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MECHANICVILLE, N.Y. – For the fifth year in a row, the partnership between Kohl’s Department Stores and Chip’s Landscaping resulted in a new sustainable water feature and garden at the site of the Mechanicville Area Community Services Center (MACSC).

 

As a new spin on the annual  “Go Green” build this year, MACSC not only received a natural sustainable water garden on site, but a unique element for the center providing families and children an outdoor gathering area and educational platform. 

 

The center’s urban setting lacked an engaging green space for children to learn and experience nature hands on.  By combining the natural ecosystem of water with gardens, this “kid friendly” space will allow children to see and experience seasons of plant growth and wildlife in their natural habitats.  The green space will also provide a backdrop for sensory, inspirational and healing experiences for the many other programs serving all ages at the center.

 

 

“We especially hope the children and families discover a new love for nature and gardens through this unique water garden seen and get to experience it every day going forward right in their yard,” says Sue DuBois, project leader and co-owner of Chip’s Landscaping.

 

This year’s build was also visited by alumni Brian Nealon, CEO of the Wesley Community. The Wesley Community was the site of the first Go Green Build in 2010. Nealon joined the volunteers for lunch to share his stories and update volunteers on the impact of their water garden on the community at large.  Volunteers for the build came from Kohl’s Department stores and Chip’s Landscaping.  Lunch and a variety of garden materials were donated by many local businesses including Old Bryan Inn, Mullholland Enterprises, Cranesville Stone, Real Bark Mulch, Palette Stone, Northern Nurseries, Dehn’s Flowers, Dyers Nursery, and Kerls Electric.

 

 

Everywhere you look on the weekends you see people digging, planting and puttering in their gardens and lawns. While they may make for a pretty panorama, not every product or plant that goes in the garden is good for your pets.

According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Animal Control Center, experts field thousands of calls about pets that have had potentially hazardous contact with insecticides, weed killer and pet-toxic plants.

The best way to insure you aren’t potentially putting your pet in danger is to do a little research before you begin your lawn and garden projects, says Dr. Reid P. Groman, critical care specialist at Veterinary Specialty Center of Delaware.

Story: Big cats strut their stuff at Philadelphia zoo

Story: Lending PAWS to patients in Illinois hospital

“Do your due diligence,” Groman said. Here are some things to consider:

Cocoa mulch

Cocoa mulch has become increasing popular for landscaping the past few years. It’s made from cocoa bean shells, which gives it that enticing chocolate aroma people seem to love. And that’s just what attracts your dog to it.

Cocoa mulch contains caffeine and theobromine, the same ingredient that causes chocolate toxicity in dogs. It is not as toxic as baking chocolate but, depending on the size of the dog, how much it ingests and how much theobromine is in the mulch, it can cause vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity, muscle termers and elevated heart rate. In severe cases a dog can have seizures. It can be fatal.

If you know your dog has eaten cocoa mulch, call your vet right away.

Groman advises watering the mulch as soon as you put it down to help prevent ingestion. “Watering it well forms a crust on the mulch and makes it harder to eat and less palatable,” he said.

The ASPCA recommends considering less-toxic alternatives, such as shredded pine, cedar or hemlock bark, but always supervise curious canines in yards where mulch is spread.

Plants

The plant that pops up most often when looking for toxic effects on pets is the sago palm, which is popular for gardens and patios. The entire plant is toxic – the leaves, nuts and seeds. Ingestion can cause vomiting, bloody diarrhea and gastric ulcers.

“The most severe problem we see is liver failure that can be irreversible,” Groman said. “It carries a more guarded prognosis, especially if they go into liver failure.”

Other plants that can sicken pets include alocasia, aloe, amaryllis and African daises. Check out aspca.org for a more comprehensive list.

Compost

Going green with a compost heap is great for Mother Earth, but not so much for your pets.

“If you are trying to do the right thing by the environment you need to be careful that the pets do not get into,” Groman said. “The overwhelming number of dogs won’t get sick, but when different plant matter decomposes there are mycotoxins that grow from moldy food.”

If your pet becomes ill from eating compost or garbage, you’ll know it within 30 minutes, Groman said. Symptoms include hyperactivity, panting and drooling. Your pet likely will end up staying at the vet for several days receiving supportive care until it improves. There is no cure.

Also, do not dump grease from your barbecue or kitchen in your yard.

“Dogs love it, but it makes them sick, and they can get pancreatitis,” Groman said.

Insecticides/fertilizers

While most insecticides are seldom toxic in small doses, snail bait, which contains metaldehyde, is extremely dangerous. Other dangerous products include fly bait with methomyl, systemic insecticides with disyston or disulfoton, mole or gopher bait with zinc phosphide and most forms of rat poisons.

If you’re planting roses or other plants that require bone meal or any other meal-based fertilizer, make sure your pets can’t get to it. When they ingest it, it will become solid in their gastric system, which requires a trip to the vet immediately.

Read all the labels on fertilizers and pesticides before you purchase them. If you have any concerns, call your vet or visit aspca.org.

Groman suggests applying chemicals to your lawn before a soaking rain or watering your lawn thoroughly before you allow your pets to walk on it. Consider keeping them off the lawn for a couple of days.

If you spot any symptoms of illness, call your veterinarian immediately, Groman said. Also, keep all packages and other information for any product or plant you place in your yard indefinitely.

If you cannot reach your vet, call the ASPCA hotline, (888) 426-4435. There is a $65 consulting fee, but that call could save your pet’s life.

Manny got his surgery

Recently, I wrote about what great pets greyhounds make and a fundraiser for Manny, whose leg was broken racing. Gail Rys, vice president and foster coordinator for Greyhound Pets of America – Delaware Chapter, emailed me to say Manny had his surgery and is doing well. His baby-blue cast should come off next week.

The rescue is still raising funds. Donations can be sent to 701 Cambridge Drive, Newark, DE 19711.

Going wild about baby animals

Rys also let me know that the recent column on leaving alone wildlife babies was a hit with her granddaughter, who took it to her preschool class and engaged her classmates in a discussion about it.

I also got a sweet email from a reader whose 5-year-old grandson found a nest of baby bunnies and literally stood over the nest, reading the advice in Delaware Pets from experts with the statewide Delaware Council of Wildlife Rehabilitators Educators about how to observe, but not interfere, with the bunnies. Can I tell you how much I love that?

Pleased to help

When I toured the new Gibney’s Doggie Kingdom at Faithful Friends Animal Society last week, I noticed Soggy Doggy mats everywhere. I wrote about them and other products I had tested shortly before Christmas. Turns out board member Jill Cantera, who directed the Faithful Friends renovation project, read that column and contacted Joanna Rein, who invented the water-absorbing mats, about buying some for the shelter. Rein responded by giving the shelter a wholesale price.

This column and section is sponsored by Concord Pet Foods Supplies. www.concordPetFoods.com.

Delaware Pets is written by animal-lover Deb Lucas. Email her you news, events, column ideas and the results of column topics to dlucas@delaweareonline.com or call her at (302) 324-2852.

Pet-related events

• Delaware Humane Association will hold a Cat and Kitten Adopt-a-Thon 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Concord Pet Foods and Supplies at the Shoppes of Graylyn, 1722 Marsh Road in Wilmington. Same-day adoptions of cats are available for qualified applicants. dehumane.org/adoptions

• Until Saturday, qualified adopters at the Delaware Humane Association will be eligible to pay reduced adoption fees for all black or mostly black animals they adopt. Dogs 7 months and older can be adopted for $50 and cats of any age can be adopted for $20. dehumane.org/adoptus

By Matthew Appleby
Thursday, 22 May 2014

Trade bodies BALI, APL and HTA have been celebrating the medal-winning success of their members at last week’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Hugo Bugg’s gold medal-winning RBC Waterscape Garden built by Landscape Associates.Pic: HW

The Association of Professional Landscapers (APL) reported that members of the association built five of the gold medal-winning gardens at this year’s show.

They include Landscape Associates which helped Hugo Bugg to become the youngest ever show garden gold medal winner at the age of 26 for the Royal Bank of Canada’s Waterscape Garden, working with main contractor Himalayan Landscaping. The company also built silver gilt winner Patrick Collins’ A Garden for First Touch at St George’s.

The Outdoor Room built two gold medal-winning gardens, for Adam Frost’s The Homebase Garden – Time to Reflect in association with Alzheimer’s Society, and Jo Thompson’s London Square garden in the Fresh area. It also helped designers Andrew Wilson and Gavin McWilliam’s win a silver gilt for the Cloudy Bay Garden.

Another gold medal went to Charlotte Rowe’s No Man’s Land ABF The Soldiers’ Charity Garden built by Brian Herbert Outdoor Options. Outdoor Options in collaboration with Living Landscapes also helped to secure a silver gilt flora for The Wellchild Garden.

In the Artisan Gardens, Frogheath Landscapes built gold winning DialAFlight Potter’s Garden with the theme of bringing to life a garden that had been abandoned for the war in 1914.

David and Harry Rich and landscape company Rich and Sons won silver gilt for Bord Na Mona’s Vital Earth The Night Sky Garden with a planting scheme echoing the feel of the Milky Way and two pools symbolises black holes, reflecting the sky and surrounding planting.

Landform Consultants built silver winning Chris Deakin and Jason Lock’s House of Fraser Fabric Garden. 

The Brand Alley Renaissance Garden designed by Paul Hervey-Brookes and built by Big Fish Landscapes won a bronze medal.

APL chairman Mark Gregory said: “We are absolutely thrilled to win medals at RHS Chelsea.  It is such an accolade for our members to win at such a high profile show. It just shows what superb landscapers we have and enforces the credibility of our offering through hard work and landscaping excellence.”

Meanwhile, BALI members totted up five golds, seven silver gilts and seven silvers, plus a silver flora at the show.

Wins included: The Outdoor Room which built the gold medal-winning Homebase garden and London Square, plus the silver gilt-winning Cloudy Bay garden.

Outdoor Options which built gold medal-winning ABF The Soldiers’ Charity and silver gilt-winning WellChild.

Landscape Associates, with Himalayan Landscaping, which built the gold medal-winning RBC Waterscape Garden.

Bartholomew Landscaping, Bowles Wyer and PC Landscapes each received silver-gilt for their Show Gardens – Positively Stoke-on-Trent, The Brewin Dolphin Garden, and The Extending Space gardens respectively.

Silver medals were awarded to designers Chris Deakin and Jason Lock and contractor Landform Consultants for the House of Fraser garden, Fabric, to Indoor Garden Design for The World Vision Garden, to designer Helen Elks-Smith and contractor Wycliffe Landscapes for the City of London Corporation Oak Processionary Moth Garden, and to Mark Wallinger for the Cave Pavilion in support of the Garden Museum.

Affiliates Silvadec, IOTA, Robin Tacchi Plants and Harrod Horticultural also won accolades.

In the Great Pavilion, The Perennial Garden won a silver-gilt, helped by BALI contractor Streetscape, and BALI training provider Sparsholt College Winchester won gold and best discovery exhibit for The Paper Chase, which looked at the plants linked to paper and the cycle of use and re-use. 

Capel Manor College was also rewarded for its exhibit, Small is Plentiful – the story of community food production across London – with a silver flora.

HTA member Hillier Nurseries Garden Centres won a 69th consecutive Chelsea gold medal for ‘The White Garden’.  Hillier also displayed RHS Chelsea Plant of the Year 2014 Hydrangea ‘Miss Saori’.

Gold also went to David Austin Roses which launched Olivia Rose Austin’ (‘Ausmixture’) at the show, a soft pure-pink named after the 19-year-old daughter of David Austin junior.

Harkness Roses also won gold for its modern rose garden and Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants won gold for its stand where they launched three new plants Eryngium Neptune’s Gold, Gaura Freefolk Rosy and Trollius Dancing Flame.

Other golds went to Norfield Nurseries for its Japanese maples and Peter Beales Roses which launched its flagship addition to the Modern Classics range rosa “Frilly Cuff”.

Suttons Seeds, which provided the vegetable varieties for The South West In Bloom Garden at Chelsea this year won best gold winner in the Grand Pavilion, therefore winning the Diamond Jubilee Award, while Walkers Bulbs who launched the daffodil ‘Georgie Boy’ named after Prince George also won gold.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company took home a silver-gilt flora for their Miracle Gro’wers Discovery and Learning Garden where school children had grown plants from seeds, plugs and cuttings to create a productive vegetable garden and flower garden.

Burncoose Nurseries also won Silver Gilt Flora for its ‘101 Plants from China’ display and Kelways Plants also won Silver Gilt Flora for its peonies and irises.

All Chelsea medal winners can be found at www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show/awards

 

 

 

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SLATE HILL — Catlin Gardens, a romantically themed wedding venue on Route 6 that fell behind on mortgage payments and now owes its lenders $3.8 million, could soon be headed to the auction block.

In late March, Acting Orange County Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bartlett appointed a referee to sell the property to repay its debts. Now, all the referee must do is schedule a date for the sale, which will be held in the Orange County Courthouse.

If the property is sold, couples who have put down deposits for weddings may lose those deposits and have to find a new venue to recite their vows, said Lewis Wrobel, a bankruptcy attorney.

John Stack, one of the owners of Catlin Gardens, said in an email that the catering hall will continue to stay open for business while it restructures its financial situation.

“We are confident that we will be continuing our business and growing it well into the future,” he said.

Stack’s prepared statement did not respond to further questions, and did not address the security of customer deposits.

Bankruptcy possible

Robert Krahulik, the catering venue’s attorney, said Catlin has been “working hard” on refinancing its debt, a move that would likely cancel an auction.

The business may file for bankruptcy, he said. A bankruptcy would stall the foreclosure, allowing Catlin to continue operating and hosting weddings and other events, he said.

A bankruptcy would likely help Catlin get through this year’s wedding season, Wrobel said.

“They can certainly buy a good amount of time by doing that,” Wrobel said.

Last June, a few months after the foreclosure was filed, Krahulik said Catlin’s financial problems stemmed from property damage caused by Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. Catlin Creek, a focal point at the venue, overflowed, damaging the gardens and grounds.

Mary Kay Martin, Catlin Gardens’ controller, said the business is “financially better off” than it’s ever been. Instead of using deposits as they come in, how the business ran before, it saves them until the event happens, Martin said.

The move has allowed Catlin to build up its operating cash, she said.

Behind on tax break

In addition to its delinquent mortgage, Catlin is behind on payments under its tax-break agreement with Orange County, according to the Orange County Industrial Development Agency, which granted the business a 10-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes arrangement in 2009.

The last payment the county received from Catlin was in September 2012 for a January bill, according to a county spokesman. In April, the IDA unanimously voted to allow its attorney to compel Catlin to make payments, or else cancel the tax break arrangement.

Unhappy couples

Ian Lindars, an attorney from Fishkill, plans to file a lawsuit over the deposit he lost at Catlin. He and his fiance, Emily Kermani, signed a contract last February for a wedding this June, but after hearing about the foreclosure, they asked for their money back.

The Stacks refused, stating that the couple had signed a contract, Lindars said. He was upset that the owners never disclosed their financial problems and was concerned about the possibility of the Stacks losing the property in the foreclosure.

“In my opinion, they were agreeing to perform something they had no idea they were going to be able to perform,” Lindars said.

The couple set a date for July at a different venue. They had already booked a church on the same day as they had planned to have their wedding at Catlin Gardens, but it wasn’t available on the new date.

Lindars and Kermani also had to toss toasting flutes, gifts for the mothers and cake-cutting accessories, all already engraved with the date scheduled at Catlin.

“It made a stressful ordeal much more stressful,” Lindars said. “It put a damper on the whole wedding.”

Worry and aggravation

Another couple, Tim Smith of Highland and his bride, Leslie DeGroat, soon to officially become Leslie Smith, held their wedding ceremony and reception at Catlin Gardens May 18.

Like Lindars and Kermani, Smith and DeGroat had asked for their deposit back after hearing about the foreclosure. The Stacks refused, and Smith and DeGroat went forward with their wedding plans, not wanting to lose their investment.

In the weeks leading up to the big day, Smith saw that the landscaping, which had attracted the couple to the venue in the first place, wasn’t up to snuff. The fountains were dirty, tulips weren’t planted and trees needed pruning, Smith said.

Staff at Catlin Gardens addressed some of their concerns about the condition of the grounds a few days before the wedding, but not everything, Smith said.

He said the food at his wedding was great, but the aggravation and worry about whether or not the venue’s doors would be closed before his nuptials stressed him out.

“It was an enjoyable time,” he said. “Leading up to it was not an enjoyable time.”

jdinapoli@th-record.com

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Today’s Most Clicked Stories

“One of our friends has described it as looking like a 1950s Scout den from the street. I guess it does.”

It’s a sign of a great home when, instead of going away for a holiday, you choose to have a “stay-cation” in your own house because it’s just as idyllic as anything you could find overseas.

That’s what Tony and Deborah Wilson once did. Usually frequent travellers, they hired a cook and a housekeeper for a week and chilled out in their resort-style waterfront home in Albany.

“This is the ideal place to do that,” says Tony, sitting on his deck in the autumn sunshine and looking out over his lush garden to the calm waters of Lucas Creek. “I highly recommend it.”

Their house was inspired by Balinese style, so it’s no surprise that it feels like a luxury hotel in an exotic location. The Wilsons, who are regular visitors to the island, were there on holiday eight years ago when they looked around at the decor and had a brainwave: Why not use Bali style as the inspiration for the house they were about to build? Their architect, Simon Stephenson, was in the middle of designing a Scandinavian-style home for them so they phoned and told him to hold fire.

Plans for lots of blond wood and a low-pitched roof were ditched, and instead ideas for a house with black cedar weatherboards surrounded by tropical vegetation began to take shape.

Tony and Deborah then went shopping. That trip, and several subsequent visits to Bali, saw them filling three shipping containers with products including andesite tiles, bluestone parquet flooring, crystal quartz, enormous urns and sandstone water features. The result? A home that is a joy to come home to after a busy day in the hairdressing salon they own. The couple, who have a passion for architecture and design, have built or renovated about half a dozen homes and when they found the water’s edge section in a cul-de-sac in Albany’s Schnapper Rock eight years ago, they knew it would be perfect for their next project.

They wanted a house that did justice to the location, but were keen for it to appear unpretentious from the road. “One of our friends has described it as looking like a 1950s Scout den from the street, and I guess it does,” chuckles Tony.

But as soon as you walk past the double garage and down an impressive set of sandstone steps towards the house it becomes clear that this is a special home. A boardwalk leads past striking landscaping and a sitting area with unusual freestanding water features to the front door.

Walls of glass frame the outlook out across the garden and heated swimming pool to the water and fill the home with light. “The house was very much designed with the view in mind, and bringing the outside in,” says Tony.

The house comprises three pavilions, one of which contains the bedrooms, while the other two are devoted to living. The lounge in the central pavilion has sliding doors out to the front and back gardens, and features a wall of quartz crystal. A cleverly concealed cavity slider ensures the room can be shut off if needed.

The main living area has a soaring ceiling and a unique black textured stone fireplace with an andesite hearth. The kitchen includes a granite benchtop, plentiful storage and a walk-in pantry. Behind the kitchen is a cloakroom and a laundry that leads out to an edible garden and utility area.

Gallery

Resort-style waterfront home in Albany

At the other end of the house, the bedroom wing has three large bedrooms with doors out to a deck, an office and a family bathroom. But it is the master bedroom that is the piece de resistance. With its integrated en suite – complete with a terrazzo egg bath – and expanse of glass maximising the outlook, it could have come straight out of a guide to the world’s most exclusive boutique hotels.

Deborah loves this room, but Tony’s favourite part of the house is the large, partially covered rear deck. “It’s another room really, and we spend a lot of time here.”

After seven years, the Wilsons are now moving on to their next project, and Tony is keen to replicate the covered deck. “Wherever we live, we will definitely have one of these,” he says.

– NZ Herald

(Courtesy of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty)

A 9,000-square-foot contemporary house in Bethesda with classic architectural details such as arched doorways as well as lush landscaping and a four-car garage is listed for $3.95 million.

The property at 7101 Orkney Parkway was designed and built in 2007 by local architect Glenn Fong and Augustine Homes.

Landscaped gardens and flagstone terraces extend the living space outdoors and can be accessed through four sets of French doors off the kitchen and great room.

(Courtesy of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty)

The main level has a formal dining room, a library with access to a screened porch, a formal living room and a home office in addition to the kitchen and great room.

The home in the Bannockburn neighborhood has six bedrooms, eight full baths and three half baths, plus a fourth-level loft and a finished lower level with a home theater, fitness room and game room.

For more information, go to www.BeasleyRE.com or contact realty agents Jim Bell or Kira Epstein with Beasley Real Estate at 202-607-4000.

Study correlates level of education to homeownership

A recent study by Trulia that examined where middle class Americans can afford to buy homes found that homeownership becomes more affordable with increased levels of education because of the correlation between income and education.

In the Washington metro area, Trulia found that just 23 percent of homes available for sale are affordable for households in which the head of the family has a high school diploma or less education, compared with 75 percent for a household with a bachelor’s degree and 83 percent for a household with a graduate degree.

The affordability percentage is based on the number of for-sale homes whose monthly payment (including principal, interest, taxes and insurance) is less than 31 percent of the area median household income.

To see the full study, go to www.trulia.com.

(Courtesy of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty)

Designer and architect create unique house on Capitol Hill

Interior designer Darryl Carter and landscape architect Lisa Fendrick have collaborated with Ditto Residential to create a unique house at 541 Seventh St. SE in the District — what they call a modern interpretation of the historic Capitol Hill style.

The five-bedroom, 5,000-square-foot house has an open floor plan with five full baths, two half baths and a terraced rear yard with gardens and blue stone pavers along with an electric security gate.

(Courtesy of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty)

On the main level, the kitchen includes custom cabinets and black soapstone counters and opens into a family room with three sets of French doors to the garden. The dining room and living room each include an antique French chandelier, while the living room has a wood burning fireplace with a restored wood mantel. The master suite has a luxury bath and two sets of French doors to a balcony and the third level includes an entertainment area and wet bar with city views.

The house is listed for $2.495 million.

For more information, go to www.541seventh.com or contact Realtors Pamela Wye and Claudia Donovan of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty at 202-320-4169 or 202-251-7011.

Tip of the week

While the company isn’t claiming to have a crystal ball, Zillow recently introduced a consumer-friendly tool to predict future home values.

You may have already looked up your home or your friend’s home with Zillow’s “Zestimate” tool that estimates a property’s current home value, but the new “Zestimate Forecast” element provides a prediction of the home’s change in value over the next year.

The forecast will be given in both dollar amounts and percentages to give consumers an idea of what the impact of local housing trends will be on individual properties.

As an example, if a home has a Zestimate of $200,000, the forecast could be $210,000 in one year or an increase of 5 percent, or it could be $190,000 or a predicted decrease of 5 percent.

Michele Lerner is a freelance writer. To pass on a tip or news item, contact us at realestate@washpost.com and put “Town Square” in the subject line.

They are places for remembering, for tears, for quiet conversations.

They can be beautifully manicured parks and the location of Memorial Day ceremonies.

They can also be crumbling concrete jungles and the subject of spooky stories or the location of midnight dares.

These are Louisiana’s cemeteries and there are 31 in Lafayette Parish.

We look at some today, Memorial Day, a day of remembrance, through the eyes of people with special insight.

Death and burial aren’t regularly at the forethought of most people’s minds.

Some will regularly visit and tend to the grave of a loved one, but what happens to a person’s resting place after the family has moved or died?

“Years back, people used to come with paint and tools and cut the grass and have picnics for All Souls’ Day,” said Deacon Wade Broussard, who serves on The Diocese of Lafayette Cemetery Board. “The whole family would come together. The younger generations say, ‘It ain’t my problem.’ That’s why you’re seeing the older cemeteries with tombs falling apart.”

Broussard manages two Catholic church cemeteries in the area and has done so for decades.

In some parts of the state, the presiding diocese manages all area Catholic cemeteries. In the Diocese of Lafayette, however, each of the cemeteries is managed by an individual church parish.

“I try to work with some of these other church parishes to give them advice and help them along,” Broussard said. “The theme we use is ‘Leave it better than you took it.’ And a lot of priests are coming along and are taking an interest, and once people see the church is taking an interest, then they come forward.”

With the exception of family burial grounds, state law requires that all cemeteries be incorporated.

The Louisiana Cemetery Board governs cemeteries, but it is up to each individual cemetery to care for the grounds and burial sites, whether the cemetery is affiliated with a church or not.

“The cemetery is responsible if they are selling cemetery spaces to the public with a representation of perpetual or endowed care,” said Lucy McCann, director of the Louisiana Cemetery Board.

State law requires that all modern cemeteries are perpetual care or endowed care, meaning that a percentage of the money received from every burial goes into a trust fund to ensure that grounds maintenance can continue after a cemetery has reached capacity.

Ideally, every person’s resting place will be kept presentable, even when there are no longer family members around to care for the grave site.

“The family’s responsibilities are largely nonexistent in most cases,” McCann said. “However, in non-perpetual care cemeteries and abandoned cemeteries, the responsibilities of maintaining a family grave space may fall to the families in the absence of others.”

Those who manage and maintain cemetery grounds know that perpetual funds do not always cover the long-term cost of upkeep, however.

“The scenario is that when there’s nobody left hundreds of years after everything is sold, there’s still going to be money to pay for the upkeep,” said Cecile Walters Hebert, office manager for Greenlawn Memorial Gardens.

What the perpetual care fund means for Greenlawn is the full-time employment of three people who handle the mowing, grave digging, general landscaping and grounds upkeep.

“The families are responsible for taking care of specific graves,” Hebert said. “They might want to have their marker cleaned up and looking like new again because bronze markers will start to oxidize, things like that.”

About 3,700 people have been buried in that cemetery. There is more space for development.

Lafayette Memorial Park owner and president Danny Delhomme employs four people on his maintenance staff.

About 5,000 people are buried in his cemetery, which has space for the development of about 10,000 more grave sites.

“It’s just very expensive to develop a cemetery and abide by the laws,” Delhomme said. “To get one started, a person has to have a lot of money to start that perpetual-care fund.”

Delhomme says he is working constantly to increase the amount of money in the perpetual-care fund.

Because many cemeteries are land-locked and cannot further develop land for burials, that perpetual fund is critical.

But it wasn’t always critical or even necessary, Broussard said.

“Years back, you didn’t have to ask for volunteers,” Broussard said. “It was just something that people did — take care of the dead. Times change.”

Established in 1821, Lafayette Parish’s oldest permanent burial site is the historic St. John Cemetery.

Cemetery manager Brady LeBlanc is unsure of how many people are buried there or of how much space is left for development.

“Honestly, we’re almost 200 years old, so we really don’t have any idea,” LeBlanc said. “Prior to 1970 when computers became efficient, everything was written by hand, and some of the documentation has been lost through the years.”

LeBlanc says he is responsible for just about everything in the cemetery.

A recent responsibility for LeBlanc and the cemetery is the annual burial of the unclaimed human remains that are housed at the Lafayette Parish Coroner’s Office.

The burial happens on All Souls’ Day on Nov. 2 and began two years ago with the burial of 93 unclaimed remains collected at the coroner’s office over a 20-year period.

“Last year, we buried 35,” LeBlanc said. “This year, I already have 15 to bury, and it’s only May. By November, we should have 30 or 40 again.”

Today, many people will visit the graves of loved ones for Memorial Day.

Some cemeteries, such as Greenlawn and Lafayette Memorial Park, also offer special Memorial Day services for the community as a way to honor fallen veterans.

“After 50 years of doing the Memorial Day tribute,” Hebert said, “keeping the program fresh poses a different kind of challenge.”

Lafayette Parish cemeteries

■ Bethel Methodist Church Cemetery, Duson

■ Calvary Cemetery – Mausoleum of Resurrection, Lafayette

■ Christ Sanctified and Holy Church Cemetery, Duson

■ Congregation of the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church Cemetery, Broussard

■ De La Salle Christian Brothers Cemetery, Lafayette

■ Evangeline Memorial Gardens, Carencro

■ Fountain Memorial Garden and Mausoleum, Lafayette

■ Gethsemane Gardens Cemetery, Lafayette

■ Greenlawn Memorial Gardens, Lafayette

■ Holy Mary Mother of God Cemetery and Mausoleum, Lafayette

■ Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Cemetery, Lafayette

■ Kimble Chapel Episcopal Methodist Cemetery, Ridge

■Lafayette Memorial Park, Lafayette

■ Mallalieu United Methodist Church Cemetery, Lafayette

■ Our Lady of the Assumption Church Cemetery, Carencro

■ Progressive Baptist Church Cemetery, Lafayette

■ Silverado Cemetery, Lafayette

■ St. Anne Cemetery, Youngsville

■ St. Basil Church Cemetery, Duson

■ St. Benedict Cemetery, Duson

■ St. James C. M. E. Cemetery, Youngsville

■ St. John Cemetery, Lafayette

■ St. Joseph Cemetery, Broussard

■ St. Joseph Cemetery, Lafayette

■ St. Martin de Porres Cemetery, Scott

■ St. Peter Cemetery, Carencro

■ St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Cemetery, Duson

■ Sts. Peter and Paul Cemeter, Scott

■ The Episcopal Church of the Ascension, Lafayette

■ Trinity C. M. E. Church Cemetery, Lafayette

■ Whittington Cemetery, Lafayette

Source: Louisiana Cemetery Board

Celebrate Memorial Day

• Annual Memorial Day Program

9 a.m. Monday at Fountain Memorial Funeral Home Cemetery, 1010 Pandora Street, Lafayette. 337-981-7098.

Outdoor Memorial Day Service in the Veteran’s Section of Fountain Memorial Cemetery, featuring Knights of Columbus color guard assemblies in full regalia, gun salute and TAPS performance by VFW Post 9822 as well as patriotic musical selections.

• 50th annual Memorial Day Celebration

Noon, Monday, at Greenlawn Memorial Gardens, 2300 N. University Ave., Lafayette. 337-706-8941.

The ceremony will honor John “Jack” Henton, Jr. (d.) as the 2014 Distinguished Veteran of the Year. Entertainment will be provided by members of the renowned Destination Choir of Destiny of Faith Church who will sing their renditions of military selections. The public is invited to attend. Light refreshments will be served.

• Memorial Day Service

3 p.m. Monday at Lafayette Memorial Park Cemetery, 2111 W. Pinhook Road, Lafayette. 337-235-3065.

Congressman Charles Boustany will serve as guest speaker.

Endless Mountains Heritage Region (EMHR) is the local sponsor of a state-wide initiative geared to getting people outdoors to enjoy all that nature has to offer. GO Day PA activities planned at Larnard-Hornbrook Park in Bradford County on Friday and Saturday, June 13 and 14; encompass environmental stewardship, stargazing, bird watching, kayaking, and a historical perspective on survival in the region prior to the arrival of European settlers.

Numerous experts will offer presentations and conduct hands-on activities, including archery, fishing, and a black powder shoot. Families and friends can enjoy live jazz music at nightfall, participate in a midmorning outdoor workout with dancing, and get a lesson on the best native plant species for gardens and landscaping.

Several state agencies, including the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Recreation and Park Society, Land Trust Association, Fish and Boat Commission, Game Commission, and Department of Health have partnered to promote outdoor recreation and bring outdoor experiences closer to where people live.

On the local level, EMHR has collaborated with the Bradford County Conservation District (BCCD) and Bradford County Parks to sponsor the family-friendly event. Get Outdoors PA is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, having started in Pennsylvania’s state parks. This is the first year that event has been staged locally, and EMHR’s Lydia Whipple is excited about the variety of activities and the broad appeal of the scheduled presentations. She hopes that participants will be further motivated to explore the area’s natural surroundings and that youths will learn to embrace outdoor recreation.

Admission to Larnard-Hornbrook Park is free, though some activities require preregistration or nominal fees.

GO Day PA will kick off with a tree planting ceremony at 4 p.m. on June 13, followed by a “stream stomp” conducted by naturalist and educator Nicole Carman. A five mile kayak trip on the Susquehanna River from Ulster to the Park in Sheshequin Township will begin at 4:30 p.m. at a cost of $20 per paddler.

Marty Borko of the Carantouan Greenway will conduct a nature walk at 5 p.m., and Bradford County Conservation District Educator, Dan Rhodes, will speak about camping and wilderness techniques employed by Native Americans and early explorers at 6 p.m.

At 7 p.m., guests are invited to enjoy classic American picnic fare at $7 per plate, after which T2 Jazz Affair will offer an interactive program of live music and storytelling. Joan Cashin will point out constellations and other celestial features, starting at 10 p.m.

Several activities will occur simultaneously on Saturday morning. Borko will take early risers on a bird walk at 9 a.m., while runners and walkers begin to register for a 5K Run that starts at 9:30 a.m. Those who preregister at www.bradfordcountypa.org will receive a free tee shirt. A one-mile fun walk for kids will step off at 9:45 a.m.

From 9 a.m. to noon, representatives from the Fish and Boat Commissioner will share their fishing tips with families who have preregistered at the news page at www.endlessmountainsheritage.org.

The black powder shoot will take place at 10 a.m., as will a presentation by Master Gardner Tina Kellogg about invasive species and native plants. Sarah Adams and Shari Williams will get guests moving with an outdoor workout at 10:30 a.m.

Local 4-H representatives will conduct an archery demonstration from 11 a.m. to noon, when GO Day PA culminates with a chicken barbecue lunch prepared and sold by members of Boy Scout Troop 19.

They were equally at home nestled in Hooksgreen Herbs’ Peter Rabbit’s veg plot
(‘Sutton’s Apricot’); reaching tall in the Renaissance Gardens (wild
digitalis); and pinpointing an unusual lime hedge (Tilia cordata from deepdale-trees.co.uk)
in the Time to Reflect Alzheimer’s Society garden.

A cube of foxgloves greeted us at the Botanic Nursery’s stand in the Marquee.

Headlined as “The Great Survivor”, it was described as one of the few native
plants to be well received in gardens, with a knack of springing up
unnoticed until its towering stems dominate the garden. From then on it will
self-seed.

Wild foxgloves are biennial, and purple forms predominate. Perennial
forms (many available from thebotanicnursery.co.uk)
should be cut down after flowering, allowed to regrow from their bases, then
divided.

In Marylyn Abbott’s tiny Topiarist’s Garden, a miniature of her courtyard at
West Green House, near Hook in Hampshire, creamy albiflora foxgloves and
camassias took a co-starring role to potted lupin ‘Noble Maiden’ that
nestled in a framework of clipped box, to be replaced with other plants in
pots, once spent. A charming spot, where the designer imagined the head
gardener indulging in his own flights of fancy, away from the demands of the
estate.

The tall yellow lupin ‘Chandelier’ took pride of place in the Best in Show
garden for Laurent Perrier, cushioned with frothy Deschampsia cespitosa and
Orlaya grandiflora, a combination inspired by Fergus Garrett at Great
Dixter. All the plants from this garden can be bought from crocus.co.uk,
which supplied the award-winning array, including the pale-yellow Digitalis
lutea.

Crocus also stocks my favourite planting of all, in the Telegraph Garden,
where the skyscraper Stipa gigantea joined shocking pink wild Gladiolus
communis subsp. byzantinus (it grows wild in my garden), with sparkles of
tiny wild pink, Dianthus carthusianorum, that designer Tommaso del Buono
told me grew wild in the countryside near his native Florence. Tall
camassias, lime-green euphorbias, fennel and a stunning royal-blue Anchusa
azurea ‘Loddon Royalist’ completed the picture.

^{The Telegraph Garden (HEATHCLIFF O’MALLEY)}

Because of its connection in all our hearts with the centenary of the First
World War, I’d imagined the poppy, in all its forms, would reign supreme
this year. A few wild ones (Papaver rhoeas) dotted the inspirational series
of grass mounds that made up Charlotte Rowe’s No Man’s Land for the
Soldiers’ Charity (producing the most sumptuous catalogue of the show). The
Gardeners Have All Gone plot from Pennard Plants and Roots and Shoots
celebrated the black troops who fought in the First World War with black
opium poppies in their poignant gone-to-seed vegetable garden. But the most
vibrant poppy came from the Midlothian nursery Kevock Garden Plants.

Its electric-blue Meconopsis ‘Lingholm’ lit up the Marquee. It often tempts
me, but is difficult to grow down south. They need cool, wet summers and dry
winters.

In the language of flowers, rosemary, salvia, zinnia and forget-me-not all
signify remembrance. Peonies mean compassion, but they bring out the
green-eyed monster in me: covetable varieties were shown by Binny’s (binny
plants.com), and by one of the country’s oldest nurseries, Kelways, that
specialises in peonies, iris and hardy ferns, all favourites of mine. It
sells tree, herbaceous and their crosses – intersectional peonies. I loved
its ‘Claire de Lune’, ‘Krinkled White’ and ‘Late Windflower’, all delicate
with bright golden centres, from its tempting website, kelways.co.uk.

In celebration of Alan Titchmarsh’s half century in gardening, of all things
floral and the biggest community campaign, Britain in Bloom’s garden
demonstrated the wide range of flowers that can be grown in this country,
and highlighted the tallest plant skyscraper of them all, the echium. Echium
pininana (available from thompson-morgan.com)
has a stunning flower spike in bright blue, pink or white that can grow to
four metres (13ft) in sheltered spots, dying after flowering, but scattering
its seeds to bloom again.

SIOUX FALLS, SD –

With warm weather seemingly here to stay, plenty of people are rushing to take care of any yard work and landscaping projects they’ve had to put on hold.

The cold weather this spring kept a lot of people out of their yards until now, and businesses like Oak Ridge Nursery in Brandon were prepared for the rush. Weekends like this have the nursery at full staff ready to help a non-stop line of customers hoping to get exactly what they need.

“We had kind of a slow start, but now the weather’s finally turned around. Everybody’s anxious to get out in the yards, get plants and flowers going, get the gardens now that we should be past any frost state,” landscape designer Daemon Coughlin said.

May is typically the busiest month for nurseries like Oak Ridge, but the crowd has grown even bigger this year because of the small transition from cold to warmer temperatures.