Daily Photo Galleries

Friday – May 24, 2013

Wednesday – May 22, 2013

Tuesday – May 21, 2013

By Tribune-Review

Published: Saturday, May 25, 2013, 9:00 p.m.

Updated 9 hours ago

Q: Can you share ideas for a partially grassy rocky slope? It borders the driveway and doesn’t look so good. I used crown vetch (the highway jewel), and it filled up with weeds after several years. I would appreciate your ideas.

A: Your slope sounds a bit like a gardener’s nightmare. Not only is it a physical challenge to work there, but it’s difficult to find the right kinds of plants to grow successfully in such conditions. However, you do have a few options to work with.

First, if you don’t mind the grass and existing crown vetch already growing there, you can leave it be and just plant new things in and around it. The main benefit of allowing those plants to remain is the erosion control they provide. If it were my slope, this is the route I probably would choose. I would purchase plugs of several different tough-but-beautiful native plants and tuck them into the slope.

Some good plant choices include coreopsis, asters, goldenrod, coneflowers, yarrow, blackeyed Susans, bunch grasses, salvias and the like. Keep them watered for the first season or two until they establish, then after that, they’re on their own. To maintain the slope, just mow or weed whack it once each spring. Yes, it will look a little rowdy, but the slope will be held in place, and as you continue to add a few new plants every year, the flowers will fill in any and all bare patches.

If you want a clean slate, you’ll have to kill or otherwise remove the grass and crown vetch, which is not going to be easy. I would never suggest someone plant crown vetch on purpose (unless you are PennDOT — and even then, its merits are debatable), because it is so difficult to control. If you do manage to strip the area clean, I would suggest planting a mixture of dense-growing groundcovers over the entire area. Sweet woodruff, lamium, ivy, creeping phlox and other low-growing, tough perennials would suit, but you’ll have to keep the area carefully weeded and watered for several years until the ground cover completely fills in.

Another option would be to seed the entire bank with a wildflower mixture, but again, you’ll still need to keep it weeded and watered until it’s established.

I also might consider adding a few large boulders to the hillside, as they can fill up a good bit of space, add some interest and help hold the slope in place. They also can be used as supports for some colorful container plantings if you nestle them into the bank and keep them relatively level.

Horticulturist Jessica Walliser co-hosts “The Organic Gardeners� at 7 a.m. Sundays on KDKA Radio. She is the author of several gardening books, including “Grow Organic� and “Good Bug, Bad Bug.� Her website is www.jessicawalliser.com.

Send your gardening or landscaping questions to tribliving@tribweb.com or The Good Earth, 503 Martindale St., 3rd Floor, D.L. Clark Building, Pittsburgh, PA 15212.

1. Ribbon, wristband solemn reminders for Penguins coach Bylsma

2. Robinson: Steelers rookie Wheaton could be impact receiver

3. Key acquisitions have Penguins primed for run to Stanley Cup

4. Veteran Clark envisions finishing career as a member of Steelers

5. Penguins GM Shero: ‘Whole idea’ was improvement during playoffs

6. Starkey: Pirates’ Huntington never looked so good

7. Penguins to face Bruins in Eastern Conference final

8. Biertempfel: Pirates’ Alvarez continues improvement at third base

9. 40 years later, an Indy 500 tragedy too painful to forget

10. Marijuana supporters rally at the Point

11. Pirates notebook: Cutter a boon for Melancon

You must be signed in to add comments

To comment, click the Sign in or sign up at the very top of this page.

There are currently no comments for this story.

Subscribe today! Click here for our subscription offers.

LINCOLN, Neb. — It started with a scent that Adam Anderson didn’t want on his hands any more — the “girly” smelling soap his girlfriend used.

“I thought, ‘Why aren’t there any soaps for guys?’” he told the Lincoln Journal Star. So he wrote down some of his odoriferous ideas that seemed more manly, like topsoil and, of course, bacon.

Then Anderson did some online research about soap-making and scents and other products on the market. He ordered enough supplies for a test run and in late October made 20 bars that smelled like a fresh-mowed lawn, but wouldn’t set off a flurry of sneezes.

When he showed it to his dad, Anderson had his first happy customer. Because for Terry Anderson, who owns Lawnscapes, a Lincoln landscaping business, this soap hit the mark.

Encouraged, Adam Anderson soon found himself up to his elbows in lather.

“It really wasn’t that hard to make soap,” he said.

A double boiler, basic chunks of generic soap, water, coloring and the ever-important smell was all he needed to get started.

Anderson’s first efforts came from his small kitchen, where he discovered the purchased “scents” needed a little tinkering to produce the desired results.

He named his product ManHands and created a logo of linked handprints. Then he began sniffing around for a dozen or more scents that fit the bill.

Sometimes being an entrepreneur was scary, he says. His containers — a plastic package that doubles as a mold — had to be ordered in volume, 800 to a box.

“When I bought my first case, I wasn’t sure I would ever sell that many bars of soap,” he said.

Turns out November is a great launch time for a product that just screams “stocking stuffer.” Anderson tested the market on weekends at local craft fairs and by putting his new product in a few local gift shops.

He found that women, who were buying the bars, loved the manly soaps, too.

But with making dozens of bars of soap, printing labels and storing containers, which took up a lot of space, his kitchen became overrun with the new product. After his parents offered a storage area in their basement, Anderson moved his new, thriving business over there.

“I hadn’t been sure what my intentions were before, but all of a sudden, I was in the middle of running my own company,” he said.

With a degree in business, Anderson, 27, put some of the economic practices he learned to work. He started with a small investment — he puts it at somewhere around $100 — and he quickly was able to put his profits back into the company.

Early on, he met with an attorney to make sure the ManHands name and logo was trademarked. John Miles, an attorney with Cline, Williams, Wright, Johnson and Oldfather, often works with startups and found Anderson’s product “pretty remarkable.” After sitting down and hearing his story, Miles saw Anderson had a “unique name, with a unique product and was gaining momentum.”

Miles even bought about a dozen of the soaps for holiday gifts. The Urinal Mint scent turned out to be a funny favorite of his friends.

“It’s one of the best-sellers,” Anderson said.

His own preference is Baseball Glove — a natural for a guy who played the sport at Lincoln Southeast High School and in college. Top Soil (farmers and gardeners love this one), Beer and Fresh Cut Grass also are popular scents. Others include Muscle Rub, Mint Blend Chewing Tobacco, Race Day and Bonfire.

By December, Anderson had his own Etsy website and garnered some national attention. CNN’s Anderson Cooper weighed in on the product, and so did morning shows in Atlanta and Australia. Even syndicated radio hosts Bob and Tom mentioned the product.

Not surprisingly his sales increased, and after gadgetsandgear.com, a New York City-based online store, picked up his product, Anderson was selling 300 to 400 bars a week.

Things have slowed down some after the holidays, but business is still pretty steady.

Anderson has perfected his soap-making skills and now makes 100 bars an hour. He prefers to make the orders as they come in, but he usually has all 20-plus scents available.

His own website — manhandssoap.com — is up and running, with a note saying “our soaps are individually handmade and are tested on dudes, not animals!” He also has a Facebook page, which oddly featured a complaint from a mom who said her man/child used the bacon soap and smelled like — yes, bacon.

Locally, Anderson is always on the lookout for stores to carry his product. Right now it can be found at From Nebraska, Plum Creek Gifts, Euphoria, Penguin Pit Stop and Simply Bungalow.

His prices vary, depending on whether it is purchased locally, online or wholesale. In Lincoln, most stores sell it for $4.95 a bar.

What’s next for the manly soap entrepreneur?

“I get a lot of suggestions for new scents,” he said.

But he’s not sure nacho cheese is a winner. For now, he hopes to grow the business, maybe branch out in scented product lines.

“I’m enjoying it,” he said.

With more than 6,000 bars sold, maybe it’s time to break out the soap he named “Cash.”

Lise Westfall likes a lot of everything.

You can see that when you walk through her house. Wall space is filled with treasures. Same goes for her backyard garden, a lush green space bordered by a white rail fence, dotted with hanging baskets of fern.

Perennials and annuals are packed in like fans at a Cardinals sell-out. Those not in the ground fill pots and tumble from birdbaths. Paths wind through the tree-shaded yard.

“The kids brought the maple seeds home from school,” said Lise, 59, standing beneath one. “We put them in pots and they grew into trees, one here, one on the other side and one in the neighbor’s yard. These trees have gotten very special. My oldest son (Michael) was 17 when he died a couple years ago of cancer. They are part of him.”

The maples have been joined by river birch, red bud, dogwood and a weeping willow.

Lise’s garden is one of eight you can visit from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 1, during this year’s Gardens In Bloom. The gardens are in O’Fallon this year. Tickets are $10 in advance; $12 the day of the tour, which is produced by St. Clair County Extension Education Foundation.

“All offer something unique,” said Kathy Sisler, of O’Fallon, who helped select the gardens. “They show that no matter what kind of space you have — small or large, sunny or shady — you can get ideas from these gardens that will help you do something with your own.”

Lise’s rectangular backyard is in Winding Creek Estates, a neighborhood of nicely-landscaped brick and sided homes. When she and her mother, Selma Westfall, moved in 17 years ago, their yard was flat with a sharp rise at the back — until Lise saw a magazine photo of a landscaped hillside.

“It had rocks (on a hill) with stairs going to nowhere.”

Now, so does hers. The rise created an opportunity to set outcroppings of boulders into the hill. Plants have grown around them.

“I like the rocks, the naturalness,” said Lise. “Over here, you can see a second set of rocks. I have a little chipmunk family that lives in here.”

Another magazine photo inspired the brick paver walkway with a fountain in the middle of a teardrop berm.

“I came out with a hose to lay it out,” said Lise. “I called on Scott’s (Landscaping). They listen to you. ‘Look, Israel, here’s the picture.'”

Now, her garden is a picture — and a delight to visitors who follow a steppingstone path around the side of the house to get there.

“It’s an oasis back there, peaceful and serene,” said Israel Hayes, landscape supervisor at Scott’s Landscaping. “You feel you are somewhere else. It’s definitely one of the nicest gardens that I have been in.”

“Oh my gosh, look how interesting and peaceful and different it is,” said Edie Sandoval, a gardening tour committee member. “It’s totally awesome. There’s so much shade and so many interesting plants and things, you’re like in a different world — and there’s no grass.”

That doesn’t keep Lise’s kids from playing soccer or badminton.

“The kids and I come out here a lot,” said Lise, the mother of two sons, Daniel, 17, and Alex, 7, both adopted from Guatemala. “The little one will get on rocks and jump down. It doesn’s hurt plants. If he steps on a perennial, it will pop right back.”

Lise, who is business manager in the department of developmental biology at Washington University School of Medicine, hosts family gatherings in the yard, including her brother’s wedding.

The garden and its elements also spark memories.

The white wishing well was a mother-son project.

“When the deck was made, these were residual pieces of wood,” she said. “My oldest son and I built that. He was probably about 5. It sits on top of a city drainage hole.”

Lise’s mom, who died two years ago, picked out the weeping willow that grows tall behind it.

“A trail goes up and there’s a seat,” said Lise. “I like sitting beneath the weeping willow. It’s just quiet.”

An alien figure and a crane came home with the family after vacations on Dauphin Island, Ala.

Lise reserves the west side of the house to nurse plants back to health and divide healthy ones.

“If something’s not happy, I put them over here. If you can’t do well over here, you have to go away.”

Lise grew up in O’Fallon along the Scott-Troy Road. Her father, Bill, raised sheep, worked at Scott Air Force Base, and took care of a vegetable garden. Her mom tended the flowers.

“We had an acre in garden — strawberries, raspberries, potatoes, peas and beans,” she said. “Everything. We were always out in the garden. Mom always had us outside. I was one of five. We all garden.”

When Lise and her siblings talk, conversations often turn to plants. She likes the creative aspect of gardening.

“You see something in your head and create it. I’m sure it’s no different than somebody who paints. I find it calming and quite spiritual.”

She fits it in evenings and weekends. Automatic sprinklers save watering time. The density of her plants keeps weeds at bay.

“To be digging in dirt, you kind of listen to where plants want to be,” she said. “It sounds funny, but I think they talk to us. ‘Put me here.’ Or they will talk to you in the store, ‘Buy me, I will do well by you.'”

Some of Lise’s favorites:

–Hostas. Some are in the ground; others are in pots, grouped together. She had just moved a a huge variegated-leaf variety called “Some and Substance” to a sunnier spot to bring out its lime color.

— Leopard’s bane, a yellow daisy-like perennial that blooms early and spreads. “The leaves on it are jagged and big,” Lise said. “Once the flowers are gone, it’s like a ground cover. I bought two plants.”

— Becky (Shasta) daisies. “They’re very good solid daisies with hard leaves and strong stems.”

— Impatiens are a favorite shade-loving annual. “They give color and keep geting bigger as summer goes on.”

They vie for attention with geraniums, caladium and petunias.

— Petunias. She’s partial to the Bubblegum petunia. “It’s old-fashioned. It just keeps blooming.” Other types she may cut back. “If I’m going on vacation, I sheer off the top. By the time I get back, they will be ready to bloom again.”

— Annabelle hydrangeas. “They’re native to this area. I have quite a few hydrangeas to give body to the (garden).”

If you go:

What: 2013 Gardens In Bloom — tour of eight O’Fallon gardens

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 1

Cost: $10 in advance; $12 day of the tour

Where to buy tickets: Ace Hardware, O’Fallon; Eckert’s Country Store, Belleville; Effinger’s Garden Center, Belleville; Hometown Ace Hardware, Belleville; Sandy’s Back Porch, Belleville; Starr Florist Greenhouses, Belleville; Terry’s Home Garden Center, Centreville; University of Illinois Extension Offices, Waterloo or Collilnsville

Produced by: St. Clair County Extension Education Foundation, benefiting University of Illinois Extension programs

Plant sale: United Methodist Church, 504 East U.S. 50, O’Fallon

Information: 939-3434 or 344-4230

Lise Westfall, of O’Fallon, has been playing in the garden since she was a kid. Her shady backyard paradise, full of flowers and plants, fountains and benches and many personal touches, is a delight to visit.

Here’s what she does to make it work.

Stuff it: “I like to stuff things. That keeps the weeds down. Also, I didn’t do all this at one time. I know someone would tell me I am crazy, but I do not find this that much work.”

Group things: “This spring, I had more pots scattered around than grouped together. It looked much better when they were grouped.” She changes flowers in the pots and moves them around, creating variety in the landscape.

Buy more than one of everything. “My one little plant looks cute. A mass looks great.”