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November 23, 2012

Mark Cullen

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

More on Gardening and landscaping

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“To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.”

— Lao Tzu, father of Taoism

This is flu season. You can take some comfort in the fact that you can wander into your local drugstore for a flu shot and not have to enjoy the wait in a stuffy doctor’s waiting room for the joy of a jab.

It is timely, then, that a growing body of scientific evidence supports gardening as a way of minimizing the risk of many health maladies.

A recent University of Washington study reveals that road rage is less likely to occur when nature is in plain view. Having a look at a healthy stand of trees — or even a green playing field — has a substantial positive effect on our behaviour when we view it just prior to a stressful experience, like some idiot cutting you off or tailgating you through an amber light. Green, living things give us perspective we otherwise (sometimes) lack. The authors of the study have coined the phrase “immunization effect” in reference to this phenomenon. I call it a reality check. Is road rage, after all, worth the excess blood pressure? Never.

Benefits of Green Spaces

Landscape Ontario, the Horticultural Trades Association for our province, has compiled research that points to the social benefits of green spaces.

According to Landscape Ontario, a 30-year study at Morden Arboretum in Manitoba reveals that crime is lowered and children’s self esteem is heightened when landscaping projects are promoted in communities, neighbourhoods and housing projects. Prison populations are also positively affected when access is granted to green spaces. Go to tiny.cc/r1i1nw to read more.

Building Communities

According to studies conducted by the Human Environment Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois, “(public) green spaces are gathering places that create close-knit communities and improve well-being — and in doing so, they increase safety.”

The same study reveals that residents of buildings with more trees and grass reported that they knew their neighbours better, socialized with them more often, had stronger feelings of community and felt safer and better adjusted than did residents of more barren but otherwise identical buildings. I reflect on the potential role of greener communities in Toronto’s high risk neighbourhoods. While trees and landscaping would hardly provide a complete answer to the burning questions that revolve around urban crime, surely they are part of it.

Horticultural Therapy

The idea that horticulture (gardening) provides benefits that can be harvested in our health institutions and seniors’ homes is not new. A whole industry has sprouted up over the past generation that is called horticultural therapy. It is now possible to get an education and become certified as a registered horticultural therapist. More details are available from the Canadian Horticultural Therapy Association (chta.ca).

Let’s look at the experience of some horticultural therapists who can teach all of us a thing or two about the benefits of the gardening experience. In a recent edition of the CHTA newsletter, Amy O’Brian talks about gardening as the “wonder drug” for a wide variety of human ailments.

In her article, she quotes Christine Pollard, a registered horticultural therapist from the Cowichan Valley in B.C., who has been a horticultural therapy for over 25 years and now finds herself on the leading edge of a discipline that is growing in popularity. “What I love about horticulture therapy is that we don’t look at what people can’t do. We look at what they can do and go from there.”

As an example, Pollard worked with a man who was blind and autistic, but had an interest in plants. He learned how to identify plants by feel and smell.

“Gardens are seen as a safe place to be and gardeners are seen as safe people.” She says. Perhaps this sheds more light on the theory that green space, trees and gardens of all kinds help to reduce crime.

If gardening is “the great leveller,” as Pollard says it is, what is the role of community and allotment gardens? Based solely on my experience and observation, their role is substantial, indeed.

Bring together a group of like-minded people with an interest in growing food and you will always have lively discussion. There is an exchange of ideas, questions, answers, and even a bit of bragging. In short, gardening cures shyness. He who has little to say otherwise is likely to share his recipe for green tomato chutney without much prompting, if he is a gardener.

Where people swap vegetables, fruit, compost, gardening tools and recipes, there is hope for a better world. “Nobody cares about your income or your job,” Pollard says. “They only want to know if you grow good tomatoes.”

Back in the United States of Gardening (versus the Dominion of Gardening up here), Rodale News (rodale.com), which has been the No. 1 voice of organic gardening for two generations, offers four “benefits of gardening.” According to the editors of this esteemed publication, you can count on the following if you just take the time to get some dirt under your nails from time to time:

 • Improve your satisfaction with life. Who wouldn’t want to do that? Science now proves that older adults who garden rate their zest for life, levels of optimism and overall resolution and fortitude higher versus non-gardeners. The University of Texas provides the results in a study of 298 participants.

 • Lower your osteoporosis risk. The physical activity involved in gardening leads to weight loss and better overall physical health. Researchers from the University of Arkansas found women involved in yard work and other types of gardening had lower rates of osteoporosis than joggers, swimmers and women who did aerobics.

 • Lower your diabetes risk. Active gardeners easily get more than the required 150 minutes of exercise per week (during the gardening season). According to research from Kansas State University, if you grow your own food you have another diabetes-management tool at your disposal: fresh produce. Several studies found that diabetes rates are lower in areas with community gardens and places where backyard gardening is more common.

 • Better sleep. Back to horticultural therapy. Therapists have discovered that gardening activities help calm people with dementia and psychiatric disorders, leading to a better night’s sleep.

Finally, last word to Christine Pollard: “If you take responsibility for a garden, you take responsibility for yourself.”

I could not say it any better. I rest my case.

Question of the Week

Q: I would like to grow an amaryllis for the first time. Does a larger bulb really make a difference?

A: Yes. A larger bulb has more energy reserves. This produces more blooms and increases the chance of a second flush of blooms this winter.

Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author, broadcaster and garden editor of Reno Decor magazine. You can sign up for his free monthly newsletter at markcullen.com, and watch him on CTV Canada AM every Wednesday at 8:45 a.m. You can reach Mark through the “contact” button on his website and follow him on Twitter @MarkCullen4 and Facebook. Mark’s latest book, Canadian Lawn Garden Secrets, is available at Home Hardware and all major bookstores.

Editor’s picks

Members of the horticulture class, Esveidy Gutierrez, 12, Cruz Garcia, 12, Breanna Navarro, 11, and Ruby Gomez, 11, sample a salad prepared by John McReynolds, the culinary director Stone Edge Farm, during a cooking demonstration near the school garden at Altimira Middle School in Sonoma, California on Wednesday, November 14, 2012. (BETH SCHLANKER/ The Press Democrat)

By Dianne Reber Hart

Sonoma Valley chef John McReynolds is well accustomed to the discerning tastes of upscale diners, but usually his guests have passed adolescence. Not the case on a recent chilly November day as he cooked outdoors for a group of his suppliers – horticulture students at Altimira Middle School.

Seated at picnic tables adjacent to their nearly half-acre school garden, students watched attentively as McReynolds and his assistant, Eduardo Haro, carefully chopped kale leaves into thin slices for specialty soup and salad dishes.

“The fun part about this, we grew all this food that you see,” McReynolds told the gathering. “This kale was picked just moments ago.”

For Altimira horticulture teacher Dutch Van Herwynen, the occasion was nothing short of a long-anticipated restaurant grand opening.

The cooking demonstration marked a new phase in the three-year-old School Garden Project, one that now matches local chefs with each of the 11 school gardens in the Sonoma Valley Unified School District.

“This was just a great thing for me personally, for the program and for all kinds of people who’ve put a lot of energy into this,” Van Herwynen said.

McReynolds, the culinary director at Stone Edge Farm vineyards and winery, is a champion of the School Garden Project. Stone Edge Farm shares the belief in sustainable agriculture and farm-to-table cooking and provided more than $100,000 in grant monies for the project.

McReynolds considers the program a “reintroduction” of simpler days when people sourced their own food, canning what they couldn’t immediately use and having a big part in their own healthy eating.

“I feel like this information is the future of eating,” McReynolds said. “A couple of generations have become disconnected with where their food comes from.”

Teachers, volunteers and paid garden coordinators throughout the school district are working with students from kindergarten through high school to change that.

Second-year horticulture student Max Psaledakis so enjoys working with the Altimira garden that he’s planning to study horticulture in college.

“I just love it, I really love it,” the 13-year-old said. “I like to garden and it’s really fun. And Mr. Van is just the best teacher ever.”

Van Herwynen – simply “Mr. Van” to his students – said the School Garden Project reaches far beyond his expectations. For students who struggle academically, the hands-on “learn-by-doing” horticulture class is a place to excel and gain confidence.

Van Herwynen also discovered that the garden, located in a back corner of the campus, is a sanctuary for students who just need a quiet place to get away from the stresses of middle school. And at a campus where nearly 70 percent of the students come from poor backgrounds, the garden serves as an open space for planting they often don’t have at home.

Van Herwynen and Altimira Principal Will Deeths are working to position Altimira as a magnet agriculture campus, with hopes of establishing a career pathway program for high school, college and beyond.

Altimira students take horticulture as their one elective class, opting to work in the garden rather than study drama, music, technology or any of the other electives offered. In just three years, the program has expanded from one horticulture class to three.

The curriculum blends practical applications of math, science, nutrition, business and environmental studies while teaching students everything from plant propagation, landscaping and pruning to soil chemistry, composting and carpentry.

Altimira’s garden features several dozen fruit and heritage olive trees, two large greenhouses and some 25 raised beds where students grow a wide assortment of organic produce and flowers.

To help support the program, students sell bags of fresh-picked produce and floral bouquets at school for a $5 donation. They’ve also sold their goods at a seasonal farmers’ market and each week sell four or five pounds of baby lettuce to the school cafeteria. In addition, they’ve donated their produce to local programs for the hungry.

Sonoma food, wine and travel writer Kathleen Thompson Hill is the founder and director of the School Garden Project. She has an impressive list of achievements to her credit but insists the project is her greatest accomplishment.

“This to me is the most meaningful thing I’ve ever done,” she said. “There’s just this renewed interest in food and how we grow it.”

Watching McReynolds interact with Altimira students – who deemed his cooking “delicious” – was the grand prize to all her early efforts getting the project up and running. “It’s the culmination of all our work,” Hill said.

She credits the project’s continued success to the school district, the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation and a long list of businesses and service groups. The Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival and the Fairmont Hotel are the latest donors to support the project.

Louann Carlomagno, the school district superintendent, said the School Garden Project exemplifies the collaborative spirit of the community.

“It’s a great community passion,” she said. “The community has done the lion’s share of supporting the gardens.”

Principal Deeths can just look at his students and know the program is working. The real joy, he said, is watching students deliver their flowers and veggies to the school office for awaiting customers.

“They just have such pride on their faces. They have an actual, tangible thing in their hands that they’ve accomplished,” he said.
For more information about the School Garden Project, visit svgreatschools.com or kathleenthompsonhill.com.

Related Posts

1. Competition for public food gardens
2. Gardens grow at Sonoma schools
3. Farm Forum explores Sonoma’s food/farming future

HOMEOWNERS are being asked to donate their gardens to aid a scheme which helps unemployed people blossom.

Dig Deep is an initiative which helps unemployed residents of Gloucester gain valuable skills.

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Currently there are six volunteers with skills in building, landscaping carpentry and decorating.

Paul Stepney, project coordinator, said: “The team would like to transfer someone’s garden into what they would like, individual or community garden.

“The garden tasks need to include a selection of jobs such as clearance work, decking, laying a patio, foundation preparation, turf laying or grass seeding, selecting and arranging, winter resistant shrubbery, block-paved drive ways, walls , fencing, shed construction or repairs.”

All the homeowner has to provide is the materials, coffee, tea, access to toilets and a donation which covers volunteer expenses.

For more details, contact Paul on 01452 505544 or alternatively please email pauls@glcommunities.org.uk.

By Neil Sperry

My ribs are often bruised. My elbows have assumed quick reflexes. It seems that my pitch isn’t perfect, and my musician wife keeps nudging me up or down every time that I sing. After 45 years of otherwise happy marriage, I’ve learned that it’s a lot easier just to sing softly.

And, so it is that I nudge gently into several landscaping scenes. They’re places where I see gardeners taking their efforts off-focus. Let me ‘splain, Lucy.

Your house is the biggest piece of artwork that you’ll ever own. You need to think of it as a magnificent painting, and everything you do should showcase its beauty and conceal its blemishes.

You need a lovely frame for your painting, and that frame comes in the form of the landscape. The landscape’s function is to complement the artwork, not draw undue attention from it. You wouldn’t choose pink polka dots for your Monet’s frame. You would look for something tasteful and simple, probably elegant and perhaps natural. And, that frame would be in scale with the size of the artwork.

Let’s move on to specifics. Here are some of the ways I see gardeners getting too “cute” with their landscaping, and taking its true purpose off course. Almost every one of us has tried one or two of these over the years, and in many cases, we’ve realized that we missed our mark — that our great idea wasn’t really so hot. In each case, I’ll try to give a couple of alternatives.

We forget the focal point. The place you want to draw viewers’ eyes will be to your front door. It is to your house what Mona Lisa’s eyes are to her beauty. Never forget it as you design.

Narrow beds. This is that “scale” thing. If your house is two-story, and if your property is reasonably large, the beds you design need to be appropriately sized. That might mean that they’re a minimum of 5 to 7 feet wide, and they might even roll out to 12 or 15 feet around corners and at the entry.

On the other hand, if you’re landscaping a one-story home on a small urban property, bed widths need to be scaled back to 3 or 4 feet wide, broadening to 6 or 7 feet at corners. This whole scale and proportion thing can be compared back to the picture frames. If you’re framing a large painting that will hang behind the sofa, you’ll use a wider frame than you would for an 8-by-10-inch hallway photo of the family.

Straight beds. These points build on one another, and we’ve already alluded to the fact that your beds might have varying widths, wider at the entry and corners, and narrowing in between. Your goal in landscaping is to create a pleasant natural “meadow” into which your house magically appears. Nature works in curves, almost never in straight lines. Long, gentle and sweeping curves will be more visually appealing. Straight beds merely repeat the lines of the house. Unless you’re creating a highly stylized formal garden, it’s better to avoid straight lines.

Attempting symmetry in an asymmetric world. Most houses are not mirror images, one side to the other. It’s usually better not to use a mirrored landscape plan. Even if it were to be completed perfectly and maintained without flaw, your design might still look restless to your eye, and you might not be able to determine why. Look at 25 random landscapes around you, and somewhere among them, you’ll surely see what I mean.

Square shrubs. This is another function of repeating the lines of the house. Choose plants that grow to the height and width you need, then let them grow naturally. Oh, sure, you can trim them and guide them, but always do so with an eye toward maintaining their natural form. If you have shrubs that have been cut square for many years, try selective pruning next year as you allow them to grow back into their natural habits. Or, remodel and replace them with something new. Odds are that you’ll be glad you did.

Bold, conspicuous edging. I’m always amazed that people buy edging, then install it in a way where it shows. It’s kinda like letting your underwear show. No, wait a minute. I guess that’s fashionable. Oh, well. With landscaping, you still won’t want edging to extend more than an inch above the soil line. You’re using it as a means of defining your beds, not as an architectural statement in your gardens.

Rings around shade trees. Trunks are not the most beautiful parts of our shade trees. Why would we want to highlight them? Why would we want to showcase them with metal rings or circles of stone? Why would we feel compelled to plant flowers against them? All that does is draw attention away from the entryway and out into the landscape. Better design would be to let grass grow up the trunk and keep it neatly maintained. When shade eventually causes the grass to fail, then you would develop groundcover beds with irregularly sweeping curves. The tree would not be in the center of the bed.

Row-plantings along the front walk. If you have a winding walkway, plantings like this might be good to help give direction, but if your walk goes from the street to your door, there’s no need to emphasize the sidewalk. Again, it’s not the focal point of your garden, and there’s no need to create a visual “zipper” that splits your landscape into two halves.

Neil Sperry publishes “Gardens” magazine and hosts “Texas Gardening” from 8 to 11 a.m. Sundays on WBAP AM/FM. Reach him during those hours at 800-288-9227 or 214-787-1820.

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• Remembering their sacrifices: Ex-POW Paul Lavallee, 94, and Miranda RSL Sub-branch president and welfare officer Bruce Grimley at Miranda RSL. The club recently held its annual lunch for former POWs. Unfortunately because of thinning numbers, only Mr Lavallee was able to attend. Picture: Jane Dyson

• Wish granted: Miranda RSL Sub-branch members (from left) Bruce Taylor, Bruce Grimley, Arie Hanavaar and Alan Lark at the Miranda war memorial. Picture: James Alcock

VETERANS will have their wish granted — Miranda RSL’s historical war memorial will be moved to a safer and more accessible spot in Seymour Shaw Park, thanks to Sutherland Shire Council voting $50,000 towards the relocation.

The state government will donate $40,000 to the project, Olsens Funerals $15,000 and the balance will come from community contributions.

The club had petitioned the council for several years to relocate the memorial from its present spot in the cul-de-sac at the end of Central Road to the park, 20 metres north.

The heritage-listed sandstone memorial is the site of the state’s largest Anzac Day dawn service outside the Sydney central business district, attracting more than 5000 people.

The crowds stand in Central Road for the service but Miranda RSL Sub-branch wants to relocate the memorial to the park to improve its access and amenity and to safely accommodate visitors and crowds.

The memorial was built originally in 1918 in the grounds of the old Miranda Public School to honour local citizens who had served in World War I.

The school site was sold in 1968 to the developers of Miranda Fair shopping centre and the memorial was moved to its present position.

The club had raised about $105,000 towards the memorial’s relocation and the council’s $50,000 grant means it will move ahead with relocation which is expected to begin in mid-2013.

The memorial will be dismantled and rebuilt in the park, surrounded by landscaping and gardens.

New commemorative plaques will be added to honour Australia’s military involvement in other world conflicts.

“The new location will allow services to be held in a safer and more dignified setting with disabled access,” said Miranda RSL Sub-branch president and welfare officer Bruce Grimley.

“Families will abe able to hold private ceremonies at the memorial in more private and comfortable surroundings.”

“The extra space will be able to accommodate the growing numbers of school students and young families who attend the Anazc Day dawn service.

“The extra plaques will be able to education future generations.”

Is it a good idea to move the memorial to Seymour Shaw Park? 

Bill Tonnesen is distracted by dog shit.

A wet, orange-brown turd on a concrete paver at one of the several rental properties he’s recently renovated has stopped him dead in his tracks.

“Oh, noooooo!” Tonnesen moans, pointing at the mess. “How did that get here? We’d better . . . what can . . . oh, this isn’t good!”

“It’s okay,” his young female assistant mutters quietly, sounding like an extra-patient mom whose child has just dropped his ice cream cone. “Just leave it. You can’t control everything.”

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See a slideshow of Bill Tonnesen’s work.

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Bill Tonnesen would like to control everything. And it’s that fact — perhaps more than the work he does and certainly more than his peculiar, often off-putting personality — that has stood in the way of the immortality that Tonnesen’s friends and colleagues say he’s really after.

Toward that end, Tonnesen — who previously has attempted fame as a contemporary artist and courted infamy as a Holocaust activist — apparently has decided to completely revamp Tempe in his image. He’s recently produced some stunning renovations of several dreary Tempe apartment buildings and single-family tract homes. There’s Casa Carmel, on Rural Road, with its installation of rusted water heaters. There’s the 28-unit Rothko House, just up the street from Casa Carmel, with its rusted steel wall and its now-notorious statue of an obese naked woman. And there’s the South Granada, a red brick stunner on Granada Drive, with a row of oxidized ovens out front. Not to mention the eye-catching tract homes, with their paint blasted away to reveal raw brick, many of them obscured by entire groves of trees jammed onto a tiny front lawn. And always, always Tonnesen’s sculptures — many of them life-size statues of Tonnesen himself, in various guises: holding an umbrella, pointing at a giant thermometer, perched atop an air-conditioning unit. But his accolades — many of them well-deserved, for Tonnesen’s work is truly distinctive and well-wrought — often are drowned out by the moaning of people who’ve had dealings with Tonnesen.

Like the employees worried that he talks too much about working without proper permitting. And the city officials who felt he was forcing his public art onto the Tempe Flour Mill site, after he sneaked two of his sculptures onto the site on the evening of its grand opening.

Tonnesen, who’s 58, moved to the Valley when he was still a boy. He studied philosophy at Arizona State University but dropped out and got a job trimming trees. That led to a landscape architect’s license and, eventually, a design-and-construction firm, Tonnesen, Inc. Lately, the firm has moved into development and, as usual, is attracting attention both positive and contrary.

“The problem with Bill isn’t a lack of talent,” says a colleague of Tonnesen’s who refused to be named because, he says, any public commentary on Tonnesen leads to days and days of e-mails and phone calls and recriminations.

“It’s that he doesn’t listen, and he wants everything his way. So you ask him for a glass of water, and he brings you a swimming pool. And you say, ‘Put the swimming pool in my backyard, then,’ and he mounts it on your roof and plants 70 trees around it and then encases it in a big metal box made out of recycled refrigerator shelving, because it’s what he wants.”

This having-things-his-way routine continues to infuriate his clients, and to dog the landscape architect during what critics and fans are calling “The Third Act of Bill Tonnesen.” And so he has, since 2008, been buying his own properties, so that he can do whatever he wants with them.

And Tempe is starting to look like Tonnesen Town.

“Most people budget so little for the fix-up,” gripes Tonnesen, who brings in a designer to renovate his interiors. “I despise people who do that. If you go back to that house two years later, it will look nothing different than anything in the neighborhood. Paint is the most superficial thing you can do. Paint is nothing! It’s not planting trees!”

Tree-planting is a Tonnesen thing. So is making every house he renovates into something that looks nothing at all like “anything in the neighborhood.” Every project — especially his own Tempe home in the University Park neighborhood, a Tonnesen original — combines his backgrounds in landscaping and contemporary fine art and, whether you love him or hate him, is distinctive and eye-catching.

A devotee of architectural integrity, Tonnesen favors solid-block masonry buildings with sleek, clean lines and neatly graphed gardens out of which one or two of his patinaed metal sculptures erupts. At one home, Tonnesen welded together a stack of old radiators to form a soaring statue; at another, he’s caged rows of tiny trees into a grouping of rusted metal boxes.

He’s transformed several dull-as-dirt multi-family properties into public art installations at which one might live, like the eight-unit apartment court on South Granada Drive he bought earlier this year, a standard-issue complex he quickly turned on its head with a grove of eucalyptus trees, a grid-shaped central garden, and a giant steel cube crawling with watermelon vines as its courtyard’s focal point. Out front, a row of rusted vintage ovens that Tonnesen removed from the apartments are displayed — transformed from junkyard debris into metal sculptures, each of them labeled with the name of a different famous and long-dead artist.

The clean-up of Maunalua Bay continues and sometimes it’s in relatively small steps.

A student group at Kaiser High School is doing its part to make a difference.

Relatively speaking, it’s a small patch of land, called a rain garden. Last year, the Kaiser Rotary Interact club planted the garden to enhance the landscape and prevent a major problem.

“Erosion and polluted water run-off has become a big problem in Maunalua Bay so rain gardens like this by securing sediments in the ground, it prevents the run-off from going into the bay,” says Kira Fox, who is part of the Interact Club.

“And the sediment coming down from this upper parking lot behind the cafeteria and during heavy rains, there would be mud that would cross over the sidewalk, sometime into the classroom building, down in to the band room,” says Scott Murakami of PBR Hawaii.

Scott works for an architectural/landscaping firm and – as it happens – as a Kaiser alum.

“Yes, I graduated a while back but definitely it’s good to do things to give back to the high school,” he says.

All the students try to keep the rain garden free of litter. It is filled with native Hawaiian plants.

“The area before was very dry and barren and now to see something so flourishing is really nice and it gives the campus kind of a down to earth feel and I really like it,” Fox says. “And we planted the garden. The hole was dug but all the plants you see now, we planted that day. We put in some rocks and it was a really fun thing to do.”

The Interact club received an award from Scenic Hawaii for its work on the garden.

“Interact Club is a division of the Rotary Club for students in high schools and middle schools if they want to get involved in their community. Interact club gives them a chance to volunteer and put themselves out there and kind of try to make a difference,” Fox says.

PURPLE COW FESTIVAL, NOV. 17: features seminars, workshops, demos, children’s activities, more, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Full Moon Natives, 1737 Fern Park Drive, Port Orange. FREE. 386-212-9923; purplecowfestival.com.

SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPING, NOV. 17: 1-3 p.m., Lyonia Environmental Center, 2150 Eustace Ave, Deltona. FREE. 386-789-7207.

GARDEN TOUR, NOV. 17: 10 a.m., Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, 6400 N. Ocean Shore Blvd., Palm Coast. Regular park entrance fees apply. 386-446-6783.

FLORIDA YARDS AND NEIGHBORHOODS, NOV. 19: with master gardener Terri Olson, 11 a.m., New Smyrna Beach Regional Library, 1001 S. Dixie Freeway, New Smyrna Beach. 386-822-5062, ext. 12934.

VOLUSIA COUNTY ORCHID SOCIETY MEETING, NOV. 21: program on arranging centerpieces for the holiday, 7 p.m.; culture class at 6 p.m., Volusia County Agricultural Center, 3100 E. New York Ave., DeLand. FREE. 386-801-4749.

FLORIDA GARDENING SERIES, NOV. 29-JAN. 24: with master gardener Howard Jeffries, 1 p.m. Nov. 29, Dec. 13, Jan. 10 and 24, DeBary Hall Historic Site, 210 Sunrise Blvd., DeBary. FREE. 386-668-3840.

CHRISTMAS GIFTS FROM YOUR GARDEN, DEC. 1: with master gardener Lisa Brooks, 11 a.m., Ormond Beach Public Library, 30 S. Beach St., Ormond Beach. FREE. 386-676-4191.

 

While new house starts may have struggled over the past few years, homes of a different kind of build are thriving.

The residents of these much smaller dwellings are quite petite and require a bit of shimmery dust to embellish their homes. To have a peek at these homes, a trip to Natureworks, an organic gardening and landscaping business, in Northford is a must.

Diane St. John, an organic master gardener from Durham, is one of Naturework’s head fairies. While she designs and fills beautiful full-size gardens year-round, she has the greatest enthusiasm for the tiny spaces perfectly crafted by kids of all ages.

As she moves miniature garden furniture about in one of her recent creations, she explains that this type of gardening is a truly effective way to associate children with nature, saying, “kids just get it instinctively. By creating these homes, children learn how to connect their personal vision to the natural world.”

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The whimsical nature of the gardens create endless possibilities for creativity. They can be decorated with each season and the holidays in mind. But first, there are some important things to consider to keep the fairies happy. Like any good home, it requires “good bones.”

St. John highly recommends using recycled containers such as old tables, broken pots or crates to start with. Any planters should have small holes in the bottom for decent drainage or use chicken wire to help support the home’s weight. Pebbles and aquarium carbon help with soil drainage. 

Next, it’s important to decide if your fairies will live in a tropical, a New England-style or desert-type of environment. Mixing environments can lead to over- or under-watering and stress the plants.

Once this is done, the fun truly begins as one chooses from a myriad of miniature house plants, mini evergreens, low-growing grasses and moss. St. John adds that succulents are also great plants because they tend to stay low to the ground. Lavender scented thyme is another great choice. 

As the fairies move into their new home, some pixie dust and a good spell is a must. The kids “love adding rocks and natural things like tree bark. They also love to use milk weed for making beds and boats to add to their fairy homes”.

St. John worked closely with Natureworks’ other head fairy, Kassandra Moss of Durham, to create a fall program at Natureworks aimed at introducing kids of all ages to building fairy homes. St. John remembers, “Each kid went home with their own fun creations, but the best part by far were the natural things they found in their own yards that helped contribute to a larger fairy house that would remain here at Natureworks.” 

There is no need to put off your fairy home till spring, Natureworks stocks almost everything (except your imagination) needed to get this project started by the holidays. Natureworks is located off Route 17, on Route 22 in Northford. The store closes Dec. 23 and reopens on the first day of spring.

For more information, visit www.naturework.com 

Spotlight on: Old Town Garden Center

BY ALLEN ACHTERBERG

Tucked in the heart of Old Orcutt is Old Town Garden Center, a nursery owned by husband-and-wife team David and Veronica Curiel. The duo recently opened a second location in Nipomo. Armed with a strong background in landscaping as owners of Groundworks Landscape Co., the Curiels’ mission is to help homeowners who enjoy getting their hands dirty in the garden.

Family tree: Old Town Garden Center owner Veronica Cureil and her son, Valen, showed off their nursery. Veronica and her husband David recently opened another location in Nipomo.PHOTO BY ALLEN ACHTERBERG

It all started in 2007, when the Curiels found a location and realized they had a lot of work ahead of themselves.

“It was such a mess, but we had our eyes on this location for a while, and we knew what we wanted to do with it,” Veronica said.

Taking nearly a year to clean up, design, and construct the business layout, the Curiels finally opened the garden in 2008.

“We were clueless! We knew nothing of running a retail shop, but we know plants,” she continued.

The garden is laid out with pots arranged to show how they would look in someone’s yard—not just a clump of the same plants together.

Walking into the garden area, visitors can see the care and design skills in the displays along the paths and trails leading to different sections of plants. All of the employees are knowledgeable about growing greenery, and they enjoy helping enthusiasts design and make good decisions for their gardens.

Veronica said Eugene Sanchez, manager at the Old Town Garden Center, is often asked to make house calls to help customers get the most out of their gardens.

Popular plants during the fall and winter seasons are the “bare plants,” such as bare roots or roses. The garden is expecting a large order soon to meet the demand. Succulents, a growing trend, sell well all year long, evidenced by the large inventory in displays around the walkways and in between different sections. Old Town Garden Center also takes special orders for people who have something specific in mind.

Though the Orcutt center has only been open for five years, the Curiels have more than 20 years of experience in the nursery industry and continue to gain more knowledge as they operate their landscaping business alongside the two nursery locations.

“We love plants,” Veronica said while holding up a succulent display. “It’s what we really enjoy.”

Old Town Garden Center can be found across the street from Jack’s Restaurant in Old Town Orcutt at 125 S. Broadway St., or reached by phone at 937-0555.

Highlights

• Women’s Economic Ventures was scheduled to have an orientation for its self-employment training and business plan intensive courses on Nov. 14, but if you missed that, it’s not to late to register your interest. There’s another orientation scheduled for Nov. 28 from noon to 1 p.m. in Santa Barbara, and on Dec. 4 from 6 to 7 in Buellton. For more information about orientation dates, call 965-6073 or e-mail info@wevonline.org.

WEV aims to promote the economic empowerment of women with programs made from a mix of classes and support for entrepreneurs at various levels, from start-up to growth.

For more information, visit wevonline.org.

Biz Spotlight was written by Intern Allen Achterberg. Highlights were written and compiled by Executive Editor Ryan Miller. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, e-mail, or mail.