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Landscaping tips from the 16 Curb Appeal team – WNDU


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  • More tips from 16 Curb Appeal home

South Bend, Ind. If you want to create a beautiful yard, but growing pretty plants and flowers aren’t really your thing, here’s something to keep in mind. It doesn’t always take a green thumb to improve the look of your landscaping.

From a colorful welcome mat, to a coordinating garden flag, you can update the appearance of your home with eye catching additions.

Mark Linton shares some other ideas at our 16 Curb Appeal home.

“We’ve got a wreath for the door,” says Mark Linton with Linton’s Enchanted Gardens. “And we strategically placed that wreath lower than normal because we’ve got really nice detail with the leaded glass and I really didn’t want to hide that. We’ve also created a custom swag for above the door. Then we’ve got a nice bouquet of flowers just to the right of the door.”

Also, well-placed boulders can be an attractive feature to your landscaping.

Next week, we’ll step into the lawn and compare the benefits of sodding, versus seeding, plus, the proper way to put down a weed barrier.

District 5 Student Uses Eagle Scout Project To Design Literacy Garden

Native Plant Sale

Join us Sunday September 15 for our biggest end of summer inventory reduction sale and open house!  Fall is the best time to plant natives and the best time to buy!

This time of year native plants are dropping their seeds and turning fall colors before they go dormant for the winter. If you never got around to spring planting or thought it was too late to plant anymore you’re in luck! We have hundreds of species organized by their preferred living conditions.  Are you looking for something drought tolerant? A shade lover?  There’s a plant for that!  Don’t know what you want?  We will be holding two garden tours at 1pm and 3pm where you can learn about landscaping with native plants, check out the gardens, and ask questions.

Blackfoot Native Plants is also scaling back operations to reduce the number of species we’ll grow.  Visit the nursery to make sure you don’t miss out on a plant we have in stock now but won’t for much longer.   

·         Spend $25 – 10% off

·         Spend $50 – 15% off

·         Spend $75 – 20% off

·         Spend $100 – 25% off

·         Spend $250 – 30% off

·         Spend $500+ – 40% off

Special sale items will be announced at the nursery!

Open house and sale starts at 12 pm.  Drive East from Missoula on Highway 200, turn on Potomac Road, and look for the Blackfoot Native Plant signs pointing the way.  See you there!

Website: http://www.blackfootnativeplants.com

Restored 1920s mansion features a bit of a curiosity

More…

Cameron and Mignon Fryer have done it again.

After spending several years restoring and remodeling a historic Craftsman-style house in Duluth’s Congdon Park neighborhood, they started all over again with another house just three blocks away.

“We were very happy with the other house,” Cameron Fryer said. “But I drove by and saw the ‘for sale’ sign.”

The home, designed by Frederick German, is a classic English Cotswold cottage worthy of a Thomas Kincade painting, built with stone, heavy timbers and brick and topped with an expansive slate roof.

Still, with big cedars blocking the front and more blocking the view in the back, his wife wasn’t interested.

At least, not at first.

But seven years later, after the couple’s painstaking repairs and renovations, the fairy-tale charm of this 1920s English Tudor home has been renewed, enhanced and is being celebrated.

On Sunday, the home at 2508 E. First St. will be among five homes featured in the Duluth Preservation Alliance’s annual historic house tour, just as their previous home had been eight years earlier. Tour-goers won’t just see the distinctive stone and slate house up close, but be able to stroll through the original hardscape designed by famed Danish-American landscape architect Jens Jensen and enhanced by the Fryers.

“I think it’s the only one he did here,” said Preservation Alliance treasurer Dennis Lamkin, a Jensen fan. “He used the same kind of materials in the hardscape that were in the house. That was the same technique he had done in other houses. He took whatever the architecture was in the house to make it feel very cohesive.”

That hardscape includes distinctive rock walls forming the perimeter, with a pavilion on one end and a circular staircase, concave on top and convex below a landing, that Jensen had also designed for an Edsel Ford home in Grosse Pointe, Mich.

“The house is beautifully done, very nicely restored, but the landscaping stands out to me as spectacular,” Lamkin said.

The house holds at least one mystery. A large, heavy-duty safe built into the basement is original to the house, though more suited for a bank.

Why it’s there is a mystery.

“I don’t know what they kept in there,” Cameron said.

Even though the house was built during prohibition, a safe with 2-foot thick walls and a 400- to 500-pound door more than 6 feet tall seems excessive to hide bootleg alcohol.

Not love at first sight

In 2005, when they bought the house, Mignon Fryer wasn’t eager for another challenge, not after years of stripping and refinishing woodwork and restoring her former home’s original layout and beauty.

“I wasn’t moving, we worked so hard,” she said.

Besides, she liked their spacious 1909 house, also designed by German.

“This one was dark and tired, with no landscaping and not a lot of curb appeal,” she said.

Believing they still had enough energy to tackle another project, Cameron, a retired financial securities consultant, persuaded her to see the inside. There they both saw beyond the original wallpaper that covered the walls, the faux-painted woodwork and the 30-year-old carpeting that covered hardwood floors. And they saw beyond those cedars that hid a spectacular view of Lake Superior, something their current house lacked.

“The minute we walked in the door, it had so much potential, we knew it was somewhere we could live,” Mignon said. “We were not quite ready for a big project, but we did it.”

The 4,500-square-foot house was designed by German and Jensen for the wife of William T. Bailey, who was vice president of Northern Oil Company of Duluth. The house’s Tudor cottage style was a look that was popular in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s.

It may be because of Mrs. Bailey that the house’s four bedrooms have bathrooms, the two master suites have sleeping porches and pocket doors save space throughout the home.

The house has an elevator operated by pulling ropes and a two-car, heated garage that are original to the house. A servants’ staircase leads to a linen room and the maid’s quarters. With six bathrooms in the house, many of the original tubs, sinks and fixtures remain.

The work begins

Once the sale closed, the Fryers went to work, removing wallpaper, repairing the cracked plaster and painting. It took four coats of white paint to cover the first floor’s faux-painted woodwork, including the 18-inch baseboards, which made them stand out for the first time.

They removed carpeting and refinished floors. They refinished a staircase, replaced windows, converted the fireplaces to gas and insulated the attic. Cameron made custom radiator covers that became added features in rooms.

But the most work was done in the dated kitchen, which was gutted and given a bright, contemporary cottage look, designed by Mignon, who is an interior designer.

Outside, the cedars were removed. Cameron added wrought-iron fencing, laid blocks in the curved driveway and stone for patios that appear part of the original hardscape. And he and Mignon created gardens that complete the backyard landscaping.

“Cam has taken such great pains to make sure he exposes the original landscaping and that any improvement to the site that he does reflects the original landscape plan that either didn’t happen or was lost to time,” Lamkin said.

While the Fryers did most of the work themselves, they hired professionals to do the electrical, plumbing, stone repair and make the kitchen cabinetry.

Having renovated and restored a grand home before made the second time around easier for the Fryers.

“We knew what we wanted to do, and what we didn’t,” Mignon said.

And they did it better, Cameron added.

Tags:
congdon park, home and garden, news, local, news, duluth, home, garden

Master Gardeners offer an autumn experience

Seven gardens created by Napa County Master Gardens will welcome visitors on Sept. 22. for the annual tour hosted by the local gardening wizards.

For the first time, this year’s tour is being held in the fall to showcase gardens in their late summer and early fall glory. The tour includes both large and small gardens that showcase water-wise and succulent gardens, lawn alternatives, food production gardens, roses, container gardens, shade-loving plants, and an innovative rain water capturing system.

Gardening on the Rocks

In the eastern hillsides beautiful home is surrounded by a challenging hillside garden. For the past 40 years, the owners of this property have found a way to successfully adapt to the space and its limitations, namely a natural oak forest habitat setting, along with lots of shade and rocky soil.  

Originally, the property boasted bare rocky soil, some overgrown weeds and rock walls. Over the course of time, this UC Master Gardener and her husband built raised beds, brought in compost and terraced the hillside. They found ways to maximize their sun areas and planted shade-loving plants.  Special features are the oak trees and rock walls, which create outdoor living areas.

An outdoor kitchen has a pizza oven, barbecue and a bocce court. Since the property is frequently visited by the wildlife, the sunny areas where fruit trees, summer vegetables and roses grow are all fenced for protection. Raised beds help protect the plants from moles, voles and gophers. The hillside area has several gardens, depending on the microclimates. The lower garden is lovingly called, “Giardino di Fratelli,” and is surrounded by olive trees.

This property is an inspiration and a great example of how challenging microclimates and poor soil conditions can be overcome to create a lovely outdoor living space and gardens that can be enjoyed year-round.

Lost the Lawn …

The front of this charming corner home in downtown Napa was formerly highlighted by a turf lawn shaded by mature elm trees. After the elm trees became diseased and were removed, this cool microclimate became a sunny, hot location. As a result, this UC Master Gardener elected to participate in the city of Napa’s “Cash for Grass” program in August 2012, replacing the water-thirsty lawn with 73 drought-resistant one-gallon perennials and a drip-irrigation system. The front yard is now in its first year of becoming a mature, water-wise garden.

Microclimates and soil conditions have challenged the owner of this property for

22 years. Trees planted to replace those that were lost will take years to grow to maturity. The soil surrounding the mature trees that remain is hard and difficult to dig or amend. Attractive plants in containers have proven to be the perfect solution.

Inside the courtyard, a small angel fountain is a focal point for a wrought-iron furniture grouping.  Whimsical pieces of garden art are found throughout. Flower beds have been planted, and ivy and trumpet vines planted in containers cover the wall of the house. The overall emphasis of this garden is tranquility and easy maintenance.

Water wizardry

A restored 1928 California bungalow on a corner lot in downtown Napa is a perfect showcase for drought-resistant landscaping. When the owners purchased this property in November 2009, the lot was so covered with vegetation that the house could not be seen on the Google world map. Since then, the landscaping has been carefully transformed into a low maintenance, water-wise garden

Overgrown trees and shrubs were removed, followed by the lawn, which qualified for the Napa “Cash for Grass” program. New ornamental trees were planted, along with espaliered fruit trees. Native grasses, lavender and rugosa roses replaced the lawn and attract pollinators. Two raised beds along with a vegetable “corral” next to the chicken coop, provide a place to grow vegetables year-round. Whimsical garden art and birdhouses can be found throughout the garden. Perhaps the most important change this UC Master Gardener and her husband made is the installation of an impressive water harvesting roof run-off system that can collect 975 gallons of rainwater at a time.

Growing in microclimates

Walking into this garden is a delight to the senses. For the past three years, the owners, both Master Gardeners, have combined their gardening expertise and whimsical senses of humor to create a garden that is both fun and functional.  

Microclimates play a big factor in this garden. A neighbor’s tall tree prevents the sun from reaching the south side of the yard. Thus, shade-loving azaleas and beautiful native currants are found in this area. The south-facing area not affected by the tree is a perfect place for heat-loving vegetables.  Using non-traditional plant supports, such as mason’s ladders for the tomatoes, is not only clever but amazingly functional.

Everywhere you look in this garden, you’ll find something to rekindle the feeling of wonder that a special garden brings.

Focus on food

Imagine going to your garden to pick something ripe and delicious fevery day — and being able to share your abundant harvest with others. The owners of Big Dog Ranch are able to share year-round.  

Wanting the freshest, most nutritious, organic and non-genetically engineered food possible, this UC Master Gardener and his wife have worked the past 12 years to transform this former prune orchard into a self-sustaining vegetable farm. Thirty-two raised beds grow an endless array of summer and vegetables. The property also boasts a multi-varietal fruit orchard, wine grapes and table grapes, along with annuals and perennials that attract pollinators.   

Living with Nature

On this  3 1/2-acre property, what was once a dying prune orchard, consisting of five trees, is now a “nature preserve” alive with wildlife and livestock. Over the course of 37 years, this UC Master Gardener and his wife have transformed their barren land into a peaceful place where humans can observe and live harmoniously with many species of Napa Valley wild birds.

The land was graded and extensively altered, then planted with trees and drought-resistant perennials. Walls and fences were added to create natural “rooms” and a place for the owners’ two donkeys to graze. Beehives and owl boxes have been placed near the pond, an area that also attracts blue herons. Vegetable beds are made of corrugated plastic to prevent voles from invading.

In the back yard, a private, shaded sitting area has a small fountain. A home-made table near the pool creates a welcoming party setting. Scattered throughout the gardens are bird feeders, plants that attract birds and imaginative metal art pieces.

The Demonstration garden

The Master Gardener demonstration garden thrives on one of the only working farms dedicated to education in the city of Napa, on a hillside in the Browns Valley area where cattle once grazed. Here, we garden surrounded by trees and the sounds of our partners, the farm animals maintained by Connolly Ranch and the Napa Land Trust for children’s educational programs.

Our focus is showing Napa home gardeners how to make and tend various kinds of gardens using research-based good gardening practices. Raised beds demonstrate Mediterranean plants, fire-wise gardening principles, habitats for birds and bees, and succulent and rose gardening. We showcase vegetables, herbs, edible flowers and fruit trees. We field test different varieties of vegetables to determine best selections for Napa County. Composting and soil building techniques are practiced and taught.

Our garden is the site of public workshops and demonstrations. The garden constantly changes in response to interests and needs of our crew and the public.  

This is idea central for the home gardener, a good place to soak up a little country in the city and let us show you the latest in gardening techniques.

Landscape professionals find opportunities in Houston

For some landscape professionals, their careers began as neighborhood lawn-mowing businesses while they were teens looking for ways to earn spending money. For others, landscaping is a second-career opportunity that provides the freedom of working outdoors, complete with free lessons from Mother Nature.

Jeff Corcorran, owner of Landscape Manager Services Inc., was one of those kids who began his career by mowing neighbors’ lawns and later earned a degree in horticulture at California Polytechnic State University. In business for more than three decades, he said landscapers are busy.

“While we don’t have a good measurement tool, I can say activity has increased dramatically over the past couple of years,” he said, “and good people are difficult to find. “To make a landscape business work, you have to have good people because customer service is extremely important.”

Today’s landscape architects are licensed professionals who can take a patch of land or the grounds surrounding a skyscraper, hotel, office building or home, and transform it into a Garden of Eden for all to enjoy.

Landscapers plan, design and install parks, recreational facilities, highways, airports and commercial as well as residential properties, integrating hardscapes – such as rocks, borders, terraces and pathways – with plants, grasses and trees. Texas has a licensing program, and landscape architects must pass the Landscape Architect Registration exam.

Landscape architects and designers are finding plentiful work in greater Houston, thanks to few interruptions in the city’s mild climate and its extended growing season.

Mark Garfield, owner and president of Ecosystem Management Co., a commercial and residential landscape designer and installer the past 35 years, said his area of expertise has been a lifelong passion as well as the focus of his education.

“I began as a commercial maintenance company, as many landscapers do, and then moved into installation and design, mainly in the greater Houston area,” he said.

He said Houston’s landscaping business, as well as others, has been fortunate in that the local housing market and the economy, in general, did not take a huge hit in the recent downturn.

“We still have a lot of commercial building going on as well as new multifamily projects going up,” Garfield said.

Anna McGarity, communications manager for Texas Nursery and Landscapers Association, an organization representing more than 1,200 companies, said without question, the ongoing drought in Texas is taking its toll, but members from growers and horticulturalists to landscapers and maintenance professionals are saying the economy is better from a business standpoint.

“Our recent annual conference and expo in Dallas attracted a registration of more than 6,000, and our organization is partnering with the state in a program called ‘WaterSmart,’ which is educating the industry and its customers about best practices and conservation of natural resources,” she said.

Garfield described Houston’s job market for landscape architects, designers, installers and workers as “not a huge demand, but not flat, either.”

“We have large and small firms in Houston as well as freelancers and, so far, there’s enough work for everyone,” he said. “Homeowners have more discretionary income, so many are opting for landscape refreshers or at least making additions to existing designs.”

In Houston, for someone with a degree in horticulture or landscape architecture and design, the industry veteran estimated a median entry-level salary as around $40,000 to $60,000. Hourly workers can expect $11 and up, depending on the employer.

Although becoming a successful landscape business requires hard work, Corcorran said it is also very rewarding. “To be successful, I would tell any newcomer to the field to follow their hearts, work hard and never compromise your dreams and goals,” he said.

“I would tell someone who wants to work in landscaping to get an education,” he said. “Learn the science behind landscaping, like pesticides, soil quality and irrigation. Then go to work for an expert your respect and learn the ropes.”

McGarity said landscapers are in high demand for homeowners wanting to convert their traditional lawns and gardens to a more drought-resistant xeriscape.

“We are seeing more nurseries specializing in native and drought-tolerant plants as well as yuccas, cacti and other succulents,” he said.

“We’re also being requested to install drip irrigation and other water-conserving xeriscape elements, such as boulders, crushed granite and native plants into existing landscape designs,” Garfield said.

Gardening Tip – 14 September 2013

Gardening Tip – 14 September 2013

14/09/2013 , 9:19 AM by Peter Riley

We all
hate fruit flies getting into our garden. Luckily Gardening Guru John Gabriele
has some tips to help deal with them. 

Download Sept 14 Gardening Tip

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Sunday Gardening Tips

Sunday Gardening Tips

updated: Sep 08, 2013, 4:07 PM

By Lisa Ann Kelly

I wanted to write to Edhatters and say that, if you plant only three new plants in your garden this
Spring—-these are the three I recommend highly.

First: Did you know we can grow blueberries in Santa Barbara now? This is my second crop off one
plant this Spring/Summer. Look how huge these berries are! You will need two plants, for cross-
pollination. I recommend the “O’Neal,” which you can get from Knapp Nursery. The berries are larger
and tastier.

Second: If you like to see little yellow birds in your garden, then plant a few Cosmos flowers from seed,
and let the flowers die off—leaving the flower seeds for the Lesser goldfinches to harvest. Goldfinches
go nuts for Cosmos seeds.

Third: Plant a few hollyhock flowers. With hollyhocks you will attract those huge black Carpenter bees,
honeybees, hummingbirds and, as an added plus, the WestCoast painted ladies (butterflies) like to use
hollyhocks as a host plant (for butterfly caterpillars).

Gardener’s note:
Plant blueberries in a 1/2 barrel. Be sure and add peat moss and cottonseed meal (get it at Island Seed
Feed, in bulk). Yum. Fresh, organic blueberries, warm off the plant. Let the fun begin!

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Webworms unlikely to harm trees

A ton of tent caterpillars just ate the leaves on my tree. The branches are too high for us to cut off. Will the tree die?

Your tree should be fine. The fall webworm, a caterpillar of our native tiger moth, has two generations a year. The spring population is largely unnoticed, but the late summer-fall one is bigger — and this year it was record-setting. Their webs differ from tent caterpillars because tent caterpillars build in tree crotches (in spring only), whereas webworms build nests at branch tips. Webworms feed inside their webs. Because they’re native, more than 75 species of predators and parasites (insects and birds) normally control their population. Your simplest solution is to break up low webs with a pole and let predators feast on the caterpillars. Webs can be pruned out or removed by hand, but it’s not necessary. Though webs look unsightly now, they’ll disintegrate over the winter. Late season webworm feeding should have no lasting effect on your tree, because its leaves already manufactured plenty of energy reserves during the summer.

My basil is being ruined by a fuzzy coating with black spots under the leaves. First the leaves got smaller and a washed-out pale green. Now this. Can I spray something?

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    Overall garden winner: Growing from garden novices to blooming experts

  • Large garden winner: Inspired by nature's art

    Large garden winner: Inspired by nature’s art

  • Medium garden winner: Finally having time to spend in the garden pays off

    Medium garden winner: Finally having time to spend in the garden pays off

  • Small garden winner: Focus on color gives yard pizzazz

  • Plant of the week

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Your basil has downy mildew. You can’t solve this with spray. Harvest the symptomless leaves, then cut the plant to the base. It may have time to regrow some clean leaves. The pathogen cannot overwinter here; it comes in on infected plants or seed. If symptoms developed only recently, you had a clean plant that was infected from other basil in the area. Purple leaved varieties are most resistant. Some green varieties are more resistant than others.

University of Maryland Extension’s Home and Garden Information Center offers free gardening and pest information. Call 800-342-2507 or send a question to the website at extension.umd.edu/hgic.

Plant of the Week

Ironweed, New York Ironweed

Vernonia noveboracensis

The rich glowing purple of ironweed pops against the warm autumn hues of goldenrod and mums. Depending upon its site, ironweed may reach 4 feet in the back of the perennial bed or soar 7 feet or more. This Maryland native is a butterfly favorite. Plant in full sun to slight shade. A perennial, it likes moisture and is a good candidate for a rain garden. Give good air circulation by not overcrowding or planting flat against a wall. The brown fluffy seed heads are small and spread by wind. Its name may refer to the strength of its stems or its general constitution. — Ellen Nibali

Webworms unlikely to harm trees

A ton of tent caterpillars just ate the leaves on my tree. The branches are too high for us to cut off. Will the tree die?

Your tree should be fine. The fall webworm, a caterpillar of our native tiger moth, has two generations a year. The spring population is largely unnoticed, but the late summer-fall one is bigger — and this year it was record-setting. Their webs differ from tent caterpillars because tent caterpillars build in tree crotches (in spring only), whereas webworms build nests at branch tips. Webworms feed inside their webs. Because they’re native, more than 75 species of predators and parasites (insects and birds) normally control their population. Your simplest solution is to break up low webs with a pole and let predators feast on the caterpillars. Webs can be pruned out or removed by hand, but it’s not necessary. Though webs look unsightly now, they’ll disintegrate over the winter. Late season webworm feeding should have no lasting effect on your tree, because its leaves already manufactured plenty of energy reserves during the summer.

My basil is being ruined by a fuzzy coating with black spots under the leaves. First the leaves got smaller and a washed-out pale green. Now this. Can I spray something?

  • Related
  • Overall garden winner: Growing from garden novices to blooming experts

    Overall garden winner: Growing from garden novices to blooming experts

  • Large garden winner: Inspired by nature's art

    Large garden winner: Inspired by nature’s art

  • Medium garden winner: Finally having time to spend in the garden pays off

    Medium garden winner: Finally having time to spend in the garden pays off

  • Small garden winner: Focus on color gives yard pizzazz

  • Plant of the week

  • See more stories »

Your basil has downy mildew. You can’t solve this with spray. Harvest the symptomless leaves, then cut the plant to the base. It may have time to regrow some clean leaves. The pathogen cannot overwinter here; it comes in on infected plants or seed. If symptoms developed only recently, you had a clean plant that was infected from other basil in the area. Purple leaved varieties are most resistant. Some green varieties are more resistant than others.

University of Maryland Extension’s Home and Garden Information Center offers free gardening and pest information. Call 800-342-2507 or send a question to the website at extension.umd.edu/hgic.

Plant of the Week

Ironweed, New York Ironweed

Vernonia noveboracensis

The rich glowing purple of ironweed pops against the warm autumn hues of goldenrod and mums. Depending upon its site, ironweed may reach 4 feet in the back of the perennial bed or soar 7 feet or more. This Maryland native is a butterfly favorite. Plant in full sun to slight shade. A perennial, it likes moisture and is a good candidate for a rain garden. Give good air circulation by not overcrowding or planting flat against a wall. The brown fluffy seed heads are small and spread by wind. Its name may refer to the strength of its stems or its general constitution. — Ellen Nibali