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Garden club refines floral design skills

Flower Show

Flower Show

Jan Murray, Karen O’Connor and Brenda Strange were awarded best floral design.

Flower Show

Flower Show

Barb Macbeth, Betsy Ray and Marcia Deiss won for the best representation of the selected theme.

Flower Show

Flower Show

Nora Carey, Sandy Griffin and Karen Cowperthwait were awarded most creative design.

Flower Show

Flower Show

Kathy Aquilla and Mackey Dutton won best overall design.



Posted: Wednesday, October 16, 2013 12:00 am

Garden club refines floral design skills

CHESTERTOWN – The Chestertown Garden Club had their second meeting of the season on Oct. 1 at Emmanuel Church. The program, Chestertown Flower Show 2013, was devoted to enhancing members’ floral design abilities.


Members were divided into small groups and designed an informal table selected from six themes: Mums the Word!, Gourd Gracious!, Summer’s Last Hurrah, Autumn Leaves are Falling, Apples Spice, and From the Pumpkin Patch. Members could meet and plan their table arrangements, but tables had to be arranged on the day of the meeting. Judging was done by secret ballots submitted by members of the club in the following categories: best floral Design, best overall design, most creative design, and the design that best represents the selected theme.

The individual table top designs were used by each group to eat lunch. The exercise helped the club members to enhance their arranging skills and to understand judging parameters at garden shows.

The winners were: best floral design – Brenda Strange, Karen O’Connor and Jan Murphy for Autumn Leaves are Falling; best overall design – Kathy Aquilla, Mackey Dutton and Chris Kirk for Gourd Gracious!; most creative design – Nora Carey, Sandy Griffin and Karin Cowperthwait for Autumn Leaves are Falling; and the design that best represents the selected theme – Betsy Ray, Barb Macbeth and Marcia Deiss for Gourd Gracious!

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More about Garden Club

  • ARTICLE: Garden club wraps up season with luncheon

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Wednesday, October 16, 2013 12:00 am.


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Rotary Botanical Gardens Wins Second Year of Landscape Design Contest


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Each of these contest winners are profiled on the AAS website, under

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Display Gardens.”

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A complete collection of photos from all contest entrants can be found on the All-America SelectionsFlickr

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and Facebook accounts.

JANESVILLE (WIFR) — Rotary Botanical Gardens (RBG) in Janesville, Wisconsin is thrilled to be named first place in category III of the All America Selections (AAS) Landscape Design Contest for the second straight year.

The All America Landscape Design Contestasks participants to incorporate AAS Winners, past and present into an attractive display. Each garden is responsible for creating and executing their own design and generating publicity surrounding the contest. Display photos and marketing materials are then submitted to a panel of judges who select the winners.

This year’s winning design at RBG featured a historical theme that included thirteen parallel beds organized in chronological order. The beds were filled with over 150 bright and beautiful AAS winners arranged by their year of introduction. Garden signage led visitors through the display and AAS history of winners from the 1930s sequentially to 2013.

“We’re honored to receive this accolade for the second year in a row and have always enjoyed our partnership with All-America Selections,” said Mark Dwyer, RBG Director of Horticulture. “Plants promoted by All-America Selections continue to do wonderfully in the Gardens and always comprise a large portion of our display varieties. We look forward to continuing as a Display Garden for All-America Selections and already have plans in place to participate in this fun competition in 2014.”

Rotary Botanical Gardens also participated and won first placein the same category in 2012.

Included below is additional contest information, including scoring criteria from AAS.

Scoring

The criteria and final score weighting were:
25% of the score was based on the quantity of AAS Winner varieties used
20% of the score was based on the overall attractiveness of landscape design
20% of the score was based on the creative use of AAS Winners in the design
25% of the score was based on any promotion of the display to local media and garden visitors/members
10% of the score was based on photo quality and design description/explanation

There were three categories, based on number of visitors to that garden in one year:
Category I: fewer than 10,000 visitors per year
Category II: 10,001 – 100,000 visitors per year
Category III: Over 100,000 visitors per year

Winners

Category I: fewer than 10,000 visitors per year

First Place Winner: LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Second Place Winner: University of Wisconsin Spooner Ag Research Station, Teaching and Display Garden, Spooner, Wisconsin.
Third Place Winner: Meredith Public Library Garden, Meredith, New Hampshire.
Honorable Mention, Most Educational Garden: ISU Polk County Master Gardener’s Demonstration Garden, Urbandale, Iowa.

Category II: 10,001 – 100,000 visitors per year

First Place Winner: Agriculture Canada Ornamental Gardens, Ottawa, Ontario.
Second Place Winner: The Arboretum State Botanical Garden of Kentucky, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky.
Third Place Winner: Jardin Daniel A Séguin, Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec.

Category III: Over 100,000 visitors per year

First Place Winner: Rotary Botanical Gardens, Janesville, Wisconsin.
Second Place Winner: Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver, Colorado.
Third Place Winner: Kentucky Exposition Center, Louisville, Kentucky.

St. Louis Alderman seeks hearing over stolen money from parks department

ST. LOUIS • A St. Louis alderman is seeking committee hearings to investigate how two St. Louis parks officials were able to scheme and steal nearly half a million dollars in city funds over eight years without detection.

The officials — Thomas “Dan” Stritzel, the chief park ranger, and Joseph Vacca, the deputy parks commissioner — pleaded guilty last month in federal court of a scheme that involved the complicity of at least two companies doing business with the city. The companies overcharged the city for services and passed the money back to a sham company controlled by Vacca and Stritzel, avoiding detection by city audits.

City officials representing Mayor Francis Slay said there was nothing they could do to prevent the thefts because they involved the department’s senior officials and the complicity of bona fide vendors. But they said on Tuesday they are working to put into place additional safeguards.

Now, Ward 21 Alderman Antonio French has called for an aldermanic committee, the Parks and Environmental Matters Committee, to hold hearings to investigate the “circumstances and failures that led to Stritzel and Vacca’s indictment.”

“The very least we could do is ask the people in authority to come in and explain,” French said.

French raised questions over which companies were involved and whether they are still doing business with the city.

Ward 17 Alderman Joe Roddy, who chairs the committee, said he will bring the request up at a meeting next week.

“It’s probably good for us all to know what at least happened out there and how to fix it,” Roddy said. “Generally, I tend to be pretty accommodating when the legislative body wants to ask questions.”

Stritzel and Vacca admitted to approaching a city vendor in early 2005, claiming the Parks Division needed equipment “that was not provided for or allocated” in the budget. The vendor, identified as “G.S.S.,” issued inflated monthly invoices to the city and passed the excess money to a company that Vacca and Stritzel controlled with the help of a longtime Stritzel friend.

Also, from 2007 to 2011, Stritzel and Vacca submitted more than $150,000 in false invoices for the supply and repair of hand-held radios from another company created by Stritzel’s friend.

In August 2010, Vacca approached yet another vendor, identified as “B.F.N.,” and said the division needed unbudgeted radio equipment. The indictment says that vendor submitted eight invoices, which included sham charges and undelivered materials, that were inflated by $29,670. “B.F.N.” passed along the excess money to the company controlled by Vacca and Stritzel.

The friend hasn’t been charged and was listed in redacted court documents by his initials. No one from companies “G.S.S.” and “B.F.N.” was charged with wrongdoing, and the company names were listed only by their initials. In all, some $464,722 was stolen, according to the charges.

Vacca has retired from his job. Stritzel has been fired. They will be sentenced in federal court on Dec. 12.

U.S. Attorney Richard Callahan said on Tuesday that the fraud would have been hard to detect.

“If you have multiple high-level officials in a scheme it probably won’t be detected by the normal checks and balances,” Callahan said.

Callahan said he didn’t expect any further charges. “There was no complicity in a criminal enterprise by anyone else,” Callahan said. He said the businesses involved “were duped” by the indicted parks officials into thinking that “they were just helping them overcome bureaucratic obstacles.”

Maggie Crane, the spokeswoman for Slay, referred questions on Tuesday to Eddie Roth, the city’s director of operations. So did St. Louis Parks Director Gary D. Bess, who appeared before an aldermanic committee earlier this year and said, “There is more to come, possibly.”

Bess said in a text message on Tuesday that he was in a hearing and couldn’t talk.

Roth said the city ended its contract after the indictments with one of the companies, a security firm, and is reviewing its contract with another, a landscaping company.

“We’re still trying to determine their level of complicity,” Roth said. “We’ve heard some things that they were not as complicit.”

Roth said the parks department has reduced the number of employees who can sign off on expenditures to just the director and the commissioner.

“We’ve also been in conversations with (city Comptroller Darlene Green’s) office to understand what added checks might be possible,” Roth said.

He added: “The city has been burned by this. There is not a lot that you can do when it is top people doing the conspiring.”

Roth said he welcomes an aldermanic inquiry. ”We’ll see if they have any better ideas than what we’ve been able to gather already from the comptroller,” Roth said.

He added: “If it is just going to degenerate into a political show trial, then it will just be a waste of time and trivialize the city’s victimization in this case.”

Atlanta Home Improvement Magazine Launches New Web Site Introducing …

Copyright 2013 PR Newswire. All Rights Reserved
2013-10-15

ATLANTA, Oct. 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Atlanta Home Improvement magazine, the premier authority in Atlanta on home remodeling, interior design and landscaping, has launched its newly re-designed site, AtlantaHomeImprovment.com, to enhance the user experience for both local businesses and homeowners. With a streamlined design, improved search functionality and rich multi-media content, the new AtlantaHomeImprovement.com makes it easier for consumers to find home remodeling and landscaping ideas, resources and professionals.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131015/NY97252LOGO)

“We are excited to launch the next-generation Atlanta Home Improvement site to connect engaged homeowners and shoppers with our clients, faster and more easily,” said Jennifer Prins, publisher of Atlanta Home Improvement magazine. “More than ever, we’re empowering local home remodeling, design and landscape professionals to strengthen their online brand presence in the marketplace to attract shoppers, drive increased business, and generate more ways to interact with qualified consumers.”

“When a consumer comes to the new AtlantaHomeImprovment.com for home renovation ideas, they will find even more relevant content for inspiration and easy connections to the resources and professionals who can make their dream home happen,” adds Prins. For advertisers, the new site offers a stronger web presence, more lead capture methods, enhanced traffic from organic and referral search, and increased opportunities to reach prospective customers.

Key site features include:

  • Premium Partner Listing, a 400-word story highlighting a local business’s work. Limited to 24 total profiles with prime placement on the home page and all subsequent landing pages in rotations of six, each Premium Partner listing features unlimited photos, a company description or story, logo, contact information, website link, “Ask A Question/Get A Quote” functionality, social media connections to Facebook and Twitter accounts, and video upload capability.
  • Find A Resource, an online go-to source for visitors searching for products, services and professionals in remodeling, design and landscaping. Featured prominently on the home page and subsequent landing pages, searchable by category or alphabetical listings, each trusted resource features a custom page that includes 20 photos, a 250-word description, logo, contact information, website link, and “Ask A Question/Get A Quote” functionality.
  • Run-of-Site Digital Display Ads offering exclusivity as one of only 16 Leaderboard advertisers and 16 Rectangular advertisers rotating through 4 positions on the site, every landing page, every blog page, every day for one year.
  • Videos custom-produced by Atlanta Home Improvement that are prominently hosted on the site and YouTube for one year. Also included with this feature are social media announcements, a two-week promotion on the home page, and an archived version of the video at www.AtlantaHomeImprovement.com.   

For 12 years, Atlanta Home Improvement has been the premier source in Atlanta for inspiration and education about remodeling, landscaping, and interior design, as well as the latest home products, events and expert advice from industry professionals. Through its monthly full-color glossy magazine, website, blog and social media channels, Atlanta Home Improvement connects a monthly audience of over 220,000 homeowners who are actively searching for home remodeling and landscaping services to advertisers representing the region’s most respected businesses.

About Atlanta Home Improvement magazine
Atlanta Home Improvement magazine is a part of Network Communications, Inc., a leading local media company providing lead generation, advertising and Internet marketing services to the luxury and multi-family segments of the housing industry. The Company’s leading brands are Apartment Finder, DigitalSherpa, Unique Homes, New England Home and Mountain Living. The Company’s strategy focuses on providing high-quality and measurable marketing solutions to local clients by leveraging its proprietary prospect-focused distribution, social media and online franchises, and content management infrastructure.

SOURCE Network Communications, Inc.


Ex-Mayor Daley gives tour of Millennium Park for Ideas Week


Millennium Park is a must-see for visitors to Chicago that generates more than $2 billion a year in tourism revenue.

But before it was completed nine years ago, the park was an idea that then-Mayor Richard Daley had. He talked about his vision with people in town for Chicago Ideas Week.

Daley recalled the intricate planning it took to transform what was a 24-acre eyesore near Michigan and Randolph into a world-class destination.

“Landscaping was the key, very important,” he said.

Taking the tour were some of the people in town for Chicago Ideas Week, interested in learning how Daley’s vision for Millennium Park became reality.

“I’ve been to concerts here, so it’s fantastic to take a tour and learn the behind-the-scenes history of it,” said Gregory Tall.

“As we walk through the park with him, you see his attention to detail manifest itself everywhere in this place,” said Brad Keywell, Chicago Ideas Week.

Development of Millennium Park started in 1998 when Edward Uhlir was brought on board as the project design director. It took more than five years and nearly $500 million to complete. But Uhlir says the park is now a source of inspiration.

“It’s an attraction for people from all over the world who are in government designing their own parks and private-sector people, too, something to Millennium Park to see if there’s a way to do the same thing in their cities,” said Uhlir.

Daley says the goal of bringing a beautiful public space to the heart of the city has been achieved. And he’s looking ahead to more development.

“It gave us a new identity of a public space, which is really unique. Then with Maggie Daley Park, you put them together, it’s going to be sensational,” Daley said.

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Breaking Urban Ground for Community Gardens

Community Gardens bring people together, builds
relationships, improves quality of life and activates communities through its
bounty, exercise, therapy, education, family budget augmentation, social
interaction and neighborhood beautification. A community garden can be used for
food, ornamental gardening, urban forestry, preservation and management of open
space, memorial gardening and any other types of gardening that a community
collectively values.  But much goes into
creating one especially if it’s an urban garden.

ADVERTISEMENT

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… to

  

For any community making a garden takes forethought and
organization. This includes:

·     
Organizing the group of interested people

·     
Identify the community’s resources necessary for
the garden’s success including local garden associations, horticultural
societies, landscaping professionals, etc.

·     
Identify and secure a location

·     
Secure a sponsor

·     
Test the soil on the site for pollutants, and
check for of water availability

·     
Determine if liability insurance will be
necessary

·     
Prepare and develop the site

·     
Organize the garden so as to establish necessary
plots to satisfy the mission of the garden

·     
Plan an area for children

·     
Determine rules and put them into writing

·     
Setup a communication network to maintain
contact amongst members and interested community resources

·      Celebrate often!

With these valuable tips in hand, Sally Brown,
Associate Professor at the University of Washington offers additional
considerations when dealing with urban soils for those wishing to start up a
garden in a city. Brown notes that soils are more often contaminated in the
urban setting and most commonly with lead. But there are other potential contaminants
too resulting from what may have once been on the site such as old cars or
buildings that housed unknown chemicals and substances.

Further, healthy soils must not be compacted and must
contain at least 5% organic matter to improve soil structure. Increasing the
amount of compost and biosolids within the soil will enable it to hold more
water and provide the necessary nutrients for crops. Soil replacement is not
always required ad the addition of compost will help decrease contaminants in
the soil. Contaminants are diluted out with the addition of the compost mixed into
the soil. Some contaminants, such as lead, often become less hazardous when
compost is added. Brown explains, “Compost can change the form of the lead in
soil so that if you actually do ingest the soil, the amount of lead that’s
available to do harm is reduced.”

Read more at the American Community Gardening
Association
and the American Society of
Agronomy
.

Community
Gardening
photo via Shutterstock.

Biz Buzz: Test drives for American Cancer Society


Kathy McEnaney was named top listing agent for September at Coldwell Banker Premier Properties. Courtesy photo.


Shellie Keever was named top sales associate for September at Coldwell Banker Premier Properties. Courtesy photo.


Landscape architect Steve Glaze, a University of Florida grad with seven years of experience at an Ormond Beach landscape architectural firm, has been hired by Hammock Gardens Nursery  Landscaping, in Palm Coast. Courtesy photo.

(Click “Like” to become a fan of the Palm Coast Observer.)

 

Chevy customers can help make strides against breast cancer just by taking a drive. Chevrolet is holding national test drive days to benefit the American Cancer Society, and Tom Gibbs Chevrolet, at 5850 State Road 100, is participating.

The dealership will donate $10 to the society for each test drive on a new vehicle on Oct. 19, Nov. 2 and Nov. 16.

The fundraising effort is part of the Chevy Making Strides Against Cancer initiative. For more information, contact Tom Gibbs Chevrolet at 888-450-1509.

SunTrust Bank brings in new personal banker

The SunTrust Bank at 5399 N. Oceanshore Boulevard has brought in a new personal banker.

Lori Gottlieb worked at the Hancock Bank in Palm Coast for 12 years before moving to SunTrust Bank, according to a press release from the bank, and welcomes new and former clients to visit her new location at the SunTrust Bank in the Publix shopping plaza.

For more information, call 386-246-3038.

Coldwell Banker recognizes top listing agent, sales associate

Coldwell Banker Premier Properties in Palm Coast is recognizing its top listing agent and sales associate for the month of September.

Kathy McEnaney was named top listing agent, and Shellie Keever was named top sales associate, according to a news release from the bank.

Coldwell Banker has served Flagler County for 27 years, according to the news release. Coldwell Banker Premier Properties, managed by broker Tom Heiser, is located at 33 Olds Kings Road, Suite One. To learn more, call 445-5880. 

Palm Coast landscaping company hires new landscape architect

Hammock Gardens Nursery Landscaping has hired a new landscape architect.

Landscape architect Steve Glaze earned a bachelor’s in landscape architecture from the University of Florida and worked for an engineering, planning and landscape architectural firm in Ormond Beach for seven years, according to a press release.

“We had future plans to hire a landscape architect, but moved up those plans when Steve called us last month,” owner Mike Fonseca said. “We realized he was just what we were looking for to help us fill the needs of our customers looking for landscape design services.”

Glaze enjoys the creative work of landscape architecture and the ability to work both inside and outside, according to the press release.

Hammock Gardens Nursery Landscaping, at 5208 N. Oceanshore Blvd., is owned by Janine Regina Fonseca and Mike Fonseca and opened in 2006.

The company holds workshops and classes on gardening and works with subcontractors to create outdoor living spaces within a customer’s budget, according to the press release.

For more information, call 446-9154 or visit https://www.facebook.com/HammockGardens.
 

 

 

In New Hope garden contest, prize winner is a surprise winner



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    Catherine Navalta’s Japanese-inspired garden won top honors in New Hope’s suburban home awards.

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    Tammy Nelson didn’t really know her neighbor, but she knew her garden. And so she nominated it for a New Hope community award.

    “The beauty and the smells from this yard make me happy every time I walk by. They have a koi pond too,” Nelson hastily jotted in ink on the entry form. She listed the address, but under “name,” she wrote: “We spoke once but I forget.”

    The neighbor is Catherine Navalta, who discovered that she’d been nominated only when judges came to take a look. Now, she is the winner of one of New Hope’s RAVE awards for her lush garden of mostly perennials, meticulously planned so something is blooming all season long.

    Winners are honored with a plaque or engraved garden rock at a City Council meeting, but that’s not the main point.

    “The idea behind it is to build community spirit and let people have a way of recognizing their fellow New Hopians who may be doing something a little extra or special in the city,” said Curtis Jacobsen, the city’s director of community development. New Hope bestows five RAVE awards each year: for outstanding property maintenance; gardens; landscaping; remodel or renovation; and environmentally sensitive improvements.

    Natural nurturer

    On a recent afternoon, Navalta shared some of her garden’s secrets.

    She acknowledges that she’s a born nurturer. She nurtured four children, now all grown. As a registered nurse, she nurtured patients rehabilitating from brain trauma and strokes at Hennepin County Medical Center. And she nurtured her gardens — flowers in the front yard, vegetables in back.

    “For me it’s therapy. When I am in my garden, I cannot even feel the time,” she said.

    Navalta, 64, recently retired but she used to work the 3-to-11 p.m. shift. She’d come home at night and sit in her quiet, dark garden.

    “It’s only at night that I can smell the flowers,” she said.

    Growing up in the Philippines, she learned to garden from her mother, who also grew flowers in the front, vegetables in the back.

    “We had gardenias. When I smell gardenias, I think of my mother,” she said.

    Navalta and her husband came to the United States in 1990 and bought their New Hope home in 1991. She spent time at the library researching what flowers would thrive in Minnesota’s climate. She started planting two years later — moving the existing hostas to make room for more showy blossoms. She planted mostly perennials that bloom in waves from early spring through the fall.

    The hellebores bloom first, followed by tulips, daffodils, magnolias, azalea, clematis, cornflowers, dahlias, roses, lilies, hibiscus and phlox — to name a few. She dabbles in some annuals — impatiens, cosmos, marigolds and petunias. She harvests those seeds to replant the next year.

    “I want it to be carefree,” she said.

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    What to do in the Garden in October

    By Carol Stocker, Globe Garden Writer…Cutting down the garden…You can postpone this until next spring to provide cover and food for birds. But always remove the top growth of disease prone plants such as tomatoes, peonies, bearded iris, hollyhocks and phlox and bag these.

    Cut the garden down now in stages, removing the ugly stuff first and leaving for plants that still have presentable seed heads and foliage like ornamental grass. But eventually you will want to cut it all down because it begins to look like debris.
    Composting

    This is the easy way to dispose of garden debris without having to bag it and set it on the curb. Simply make a free standing three foot high pile in some unseen corner of your property (not leaning against a tree or building, which could rot). Then just let it break down and return to nature. What should you compost? Leaves, grass cuttings, chipped brush, pine needles, weeds that have not gone to seed, vegetable and fruit wastes from garden or table, perennials tops you’ve cut back, dying potted plants and annuals along with their root balls, coffee grounds, eggshells, teabags, shredded paper and cardboard, including newspaper, paper towels and paper plants and bags. Do NOT compost dairy products, meat, fat or grease, cooked foods with sauces, bones, peanut butter, mature weed seeds, kitty litter or pet manure, whole branches, diseased plants, or weeds that spread by roots and runners, including vines. I put woody branches in a different pile for burning in spring. Or you can chip them for mulch if you have a chipper.
    Leaves

    You don’t have to rake these unless they’re thick enough to suffocate what’s underneath. Leave them between trees and shrubs and on empty planting beds, where they can serve as natural fertilizer. But rake or blow leaves from lawns and evergreen ground covers into a three foot tall pile in an out of the way spot and let nature take its course. They will decompose into a one foot tall pile of leaf compost, call leaf mold in about 15 months. Naturally weed free, this is a much better garden mulch than pine bark since it is loaded with nutrients.
    Irrigation

    Unhook and drain garden hoses completely, roll them up and store them off the ground. If you have an automatic irrigation system, shut down the timer. If the timer has a digital display, switch to “rain” on the controller. If it has a dial, like an analog clock face, or a pump is wired to the timer, turn off the power to save electricity.
    Inside the house is a shut-off for each exterior faucet, usually just on the other side of the basement wall from the outside faucet. Shut off each of these from inside the basement, then open the outside faucet to drain any remaining water. Back inside, look for the vent on the bottom of each valve. Put a bucket under each and then unscrew with pliers. Remove the half inch metal cap and the “O” ring inside the bottom of the shut-off, using a pin to break the vacuum. Water will drain out from that 5-foot section of pipe between the inside and the outside faucet; otherwise it can freeze and burst inside the wall, causing damage.

    Cleanup

    Prune climbing roses and fasten them to their supports so they don’t get whipped around in winter winds. Clean and store garden furniture, stakes, cages and seasonal temporary trellises.Many pots are now good looking plastic that can survive the winter, even if they remain filled with soil. High fired stoneware will not break either. If you want to ensure the safety of expensive terra cotta pots, dump their soil in the compost pile, wash and sterilize them with a 10 percent bleach solution and let them dry in the sun before storing them (upside down if stored outdoors). Store pesticides and fertilizer in a dry, locked area that’s labeled for dangerous chemical as does not freeze.

    Pests.

    Deer are the biggest outdoor pest in some areas. Start spraying evergreens now with a deer repellent or wrap individual shrubs in the kind of black netting used to keep birds off berry bushes. Protect young fruit trees from gnawing mice by wrapping the base of the trunks with commercial tree wrap or 18 inch tall metal tree guards. If you notice swarms of identical small white moths attracted to porch lights in early winter, you probably have winter moths. Their immature inchworms can cause a lot of damage in spring so contract now, before arborists get busy, for spraying the biological pesticide Spinosad next April.

    For the Birds

    Setting up a winter bird feeder in front of your favorite window is a great way to stay in touch with the outdoors while staying warm indoors. Fill it with black-oil sunflower seeds to attract pretty red cardinals.

    October Gardening Tips

    <!–Saxotech Paragraph Count: 8
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    October is a busy month in the garden says Jason Reeves, research horticulturist and garden curator at the University of Tennessee Gardens in Jackson.

    Reeves tips for October include:

    • Now is a good time to plant trees and shrubs since dormant plants will be under less stress. Newly installed deciduous plants require almost no watering during the winter months, but don’t forget a thorough initial watering, which is paramount. Monitor newly planted evergreens such as junipers, hollies and arborvitae for watering needs if rain is sparse. Even in winter, a plant with leaves on it will transpire. Winter wind drying can hurt an evergreen tree that lacks sufficient moisture.

    • October is a good time for you “yardeners” to control broadleaf weeds such as white clover and wild garlic. Check with your county’s UT Extension office for specific recommendations.

    • To make leaf removal less of a chore, rake them before they accumulate deeply. If you have a fescue lawn or moss garden, it is even more important to keep the leaves off of it. Compost or use them as mulch in your beds. You can also till them into your soil, and by spring they will be composted. Leaves on the lawn can be chopped with the lawnmower and left in place if not too deep.

    • Remember that seasonal mums are more valuable as compost than as “keep around plants” after they’ve faded. Don’t be tempted to plant them because even if they establish themselves, they rarely live up to your expectations the following year. Chrysanthemum “Clara Curtis,” “Ryan’s Yellow” and “Sheffield Pink” are good, reliable perennial cultivars that perform well and make good additions to the landscape.

    • October is the preferred time to plant ornamental kale, Swiss chard, and pansies. These are lovely additions to the fall and winter landscape, as well as being edible. Look for the winterbor and Russian kales as they are more reliable in cold weather than the kales known commonly as “flowering cabbage.”

    • Don’t forget to bring in your tropical plants and houseplants before frost. Many plants don’t like it when the temps drop into the 40s.