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Technology, graphic design elevate modern wall coverings

Atmospheric and ethereal, some images defy references. There are unlikely patchwork montages, graphically arresting, which actually reference a colorful range of intricately patterned silk scarves. Watercolor abstractions in intense hues are spellbinding. Blooms of dahlias evoking more psychedelic than natural colors are explosive. Mega-scale, mural-sized photos are crisp and realistic. Brushstrokes and drips of paint may, in fact, be real.

This is the world of today’s most creative wallpaper design. It’s a modern movement with deep roots in nostalgia, both in history and in imagery.

Technological advances, including ink-jet printing, have opened a new world of scale, color and technique, one that has been happily embraced by artisans, many of whom have been trained in fine arts, graphic design and photography.

In an ongoing effort to push the envelope with unique surface coverings, in recent years we’ve seen an uptick in the use of leather, skin and more unconventional materials such as metal, resin, beads, shells and even Swarovski crystals, which add dimension as well as texture and sheen. One London-based company, Meystyle, even embeds LED lights into its sophisticated patterns.

Pattern certainly has played a pivotal role in dimensional or textural examples. But perhaps the most excitement these days is in the imagery itself — in traditional silk screens, hand-painting, and digital and print technology.

And these days, there is so much more than meets the eye. There’s a mix of sophistication, serendipity and wit at play with the creative process.

The latest collection from Trove, for example, features ethereal looks with names such as Nimbus, which evokes puffy clouds, and Heze, which features abstracted circles. For partners Jee Levin and Randall Buck, the design was a new, experimental adventure. The two created the images by making a series of paintings with flashlights and fiber-optic toys, exposing light to different photographic papers.

“It’s playfully lighthearted,” says Levin, who says the concept was inspired by New York City street fairs. “We started seeing weird, odd toys, like bracelets and wands. We thought, ‘Let’s play with those and use them as an unconventional art tools.’ So we gathered the pieces, brought them into a darkroom, used a variety of photographic papers and exposed light at different speeds. The experiment involved time, light and color. We learned that red does not actually expose light to the paper, and you can see interruptions in the patterning, sort of gestural brushstrokes. Color was the process, not just informing the process.”

Look closely at the patterns in Alyse Solomon’s wall coverings and you may begin to recognize elements. What they resemble may be anything from embroidery to pointillistic art to pixilations. One study of red lilies, composed on a ground of leaves that look as if they have been cut out of paper and set in, takes on a whole different vibe with a shift of color to fuchsia on olive, where you get lost in stylized pattern.

Solomon combines a background in graphic and textile design with photography. “I always create pattern and texture and color through the camera,” she says.

So the artistry has really given a boost to rethinking the wall in interiors.

“People are using wallpaper as a kind of artistic statement,” says Shanan Campanaro, creative director and founder of Eskayel, a company based in Brooklyn, N.Y. “It’s less expensive than a giant piece of art. You can use it as an accent rather than everywhere.”

Sundale set template for future charities

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NAMBOUR this weekend celebrates the value of an idea and the power communities that embrace ideas have to change lives for the better.

The 50th anniversary celebrations for Sundale yesterday recognised people from many backgrounds who came together to make the idea of honouring pioneering families a reality in the form of aged-care facilities that have continued to grow with demand.

We are now in an age where communities are demanding government to deliver infrastructure to service growth.

When a Nambour Apexian’s idea of a retirement centre collided back in 1960 with the generosity of three businessmen driven to return some of their success to their town, the best they could count on then was that government would match the contribution.

An ethic of self-help over handouts was the general rule. Nambour was not found wanting in that respect.

Sundale opened in 1963 with three cottages, 20 hostel units, a dining area, kitchen and supervisor’s flat.

Today it cares for 340 aged in their own homes, 400 in retirement villages and 330 through the provision of rehabilitation services. As well, it manages 50 rental properties and delivers childcare to 117 children.

The main kitchen at the James Grimes Care Centre prepares and delivers 1450 meals a day with a further 985 produced at its villages at Coolum, Palmwoods and Kilcoy. That’s a total 2435 meals a day or 90,000 a year

The celebrated Eden Rehabilitation Centre at Cooroy and the Sundale Rehabilitation centre in Nambour are setting benchmarks for treatment that is restoring quality to people’s lives struck by injury or illness.

A book, Sundale – Creating Communities 1963-2013, written by Elaine and Inga Green and published to coincide with this weekend’s

celebrations, tells the story of how the energy of a small group of community-minded people made that all possible.

Remarkably, what was then a small rural industry-based community, through imaginative fundraising and generosity of spirit generated in today’s dollars $1.42 million to complete the first project, raised $1.8 million, of which $250,000 was donated in just 13 weeks to start the James Grimes Care Centre, and $8.2 million to construct the first stage of the Rotary Garden Village on a five-hectare donated site.

All was done without ever once going into debt.

What is now an aged-care industry was born of that kind of community sacrifice.

It could be argued that the community spirit that today drives a multitude of charitable endeavours from Wishlist, through to Give Me 5 for Kids, the Island Charity Swim and countless runs and paddle-athons was built on the foundations laid by the effort to build Sundale.

It was the Nambour Chronicle which itself gave birth to the Sunshine Coast Daily that, at the Nambour Apex Club’s prompting ran a reader poll to determine the community’s greatest needs.

The response overwhelmingly was the simple proposition that Nambour and district’s frail aged should not have to leave familiar surroundings to move to Brisbane and elsewhere for care.

What followed was simply remarkable.

Nambour Apex Club’s decision to take advantage of a federal government subsidy that had just been put in place, coincided with the decision by business partners Clem Renouf, James Grimes and Roy Charlton to donate a seven hectare land parcel to their church for the same purpose.

A chance conversation on the footpath led to the businessmen throwing their lot behind the project, one of the largest ever undertaken by an Australian Apex club.

The three businessmen also each contributed 1000 pounds to the venture.

A foundation committee including Mr Grimes, Mr Renouf, Mr Charlton, Chronicle editor Peter Richardson, Noel Parry and Ian Hayne first met on May 27, 1960.

It was succeeded in mid-1961 by a management committee that included the three business partners, Ray Wilson, Robert “Bob” Sherwell, and Mr Hayne and Mr Parry. The town became consumed with the project to the point that for months it was as if the community’s every activity revolved around fundraising.

At one point 30 Apexians were collecting scrap metal three mornings a week before work and loading it into railway trucks.

Typical of the innovative approach to fundraising, Chronicle reporter Wilfred Griggs took to a pole in Currie St for 24 hours.

The next year in February Mr Hayne and Tommy Carter, clutching phone directories, took to a SEQEB-supplied pole on which Harcus and Poole built a room serviced by Michael’s Plumbing Works. Over the course of seven days the men contacted 5000 people by phone raising nearly 7000 pounds.

Incredibly for an organisation engaged in a complex process of almost continual expansion, Sundale didn’t gain charitable status in its own right until 1972.

For all of the previous decade all money raised was directed through the accounts of the Nambour Apex Club.

That, however, was far from the club’s sole contribution. Its members rostered regularly to do landscaping and maintenance work finishing off a day’s toil with a barbecue and singalong with Hazel Smith at the piano.

Hazel became a Sundale resident, entertaining guests for more than 30 years.

Rotary Club of Nambour nominees joined the committee of management in the early 1980s to help supervise construction of the Rotary Village at Sundale, adding to a successful corporate structure that has continued.

The 50th anniversary will see Sundale become a company limited by guarantee and its committee of management evolve into a board of directors with governance standards and responsibilities determined by ASIC.

Life after the floods – Skipton moves forward

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Skipton’s main street on January 15, 2011, was part lake, part river.

LESS than three years ago Skipton was a muddy mess.

Floodwaters from the overflowing Mount Emu Creek devastated the town’s low-lying homes and businesses in September 2010 and again in January 2011.

While there are still signs of the damage today, the resilient community is fighting back.

Skipton is determined to change its reputation as a small spot on the map for people driving along the Glenelg Highway.

It wants to cement its future as an overnight tourist stop and a commuter town for Ballarat workers.

The pub hopes to be up and running by Christmas, nearly two years after it was forced to shut when rising water from the creek rushed through the ground floor and filled the cellar.

Corangamite Shire has also recently fielded inquiries from three businesses wanting to set up in town.

A new development plan, given the tick of approval by the council last week, has listed five priority projects the community hopes can be completed in time for the town’s 175th anniversary celebrations next year.

Further development of the Ballarat to Skipton Rail Trail, landscaping improvements, creating sites for camping or caravans and installing new entry signs are on the list.

Residents John Kavanagh and Lilla Orton have urged the council to get behind the community’s vision for Skipton. Mrs Orton said the town needed more residents and more businesses and the community plan was a start.

“It may be baby steps, but I think that’s how you’ve got to go,” she said.

“It’s all about improving the town, not just for the tourists but the people who live there.

“We need commuters from Ballarat. We’ve got a country lifestyle (and) it’s an easy commute.”

Mr Kavanagh said the $30,000 earmarked to improve the rail trail link into town would be a big boost.

“It’s a great thing for tourism. A lot of people use it, but more funding would increase its usage.”

He said Skipton was not big enough for a large caravan park, but was well positioned for overnight stays.

“Free camping” was a growing concept for people travelling in caravans and campers with their own self-contained facilities such as toilets, showers and power, Mr Kavanagh said.

Tourists kept an eye out for spots with “RV (recreation vehicle) friendly town” signs as they travelled around Australia: “You know when you go there, you’re welcome and invited, and people appreciate that.”

He said the 157-turbine Stockyard Hill wind farm, between Skipton and Beaufort, would soon provide a major boost to the town, with an estimated 400 jobs required in construction and 30 to 50 ongoing.

The shire’s community development officer Gary Moorfield said Skipton was the 10th town to complete a community plan as part of the Building Stronger Corangamite Communities project. He said 48 people, representing 10 per cent of the town’s population, had a chance to suggest ideas during the consultation phase, initially identifying a list of 20 suitable projects.

“The trauma of the 2010 and 2011 Skipton flood events and the protracted and ongoing period of recovery and adjustment have left their mark upon the community,” Mr Moorfield said.

He said the community planning initiative provided an opportunity to “gather and harness community motivation” and make sure some long-held aspirations were completed.

Cr Ruth Gstrein praised Skipton residents’ resilience.

“When I was mayor, Skipton was one of my favourite towns because the community helped itself,” she said.

Cr Jo Beard said development of a community plan was an exciting process and showed the passion people had for their towns.

Mayor Chris O’Connor acknowledged that Skipton was the town located furthest from Corangamite’s Camperdown offices and it was only natural that its sense of “engagement and connectedness” suffered as a result.

“But we do love you, don’t worry about that,” he told the town representatives.

“We know you’re there.”

malexander@fairfaxmedia.com.au

Shiloh backyard has it made in the shade

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Carroll and Sandy Wheeldon are a gardening team.

“I am the one with all the ideas,” said Sandy. “He’s the labor.”

It works.

The Wheeldons, both retired, moved into their Shiloh home in 2001. They bought the lot partly because of a towering white oak tree in the middle of the backyard.

“It puts the house in shade by 1 in the afternoon,” said Sandy.

The white oak stood in the midst of dense woods. Before their five-bedroom brick home was built, they started reclaiming the backyard.

“It was a jungle,” Sandy said.

“I pulled a 63-foot grape vine out of that tree,” said Carroll. “I tugged and tugged. Another one, me and a guy bigger than me were swinging on. We couldn’t get it out of the tree.”

They won the battle.

The neat, deeply wooded garden along the back of their yard is a shady oasis with winding brick paths and shade-loving perennials. An arched wood bridge spans a usually dry rock creek bed. Statues add interest. Wind chimes made by Sandy’s father, hang from a sassafras tree.

“We love the whole setting,” said Carroll, “how peaceful and quiet it is back here.”

“I love to come out from 8 to 10 in the morning,” said Sandy. “Kids are in school. People are at work. All you hear is water running and birds.”

The sound of water running comes from a waterfall and pond, located on the sunny side of the yard. Goldfish filled the pond until a blue heron spotted the action. In two days, he cleaned out 35 six-inch goldfish.

The water feature became part of their yard after Sandy spotted just the right one at a St. Louis home show. With their landscaping, the backyard waterfall and pond turned out nice enough that they were invited to be on the St. Louis Water Gardening Society’s tour last year.

“The most frequently asked question on the tour was, ‘What do you have hanging back there?’ said Carroll, pointing out white blocks in the garden. “It’s Irish Spring soap. If you put it out, deer won’t bother plants.”

The Wheeldons credit Skip Soule from Lagniappe (a Cajun term that means “a little something extra”) of O’Fallon, with the landscaping around the house that includes rows of azalea bushes and rhododendron. They were put in the year they moved in. They invited him back to build their circular garden walk, and put in shade plants.

The most recent project was a pondless waterfall in the front yard.

“We just picked him out of the phone book,” said Sandy, walking along a garden path. “He knows plants really well. He’s good at picking plants that blossom at different times of year.

“These are bleeding hearts, which in the spring are gorgeous.”

Skip, a landscaper for more than 30 years, tries out new plants on his own wooded lot before introducing them to clients’ landscapes. The Wheeldons’ yard has been an ongoing project for him.

The slope of the yard called for retaining walls.

“There are 13 tons of gravel in this one,” said Carroll. “I know. I hauled it all in.”

The garden with its ferns, hostas and variety of trees continues to evolve.

“We came up with ideas from here, there and elsewhere,” said Sandy.

When grass doesn’t grow in the deep shade, they try plants. There’s not a weed in sight.

“What we do, we wait until the oak blossoms fall,” said Carroll,” then we put the mulch down. We put it down heavy and we don’t have to pull weeds the rest of the summer.”

Just beyond the pond is the Wheeldons’ vegetable garden. It was a sea of red tomatoes last week. They also grow peppers and cucumbers.

“I probably will be canning this afternoon, 50 to 100 quarts,” said Sandy. “I can whole tomatoes.”

“We don’t have to buy them for spaghetti or chili,” said Carroll.

“Because my mother canned, she taught me to can,” said Sandy. “I have never bought a can of tomatoes in my life. Now, my mother is 85. She’s not able to, so I take her tomatoes.”

Carroll is originally from Washington. Sandy is from Missouri.

“My dad grew up in central Missouri. around Fort Leonard Wood,” she said.

Sandy met Carroll met when he was stationed there.

The Wheeldons moved to the metro-east in 1988. Carroll, a U.S. Army lieutenant-colonel, retired from the service two years later, then took a computer job with Mitre Corp.

“We liked Shiloh,” said Sandy. “Everything was close that we need, but it was still country living. We liked the open area.”

“The main reason we picked this lot, it gives you the privacy. It’s gorgeous in the wintertime when you get snow.”

Both retired three years ago in July.

“I was not allowed to relax until she did,” said Carroll.

“When we’re out here, we look at each other and wonder, ‘How did we do al this and work at same time? We do not know.”

They do know they’ve slowed down in the last five or six years. For the last four, they’ve talked about selling their house.

“He was ready,” said Sandy. “It broke my heart.”

Now, they’re both ready to downsize, to move to a condo and let someone else inherit their oasis.

“We want to enjoy retirement,” she said, “and do some traveling.”

Water-wise landscaping workshops coming this fall

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The city of Napa is offering water-wise landscaping workshops to help residents save water by sharing the latest techniques in sprinkler scheduling, drip irrigation, lawn removal, rainwater capture and garden design.

“This very dry year serves as a powerful reminder that outdoor conservation is still the key to a reliable water future,” said Patrick Costello, water resources analyst for the city of Napa.

The city is teaming with the Napa County Resource Conservation District and Napa County Public Works to present this educational series.

For four consecutive weeks beginning Sept. 16, Monday evening sessions will be held in the Little Theater on the Vintage High School campus from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

As a bonus, there will be two Saturday morning hands-on sessions Sept. 28 and Oct. 5 beginning at 10 a.m. centered around developing the new Vintage High School Rain Garden and Water-Wise Landscape.

The series features expert presenters, free water-saving tools, literature, door prizes and information on current local rebate incentives.

Some special offerings this year include the Sept. 28 Bay-Friendly Lose Your Lawn talk and an Oct. 7 author appearance. Workshops are free, but residents are urged to register for specific dates by calling 707-252-4188 ext. 116, or emailing frances@naparcd.org.

The schedule:

• Irrigating Smartly, Sept. 16. After learning to “take control of your controller” using a new online tool/smartphone app and hearing about weather-based “Smart” controllers, watch Harmony Farm Supply staff resolve the mysteries of drip irrigation.

• Preparing Your Site, Sept. 23. Following a summary of the eight principles of water-wise landscaping, local master gardeners will review local soils and the critical importance of aeration, amendments and mulch.

• Learn how to remove your lawn without tearing it out, Sept. 28. There will be a hands-on demonstration of sheet mulching, followed by an optional hour of tabling where you can get one-on-one advice from a garden design expert.

• Capturing the Rain, Sept. 30. How to design and install a rain garden on your property. See the best techniques for capturing rainwater to supplement your irrigation supply. Napa County’s rebate incentives for rain gardens and rain barrels/cisterns will be reviewed.

• Lay the Groundwork, Oct. 5. Be a part of the team developing the Vintage High School Rain Garden and Water-Wise Landscape, a valuable new educational resource for the Napa community showcasing sustainable gardening.

• Choosing the Right Plants, Oct. 7. A special presentation by Sarah Sutton, author of “The New American Front Yard: Kiss Your Grass Goodbye,” and a plant show that will demonstrate that drought-tolerant is anything but boring.

For details, visit the water conservation section at cityofnapa.org/water.

Go behind scenes to learn how Busch Gardens landscapes

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For 23 years, Busch Gardens Williamsburg has been named “The Most Beautiful Park” by the National Amusement Park Historical Association.

Maintaining that designation for the park’s 200 acres takes planning, coordination and expertise from landscapers like Sheila Cox, a Virginia certified horticulturist and member of the park’s landscaping team since 2002. She’s also one of the guides that now give the Landscape Life Tour, a 2½-hour behind-the-scenes look at how the park cares for its 150 flower beds and creates its many container gardens.

During the tour, you visit the greenhouse where the park grows much of its own plant material and uses beneficial insects to naturally control pests. You also learn about the park’s green initiatives such as rain barrels that collect water for reuse and how its certified habitat garden with native plants provides food, water, shelter and nesting for wildlife.

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Busch Gardens Williamsburg, 1 Busch Gardens Boulevard, Williamsburg, VA 23185, USA

Most importantly, a successful garden starts with good bones, according to Sheila, a passionate gardener in her personal life, too.

“For Busch Gardens, crape myrtle is among the trees that are used to provide structure to the park’s landscape design,” she says.

Crape myrtle offer a variety of color options and in cooler months feature visually-appealing, exfoliating bark. To add dimension to support many containers, the park also uses hedges like Winter Gem boxwood, which gives strong, green coloration from late spring through the late winter months.

Secondly, focal points define your yard’s theme.

“For the park’s formal gardens in Italy, fan and needle palms were selected as the focal point, both for their look and for their hardiness,” Cox said.

“To blend in color and a tropical feel, the formal gardens in Italy also include green and blood bananas. The slight variation in leaf color in the blood bananas provides additional visual interest. In the France area of the park, Knockout roses were used to create a ‘French country’ style garden. Knockout roses work well as a feature element or as support in a mixed bed.

Finally, color and form can be achieved without flowers.

“From late spring into fall, croton varieties provide colorful, wide, waxy leaves in many Busch Gardens’ flower beds and containers,” she said.

“These sturdy tropical plants have a base of yellow with green, orange and burgundy accents within each leaf. Colors and shapes can vary to work in many landscape applications.

“Coleus is versatile and is easily managed with minimal pruning or can be kept within a tight size requirement for a more formal look. Coleus varieties are also a widely-used in the park’s late spring-to-fall flower beds and containers. Park guests may notice several varieties layered in beds within structured shapes or blended into containers with daisies, petunias or coneflowers.”

Sheila’s tips

Plan before you plant. It’s really easy to go to the store and fall in love with everything. However, look at your space and figure out what you need, as well as what you want for your yard. For example, my yard is a full of flower beds — great for children to play hide-and-seek but not for playing ball. Once you decide where you want to make changes, you can spend your money more wisely when you shop for plants.

Take your time creating your dream garden. Plants will fill in, shade will replace sun. You will feel more successful if you concentrate your efforts a bit, maybe one area per season, rather than trying to do everything at once.

Get ideas from lots of sources. A visit to places such as Busch Gardens, local park and even neighborhood yards can give ideas that will work for you. It also helps to see plants at their mature sizes and in color combinations before you buy them

Try to reduce turf in your space. Often times, people spend a lot of time mowing and then spend money on water and fertilizer so they can spend more time mowing. Any time even a small amount of turf can be replaced with a mixed bed, the variety of plant material that replaces the turf will slow runoff when it rains and create spaces that provide a habitat for birds and insects.

Avoid using chemicals in your garden if possible. Can you manage any pests with beneficial bugs such as ladybugs or praying mantis? Can you tolerate some plant damage? If you plant milkweed, for instance, it may look unattractive when it’s doing its job as a monarch caterpillar’s food source, but it’s a great addition to a yard. Put it in the back of the bed with other tall perennials and then go out and enjoy the show.

Water smart. Choose plants that fit well in your zone and any microclimates you have. Place those plants with like water needs together to make the yard easier to maintain. Watering early in the day is usually better for disease prevention, if supplemental water is required.

Busch Gardens Sheep Help Maintain Landscape Through Grazing

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WYDaily.com is your source for free news and information in Williamsburg, James City York Counties.

Busch Gardens’ Scottish blackface sheep are helping maintain the park’s landscape through grazing. (Photo courtesy Busch Gardens Williamsburg)

Some of Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s animals may inspire other SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment theme parks to put their sheep on landscaping duty.

Busch Gardens is focusing the grazing efforts of its 17 Scottish Blackface sheep on targeted areas to help beautify the park and cut down on human labor.

The pilot program at Busch Gardens is the first of its kind among the theme parks of Seaworld Parks and Entertainment, which has one of the world’s largest animal collections across its 11 parks.

Using sheep to maintain the landscape has eliminated the need for about 100 gallons of fuel per year, 288 labor hours per year and has reduced the need for powered lawn equipment. The sheep, which eat 2.5 to 3 pounds of grass each per day, also produce manure for landscaping.

The sheep were trained earlier this summer and now, a chicken and turkey crew is being assembled as a cleanup crew. The crew will comprise two turkeys and four chickens that will follow the grazing sheep, spreading manure while eating ticks and parasites.

“The chickens and turkeys are still young, so they’re in the barn getting used to the sheep, hearing the music in the park and undergoing training sessions,” said Stephanie Peters, an animal care specialist at the park, in a release. “They’re being trained to recall to the trainer with a cowbell and also to enter an animal carrier when called. Eventually we will deploy them under the roller coaster and let them do their thing.”

The sheep currently spend about five hours a day grazing along the banks of the Rhine River and below Verbolten, which was examined before setting loose the sheep.

“Before launching the program, we extensively studied the toxicology of the plants in the park,” said Jay Tacey, zoological operations manager, in a news release. “We scoured the area and removed any plants that might not be good for sheep,” said Tacey. “We haven’t had to remove much. The sheep graze on what they’re supposed to.”

Getting the sheep used to the roller coaster took two days of training.

“We took them out for an hour or two in the morning before the park opened when Verbolten was not running. After several positive tests, we brought the sheep out while the coaster was operating. When one of the coasters came around, we would give the sheep food and other forms of positive reinforcement as the coaster train passed over them,” said Peters in the release. “If the sheep ignored the ride or moved close to a trainer instead of running away, we positively reinforced this behavior.”

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Tips for September gardening in Charlotte’s University City

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In Carolina Piedmont gardens, they say, September is our second April.

This kind of chipper slogan reminds me of “60 is the new 50,” another talk-show maxim that’s a mix of wishful thinking, denial and true belief in technology, with a little “Faust” thrown in for good measure.

Gardeners start as wide-eyed idealists but quickly evolve into curmudgeonly realists, so skepticism is perfectly understandable.

In the veggie patch, however, there is some truth to the idea that fall is our second spring. Cool-season crops we love – lettuce, broccoli, slaw cabbage, collards – mature to maximum sweetness in cooler weather. If you plant them in September here and nurse them through the hot spells as young’uns, they grow to delicious maturity later in the fall.

Here are some tricks of the trade:

• First, don’t wait. Hopefully, you already have some fall things going, started in mid-August. If you haven’t, get your broccoli, cabbage, collards and the like in as soon as possible. Same goes for beets and carrots, using varieties that mature in less than 70 days. Lettuce, mustard greens and radishes are all a bit more tolerant, but you still are wise to get them in by mid-September.

• Second trick, use transplants for all but the root crops and mustard greens, to give you a head start. They are readily available, in case you have not started your own.

• Last, keep your plants watered, especially during hot spells. I believe in mulch, but don’t overdo it; an inch of straw to cool the soil is fine. Some gardeners rig up shade for September transplants, and it is a perfectly good strategy short term. Just be ready to remove any shading as we move from summer to fall, and days begin to shorten.

Some summer crops are going strong and benefit from attention and regular picking. Peppers are my prime example; for me, this is always their best time of year. But I have to stay on top of picking (no problem; peppers freeze well), and I sometimes have to brace stems. I like using those little green bamboo sticks, functional, unobtrusive and biodegradable. Can’t beat ’em.

This cool, soggy summer, our tomatoes were way below spectacular. One variety stands out for breaking the pattern – Early Girl. Tomahto snobs may turn up their noses at this workhorse hybrid, preferring Brandywine and other ballyhooed heirlooms, but at our house it’s been Early Girls satisfying those irresistible cravings for tomato sandwiches over a long, wet, pleasantly cool but tomato-challenged summer. (Meanwhile, I’ve had a bumper crop of basil – must be pesto time.)

There are plenty of other September garden chores. Bugs and weeds have huge head of steam, and both require conscientious control efforts. Watch for stink bugs, and relentlessly hand-pick them (they come up to the tops of plants after watering).

Pigweed and other summer party crashers are setting seed. Get after them before they throw that seed everywhere for next year. Weeds with deeper roots are easier to pull after a rain, but try to get rid of them when they are small.

Leave your shrubs and trees alone this month. Plants need to harden off before the rigors of winter, even in our mild climate. Don’t add fertilizer or manure (except, of course, in the vegetable patch), and be especially careful not to prune plants that bear autumn flowers (such as Sasanqua camellias) or set berries (like winterberry holly, Ilex verticillata). Unless you want a dull spring, keep your nippers strictly away from azaleas and other spring bloomers.

Garden centers will soon be filled with “instant color” mums. I’m not crazy about most chrysanthemums, frankly. White mums are associated with funerals in Asia, Eastern Europe and elsewhere. Still, if you want to have a “killer” landscape, you have an endless variety of flower and leaf colors, at bargain prices. Pick compact, healthy plants with tight buds. I prefer to use mums in pots, move them around and then feed them to the compost when they have done their job.

That said, mums will grow here as perennials if you stick them in the ground. But next season and beyond, they won’t look anything like the way they do fresh out of the nursery, tanked with more growth enhancers than a baseball slugger. We’ve had one recycled mum by the mailbox at the end of our driveway since 1996, and it offers up just a couple of modest blooms each year. White, of course.

Independent restaurants could take a few tips from Olive Garden and Outback

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After introducing himself, a server asks companions and me if we’d like a gratis taste of the wine the Italian restaurant is highlighting tonight. We nod, and a splash of red is poured into the stemware pre-set on the table. Moments later, a basket of piping hot breadsticks, bundled in linen, follows.

If nothing else, Olive Garden makes a hospitable impression with free wine and warm bread.

Another meal away from home, a relaxed American restaurant lures friends and me into its dining room with all sorts of promises affixed to all sorts of banners, chalkboards and table tents: late hours, discounts for military members on Mondays and “ladies“ on Wednesday, even curbside pickup service. Spotting my group on the sidewalk, a hostess races to open the door for us; seated in a booth, we spring for a deal that gives every diner a taste of two entrees for as little as $10.99.

Convenience, value and more recently a solution to “food envy“ help explain why Applebee’s is the world’s largest casual chain restaurant, with $4.2 billion in domestic sales last year.

Meanwhile, at a meat market with a disputable association to another continent, colorful spice jars filled with the restaurant’s secret seasonings practically turn the foyer into an art gallery. Nearby is a cold-water dispenser with a spa sensibility: sliced lemons and limes floating inside.

If you have to wait for a table, Outback Steakhouse, which is in the process of freshening up half of its 979 restaurants, wants to make sure you’re comfortable.

Are there tips independent restaurants can pick up from casual chain concepts, a category loosely defined as operations involving full service and bars, hold the high prices? A recent tour of some of the biggest brands in the business – Cheesecake
Factory, Red Lobster and TGI Friday’s included – suggests that warm
bread and meal deals reinforce consistency and value, hallmarks of that
dining segment.

One of the big advantages many chains have over sole proprietors is the time and effort they take to train the staff, spending from $25,000 to $500,000 on in-depth training programs that touch on product knowledge, service strategies, pre-shift briefings and continual coaching, or fine-tuning, says Bob Brown. He’s president of the Ashburn-based Bob Brown Service Solutions and a consultant who has coached local chains (Great American Restaurants, Matchbox, ThinkFoodGroup), national ones (Olive Garden, Red Lobster) and even Disney.

Some independent restaurant operators “don’t know what they don’t know,“ says Brown. It’s one thing to give a server a menu and have him memorize it, quite another to “bring it alive“ through a “food show“ that let’s him see, say, the whole fish, smell the saffron and touch the fresh rosemary used in a restaurant’s dishes. The latter lesson, says Brown, “stays in your mind forever.“

It helps, of course, that casual-dining concepts typically involve a single menu.

Applebee’s, Tottenville, hosted a “Dining to Donate” event in July, the proceeds of which benefited Autism Speaks. From left, Matthew Ladis, Cody Smith, Julia Ladis and Alexa Shannon Gravitch. Ten percent of the proceeds of the meals from the all-day event were donated to the non-profit organization when the Applebee’s diners identified themselves as someone who was invited to participate and support the organization.Staten Island Advance File Photo
The stakes for restaurants of all stripes are high. Trips to casual-dining chain restaurants account for 11 percent of all industry visits, and if that doesn’t sound like many bowls of pasta or slices of cheesecake, consider this: As of March, Americans had eaten away from home 61 billion times this year. Still, that’s down from more than 62 billion industry visits in 2009, according to NPD Group, the market research giant. Casual chain restaurants, which experienced no growth over last year, have “lost a lot of ground,“ says Bonnie Riggs, an NPD restaurant industry analyst. But traffic at independent restaurants is down 2 percent compared with the same months in 2012.

Hit hardest by the recession, millennials have retreated the most, cutting back 50 percent over the past five years. Trying to lure them in, Applebee’s recently launched “Take Two,“ which lets patrons of any age select two main courses for under $13 and thus erase what the chain calls “food envy“: in this case, the nagging wonder whether you should have ordered the four-ounce blackened sirloin with potatoes tossed in tomato-pesto sauce rather than the lemon shrimp fettuccine with fresh spinach and lemon zest your tablemate got. (Go for the steak.)

Baby boomers, who were raised on fast food and have traded up to full-service establishments, “keep the industry at least flat,“ says Riggs.

Biting into the casual chain business, particularly during lunch hours, are quick-service but high-quality places including Chipotle, which uses naturally raised, antibiotic-free pork, and Sweetgreen, the salad purveyor committed to buying ingredients in season and from local farmers.

“Everybody is going after the same very small discretionary budget,“ says Kathy Hayden, a food service analyst with Mintel, another leading market research firm.

Appreciated for their consistency but mindful of the need to stay fresh, casual chain restaurants are responding by “pulling out all the stops,“ says Riggs.

This summer, Olive Garden rolled out Tastes of Italy Small Plates, a promotion of snacks including grilled chicken spiedini and risotto “bites“ at $3.99 each. The selections address a nation that’s still hungry for small plates. “People like something new,“ says Jay Spenchian, Olive Garden’s vice president of marketing.

For its part, the 700-unit Red Lobster revamped its menu last October so that 60 percent of its list is priced under $15 and a quarter of the choices are non-seafood, helping eliminate the dreaded “veto vote“ by consumers who don’t like surf. In January, the chain reached out to Hispanic diners with an advertising campaign inviting them to try “La Experiencia de Red Lobster.“

Watching your weight? Casual chain restaurants are eager to help you monitor any dieting, with Applebee’s serving lemon Parmesan shrimp over rice at under 550 calories and Olive Garden devoting a section of its menu to Lighter Italian Fare: lasagna primavera with grilled chicken and other entrees at under 575 calories. All this, even though only 24 percent of U.S. consumers say they eat healthfully when they dine out, the NPD Group reported this month.

In an attempt to attract more patrons, many chains are extending their hours or “day parts.“ Applebee’s stays open at least until midnight where permitted, and Outback Steakhouse now serves lunch seven days a week.

A quarter of casual chain customers are known as “deal seekers“ looking for the best price. “Meal deals get in traffic,“ says Hayden, the food service analyst, “but not loyalty.“ Ultimately, “it’s the food that matters.“

Bret Thorn, senior food editor at the trade publication Nation’s Restaurant News, says the changes in casual chain restaurants are “driven by a more discerning public, and that’s driven by an increased interest in food“ – thank you, “Top Chef“ and not-so-top chefs on TV and elsewhere.

Even basic dishes are being rethought. One of the first things Mike Archer, a former executive with Morton’s the Steakhouse, did when he became president of Applebee’s five years ago was reinvent its hamburger, previously made from frozen patties and partially cooked in advance. These days, the casual chain’s hamburger is made with fresh ground chuck and grilled to order. Applebee’s sandwich will never be mistaken for a Palena burger, but this diner appreciated the juicy patty, the toasted bun and the gentle price, $8.49, frozen (but not inedible) fries included.

“Chain restaurants are good at finding that sweet spot between the adventurous and the bizarre,“ says Thorn, who points to the arrival of sweet Thai chili sauce to accompany McNuggets at McDonald’s. The general public often has more of a taste for what “seems authentic“ than the real deal, he says. Of the new “Korean BBQ Chicken Stir-Fry“ topped with kimchi slaw at P.F. Chang’s, he says, “I don’t think your average Korean would recognize that as authentic Korean . . . but for P.F. Chang’s customers, it’s close enough.“ Similarly, the unlimited breadsticks and fried lasagna at Olive Garden speak more to mainstream American than traditional Italian tastes.

Yet, says Thorn, “once people’s horizons are expanded, they stay expanded.“ The house wines at Olive Garden, for instance, have been modified to be less sweet and more aroma-driven and fruit-forward.

The president of Applebee’s tells his corporate kitchen team in Kansas City “you have more influence on how America eats“ than even the starriest chefs in the country. Given that his company serves a million people a day, Archer could be right.

Don’t expect independents to start peddling two-for-one entrees a la Olive Garden, which recently allowed customers to choose one of five main courses to eat in the restaurant and another to take home for later. Given the huge price breaks offered by most chain restaurants, “they’re almost giving the food away,“ says Gus DeMillo of Passion Food Hospitality, a collection of restaurants that includes Ceiba, DC Coast and District Commons in Washington. “They’re buying in mass quantities and selling food for cheap. We’re more about quality of food and creating relationships with people in our restaurants.“ Plus, he adds, “there’s only so much tilapia you can sell.“

Not that independent operators aren’t chasing after stomachs and wallets, too, as evinced by their participation in Restaurant Week, happy hour and pre-theater promotions, among other recipes for filling dining room seats.

Culinary epiphanies eluded me as I explored the menus of my subjects, but some dishes made me see glints of light if not actual stars. The minestrone at the Olive Garden has a pleasant homey quality (“We make our soups and sauces from scratch,“ the chain’s vice president of marketing told me), and the kale salad with almonds, apples, cranberries and green beans at the Cheesecake Factory is something I could see White House assistant chef Sam Kass tossing for the first family, albeit with less of the buttermilk-black pepper dressing. The recipient of the nine-ounce sirloin at my table at Outback Steakhouse praised the $13.99 entree even before he sliced into it. “This looks like it does on the menu!“ (I preferred the snowy baked potato to the grilled-as-we-asked-for-it beef.) As for Outback’s nearly 2,000-calorie Bloomin’ Onion, the subject of several paragraphs in a recent review of the chain by LA Weekly’s food critic Besha Rodell, I concur with the native Australian’s assessment: “Crispy, oily, sweet, crunchy,“ she wrote. “A big slick of salt and grease. Slightly disgusting.“ And then: “Completely addictive.“

My sorriest meals were endured at Red Lobster and TGI Friday’s.

The only reason I could imagine returning to the seafood chain is for another fluffy Cheddar Bay biscuit, a warm welcome currently celebrating its 25th anniversary and popular enough to be sold as a mix at Sam’s Club. Otherwise, everything I witnessed at a branch in Silver Spring, from the listless lone lobster in the fish tank to the one-note clam chowder and the corn on the cob that tasted as if it had been cooked in a dishwasher, made me wish I were just about anyplace else – anyplace else, that is, but TGI Friday’s, where the dated striped decor competes with the hamburger (where’s the beef flavor?) in a blank bun to offend the senses. Like a lot of the competition, TGI Friday’s has brushed up on food trends, although its supposedly “Thai“ pulled pork tacos smack of canned tuna scrunched in tortillas made from plastic.

Speaking of plastic, here’s something chains can learn from independents: Paper menus don’t just feel better in a customer’s hands, they suggest more style and neatness. Just about every shiny chain menu I was handed felt sticky, none more so than the 200-plus item-filled binder (available in large print and Braille, by the way) from the Cheesecake Factory.

As much as analysts, restaurant owners and critics talk about
consumer interest in value, freshness and flavor, food isn’t always
foremost on diners’ minds.

In a nationwide household survey conducted last year by the National Restaurant Association, 1,000 adults were asked what factors influenced their choice of where to eat away from home. “Recommendation from family member or friend,“ responded 94 percent of households. Almost as important, 82 percent of the participants revealed: “Ease of parking at the restaurant.“

How to design a closet

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Posted: Sunday, September 1, 2013 12:00 am

How to design a closet

BY ROSEMARY SADEZ FRIEDMANN
Scripps Howard News Service

Richmond Times-Dispatch

It seems as if we never have enough closet space, and it seems the little space we have in our closets is crammed and unorganized. Let’s see how we can fix that.

Start by removing the clothes from the rods and all the stuff that is on the shelves and floors. Place the items you’ve taken out into groups of similar items, such as slacks in one pile, shirts in another, skirts in another and so on.

Then categorize each group into colors: all the tan tops together, all the blue tops together and so on. While you are sorting through and organizing items, get rid of things you haven’t used in a while. If you can’t part with some things but don’t have a use for them, put them in a box and store them in the attic or someplace other than your closet. You still have your treasures, but they won’t take up space in the closet. Items you can part with should go to charity.

Measure the space available in the closet (length, width, depth). Now estimate how much room you will need for each of the groups of clothing, shoes, bags, etc. Draw a simple template onto paper with the size of the closet. Create “blocks” in the closet template, sort of like building blocks, and figure out what to put where. Tops and shorts can go one over the other on rods. If you don’t mind hanging slacks by draping them over a hanger, then they can also go on a rod under the tops. Blocks for shoes and handbags should be drawn in, too. Include an area for longer-hanging items, such as dresses and, if you prefer, hanging pants the long way. In your drawing, provide a high shelf for hats, luggage or large handbags.

Provide a space on a wall in the closet to hang belts and necklaces. If you have space in the closet for drawers, install them for underwear, PJs, socks and jewelry. If there is no space for drawers in the closet, then store these things in the bedroom in the dresser drawers.

Hooks in the closet serve good purposes. Robes are one example of what the hooks can be used for.

Of course, the size of some closets just won’t meet your needs no matter how much you work at it, but these ideas can help somewhat.

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