Posted: Friday, September 21, 2012 6:02 pm

‘The Quilters Garden’ will be a sight to behold at VFW Fair

Huck Treadwell

Times-Journal

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One of the best flower shows in the state will begin Monday at the DeKalb County VFW Agricultural Fair in Fort Payne.

This year’s flower show will be themed “The Quilter’s Garden” and is presented by the Northeast Alabama Federation of Garden Clubs. The floral arrangements in the flower show were created based on quilting patterns.

“We have one of the best flower shows in the state,” said Flying Dogwood Garden Club member Reita Grant. “Almost every year we win at the state level and have won a few awards at the national level.”

Grant said the guidelines for the show are extremely strict and must follow the rules and regulations of The National Garden Club. This year’s show feature two quilt patterns —  the Stretch Design and Federal Design.

Basically, the Stretch Design is a creative design in two units, one smaller than the other, having a prominent component connecting the two units and referred to as the “stretch component,” Grant said.

The Federal Design — an Early-American Design of the 1780s-1830s — are massed designs in formal balance with greater height than width. Fruits, flowers and foliage were combined in epergnes and placed to show the beauty of each flower.

Grant said to prepare for the show, design consultants and flower show judges Peggy Benefield and Ann Houston presented a design class for local garden clubs.

Grant said this year’s show will be judged by four out-of-town judges that are approved by The National Garden Club. Garden Clubs comprising the Northeast Alabama Garden Clubs are Cherokee Rose Garden Club of Cedar Bluff, Flowering Dogwood Garden Club of Henagar, Fort Payne Garden Club, Ider Garden Club, Kaolin Garden Club of Valley Head, Rainsville Garden Club and Rhododendron Garden Club of Mentone.

“The Quilter’s Garden” will be on display Sept. 24-29 at the VFW Agricultural Fair. Gates open Monday-Friday at 5 p.m. and Saturday at 10 a.m.

© 2012 times-journal.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Friday, September 21, 2012 6:02 pm.

Milan is awash this week with fashionistas intent on viewing the latest designs from Prada and Gucci for Milan Fashion Week. Those who choose to do a little shopping while they’re in the historic city, long known for its art and architecture, may encounter another fascinating spectacle in the form of the world’s largest vertical garden. The garden, designed by Italian architect Francesco Bollani, adorns the Centro Commerciale Fiordaliso, a shopping center in Rozzano, and encompasses about 13,600 square feet.

Architizer reports that this vertical garden was completed in 2010, but was only recently confirmed as the record-holder by the Guinness Book of World Records. It blew away the previous title holder, the Jardín Vertical Hotel Santo Domingo in Madrid, which covered 844 square meters (around 2,769 square feet). It includes 44,000 plants in a modular system of small metal containers.

image via Associated Free Press / Getting Images

According to the UK’s Daily Mail, Bollani headed up a creative team that included an architecture firm from Montpellier, France. It took them a year to grow the plants used in the project in a greenhouse, and around three months to fashion the facade to hold them. Bollani likened the process to building a giant Lego structure.

Beyond the eye-catching aesthetic appeal and world-record bragging rights the garden has afforded the mall it adorns, the garden performs an ecological function as well. The garden helps to regulate the temperature in the shopping center by reducing the amount of direct sunlight that hits it, helping to cut down on cooling costs associated with solar gain. It also helps to reduce ambient noise and absorb carbon dioxide.

image via AFP / Getty Images

This last aspect of the installation may have more of an impact on local air quality than many would have believed even a short time ago, as a recent study we reported on from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany found that green walls have even more of an affect on polluted urban air than planting trees. The study found that green walls of climbing plants located in areas where concentrations of pollutants were highest had exponentially more effect than either green roofs or plants grown in parks. (Trees planted along roads also produced good results, but only in less polluted streets, where the tree top canopy did not play a part in trapping polluted air at the ground level.)

Yahoo News (via France’s AFP) notes that French architect Le Corbusier was one of the first to design a vertical garden, way back in 1923 — an idea that has since found favor with architects around the world. But vertical gardens often come with structural challenges, especially on this scale. According to Bollani, his design was easier to build and take apart than a traditional vertical garden because its large-scale structure is made up of small modular containers. (We imagine this may aid in the care and replacement of individual plants, as needed, as well.)

Easier to build, however, does not necessarily mean more affordable, as this project cost a total of 1.0 million euros ($1.3 million) to grow, build and install.

Will Bollani’s vertical garden system start a trend in green building? Only time will tell. But we do know that plenty of shoppers will be stopping by the Centro Commerciale Fiordaliso this week to see this big green beauty for themselves.

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill proudly showcased her new bioswale/rain garden, designed to detour polluted rain water from rivers, brooks, streams and Long Island Sound, along with representatives of Save the Sound and others today. She recently constructed the garden at her Hartford West End home and said that her’s is “first household in my neighborhood to showcase this creative and cost effective way to both irrigate the yard and reduce water pollution.”

Secretary Merrill is to be commended for stepping out in this manner to protect the environment. Connecticut’s chief elections official is busy as the 2012 general election rapidly approaches, and has accomplished much in the way of advancing needed electoral reforms since taking up her duties as Secretary in 2010. She has also centralized and simplified filing procedures for businesses in the state and has advanced significant legislation pertaining to the elections process with thoroughness and a bipartisan spirit.

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Following is the complete statement released by Secretary Merrill’s office:

Hartford, CT — Today, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill and Save the Sound, a program of Connecticut Fund for the Environment, along with UConn, Park Watershed, Inc., and Dubay Design, held an event unveiling Secretary Merrill’s new residential bioswale/rain garden. At the event, experts explained the benefits of implementing green infrastructure techniques, like rain gardens and bioswales, and demonstrated how the bioswale/rain garden works. They also highlighted the difference citizens can make on state-wide problems—like river pollution and beach and shellfish bed closings—when they do their part.

“I am proud to be the first household in my neighborhood to showcase this creative and cost effective way to both irrigate the yard and reduce water pollution,” said Secretary of the State Denise Merrill. “If we could convince homeowners in every city and town in Connecticut build their own rain gardens, we could prevent millions of gallons of polluted storm runoff from flowing into our multiple river watersheds and ultimately Long Island Sound. I am very happy to spread the word about this fantastic program. We might not be able to make rain, but we know rain makes a good garden!”

Secretary Merrill recently constructed a new 201-square-foot bioswale/rain garden combination on the front lawn of her house in the West End of Hartford. The garden includes many varieties of vegetation, such as Tussock sedge (Carex Elata/Carex stricta), native Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Little Bunny,’ Liatrus spicata ‘Floristan White,’ Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Culver’s Root,’ Asclepias tuberosa ‘Gay Butterflies’ (Butterfly Weed), and Veronica longifolia ‘Pink Eveline.’ These water-loving, attractive native plants will not only absorb and filter rainwater, but will attract butterflies, birds, and other wildlife by providing shelter and food sources.

Stormwater runoff is one of the biggest water quality problems facing our waterways currently. Due to the large amount of impermeable surfaces in our cities and towns, huge volumes of water pool on hard surfaces rapidly and then run off into our waterways, carrying greases, salts, fertilizers, and pesticides that can kill fish and damage shellfish beds and aquatic plants.

“We are thrilled to be joining Secretary Merrill as she takes action to protect the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound,” said Leah Schmalz director of legislative and legal affairs for Save the Sound. “It is a beautiful rain garden that will do its small part to control stormwater runoff into our state’s waters and stop raw sewage here in Hartford. We are proud to have an elected official that not only talks the talk, but walks the walk and we hope others step up to do their part. Having neighborhoods, like hers, that take charge to piece together individual green infrastructure techniques will help put Connecticut on the path to less expensive sewer projects and fewer closed beaches.”

In Hartford, stormwater has the added problem of causing combined sewer overflows, a problem that causes raw sewage to pour into the Connecticut River and residents basements. While the MDC and DEEP are trying to remedy this situation through Clean Water Fund upgrades, steps like residential rain gardens can have a major impact. Green infrastructure techniques enable stormwater to penetrate our normally impermeable surfaces and filters out the harmful substances before the water flows into our water bodies or combined sewage system pipes.

“Working together through collaboration with state and local governments, property owners and non-profits, Connecticut communities can further improve water quality in the Long Island Sound,” said Mary Rickel Pelletier, executive director of Park Watershed, Inc. “This process starts with recognizing how landscapes of our own yards impact small tributaries of regional watersheds, like the North Branch Park River.”

Green infrastructure not only helps to clean up our stormwater runoff and dramatically cut raw sewage discharges in combined sewer overflow communities, but it is also economically beneficial. National studies demonstrate that adding GI to curb sewage and stormwater pollution can be more cost-effective than using grey infrastructure like new piping alone, with savings ranging from $0.89 to $4.08 per gallon of treated water. Additionally, green infrastructure can help municipalities reduce energy expenses, can reduce flooding and related flood damage, and improves public health by reducing bacteria and pollution in waterways.

Addendum September 21: Secretary Merrill Commented on this article as follows:

Steve: thanks – it IS a great project, and hopefully more people in the west end will follow suit. We had a nice gathering last night with about 20 neighbors who were interested. Come by any time and take pix or whatever.
Denise

We offer our sincere thanks to Secretary Merrill and will visit her home soon to take some pictures and discuss it with her.