If you want spring flowers, don’t prune camellias or loropetalum

▪ Now is the time to apply a pre-emergent to your lawn.

▪ Don’t prune camellias. These shrubs have set blooms for the fall and spring. Pruning now will reduce the number of flowers. Prune after flowering.

▪ Don’t prune loropetalum. Like azaleas, pruning now will remove most of the spring flowers.

▪ Now is the time to take cuttings of your favorite annuals for rooting. Plants that root well include coleus, begonias, salvia, impatiens and sweet potato vine. Dip the cuttings in a root hormone, and plant in a small pot of soil. Keep moist until roots begin to grow. Place them in a sunny window until next spring.

▪ Buy and plant snapdragons now. These plants, like pansies, grow best in the cooler months. Space 6 to 8 inches apart for maximum impact. Plant in groups of 20 or more. Add 3-4 inches of mulch. Use liquid fertilizer every two weeks or so.

▪ Go to the local — and not so local — nurseries and look for fall-blooming plants, trees and shrubs to add to your landscape.

▪ Keep the lawn free of leaves, which can mat down and suffocate the grass. Be sure to rake or mow regularly.

▪ Give those outdoor summer containers a new fall look! Remove dead and spent summer plants, and replace with fresh flowering fall plants. Try lantana “new gold,” perennial salvias and sages, and ornamental grasses and croton.

▪ Treat fire ant mounds now to kill the colonies before the ants disappear for the winter.