The new year brings a time for personal resolutions, such as those for eating less and exercising more. There are also important gardening resolutions for the new year that will prevent a lot of problems in the garden throughout 2013, and thankfully most of these garden resolutions are easier to keep than the personal resolutions.

1. Plan a landscape and work from the plan.

Poinsettias fill homes with holiday cheer, but sadly, when the Christmas decorations are packed away, the plants tend to go.

Some folks have no problem sending these festive beauties directly to the trash can. Others treat them like a regular houseplant until the colorful leaves drop off in spring. But a few will hold onto their poinsettias with visions of reblooming them. It isn’t easy, but the reward is a beautiful poinsettia for next Christmas season.

Poinsettias are one of the more popular potted plants in the United States grown for the Christmas market. Most poinsettias are sold within a six-week period leading up to Christmas, with sales totaling approximately $60 million.

There are more than 100 varieties of poinsettias available, but red poinsettias remain the favorite. The colored parts of poinsettias that most think are flowers are actually modified leaves, called bracts. The true flowers are the round, yellow structures, or cyathia, in the center of the bracts.

Blueberries are becoming increasingly popular for their delicious and healthy fruit. Blueberries are known to have antioxidant properties that have been said to have anti-aging activity, promote healthy urinary tracts, improve vision and help fight heart disease.

With a little effort, these “wonder berries” can be produced by home gardeners throughout Georgia.

Blueberries are native to Georgia. One of the more important things to remember about planting blueberries is to plant more than one variety for cross-pollination to promote adequate fruit set.