Some people like their holiday yard decorations to be understated. This group prefers, say, a simple wreath hung on the door, garlands along a deck railing, and perhaps one or two other similarly understated holiday yard decorations. They avoid anything that they would consider "gauche" like the plague.

Others, by contrast, prefer what they would term a more "festive" approach to holiday yard decorations. Since holidays are supposed to be about making a statement, their attitude is: The more glitz and glitter, the better! This camp prefers holiday yard decorations such as Christmas inflatables, animated reindeer, and strings of large, colored lights winding their way to the tops of 30-foot trees.

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I have all I can do to prepare my body for winter, let alone my landscaping tools. I find it takes me awhile to become acclimated to the cold weather. By the time my body adapts to the cold -- sometime around February -- winter's almost over!

As hard as it is to muster the energy this time of year to get your landscaping tools prepared for winter, you'll be glad you did, come spring. So it's useful for procrastinators like me to be reminded of the utility of preparing landscaping tools for winter. That's just what Kelly Burke, About.com's Guide to Lawn Care, does in this article.

Of course, the first chore you'll probably have to undertake is to carve out some free space in your storage area, so that you can begin to organize all your landscaping tools properly. For some, that's definitely a case of "easier said than done." Many people, unfortunately, give up on organizing, because they've become paralyzed by the existing clutter in their storage spaces.

You clutter bugs out there know what I'm talking about: a garage, for instance, where a little of this and a lot of that are piled on top of each other, indiscriminately. If the owners of such a messy garage were to commission me to paint a sign to hang over their garage door, I'd have it read, "You Never Know." Why? Because when confronted over their clutter, such pack rats often argue that, oh well, you just never know when you're going to need this or that item -- and when you do, eventually, need it, you want access to it (without having to buy a new one).

Problem is, they may not really have access to the item when they need it, precisely because it's buried under a bunch of other items that, in reality, they may never get around to using.

Related resource: Outdoor Storage Sheds

For outdoor plant lovers who live in cold climates, winter is a period of "down time." We automatically go into "wait till next year!" mode. It's a time to rewind through the images we've stored in our minds of what plants pleased us most during the past growing season. If some of those must-have plants appeared only in the yards of other people, we hit the fast forward button and visualize what they'd look like in our own landscapes next year.

The transition from fall to winter isn't a very subtle one. It almost seems as if one day we're basking in the bounty of autumn, and the next day Old Man Winter bursts into the room and blusters, "Might as well order your gardening catalogs: it's the closest you'll come to enjoying most outdoor plants for a while."

Forgive me for agreeing with Old Man Winter (it doesn't happen often!), but, come to think of it, it's not such a bad piece of advice, really. We arrive at some of our best ideas during periods of down time. Besides gardening catalogs and the Web, winter holiday floral arrangements can be a source of inspiration. For example, an arrangement delivered for Christmas, New Year's or Valentine's Day might spark an interest in certain plants used as cut flowers that you had never considered growing before.

"There are any number of excellent plant choices for use as cut flowers," remarks Marie Iannotti. In this article on selecting cut flowers, About.com's Gardening Guide lists repeat-blooming annuals as well as perennials.

The time for enjoying plants outdoors (other than evergreens) is winding down here in New England. I'm happy to report, though, that my oakleaf hydrangea lived up to its name -- in more ways than one. Named for its leaves' resemblance to oak tree leaves, this standout shrub resembled the oak in another way this year in my landscape....

Oak trees hold onto their foliage throughout the fall (sometimes longer). This is an endearing trait for those of us in cold climes, as a winter's worth of bare trees stares us in the face. The longer a deciduous plant can hang in there and not desert us, the more we appreciate it. And my oakleaf hydrangea has been a champion at hanging in there this year, holding onto at least some of its leaves right into December!

Besides growing shrubs and trees that jealously guard their leaves, another way to keep your property looking great all the way through late autumn is to make use of potted plants. Hardy potted plants with interesting foliage like ornamental grasses, flowering cabbage and flowering kale are a no-brainer for late fall. But there's even a place still for tenderer plants, as long as you can protect them properly. Kerry Michaels, About.com's Guide to Container Gardening, discusses a few things you can do to protect potted plants from frost in this article, including the use of cold frames.