Here at Ace of Gray, we know we’re blessed. After all, we have an endless bounty in blooming winter landscapes, gifts to share for the holiday season, and outdoor living accessories. We have a fresh list of delicious Southern treats to cook this Thanksgiving, thanks to our special guest at Ladies Night Out. And we’re rich in people: friends, family, and customers we’ve known for years.

This Thanksgiving, take a step back from the hustle and bustle of daily life to remember the abundance of blessings in your life. Look with new eyes on the people you see every day, the blessings of hearth and home, and the family traditions that truly make the holidays. When you’re stuffed with turkey and pumpkin pie and full to the brim with memories of another festive holiday, Ace of Gray will be here to help you celebrate the holiday season.

Happy Thanksgiving from your friends at Ace of Gray!

Ladies Night Out may have been the event of the Thanksgiving season, but it’s certainly not your only chance to snatch up that perfect Christmas present. After the free samples, holiday promotions, and special guests at our annual Christmas sale, we’re guessing there are still quite a few names on your holiday shopping list. Wrap up your Christmas shopping this year with these unbeatable presents from the Ace of Gray gift shop and garden center.

1. Outdoor living accessories. Did our 10% off grills promotion at Ladies Night Out convince you to finally spring for that Big Green Egg? Snatch up the holiday stocking stuffers while you have a chance. When you give the man in your life a selection of Gourmet Big Green Egg Seasonings he won’t even mind helping out with Christmas dinner! Need a present “for Dad, love the kids”? Our full selection of grilling accessories make the perfect holiday gift for fathers.
2. Holiday decor. We all have people in our lives who celebrate Christmas a little early. Get your busy friends and family members into the holiday spirit by finding them the perfect holiday decor piece. Bonus points if it ties into their current Christmas decorations!
3. DIY Christmas gifts. A gift from the heart is a great place to start. If you’re a lover of all things Pinterest, a homemade gift might be just the personal touch you’re looking for this year. Stop by Ace of Gray home improvement store for all your DIY supplies. Then it’s time to get crafty in your Christmas corner!

The temperatures may be dropping, but things are just heating up at the Ace of Gray gift shop. Visit us for holiday decor, Christmas presents, and more!

It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away. Before you know it you and your family will be tucked into the warm dining room to enjoy the delicious food that’s just one reason to be grateful this season. Whether you’re used to squishing in beside a full table of your favorite relatives or you prefer a quieter Thanksgiving affair, the first step in creating the perfect Thanksgiving is setting the stage.

3 Simple Ways to Decorate for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving decorations don’t get as much press as Christmas decorations do, but they’re no less important to their respective holiday. Make your friends and family feel welcome this year by adding a few simple Thanksgiving decorations to your home and hearth.

1. Start outside. Entice your friends, neighbors, and family members into your home by creating a welcoming atmosphere on your porch. Hang fairy lights, set pumpkins on the stoop, and place pots of perennials outside your front door.
2. Bring nature indoors. It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without bright fall leaves, thematic pine cones, and seasonal decor like dried corn. Get creative with your decorating by artfully arranging bare branches into a “thankful tree,” spray painting pine cones gold, or wrapping your candles in red and gold leaves.
3. All about the mantle. In just a few weeks your mantlepiece will be home to brightly colored, oversized stockings spilling with your family’s favorite candy and toys. This month, however, the mantlepiece hosts a merry fire and tasteful Thanksgiving decor. Give your home that extra welcoming touch by hanging a wreath from the mantle, displaying your kids’ homemade decor above the fireplace, or creating a Thanksgiving “welcome” banner out of leaves and gold paint.

Not sure where to start? Stop by Ace of Gray for holiday decorations, general decor, gifts, garden supplies, and more.

photo from flickr

Here at Ace of Gray, “holiday shopping” is almost synonymous with Ladies Night Out. Ladies Night Out gives women in Gray the opportunity to get a jump on great deals, beat the Black Friday crowds, and enjoy an evening out with their mothers, sisters, and friends. If you love good food, great company, and unbeatable holiday shopping, don’t forget to save the date for the event of the season!

Good Food

Ladies Night Out isn’t only about exclusive deals on Christmas gifts. Each year we work hard to create a true holiday experience. Women in Gray are invited to stop and shop while enjoying savory snacks, Christmas treats, and adult beverages at Ladies Night Out. We’re also thrilled to announce that Ms. Johnnie Gabriel, cousin of Paula Deen and owner of Gabriel’s Restaurant and Bakery in Atlanta, will be signing cookbooks at our Holiday Ladies Night Out this year! While you enjoy good wine and tasty holiday treats with your friends at Ace of Gray, you can also get holiday cooking tips from one of the greatest cooking gurus in the South!

Unbeatable Sales

If you’ve been to Ladies Night Out in the past, you know there’s no better day for great savings on holiday gifts and decor. Knock out your Christmas list in a single evening with incredible sales on toys, clothing, tools, accessories, and more. Our Ladies Night Out deals will include:

• 10% OFF power equipment, power tools, grills, building materials, and ammo
• 20% OFF all other full priced merchandise
• A free holiday tote bag with each purchase
• Free paint samples – interior half pint of Clark & Kensington or Valspar
• Free food samples and wine
• Book signing by Ms. Johnnie Gabriel
• Free product samples from various vendors

Ready to save big and have a blast? Mark your calendar for Ladies Night Out, November 20th from 4-8pm.

With the first risk of frost creeping into Gray this weekend, it’s a good time to step back and assess fall home maintenance. Fall lawn care, planting perennials, and decorating for Thanksgiving are only a few of the items that should fill your home maintenance checklists this year. Make sure you’re ready for cooler weather by crossing outdoor home maintenance off your fall checklist while the weather’s still nice.

Outdoor Home Maintenance

The outside of your home will withstand a lot over the coming months: frost, wind, freezing rain, and maybe even another Georgia ice storm. Prepare your home exterior for winter by checking off these maintenance tasks:

• Clean and maintain your gutters.
• Remove dead or injured branches from trees. Check your property for at-risk limbs that may be damaged during winter storms.
• Check the roof for damage, and replace loose or disrepaired shingles.
• Look for weather damage along home siding, wood trim, window sills, and other vulnerable places outside your home.
• Check walkways and handrails for damage and repair any issues that could cause injury.

Fall Lawn and Garden Care

Fall offers a bounty of gardening opportunities to those of us blessed to live in the South. We can explore vegetable gardens and gourd decor, fresh pansies and mums, and planting new trees, shrubs, and sod well into November. But some fall landscape maintenance is easily overlooked. A few key items to remember this November:

• Loosen the soil and remove thatch buildup in the fall.
• Plant perennials like pansies and violas several weeks before the projected first frost.
• Don’t prune trees and shrubs unless you’re 100% certain you should. Most woody plants require pruning in January or February, while summer-blooming bushes and trees (like crepe myrtles) should be pruned immediately after losing their flowers.
• Raise the height on your lawn mower or risk damaging dormant grass.
• While you’re at it, winterize your lawn mower and yard equipment.

Ready to get cracking on your fall home maintenance checklist? Stop by Ace of Gray’s home improvement store and garden center to get the supplies, tools, and expertise necessary to keep your property in tip top shape.

photo from flickr

With Halloween just a little over a week away, parents in Gray are feeling the heat. Standout Halloween costumes are selling out, and it’s getting harder and harder to find your daughter’s favorite Disney princess dress at the rental shop. If you simply haven’t had the time to go Halloween shopping yet, there is hope. Find Halloween costumes for your kids with these 3 tips from Ace of Gray.

1. Get creative. Is your son sick of being a pirate? Are you tired of reusing that same old superhero spandex year after year? There are plenty of opportunities to get creative with this year’s Halloween costumes. Feeling brave? Recreate film noir masterpieces with black and white costumes and grayscale makeup. Down to crunch time? Paint an “S” and “P” on white and black t-shirts for simple salt and pepper shaker costumes.
2. Get involved. What’s better than one awesome Halloween costume? A festive group costume! If you’re going trick or treating with your little ones this year, keep the family together with a group costume. Go as Minions, a family stuck on a roller coaster, or Pacman and his ghostly followers.
3. Get shopping. Not sure how to DIY a princess crown? Is spandex fabric just too hard to work with? Your favorite Gray gift center still has plenty of options left for an unforgettable Halloween costume. Whether your little princess wants to be Aurora, Rapunzel, or Snow White, we have the ball gown, accessories, and little feminine touches she needs at Ace of Gray.

Stop by the Ace of Gray costume shop and gift center for all your Halloween needs.

With the chill in the air, Halloween just a few weeks away, and Christmas creeping into our gift shop, it’s finally starting to feel like fall. Gardeners are getting excited about planting mums, pansies, and fall color perennials. But there’s more to fall landscape maintenance than establishing cool-weather blooms and planting spring bulbs.

Fall Lawn Care

If you’ve aerated and overseeded your fall fescue, you’re on track to preparing your yard for the dormant season. Rake fallen leaves from your yard to prevent wet foliage from smothering your new shoots and encouraging fungal growth. Grass stalks grow more slowly as the weather cools, and grass roots establish much more quickly in the fall. Fertilize your lawn so your roots will have nutrients as grass growth slows. Autumn is prime time for weeding, so clear your yard of unwanted vegetation before it gets a nutrient boost from your fall fertilizer. Set your mower blades to 1.5 in or higher for your last fall mow to ensure your lawn is insulated for winter.

Fall Garden Maintenance

Whether you’re caring for spring bulbs or planting cool-weather perennials, fall is the time for flower maintenance. Divide and replant overgrown perennials, prune damaged stalks before the weather gets too cool, and fertilize your fall flowers so they’re fed for the winter. If you didn’t aerate your flowerbeds with your lawn, mid-autumn is a good time to loosen the soil. If your dirt gets too compacted, the roots of your plants won’t get sufficient sunlight, water, oxygen, and nutrition. Begin winterizing your shrubs and trees in early November to protect them from early frosts.

Stop by the Ace of Gray garden center for lawn maintenance tools and tips.

photo from flickr

We’re lucky enough to live in the South, where “fall gardening” means less preparing plants for the shock of cold weather and more planting fresh flowers. Mums, pansies, and violas are just a few of the beautiful flowers that bloom well into the holiday season down South. But there are a few fall gardening dangers we can’t avoid, even south of the Mason-Dixon line. It turns out the biggest threat to your fall landscape is you . . . and your pruning shears.

Dangers of Fall Pruning

Put down the pruning shears!

A shocking amount of garden and landscaping blogs fall prey to the old assumption that fall is the time for sprucing, pruning, and prepping next year’s blooms. The reality of the matter is that fall pruning damages plants and makes them less likely to bloom in the spring. Here’s why fall pruning is a bad idea:

• It stimulates growth as plants enter the dormant season,
• It makes plants more vulnerable to frosts and temperature drops
• It confuses trees, flowers, and shrubs about when they should bloom each year
• It removes buds, resulting in fewer, more vulnerable flowers in the spring

The best time to prune woody plants is January-February when plants are fully dormant. Prune plants that bloom in early spring just after they finish blooming.

When to Prune Your Plants

While there are a few varieties of shrubs that should be pruned in the fall (most notably butterfly bushes, knockout roses, crape myrtles, and gardenias), wait to prune the majority of your landscape during the winter. If you must prune trees or shrubs due to damage or disease, limit fall pruning as much as possible.

Just because you can’t prune doesn’t mean you can’t plant. Stop by the Ace of Gray garden center for fall veggies, mums, and other winter-hardy plants for your Gray garden.

photo from FreeDigitalPhotos

It’s easy to think that autumn’s arrival means the end of seasonal gardening, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. After all, Southerners don’t call fall “the second spring” for nothing. Fall affords Georgia gardeners amazing opportunities for vegetable gardening, establishing grass lawns, and planting fresh flowers. It’s also an excellent time to delve into the world of container gardening. If you’re looking for a simple splash of fall color, outfit your Gray home with a fall window box.

Container Gardening 101

Container gardening is a great way to get beautiful fall color with a fraction of the effort. If you’re new to container gardening, follow these tips:

• Choose the right pot for your plant
• Make sure your container has adequate drainage
• Place your containers where the plants will get adequate sunlight
• Decide whether to start from seed or purchase plants from the Ace of Gray nursery

Window Boxes for Fall

If you’re not one for fall gardening (or you just want an extra pop of fall color), window boxes are an excellent way to cultivate a fall atmosphere around your home. If you don’t already have windowboxes, install them on windows in front of the house, by the kitchen, and anywhere else you want a burst of color. Decide whether you’ll be planting flowers or simply arranging fall decor in your window box. This will determine if you need adequate drainage, good soil, and space for plants to grow. Here are a few fall window box ideas to get you started:

• Brightly colored mums
• Autumn gourds and pumpkins on a bed of vines
• Gold, red, and yellow leaves dotted with pinecones
• A combination of mums, succulents, and decorative fall vegetables

Want a fresh take on classic fall gardening? Ask the experts at Ace of Gray’s garden center about our favorite floral selections for fall.

photo from flickr

Don’t get distracted from home repairs.

It’s hard not to get excited about fall gardening. After a season of standing back and watering flowers, Georgia gardeners have another chance to dig in the dirt. Fall is the perfect time to plant cool-season vegetables, aerate the yard or install new sod, and cultivate autumn flowers like mums. But fall isn’t just a time for landscaping and garden maintenance; it’s ideal for home maintenance as well. Before you throw away your to-do list, make sure you’ve checked off these fall home improvement projects.

Outdoor Home Maintenance

Gardening isn’t all planting flowers and cutting blooms for the holiday table. Landscape maintenance is the key to cultivating a beautiful, lush yard. While you’re waiting for your mums to bloom, take care of the items on our fall garden checklist for homeowners in Gray.

• Aerate and overseed the lawn
• Keep leaves from stifling the grass by raking or leaf blowing each week
• Plant spring-blooming bulbs
• Maintain the vegetable garden
• Keep the soil well-watered
• Clear the garden of organic debris
• If necessary, amend the soil with compost or fertilizer (do this early in the season to prevent stimulating plant growth before winter)
• Raise the height on your lawn mower blades
• Cut and divide perennials

Indoor Home Improvement

Before the temperatures drop too far, Gray homeowners should prepare their houses for cooler weather with these basic fall home maintenance tasks.

• Cleaning out the gutters
• Touching up cracked or peeling paint
• Insulating, weather stripping, and caulking windows and doors
• Pest-proofing the home and garden
• Making any necessary home repairs (patching the roof, etc)
• Covering outdoor living equipment like grills and patio furniture for the winter

Need supplies to complete your fall home upkeep checklist? Stop by Ace of Gray for landscaping and home maintenance supplies.

photo from flickr