensboro, NC 27405.  Phone 336-375-5876.

What to Plant:

-- October is the best time to set out new landscape plants!
--Plant spring flowering bulbs like daffodil, tulip, crocus and hyacinth late this month.
-- Plant or transplant peonies this month.
-- Continue planting pansy plants now.
-- If you do not have a fall vegetable garden, plant cover crops like annual rye, barley and wheat.
-- You can start salad vegetables in a coldframe and enjoy them all winter. Plant lettuce, green onions, carrots, radishes, broccoli, cauliflower and most leafy greens inside the coldframe.

What to Prune:

--None.

Pest Outlook:

--Spray white pines for aphids if a problem in the past.
--Control the following woody weeds by spraying them with the recommended herbicide: blackberry and trumpet creeper.
-- Store your garden pesticides in a secured, dry location. Clean spray tanks.
--Check the following landscape shrubs for the following insect pests: arborvitae, hemlock, and juniper-spider mites, azalea and pyracantha-lace bug, and euonymus-scale.

Lawn Care:

--If not treated previously, use the "organic" milky spore for control of grubs.
-- Warm season lawns like Bermudagrass and zoysia can be overseeded with perennial ryegrass.
--Apply a pre-emergence herbicide to established turfgrass to control chickweed if it has been a problem in the past.
--Keep tree leaves from collecting on your lawn.

Propagation:

--None. Just remember to check the cuttings you put in a cold              frame to see if they need water. This should be done twice a month. Water as needed.

Specific Chores:

-- Start filling your compost bin as leaves begin to fall.
--If you do not have a fall vegetable garden, you should chop, burn or discard this summer's dead vegetable pants.
--Dig and store summer bulbs like gladiola, dahlia and caladium. Cover tubers with dry peat moss and store in a cool, dry place.
--Order small tree seedlings from the NC Forest Service.
--Local apple orchards still have fresh fruit available.
--Continue to prepare your lawn and garden equipment for winter storage if not already done.
--Repair and fill bird feeders for our native song birds.