MANILA, Philippines – Prior to the condominium boom, most of Metro Manila’s families live in houses and lots and townhouses. The old subdivisions in the city’s south, like Muntinlupa, attest to this.

The Metro’s growing population has made land for such type of housing scarce. Vertical residences are now the norm. Recognizing that southerners still yearn for the familiar comforts of their traditional neighborhood, Triple A property developer DMCI Homes developed mid-rise residential condominiums in subdivision setting and packed with modern amenities to provide the same privacy, security, comfort and convenience for second and third generation families of the south.

Rhapsody Residences along the East Service Road near Sucat Exit in South Luzon Expressway, appeals exactly to southerners seeking the condo community that resembles their original home. Homeowners in four of the nine condo buildings already ready for occupancy (RFO) are enjoying family-oriented and resort-style living at the Rhapsody Residences. The first building completed, the Carillon, was RFO last December 2012. The Cello, Clarinet and Harmonica followed in February, April and June this year. The Lyre and Mandolin are scheduled for RFO on August October 2013 respectively whereas Marimba, Maraca, and the 10-storey Viola building will be RFO next year.

Whether it’s a start-up or a family with grown up children, one can choose from several size configurations of two-bedroom units, including ‘tandem-able’ options, ranging from 42 to 114 square meters which include also the balcony and the service area found at the roof deck placed with the individual metered water and electricity.

Like having your own backyard, which is a common feature in house and lots, ground floor units at Rhapsody Residences open to a garden atrium in each building. The semblance of privacy in a single-detached home is recreated through single-loaded corridor configuration allowing plenty of fresh air and natural light to come into the building interior. Each building has a scenic elevator and stairway.

Rhapsody Residences is giving southerners more opportunities for leisure, fitness and social activities. Its clubhouse features Wi-Fi-ready lounge area, an entertainment room and a game room. There is also a meeting room, function rooms and a gym.  On top of that, Rhapsody Residences prides itself with 1.7 hectares of outdoor amenities where residents and guests can have a wonderful recreational time are manicured landscaping, gardens, rows of trees, swimming pools for kids and adults, a pool deck, poolside cots and cabanas, a basketball court and a soccer field.

Southerners will feel more secure and comfortable at Rhapsody Residences. There are 24/7 roving security guards, perimeter fences, gated entrance, fire alarm and fire hose cabinets along building corridors, automatic fire sprinklers and fire suppression systems at hallways, fire exits, CCTV cameras at strategic locations, and backup power generator for common areas.

 Rhapsody Residences’ location makes it just minutes away from the Alabang business district via the East Service Road or the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX). A supermarket is at the nearby Sucat Interchange and the airport can be reached via SLEX and Sucat Road.

Once just a cluster of buildings linked by concrete pathways, the definition of an “office park” has evolved over the last few years.

Today’s office park is focused not just on the mechanics of a busy work environment, but also on sustainability and the well-being of tenants and employees.

This approach is evidenced in one of Spurlock Poirier Landscape Architects‘ most recent projects: the Campus Pointe Office Park in the UTC area.

Offering a site-conditioned approach to planning and landscape architectural design, the 24-acre life-science laboratory campus sits at the rim of several native San Diego canyons within a Torrey Pine grove.

Working with client Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. (NYSE: ARE), the company’s focus has been to design and create a series of sustainable spaces.

To achieve this, the architects extended the canyons’ fingers into the park, creating an open, natural feel.

A core component of the landscaping at Campus Pointe is an organic garden — which sits on the canyon’s rim — planted with vegetables, fruits and herbs all used in the new Campus Point Bistro.

The garden, which was completed as the first phase of the project, encompasses two distinct areas: the public and the production zones.

Visitors enter via the public zone, passing through an ornamental garden to reach the lawn and shaded event patio. Site elements then guide pedestrians to the production zone, directing sightlines to views of the neighboring canyon.

The production area has flowers and fruit trees, as well as vegetable and herb gardens; there is also a small composting area.

A citrus orchard blankets the northern slope of the site, stabilizing against erosion.

In addition, fingers of native plants extend through a fence, blending the garden with the adjacent canyon vegetation.

Spurlock Poirier designed and is now building an entry boulevard flanked with Torrey Pines and native planting, which leads the way to parking lots lined with vegetated swales between the parking stalls as a way to collect and treat stormwater. Each building entry is adjacent to plaza-like spaces for gathering and the gardens.

Two additional gardens are also incorporated into the landscaping. One is terraced with amphitheater steps, stairs and groves of trees, as well as canyon and succulent plants, and lined with curved steel walls. Another is a succulent and grass garden.

Additional spaces include a basketball court, a multipurpose lawn, a fitness center, a 0.8-mile loop trail, chess tables and outlook areas.

The project is slated for completion in early 2014.

*****

Gertler is an associate principal at Spurlock Poirier.

Looking for new garden ideas? Join local garden designer and consultant Kate Frey on Tuesday September 17, 2013, 7 p.m. at the Ukiah Civer Center for a presentation on creating pollination gardens.     

This talk will focus on what plants to include in your habitat garden, and will have many examples of colorful and unique garden styles to consider. Habitat gardens that attract and support bees and birds are flower filled gardens, making us happy and sustaining many organisms at the same time.  Flowers have nectar and pollen resources, that many insects and birds require at all times or specific times in their life cycles.  Over 90 percent of birds feed their young insects, so when there are insects there are often healthy bird populations.

Kate is a world class specialist in sustainable, biodiverse, ecological gardens and landscaping, She designed and managed the famous edible and biodiverse gardens at Campovida, formerly Fetzer Vineyards in Hopland, California for twenty years. In May 2003 her garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in London won a silver/gilt medal, and in 2005 and 2007 her gardens illustrating many elements of biodiversity and sustainability, won gold medals and were visited by the Queen. In addition to participating in global flower shows, Kate is the coordinator of the Sonoma State University Sustainable Dept. of Extended Education Landscape Program.  She currently works as a consultant, designer and a freelance writer, specializing in sustainable gardens that encourage a diverse array of flora and fauna. Kate earned a B.A. Summa Cum Laude with Distinction in English at Sonoma State University in 2006.

This Peregrine Audubon sponsored presentation is free to the public, though donations will be welcome. The Ukiah Civic Center is located at 300 Seminary Ave. To join Peregrine Audubon Society and receive a newsletter with regular announcements about programs and field trips, please send $20 to PAS, P.O. Box 311, Ukiah, CA 95482. For more information on a wide variety of topics related to birding in Mendocino County please got to www.peregrineaudubon.org.

advertisement

LOOK

LOOK

More Photos and Videos

A horde of pigs has gone hog wild in suburban San Ramon.

Over the last few months as many as 20 of the nocturnal beasts (at least, that’s how one neighbor remembers it) have ripped up grass and turned over gardens in the California Bay Area community – all in the hot pursuit of grub. When homeowners in the Henry Ranch neighborhood awake, they’ve been shocked to find their manicured lawns all askew.

“It looks like a tornado has hopped from yard to yard,” Carrie Spurlock said. “We’ve tried to deter them, but they keep coming back.”
     
And it’s not just Spurlock’s lawn that has been wrecked.

One neighbor’s surveillance camera caught some pigs in action just two nights ago. Despite a trap set on the front lawn, they devoured their midnight snack of grubs unfazed.

MORE:  Raw Video of Pigs at Night

“They don’t even go near the trap,” Jonathan Christensen said. “Look at the trap. They’re not interested, and they just tear up the lawn.”

Christensen said his yard has been hit twice now, his brand landscaping turned upside down.

A visit to the neighborhood by NBC Bay Area on Wednesday revealed a dozen or so front lawns looking like they had been professionally rototilled by the porcine critters destroying property in a neighborhood where home prices start at more than half-a-million dollars.

Neighbors have been frustrated with trying to get rid of the pigs. They’ve used pesticides to kill insects, which the pigs like to dine on. They’ve installed motion-sensor lights hoping that would keep the animals away. They said they’ve called the Department of Fish and Game but have got the runaround. And they’ve called a trapper, who set up 10 traps around the neighborhood.

All to no avail.

For now, neighbors are left to replant their grass and smooth out their bumpy lawns.

“We’re very aggravated,” Spurlock said. “They might even be a danger to people.”

In all, the pigs’ feeding frenzy has left about a dozen yards a total mess.

“It does feel like we’re under attack,” Spurlock said. “We’ve done everything we know to do to deter them, and they keep coming back.”

 

Wild pigs captured on cell phone video:

Can you tell me what they’re doing to the traffic system at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville? It reminds me now a little of a NASCAR track. — John D., of Belleville

Hopefully, you won’t see cars zipping around at 200 mph, but students, MetroLink riders and other visitors soon will enjoy a faster and more convenient commute around the SWIC campus.

At least, that’s the hope as school officials prepare for the completion in late November of the SWIC Multi-Modal Transportation Project.

Begun last October, the project is a joint effort between SWIC and the St. Clair County Transit District. It was designed to ease ever-worsening traffic congestion caused by the continuing growth of both the campus and nearby commercial and residential developments.

It is also expected to better integrate MetroLink into the campus and make walking and cycling more pleasant.

“We’re trying to organize it in such a way that it meets various Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) requirements in terms of space between where the entrances are and how close they are to traffic signals,” said John Roach, of Roach Consulting Corp. in St. Louis.

“We’re also trying to improve the general parking and associated landscaping to give the campus a little more of what I would call an urban feel. And, it will lead to the better integration of the bike trail and improve the internal circulation on the campus.”

Already bicyclists are relishing the new bridge that takes them safely over Green Mount Road without having to make a mad dash across the busy roadway. Once across, they can coast down a new cloverleaf-like structure and either make their way toward campus over the tranquil Dr. Tom Amlung Nature Trail or head off to a nearby subdivision that asked the city for bike trail access.

Other changes you’ll see:

* A new and improved crosswalk across Carlyle Avenue/Illinois 161. Studies found that every day more than 400 people brave their way across the busy stretch as they try to dodge some of the 15,000 cars.

* An on-campus roundabout to ease traffic congestion at the Green Mount entrance. The roundabout is expected to allow future circulator legs to be added as the campus expands.

* Improved campus entrances and exits with additional turn lanes, again to ease backups from both student and MetroLink traffic.

* An improved campus circulator pedestrian/bike path that will accommodate campus expansion. Improved landscaping, lighted paths, and benches should make it an even friendlier pedestrian campus.

“And this was from leftover money from the MetroLink extension from the college to the (Scott) air force base,” Roach said. “The college wanted to capture those funds in order to do the kinds of improvements that you see.”

As a result, the $8-million-plus project is being funded through a $5 million grant from IDOT along with another $1.6 million contribution from IDOT plus $600,000 from the St. Clair County Transit District; $300,000 from the Metro East Parks and Recreation District, and $150,000 in SWIC bond funds. Additional funding has been applied for through local grants.

It won’t end there, Roach said. Already, a bridge for cyclists over Carlyle Avenue has been designed and approved with construction expected to start relatively soon. That project will allow access to the YMCA, Green Mount Commons and nearby residential subdivisions with the ultimate goal of extending the bike path to the Scott MetroLink station.

Is there a farming festival coming up in Amish country near Arcola? I seem to remember one every year but can’t find it. — G.D., Waterloo

Unfortunately, you missed last weekend’s 43rd annual Broom Corn Festival, and this Saturday’s Horse Plowing Day has literally dried up because of the weather.

So for a colorful fall excursion, you’ll have to wait for the annual Harvest Festival Oct. 12-14 at Rockome Gardens near Arcola. For $10 ($8 seniors), you’ll find old-time demonstrations and crafts, homemade apple butter and cider and, on the 13th, plenty of music by Mackville and The Coon Holler Kids.

For more area activities, try www.rockome.com or www.amishcountryofcentralil.com.

Today’s trivia

What was the first movie sequel to be released the same year as the original?

Answer to Wednesday’s trivia: As a TV weatherperson, Elwood Edwards once reportedly told viewers in New Bern, N.C., “You’ve got hail!” But since 1989, the 63-year-old voice-over actor is best known for saying “You’ve got mail,” “File’s done” and “Goodbye” to anyone who logs on and off AOL. The Orrville, Ohio, resident also showed up as a virtual doctor on “The Simpsons” (“You’ve got leprosy!”) as well as the ads for the 1998 movie “You’ve Got Mail.”

Send your questions to Roger Schlueter, Belleville News-Democrat, 120 S. Illinois St., P.O. Box 427, Belleville, IL 62222-0427 or rschlueter@bnd.com or call 239-2465.

Click thumbnails to enlarge

New York’s High Line: An aerial view from West 30th Street, looking South toward the Statue of Liberty and theWorld Trade Center site.

A view from the Crescenta View Trail.

By Staff
McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Click to enlarge

A highlight of Forest Park is the 30-mile Wildwood Trail, which is a large section of the region’s 40-Mile Loopsystem that links Forest Park to pedestrian and trail routes throughout Portland, running past landmark Pittock Mansion. Here, a visitor takes a rest.

While there are many positives to residing in an urban area, everyone has days when they want to escape concrete and skyscrapers for a breath of fresh air and a bit more open space. To help you find the best and most accessible urban green spaces, the members and editors of travel website VirtualTourist.com compiled a list of the “Top Five City Parks.”

1. The High Line: New York City

A popular trend in adaptive urban reuse is converting former structures into new projects and green spaces, and perhaps no example of this trend has been more positively embraced by its location as New York City’s High Line. A former freight line that ran along the west side, the High Line removed dangerous freight trains from Manhattan streets and rolled them directly into factories and warehouses in the present-day Meatpacking District and Chelsea neighborhoods of 1930s New York. After more than 25 years of dis-use, the High Line has been transformed into a public space currently spanning 19 city blocks. The third section of the High Line is presently under construction and is expected to open to the public in 2014.

In addition to being a walking space and public park, selected food vendors have opened up along the High Line between Little West 12th and West 18th streets, including Terroir, a popular New York City wine bar, and Blue Bottle Coffee. Another great aspect of the project is the variety of greenery and architectural landscaping — rail tracks have been reinstalled with plantings along the Sundeck and portions through Chelsea move from grasslands to thicket to a Wildflower field.

2. Forest Park: Portland, Oregon

Few cities in America are known for their greenery and commitment to sustainability like Portland. Among their collection of public parks, Forest Park is the largest, forested natural area within city limits in the United States encompassing over 5,100 wooded acres. Running along the western side of the Willamette River and adjacent to Route 30, the park offers guided hikes, mountain biking, equestrian trails, and a vista point. A highlight of the park is the 30-mile Wildwood Trail, which is a large section of the region’s 40-Mile Loop system that links Forest Park to pedestrian and trail routes throughout Portland, running past landmark Pittock Mansion. If you are a garden fan, make sure to also check out Portland’s Washington Park, home to the International Rose Test Garden and the Portland Japanese Garden.

3. Deukmejian Wilderness Park: Glendale, Calif.

While Los Angeles’ Griffith Park is frequently in the spotlight, Deukmejian Wilderness Park in nearby Glendale is only a few more minutes up the highway and much more rustic. A rugged 709-acre site in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, the park is relatively undisturbed except for a 12-acre developed “Park Center” on the southern part of the property. Deukmejian is also unique in that it has become known as a symbol of natural rebirth and communal conservation within Southern California. After nearly 700 acres of the park burned in 2009’s Station Fire, hundreds of community volunteers worked to replant and rebuild the park, from repairing the park’s hiking trails to even removing invasive species after the fire. With elevations ranging from 2,159 feet (658 m) at the park’s entry to 4,775 feet (1455 m) at the northeast corner of the site, it’s an exceptional spot for hiking and views of Los Angeles.

4. Chinese Gardens: Singapore

Located on the western side of Singapore, the Chinese Garden was modeled on the northern Chinese imperial style with pagodas built to coincide with the plantings and scenery. The garden was designed by renowned Taiwanese architect Yuen-Chen Yu and is surrounded by Jurong Lake and adjacent to the Japanese Garden. A must-see of the Chinese Garden is the Suzhou-style Bonsai Garden built using 1,000 bonsai trees imported from China. You can also learn the ancient art of tending to a bonsai at the Bonsai Training Centre. Many travelers note that the gardens are very easily accessible via the MRT from Singapore’s central city area, with the garden’s entrance within view of the station. Continued…

• 1
• 2
• See Full Story

FPS staff report
September 10, 2013

Dallack Paulette, 4, son of Aaron and Nicole Paulette of Carrollton, paints at Carroll Community Park

Nearly 200 volunteers worked throughout last Friday as part of the Carroll County United Way Day of Caring.

Ten nonprofit organizations received help with various projects such as landscaping, painting, and maintenance.  The event was coordinated by United Way of Greater Stark County and sponsored by Chesapeake Energy.

Day of Caring is a community wide day of hands-on volunteering in which United Way pairs businesses with local nonprofits and agencies that have projects that would otherwise go uncompleted.  

Organizations who benefited from the event included:  Augusta Elementary, Bluebird Farm, Camp Aldersgate, Carroll Community Park, Carroll Golden Age Retreat, Carroll County YMCA, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Stark and Carroll Counties, HARCATUS Family Support, Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry and St. John’s Villa.

The Augusta Elementary playground received mulch under playground equipment, creating a safer environment for students to play.  The mulch is specially formulated to contain no bark or pieces of treated lumber and is finer cut than landscaping mulch.  According to Jim Ready, owner of Ready to Haul, he donated 20-25 yards of mulch which was blown onto the playground area.  Chris Hull, principal of Augusta Elementary, noted the facelift the playground received was valued at approximately $850 and was donated through the effort of Angela Perisic of United Way.

“Thank you to Chesapeake Energy, Ready To Haul, and United Way from the staff and students at Augusta Elementary School,” said Hull.

Maintenance of existing gardens and trails was completed along with miscellaneous painting at Bluebird Farm Park.  Painting and trail maintenance was performed at Carroll Community Park along with the construction of a JoxBox, infield maintenance, and landscaping.  Landscaping was installed at three Habitat for Humanity homes being built on Lincoln Ave. in Carrollton.

Carroll Golden Age Retreat, Carroll County YMCA, HARCATUS Family Support and St. John’s Villa had numerous volunteers wielding paint brushes while windows, blinds and curtains were cleaned at Loaves and Fishes.

Ceiling fans were installed at Camp Aldersgate along with painting, cleaning; trail maintenance, small carpentry projects and gutting a building.

Carrie Clemens, United Way of Greater Stark County, coordinated the event with the help of event sponsor Chesapeake Energy:

“This first annual event is a great way to connect businesses and volunteers to local nonprofits to learn more about current needs.Volunteers are able to make a tangible difference where they work and live. Many, many thanks to Chesapeake Energy and all the sponsors and volunteers who made this successful day happen.”

For more information about United Way, visit www.uwstark.org or call 330-491-0445.

JAMES CITY — Busch Gardens has added a fleet of 17 slower and greener lawnmowers, which add all-natural fuel to its landscaping.

The park’s herd of Scottish blackface sheep is aiding landscapers in keeping the grass cropped.

It’s a low-tech approach for the park, which has been voted “Most Beautiful Park” by the National Amusement Park Historical Association 23 times.

The sheep are usually on display at Highland Stables in Busch Gardens’ Scotland village.

They aren’t just munching grass at random. They were trained to test a program of “targeted grazing.”

Although Busch’s parent company, SeaWorld Parks Entertainment, has a large collection of animals at its 11 parks, this is the first time any have had to earn their keep.

It’s worked so well it’s being expanded to utilize other animals, including a “clean-up crew” of chickens and turkeys.

Targeted grazing involves training animals to naturally manage landscaping by eating grass and plants from certain areas.

The program has reduced the need for powered lawn equipment, conserved 100 gallons of fuel a year, saved about 288 hours of labor a year and produced manure to fertilize the turf.

The sheep are also better able than human landscapers to work on some of the steep slopes. Recently they were working under the tracks of the Verbolten rollercoaster.

In initiating the program, park management first made sure there were no plants in the targeted grazing areas that could be harmful to the sheep.

Then the sheep had to get used to their new work station. Animal care specialist Stephanie Peters was one of the trainers who helped.

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

The sheep took only two days to become totally acclimated to the coasters.

The sheep graze about five hours a day as part of the program, depending on weather.

The clean-up crew of two turkeys and four chickens is being trained to follow the sheep to eat ticks and other parasites and to spread the manure produced by the sheep.

With less than two weeks until opening day, the Dallas Arboretum staff is getting its 8-acre, $62 million children’s garden ready for its debut.

Over the last few weeks, they’ve added mulch to the landscape, installed touch screens for educational games and placed shovels and buckets in the sandbox. Groups

Students taking part in the mass exodus to and from classes each day have been treated to a newly beautified campus landscape.

From South Quad and the Grotto to DeBartolo Quad and Notre Dame Avenue, projects were completed to accommodate students’ walking patterns and to streamline overall campus upkeep.

Sarah Misener, associate vice president for Campus Services, said the project ideas originated from reviews conducted by Landscape Services and Facilities Design Operations.

Landscape Services and Facilities Design Operations review areas of campus and prioritize landscape installation renewal projects on an annual basis,” Misener said.

Misener said the Landscape Services team begins reviewing campus project possibilities in the winter months and sets completion dates for the summer months. Because shrubs and plants on campus require annual renewal, Misener said, Landscape Services must narrow down possible new projects to a manageable list that will then be added to the summer workload.

“Summer months represent the best time to do much of the planting work on campus,” Misener said.  “Consequently, several projects are staged with completion dates that are prior to or near the start of the academic year.”

Major projects this summer included the installation of brick sidewalk trim, perennial beds planted on South Quad, the placement of mulch around trees on South Library Quad and the realignment of pedestrian crosswalks near the Grotto, she said.

DeBartolo Quad and the gazebo on Debartolo Quad, were refurbished, and visitor-friendly landscape was added, Misener said.  Notre Dame Avenue’s aging and damaged trees were replaced and more were planted along parts of the avenue’s gaps, she said.

 Lyons Hall and the Morris Inn also saw completed renovations this summer, and work was done on the Center for Flow Physics and Control White Field Facility, Misener said.

“[These projects] add to the students’ experience … by creating and maintaining beautiful spaces on which to study, pray, work and play,” she said.

Misener said campus landscaping projects are funded by donations from benefactors, which was the case with this summer’s work on the Morris Inn, or managed within the annual landscape budget.

Freshman Ian Flyke said he was pleased with the updates.

“I really like the campus changes, especially the rock courtyard between DeBartolo [Hall] and the Snite [Museum of Art],” he said.

Flyke said he began to follow Notre Dame’s landscaping team’s Twitter handle, @NDgroundscrew, to see updates on their work and pictures of continuing projects.

“I really like seeing what they’re up to now,” he said. “They have entertaining tweets.”

Senior Chris Ayala said he is impressed by the work done by the landscaping team.

“I think the landscaping is nice, but I really miss being able to sit on the raised ledge outside DeBartolo [Hall],” he said. “It’s aesthetically pleasing, but beyond that I don’t see any tangible benefits.”

Sophomore Ethan Muehlstein said he appreciated the improvements in front of Lyons Hall on South Quad.

“In the future, I’d like to see more flowers on God Quad so you can walk along flower paths, and overall more lights so you can highlight the gardens at night,” he said. “Nevertheless, the work the Landscaping team does is phenomenal and I am proud to go here and see it daily.”

Sophomore Haley Van Steenwyk said she is “still getting used to the changes,” especially by DeBartolo Hall.

“I like that they’re doing something different, but I think they should have had it all completed before we got to campus,” she said. “I like that they have more plants everywhere, but I feel like we’re still waiting to see a finished product.”

Contact Kyle Witzigman at kwitzigm@nd.edu