Author Archives:

March Gardening Tips for Cedar Creek Lake

Leave a reply

 

March is the start of spring – March 20th begin the official first day.  Already we are seeing new life appear as trees and shrubs start to show green buds and blossoms.  It’s an enjoyable time of year to be working in the garden.  Here are some important tips to keep your garden looking its very best.

 

Weeds in your lawn.  If you haven’t spread a pre-emergent on your grass, do so early in the month.  Pre-emergents stop the germination of weeds that invade during the spring.  A simple treatment of your lawn will save you the time and headache of weeding later.  If you use organics, spreadable corn gluten is recommended.  It’s also a natural fertilizer.      

 

Fertilize your lawn.  Fertilizing your lawn in March with a fertilizer will boost the growth of new shoots and green up the grass quickly.  A balanced slow release fertilizer blend is recommended for East Texas.   

 

Grow Your Own Veggies.  There is nothing better than tasting a fresh tomato picked directly from the vine.  Growing vegetables is easy, low cost and healthy.   Tomatoes can be planted outside when the threat of frost has past.  The last average freeze date for our area is March 15.   However, if temperatures drop close to 32 degrees it’s best to cover them.

 

Composting.  March is an excellent time to add compost to vegetable and flower gardens.  Decomposed organic matter improves the soil structure, helps retain moisture and provides important nutrients to support healthy plant growth.

 

Stephen Gent

 

‘Drunken Botanist’ author offers tips on how to turn your garden into a …

Leave a reply

MOBILE, Ala. — My first thought when I first received my copy of “The Drunken Botanist” was to flash back to my college years in a way that may surprise some of you.

Contrary to what you might think it wasn’t the drunken part, it was the botany part. The study of plants wasn’t my strongest subject; I think I made a D in the course.

So you can understand my skepticism when I received the book in the mail that explained in detail the relationship between drinking and plant science. But author Amy Stewart crafted a wonderfully entertaining book that made me want to rethink my own personal bias against plants.

On April 12, Stewart will be coming to Mobile, Ala., as the guest of the Mobile County Master Gardeners. She will be appearing at the 9th annual Master Gardener Educational Seminar at the Jon Archer Center on Schillinger Road.

Stewart, a bona fide botanist who is also the author of the book Flower Confidential, will discuss plants and gardening. But she will also spend a chunk of time talking about how mankind has used plants through the ages for something very important – making libations.

My first question to her was simple: Why do a book on plants and drinking?

Here answer was equally simple: “You can’t have the drinking part without the plant part,” she said.

She pointed out the obvious to a dope like me, that all alcoholic beverages are made from plants. All of them, not just a few, but all of them from a sloe gin fizz to a fuzz navel have roots in the soil.

At this point, I’m hooked.

Amy Stewart, author of “The Drunken Botanist.”  

Her message, she said, is to remind people that without plants we would have no cocktails. “I’ll be talking about the broad spectrum, how barley ends up in whiskey and some plants get added at the distillery. How hops in beer and juniper in gin change and improve the flavor for the better,” she said.

As for the home gardener, Stewart said there’s plenty to learn about how to grow your own plants to enhance your cocktail experience. “Well, I have a cocktail garden with 40 varieties that can be used in drinks,” she said.

A cocktail garden? Who knew? Maybe I have a green thumb after all.

She recommends amateur gardeners grow the things that they like to add to your cocktails. If, for instance, you like to sip on a mojito or a mint julep in the evening, then a nice array of mint plants would be an excellent idea. “We can be specific enough to tell you which mints to plant for which drink,” she said.

Herbs and some flowering plants also are wonderful add-ons for making cocktails more flavorful and Stewart said she will offer suggestions for how to maximize your plant production.

Living here in the humid subtropics, though, we can’t always grow everything we need when we need it. Stewart’s advice is quite logical: adapt and overcome.

“It’s all about growing what you can and making the best of where you live,” she said.

She pointed out that living in the Northwest as she does, she’s envious of our long and early growing season. “We can’t grow melons, watermelons and things like that. I have a wonderful watermelon tequila drink that is flavored with basil so you learn to love what you have,” she said.

Stewart’s presentation will be at 2:30 p.m., but the event starts at 1 p.m. when the county’s master gardeners will host a reception in their demonstration garden at the center. A host of tasty appetizers and some non-alcoholic infusions will be served.

The seminar is open to the public, but seating is limited and reservations are required. Tickets are $20 and he deadline for reservations is April 4. Send ticket information and a check to Mobile County Master Gardeners, 12915 Dauphin Island Parkway, Coden, AL 36523.

In the meantime, here’s a cocktail from the book. I’m sure if it’s any good but I love the name.

The Frezier Affair

Makes 1 drink

Ingredients:

3 slices ripe strawberry

1½ ounces white rum

½ ounce yellow Chartreuse

Juice of 1 fresh lime

Instructions:

Reserve 1 strawberry slice for garnish.

In a cocktail shaker, combine the remaining ingredients and crush the strawberries with a muddler. Shake over ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the reserved strawberry slice.

Plants Vs Zombies Garden Warfare Tips, Tricks and Strategy

Leave a reply

If you are going to start your adventure in Plants Vs Zombies Garden Warfare, knowing the rules of the game are must.

If you have never played a shooter before, or just want a quick rundown of how this particular one works, read through the guide and you will be a ready to take on the game in no time.

For more help on Garden Warfare, read our Team Vanquish, Gardens and Graveyards and Garden Ops Strategy.

Learn The GUI

Information is important in all types of warfare, so in the game information is the key. Your screen is host to a wealth of personal information that will help you adjust to your current situation.

Learn to recognize all of it as soon as you can.

All the information in the HUD is there to let you know your personal status. Always keep track of it so that you can do whatever needs to be done to avoid being vanquished!

Health
Your health in the game will be represented by numbers. You just have to make sure it doesn’t come down to 0. It is not easy to make that happen, just make sure that enemy fire doesn’t hit you and if it does, use some healer such as Sunflowers or Zombie Heal Stations to replenish the health.

Always stay focused on the interface, as you take more damage, the screen will start to get red and a heart symbol at the lower left of the screen will start beating fast to let you know that you need to regain health.

You can also move away from the combat to regain your health just like in any other shooter game.

Abilities
Your character will be outfitted with some abilities. When you use ability, the icon for that ability will turn dark and you will have to wait before you can use it again. However, there will be some abilities which can be used more than one time until they have to be recharged.

Weapons
Weapons in your arsenal make your character standout. Every weapon operates in a different manner and can inflict different sorts of damage.

Ammo
Ammo just like in the shooters will tell you, how many times you will be firing the weapon until you have to reload.

Reticle
The crosshair in the center of the screen lets you know where your attacks will be aimed once you launch them.

Notification
Whenever a player is vanquished, a notification will briefly pop-up saying who was the one vanquished, who did the vanquishing and how did it happen.

Goals
The objectives are different in different types of matches; they will differ in various modes.

Key points of different Modes in the game:

Garden Ops
The health of the Garden that the plants need to defend in Garden Ops. The more zombies inflict damage on the Garden, the more the health meter goes down.

Score (Team Vanquish)
Shows vanquish counts for plants and zombies in Team Vanquish mode. Plants and zombies compete for the center trophy from each side of the score bar shown.

Progress Meter (Gardens and Graveyards)
This represents the progress that zombies have made toward completing their objective in Gardens and Graveyards. The closer zombies come to conquering a plant Garden or taking down a plant stronghold, the more this bar increases in their favor.

Team HUD (Garden Ops Only)
Upper left of the HUD display the status of the players on your team during Garden Ops. You must always keep an eye out for it as otherwise it would be difficult to survive.

Character Screen
Before the start of the match, when you’re vanquished or when you re-spawn, you will have chance to choose a new character depending on who you are playing as either Plants or Zombies.

If you have the knowledge of the battlefield then you can really capitalize on the opportunity. Make sure you pick the right characters for the right opponents.

Special Damage
Some of the character classes will inflict special damage using the weapons. You must be able understand it more after you know the different characters.

Spotting
When you have spotted an enemy, an icon will appear on their head that will become visible to you and your team mates. To spot an enemy, just have a clear look at them with your character and it will happen.

Garden Warfare Game Modes

Plants Vs Zombies Garden Warfare has six game modes. We have detailed all of them so that you don’t have any trouble getting started.

Welcome Mat
This mode is for the players that are new to the game. Welcome Mat lets you play in Team Vanquish on the Suburban Flats map, with the added rule that players who are repeatedly vanquished several times in a row will get a boost in their overall health when respawning.

As you level up in Welcome Mat, new game modes will open up to you.

Garden Ops
In this mode, you will plant a garden anywhere in the map and try to protect it from the zombies. Zombies will keep on attacking in increasingly difficult waves and then it’s up to you and your team mates to defend the plant.

Team Vanquish
If you want to go against your friends and people around the world without wasting any time, then this mode is just for you.

You can play Team Vanquish and become part of a plant or zombie squad with just one objective; score enough vanquishes for your team. However, this mode doesn’t allow any use of character customization and upgrades.

Gardens and Graveyards
Gardens and Graveyard lets you play as plants or the zombies to protect or to conquer an entire territory in different phases. 

If you play as zombies than you must push forward towards the plants stronghold and as the plants, you must defend against being pushed back. This mode also doesn’t allow use of the character customization and upgrades.

Split Screen
Split screen is for the players who wants to play with their family and close friends, you can play survival where multiple zombies waves will try to attack you until your garden has fallen. However, Split Screen Mode can only be enjoyed by the owners of the Xbox One.

Boss Mode
If you want to play the boss mode, you better come prepared. You can play as Dr. Zomboss or Crazy Dave and use the hand movements and different gestures to help out the fellow plants or zombies who are fighting in real time with aids such as health drops and airstrikes.

Boss Mode is also exclusive to Xbox One only.

Garden Warrior Classes, Characters, Spawnables and Upgrades

As you play though the game, you will unlock different character classes, characters, Spawnables and upgrades.

The Sticker Shop
The Sticker Shop is where players can pick up their stickers. Stickers can be obtained via Level-Up Packs, which show up once your player Rank has increased, or when you purchase Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare packs with PvZ coins.

Stickers
Stickers are the key to upgrading your squad. By collecting differently labeled stickers, players will be able to collect customization items, Spawnable Plants and Zombies, weapon upgrades, and new characters, which are then filled out in the Sticker Book.

PVZ Coins
PvZ coins are obtained by fulfilling certain conditions during Garden Ops, Gardens and Graveyards, and Team Vanquish. These can be used as currency in the Sticker Shop

Packs
If you need an addition into your arsenal, you will find different packs such as level up Packs and Reinforcement packs. Packs contain consumable and customization items. Items available in these Packs are sometimes very rare; you can grab these packs in the stick shop.

Player Rank
Increase your player rank by leveling up your characters. As your player rank increases, you’ll be able to grab Level-Up Packs from the Sticker Shop, as well as access more game modes.

Customizations
Customization will help you change the way your character looks in the game. Depending on the character, you can change weapons, skin, hair, and even taunt-like gestures.

Character Challenges
These are the challenges that can be completed in different game modes. Completing challenges earns you stars, which fill out level packs.

A character’s level increases when you fill in all of the stars in your current level pack. You can always check the progress of these challenges in the pause menu. Whenever you complete a challenge you will be notified.

Bonus Objectives
Sometimes in the Garden Ops, Crazy Dave will give a bonus objective. If you complete his objective, you will receive extra PvZ coins for use in the Sticker Shop.

I hope this helps you get started with the game. Don’t forget to comment if you have something else to add to the guide!

Interview: Garden designer Dan Pearson on London’s planned Garden Bridge

Leave a reply

Plans for London’s proposed Garden Bridge are beginning to flourish following the recent confirmation that the UK government and Transport for London (TfL) will each commit £30 million (US$50 million) of funding to the project. Conceived by Joanna Lumley, designed by architect Thomas Heatherwick and to be planted by renowned horticulturist Dan Pearson, the bridge will provide a green public space and a link between the bohemian South Bank and lively Covent Garden.

The design won a TfL tender to improve pedestrian access across the Thames and will span the river between Temple Station and the South Bank. It is currently awaiting the results a pre-planning consultation carried out by TfL, which are due in the next few months. Application for planning consent is anticipated to be submitted in May 2014 and assuming it is successful, construction will begin in 2015.

Gizmag spoke to Dan Pearson about his vision for the project.

What did you think when you heard about the Garden Bridge concept?

That it was a crazy, brilliant idea, and that I would be mad not to agree to help create a garden that sailed over the Thames!

How did you begin to think about it as a project and what was your process for designing the gardens?

I started by looking at the history of the two banks of the river. The South Bank was formerly the site of Lambeth Marsh, (still present in the local street names of Upper and Lower Marsh), and is believed to have been reclaimed from a larger expanse of water after the Roman occupation. Osier beds for willow weaving were also once very common all along the south bank, as they thrive in the wet conditions. So the planting nearest the south bank is comprised of the sorts of plants that would have colonised reclaimed marshland – the Pioneers – like birch, alder, poplar and sedges, perennial plants like wild roses and meadow herbs like woodruff, geranium, violet and primrose.

The Dan Pearson Studio has previously worked on projects including the Tokachi Millenium F...

The development of the north bank of the Thames occurred much earlier and it was a key part of development in the Victorian era that gardens were created all along Victoria Embankment from Whitehall to Waterloo Bridge and then on to the Temple. So the planting closest to the north bank references gardens more strongly with a range of familiar ornamental garden plants like fuchsias, cultivated geraniums, day lilies and ornamental trees and shrubs.

So, the development of the narrative of the planting on the bridge from south to north tells the story of the development of culture within the capital over the centuries, with a gradual progression across the bridge from the wild to the cultivated.

The Garden Bridge has been designed by Thomas Heatherwick and Dan Pearson (Photo: Arup)

The plant choice for the bridge is also very much determined by the specific conditions posed by the open location over the river. So only plants which will cope with the exposure have been chosen, with the most exposed position in the middle of the bridge being dedicated to a selection of hardy plants mostly native to cliff and maritime habitats.

How have you worked with Thomas Heatherwick throughout the project?

Thomas has been extremely trusting as he and his team have got on with the extremely complex job of designing the bridge itself. I talked Thomas and Joanna (Lumley) through my approach to the planting early on in the project and they were very happy to let me develop my aesthetic ideas alongside the technical development of the bridge. Joanna’s only request was that there be an apple tree and a Christmas tree. Where Thomas, his team and we (me and my studio), have come together is in discussions over some of the complex technical issues such as how the available soil depth affects the planting plan, choosing the right materials and how to enhance the visitor experience. We have also been working closely together to make sure that plant heights and volumes create a safe environment for visitors and do not obscure, but complement river views.

What do you want people to feel when they visit the bridge?

I want people to feel as if they have arrived in the most magical garden imaginable. Floating above the water with views of St.Paul’s and Westminster, I want them to feel sheltered and protected by the plants. I want them to feel the power of nature in the city and be aware of the wildlife sharing this new route across the river with them. I want them to be able to return at any day of the year and always find that the garden has something to offer and that it will never be the same place twice.

What do you think the bridge can bring to London and how will it fit in?

London is one of the greenest cities in the world and the Garden Bridge will create a green link across the river that will allow people to journey across London and never be far from plants. London has excellent public parks but few gardens open to the public. I think it will become a new iconic destination attracting people from all over the world.

Source: The Garden Bridge Trust

The Cheryl Alley home in Arroyo Grande: Eclectic meets equestrian by the sea

Leave a reply

Cheryl Alley’s Arroyo Grande home is more than a place to hang her hat — it’s where she returned to her roots.

She fell for the 2002-built house for its coastline views that stretch from Point Sal to Pismo Beach. And having lived most of her life in small spaces, its 2,800 square feet gave her room to play with the interior.

Another major selling point was its 12 acres. Although Alley loves horses and collects equestrian art, she had not ridden since her youth. Her new home allowed her to acquire two Rocky Mountain horses, Kid and Maggie Mae.

When she purchased the contemporary Mediterranean home just over a year ago, it was simple and nondescript, Alley said. She hired Noel Allan of PBB of Arroyo Grande as her general contractor to tweak the floor plan and transform nearly every interior surface over the course of 10 months. Working closely with Allan and a team of artisans, she was able to create a space that honors her history, her passions and her lifestyle. Alley favors western decor, so she chose handscraped Virginia maple floors and traditional cabinetry. Wrought iron with intricate scrollwork accents repeats throughout the house, including on her front door custom-made by Baltic Iron Doors of Santa Ana.

“It took four guys to install. It weighs 1,200 pounds,” she said.

Landscape designer Tyler Addison of Addison Landscape continued the rustic theme outdoors with the use of stone and manufactured stone products. Addison and his crew installed more than 5,000 square feet of warm-hued, textured interlocking pavers for the front driveway, patios and pathways. He used rough-hewn, antiqued Celtik stones to build retaining walls. The home exterior was accented with Minnesota Fieldstone, a manufactured stone veneer made by Coronado Stone. And at the rear of the house, where a steep slope previously made most of the backyard unusable, Addison Landscape created a main patio and smaller terraced seating areas, with a fire pit in a spot with the best view of the sunset.

Setting the tone at the front of the house are two dramatic water features: a rock-lined koi pond, and a 4-foot-tall bronze fountain sculpture. It is a mer-horse — half horse, half fish — merging her fondness for horses and sea life. Orangevale sculptor Patricia Borum took 10 months to create it, and, Alley says, “She was well worth the wait.”

For the interior, Alley happily embraced eclecticism. She began with a foundation of western design, tempered with a romantic, feminine quality. Then she layered in personal elements. For instance, she inherited a large collection of Asian pieces from her mother. This includes several rugs, Chinese embroideries and cabinets.

She found novel ways to display these pieces. For instance, she acquired a kimono that her father, a World War II flight instructor, brought home from Okinawa as a gift for her mother. Alley hired Johnson Framing Studio to remove it from its frame. Because the back was destroyed by glue, Gail Johnson recommended hanging it on apole. Morro Bay teddy bear artisan Lori Simon lightly stuffed the shoulders and mounted it on an aged bamboo pole. On display in her bedroom as a three-dimensional art piece, the kimono is “a wonderful memory of the love my parents had,” said Alley.

She took care to integrate each piece into its new environment. For example, in the bedroom, she used an Oriental rug with a bold floral pattern that she calls “an attention grabber.” To keep it from stealing the spotlight, she combined it with a few pieces of painted, distressed bedroom furniture that are equally colorful and a touch whimsical.

Alley accessorizes with her personal collections. This includes equestrian pieces, animal-themed art, and ocean-themed art, some of which was handed down from her mother and grandmother. She is also an avid photographer and displays her work along one hallway.

Working directly with artisans allowed Alley to experiment with novel designs. Her team included Gary Thiessen, who designed and built custom cabinetry, and Joni Jackson of Valancing Act, who created custom window treat ments.

Jackson gladly indulged Alley’s creative instincts and concocted numerous imaginative draperies for the house. For instance, Alley wanted something dramatic for the music room to complement her beloved baby grand piano. They went with an “ebony and ivory” theme. Jackson created draperies from black silk velvet with a cream lining that wraps around from back to front. Sheer panels are off-white and have vertical lines running the length to represent the lines of the piano keys. She topped it off with an arched valance edged with black crystals to match the chandelier in the room.

In the master bedroom, Jackson was commissioned to create blackout drapes for the windows.

“I can’t sleep if there is any light, and on a full moon, this house is lit up,” said Alley.

After discovering that the 12 feet of blackout material required to cover her tall windows would not allow the silk drapes to hang properly, she and Jackson decided to instead hang blackout drapes on the canopy bed. Alley took the idea of a bed retreat a few steps further. She installed a sound system within the bed and had luxurious custom pillows made from Indian wedding saris purchased on eBay.

Alley wanted to be enveloped in purple, a color she has loved since she was a teen. Various shades of purple and mauve cloak the walls. And when she made an offhand comment to Thiessen that she wished her bathroom cabinets could be purple, he suggested purpleheart, which is a dense and water-resistant wood with a natural purple hue.

Alley balanced all the purple with accents in burnt orange.

“I’m told those colors together are royal colors. So I’m exercising my inner empress,” she quipped.

Most rooms accommodate the needs of her menagerie of beloved pets, which include miniature schnauzer Mia, standard poodle Serafina, two rescued stray cats, T.J. and Sinatra, and W.C., a California Desert tortoise. Her two conures, Izzy and Luis, enjoy the view from a shaded rear window. Alley had a large whirlpool tub installed by a picture window in the revamped master bathroom so she could enjoy a soak while watching her koi swimming in their pond at the front of the house.

She also spends ample quality time with her horses, which are learning cowboy dressage and starting to attend horse shows. Alley, who is a retired college professor, is learning her own new skill: how to live the lifestyle she had long hoped for.

“I lived in the Silicon Valley area for 19 years, so I was very used to that corporate fast pace,” she said, “It took almost a year to realize I could do what I wanted and take things much more slowly. It’s just so much better here.”

TIPS FROM CHERYL ALLEY

EMBRACE THE UNEXPECTED Dead ends during a design project often lead to unexpected, and sometimes better ideas. Also, delays are a good time to re-evaluate your goals and design scheme. Home projects rarely go by the book, so embrace detours as opportunities to take a new look at what you are doing.

MIX IT RIGHT Diverse styles can play well together, especially if there is at least one element in common, such as color or shape. The Oriental rugs in Cheryl Alley’s bedroom work well with her new painted furniture because both have a similar color scheme and playful feel.

REIMAGINE HEIRLOOMS Family heirlooms can often be displayed in a new way to better fit into your space. Alley wanted to use a kimono passed down from her parents but wasn’t crazy about its frame. She had the kimono stuffed and mounted as a three-dimensional art piece. A framing expert can often make recommendations on how to preserve and display family mementos.

Public weighs in on downtown landscape improvement plan

Leave a reply

Public weighs in on downtown landscape improvement plan

BRANDON NELSON/Staff Reporter

Public weighs in on downtown landscape improvement plan

Tom Bentley, a consultant for the Omaha-based Dropseed Studios, presents the preliminary design of the Scottsbluff Downtown Landscape Design and Stormwater Master Plan during a public meeting Tuesday at the Midwest Theater in Scottsbluff. The plan contains several ideas for revitalizing downtown, including incorporating additional greenery throughout the 18-block area, adding bulb outs that extend sidewalk areas at intersections and creating a drop-off zone on 17th Street for bus access to the Midwest Theater or other downtown businesses.



Posted: Wednesday, February 26, 2014 12:00 am

Public weighs in on downtown landscape improvement plan

By BRANDON NELSON
Staff Reporter

Star Herald

As plans for a downtown landscaping project are finalized, city officials gathered additional input from the public Tuesday.


Consultants from the Omaha-based Dropseed Studios presented the preliminary design of the Scottsbluff Downtown Landscape Design and Stormwater Master Plan and gave area business owners and residents a chance to provide feedback during a meeting at the Midwest Theater in downtown Scottsbluff.

Subscription Required


An online service is needed to view this article in its entirety.


You need an online service to view this article in its entirety.

Have an online subscription?


Login Now

Need an online subscription?


Subscribe

Login

Or, use your
linked account:

Choose an online service.

Current print subscribers


Login Now

Need an online subscription?


Subscribe

Login

Or, use your
linked account:

Choose an online service.

Current print subscribers

Posted in
Local news

on

Wednesday, February 26, 2014 12:00 am.

Cocoa Beach hires consultant to help improve city’s image

Leave a reply

The city of Cocoa Beach has hired a consultant to improve development.

A1A and State Road 5-20 sit at the gateway to Cocoa Beach’s uptown, but, there’s not much at the intersection that tells visitors they’ve arrived in Cocoa Beach.

“Here, it’s kind of like you go through the parking lot, walk to the beach and that’s that,” said visitor Gus Ibrahim.

Cocoa Beach has hired a consultant that’s taking a closer look at a number of ideas generated by both the city and the public. Those ideas include everything from developing an empty lot, to urban landscaping and transforming cell towers into surfboards.

“We’re not going to become Coney Island or Myrtle Beach, but we can be more than a parking lot,” said Mayor Dave Netterstrom.

And the city envisions locations like Shephard Park might be more than a place to park cars.

“You know what we’re seeing are these buses of the cruise ships,” said resident Jerry Hanlon. “They’re going to draw more and more people here.  The port is growing. You have to get with the times.”

The city will spend roughly $160,000 on its uptown blueprint over the next two years. And it must tie into existing plans for downtown Cocoa Beach.

“I think once we get done with this plan, the private sector will be ready to do something with it,” said Netterstrom.

The city hopes to get a look at a preliminary blueprint in a couple of months.

Man in search of Palm Trees for landscaping project

Leave a reply

More palm trees are set to go up in April at the foot of the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge.

A Walnut Creek homeowner is hoping his tree is one of those that will dot the median on the Oakland approach to the bridge.

On Wednesday a crane will remove the 20-year old Canary Island Palm from the front yard of the home on De Laurenti Court.

The homeowner told KTVU he needed to extract the tree because it was growing too close to his house.

He was set to spend $3,000 for the removal when he drove across the new span and wondered if bridge officials would be interested in his tree. They were.

The man tasked with scouring the state in search of mature palm trees for the landscaping project paid $1,000 for the tree.

“I think that’s fantastic,” said neighbor Ann Hallett.

She’s lived in the Walnut Creek neighborhood for years and was there when the original homeowners added the tree.

“Best friends of ours from England moved here and I think it was 1979. We all helped plant each other’s gardens, so we helped them plant those trees,” Hallett said. “They were a little smaller than they are now.”

Before the now 20-foot tall tree takes its place on the bridge median, it must first be checked for disease.

It will be put on a truck and make the more than seven hour trek down Interstate 5 to Riverside.

That’s where Bay Bridge subcontractor, Landscape Center Tree Company, will replant the tree in a holding yard so it can be examined.

If it checks out okay, the tree will be brought back to the Bay Area and take its place along the bridge.

Bay Bridge spokesman Andrew Gordon said while there is a lot of time, effort and cost associated with getting the trees, they are within the $900,000 dollar landscaping budget.

He said the palm trees, which end up costing about $10,000 each, were selected for a variety of reasons.

“They can withstand the somewhat harsh weather and conditions out here. They can stand up to the salt air and the wind and the fog,” Gordon said.

He added that the trees pick up on the vertical symmetry of the span.

“The landscape architect and the landscapers involved believed that this was the most appropriate tree for what we wanted to convey and what we wanted to do.”

22 additional trees are set to be planted in the spring, bringing the total number to 30.

If you have a tree you want to get rid email a picture to IBuyPalms@gmail.com and possibly get paid for it.

Pennsylvania Garden Show of York opens this weekend – The Patriot

Leave a reply

York’s
Pennsylvania Garden Show opens its doors – and gardens – this Friday, Saturday
and Sunday, featuring 10 display gardens built by local landscapers, some two
dozen seminars, more than 100 home and garden vendors and a garden-club flower
show.
 

This
year’s show moves across the York Expo Center grounds at 334 Carlisle Ave.,
York, taking place in Memorial Hall instead of the larger Toyota Arena (now Utz
Arena).

Doors
are open Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m.
to 5 p.m.

This
year’s theme is “Fairy Tale Gardens,” and many of the show activities wrap
around that idea.

Once
again, the Pennsylvania Garden Club Federation District IV will stage a judged
flower show within the overall show, focusing the floral arrangements on the
topic, “Once Upon a Time.”

york2013.judging.jpgView full sizeJudges evaluate the garden club flower show entries at the 2013 Pa. Garden Show of York.George Weigel

At
Saturday’s Family Fun Night (5 to 8 p.m.), live storybook characters, such as
Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Muffet and Little Red Riding Hood, will be on hand
during the hands-on activities.

New
this year is a Shoe Design Contest in which guests can submit shoes, slippers
or boots that they’ve transformed into fairy-tale footwear. The entries will be
on display.

And
show guests will be able to sign up to make their own teacup fairy garden
(Friday at 2 p.m., $25 fee) or learn how to plant a fairy-tale garden at home
in a Saturday seminar by Wendy Brister (1 p.m.)

The
new Memorial Hall venue splits the show into two main sections.

Enter
and turn left into the east section, and you’ll run into the 10 indoor display
gardens built by local landscape firms, including Cross Creek Farm, Hively
Landscapes, Inch’s Landscaping, John’s Landscaping and Strathmeyer Landscape
Development Corp.

Many
of these gardens include paver patios and walls, water features and
outdoor-living accessories in addition to gardens.

The
garden-club flower show is also in this section.

Turn
right into the west section of Memorial Hall, and you’ll find more than 100
vendors and exhibitors.

york2013.shoppers.jpgView full sizeGardeners shopping in the marketplace section of the 2013 show.George Weigel

That’s
where visitors will be able to buy plants, get tree and plant questions
answered, check out new lawn mowers, peruse some curious garden art, sample
(and buy) gourmet foods and more. The full list of vendors is on the show’s web
site. 

A
third main prong of the show is the talks, which take place in two locations
throughout all three days of the show.

Author
and radio host Mark Viette will do a pair of seminars (Friday at 6 p.m. on
garden design, Saturday at 2 p.m. on garden makeovers) at which he’ll give away
50 daylilies at each. He’s also slated to broadcast his show live from the show
floor on Saturday from 8 to 11 a.m. York’s WSBA-910AM radio station carries the
program.

Author
Kate Copsey is scheduled to do two talks – on English gardening history
Saturday at 12:30 p.m. and on vegetable gardening Sunday at 1:45 p.m.

Patriot-News/Pennlive
garden writer George Weigel will do two talks as well, both on Friday – at 11
a.m. on the questions gardeners ask the most and at 2:30 p.m. on the “20 Things
I Wish Someone Would’ve Told Me Before I Ruined the Landscape.”

And
ever-popular York florist Vince Butera is back again to do six flower-arranging
demos – two on each of the days.

Other
topics include beekeeping, growing roses, maintaining a healthy pond, growing
herbs and more. The full list with times is on the Pennsylvania Garden Show of
York web site.

Rounding
out the show are a host of other events, including music and dance
performances, working artists, a bluebird workshop (Friday at 5 p.m.), a spring
fashion show (Saturday at 6:30 p.m.), a Doggie Fantasies Fashion Show (Saturday
at 3:30), and a pair of three-course afternoon teas served by Red Lion’s Red
Brick Bakery and Tea Room ($15 fee, Friday and Saturday at 1 p.m.)

Tickets
are $10 for adults and $9 for ages 62 and up. Children 12 and under are free.

Advance
tickets reserved online are $9, and multi-day passes are available for $15.

Seniors
get in for $5 Friday after 5 p.m., and family members get in for Family Fun
Night on Saturday after 5 p.m. for $5. 

Parking
is free.