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Specialty lights, decorations, and commercial Christmas supplies sell out this month. *gasp* Yet, it makes sense when you think about it. Hotels, cities, churches, and most retail venues all do some form of decorating for Christmas, so supplies do run dry early. Those giant ornaments, Mr. and Mrs. Claus chairs, and oversized religious displays are in high demand.

These lights offer unique visuals, last longer, and can be installed in locations traditional store bought lights can’t. You can get big to comically large wreaths that are loaded with lights. There are lights that sync to sound so they will blink with music. Characters made of Christmas lights that are custom made to order. There are soft white LED Christmas lights that have a better glow and longer life span than those you would get at your local store. Some examples of designs include hanging stockings, stars, Santas, gingerbread men, sleighs, and more.

If you want to have the best looking lights on the block, call in and talk with a designer. They have some real insight on stand out decorations and light designs. Installation includes putting lights and decorations up, trouble shooting problems that may arise, taking them down and storing them until next year. It makes your holiday easy.

​October is prime time for lawn fungus. Keep a watchful eye out for circular patches of yellow to brown grass forming. If you spot this turf behavior, treat it that day with fungicide to prevent large dead patches of grass. The affected grass at the center of these circles are too damaged to live and will have to fill in next year or have sod added. These large patches of thin or dead grass is what lead to a lot of the headaches people have with weeds in their lawns. Open soil is where new weed seeds tend to thrive.

If you see mushrooms growing in your lawn, this simply means you have correct conditions for fungus, but mushrooms by themselves do not lead to lawn damage. Circular rings of mushrooms are called fairy circles and are also not a cause for alarm. Homeowners tend to be nervous about mushrooms since most are poisonous to both pets and humans.

​About this time every year trees begin to show their fall fashion. We notice the green leaves changing to hues of red, yellow, and brown. These colors are beautiful to see, but why does this happen?

When summer ends and the days become shorter, the green leaves of trees stop producing as much glucose through photosynthesis. These green leaves are the food production source for plants. When they cease producing more food than they take to maintain, the tree will close up food production for the season. 

Trees for a different type of cell at the leaf base that cuts off the leaf from the tree and will eventually lead them to fall. The chlorophyll in the leaves die off since they are no longer needed. Yellows and oranges are present in the summer, but the green hue is so strong, that they are not noticed. As the green fades first, the yellow and orange hue begins to show.

Oak trees leave a brown leaf. This color comes from the waste that resides in the leaf after it has been cutoff from the source. Red leaves, like those in maple leaves, are caused by glucose being trapped in the leaves once the link has been severed.

Wet and humid days tend to lead to a better show of fall colors on large trees. If you are lucky enough to have some maples in your area, keep an eye out after rain storms for a wonderful bright red view.

Evergreen trees continue to produce energy even in the winter so they do not have a need of dropping their leaves. Some broad leaf plants in southern Louisiana will keep their leaves if the winter is mild enough.