Home Maintenance Tasks to Tackle Before Winter, From the LaMont Brothers

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There are so many beautiful DIY winter wreath ideas that you can make using natural materials. Collect foliage, flowers, berries, fruits, and other interesting items from your garden – or forage for them on seasonal walks.

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As you prepare to list your home, chances are you’ve begun looking at every flaw as something you need to address before the property can sell. That might be true if your home has major problems such as mold or a broken refrigerator, but plenty of imperfections don’t need to be fixed to make a sale. 

Q: Could you please recommend some species of trees and shrubs that can be used to make natural, home-made Christmas decorations? I love to decorate the house with ivy and holly from the garden, but I’d love some suggestions as to what else I might grow that can be used in the same way? AN, Monkstown, Dublin

As a co-star of HGTV's Fixer to Fabulous, Jenny Marrs knows a thing or two about taking a house and making it into a home.

You may have noticed that the Rocky Mountain region—especially if you moved here from either coast or the South—is notably lacking in broadleaf evergreens. That is because these evergreens are more prone to burn from both winter sun and wind—as well as to suffer winter water loss—than deciduous woody plants or needled evergreens. As a result, gardeners in our region must select and site such woody plants more thoughtfully than gardeners in other regions. Of course, what we call “Rocky Mountain” is really more like two regions: one that reliably retains winter snow cover, and one that does not. The three broadleaf evergreen natives described here, however, do well in a variety of gardens and exposures.

With the flurry of the holidays bearing down upon us, now is the perfect time to make a list of winter garden tasks to accomplish over the coming months. I find that if I wait until the longest, dreariest part of the year is upon me, I lose sight of what needs doing to get the garden properly poised for the “on-season.” At this point, the garden may look like a sodden mess from the window. When there is a dry day and the sun is peeking through the clouds, it’s the perfect opportunity to rush outside and check some tasks off your winter to-do list. One of the most exciting things about spring is that it happens one day at a time, so if you are in the garden in the “off-season” you’ll get to see it unfolding. Here are some fall and winter garden tasks to do this month and throughout the three phases of winter.

Most kitchens are outfitted with a stovetop fan (or a range hood or microwave fan) to reduce smoke and improve air quality in the kitchen. With wildfire smoke and other air-quality issues, some homeowners have asked whether these fans improve the air quality in the rest of the home.

There is no other spring flower filled with as much color and optimism as the tulip. However, in order to create a dazzling seasonal display in the garden, you must give some careful consideration to planting your bulbs.

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