An emerging theme for the annual Mother’s Day Garden Tour is how to create a lovely, Florida-friendly garden on a small lot.

The 89-year-old Jones home in the Wares Creek neighborhood is newly restored. Betty Jones worked with Jeff Gilchrist Landscaping to create the Florida-friendly gardens. COURTESY PHOTO

People taking the Manatee River Garden Club’s tour Saturday can also visit their clubhouse grounds for ideas.

Home gardens on the tour are:

– Mary Patterson, 4109 Riverview Blvd., Bradenton: The gardens of 100-year-old Spanish-style house purposefully avoid a manicured look. Patterson removed all grass and installed Florida-friendly plants with the help of the Landscape941 company. Some of the plants include blue agapanthus, Russian sage, ajuga and hydrangea. Also seen are craggy old hot pink bougainvillea on the chimney, a fiddle leaf fig tree thriving along a fence and a Peters honey fig. Antique family items include a little boy fountain and a strawberry jar filled with succulents. When Patterson moved into the house three years ago, she turned a bedroom into her art studio and added a porch.

– Betty Jones, 927 22nd St. W., Bradenton: At the newly restored

A close-up view of a portion of the privacy garden at the LaPolla garden in a condominium courtyard. COURTESY PHOTO

89-year-old home in the historic Wares Creek neighborhood, Jones worked with Jeff Gilchrist Landscaping to plant tropical, Florida-friendly gardens that reflect her carefree lifestyle.  Color abounds in the house exterior, decorative accents  and the plants. The design in front is unique as it gives me the necessary privacy on a busy street, while having great curb appeal. Along a washed-shell path, markers identify black bamboo, baby sunrose groundcover with delicate pink flowers, orchids in the pygmy palm, and various croton, bromeliad and ti plants. Trees include the reclinata palm tree clusters with their gracefully curved slender brown trunks, powder puff trees, Hong Kong orchid tree and the gardenia bush. A recent addition is the garden surrounding the back deck along Wares Creek. Jones’ goal is to have plantings that will require minimal maintenance once established and will provide a sense of rest and relaxation.

– Anna Harper and Charlie Bender, 5107 Fifth Ave. Drive N.W., Bradenton: All plants except for two live oaks and one carrotwood tree have been planted within the last year. The owners describe their gardens as “contemporary tropical” and chose plants with interesting architectural structure.  Around the new front patio are tropical plants, such as yucca and Australasian tree ferns, which gives them a private outdoor venue for entertaining. Other plants include the pitch apple, various protea banksia from South Africa and Australia with their fruiting cones, the new gray-toned European olive tree, potted dwarf mulberry, and the “Slender Weaver” bamboo used for screening.

– Tom and June Sweeney, Vizcaya Condo Association, 6101 34th St. W., No. 12B, Bradenton: The Sweeneys have lived in the condo for about eight years, with Tom managing the gardens at first and planting mostly cacti. She began planting annuals and perennials.  Among the fragrant offerings in the colorful courtyard are night blooming jasmine. In the tranquil, private garden, a frog hops among the bromeliads. Other plants include a clivia plant with its scarlet-colored bloom that they brought as an indoor plant from the north, a citronella-scented geranium, a volunteer snow bush and colorful coleus. He volunteers at Palma Sola Gardens and she volunteers at Selby Botanical Gardens.

– John LaPolla, Vizcaya Condo Association, 6101 34th St. W., No. 14E, Bradenton: A retired published decorator, he now designs and cares for two small gardens as his creative outlet. Both the courtyard entry and the “privacy garden” have areas of sun and shade. As a member of the Sarasota Butterfly Club, his newest interest is choosing host and nectar plants for butterflies. Highlights include the red shrimp plant, deep pink ground orchid, the sound of water flowing, birds chirping, fish swimming in the ponds and geckos climbing over the Oriental accessories. LaPolla uses the peaceful space more than any other room in his house.

The event is the club’s major fundraiser.  The nonprofit club, established in 1929, is a member of the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs Inc. and National Garden Clubs Inc. Its mission is to promote and encourage a community of nature enthusiasts who share the love of gardening, horticulture, floral design, environmental concerns and other related endeavors.

— Submitted by Judy Boehm

IF YOU GO

What: Manatee River Garden Club’s Mother’s Day Garden Tour.

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Clubhouse, 3120 First Ave. W., and five private gardens.

Cost: For tour, $15 in advance at Crowder’s in Bradenton and Lakewood Ranch and $20 at the door; $8 for lunch at clubhouse, where there also will be a plant sale and vendors.

Information: Call 870-2259 or visit www.manateerivergardenclub.com.

As the weather warms, you might wonder what type of landscaping additions or upgrades fit your budget. 
Angie’s List asked highly rated landscapers about the most popular projects they offer in various price ranges.

Content:

Whether it’s cleaning up the yard and adding some pretty flowers or going all out with a total redesign, a well-cared for lawn can add up to 14 percent of your home’s value. Your landscaping project doesn’t have to be big or cost an arm and a leg to add value.

Angie’s List, the nation’s leading provider of consumer reviews, asked highly rated landscapers about projects for every budget.

What can you get for $50? At this price range you might be looking at more DIY-type projects, such as buying and spreading your own bags of mulch. But there are a few tasks you can hire a pro to tackle.
A flat of seasonal spring flowers, such as begonias, planted and mulched by a highly rated landscaper.
Programming a sprinkler’s timer and an operational once-over.
One application of fly repellent for an average-sized lawn.

What can you get for $500?
A 3-D rendition of a new landscape design.
Several applications of a fertilization and weed control program.
Lawn mowed and trimmed and edged weekly for four months, for the average half-acre lot.

What can you get for $5,000?
A wide variety of finished projects such as patios and retaining walls.
Revamping a home’s front foundation landscape. This involves removing most, if not all, of the debris and plants already in the beds.
Complete irrigation system in both the front and back yards.

Before you dig too deeply into hiring a landscaping contractor, take time to do two things:
1. Be clear about what you want to achieve. If you only want yard work, check out companies that specialize in residential lawn services. If you want design or installation services, you’ll need a full service landscaper.
2. Gather your ideas. Offer as much detail about your preferences as possible. For inspiration, print, copy or tear out images from landscaping websites, magazines and books.

When shopping around to get the most landscaping bang for your buck, always verify a company’s insurance and applicable licensing information. What they’re selling may sound like a bargain, but you might end up with a raw deal if they’re not following the rules.

Here are 5 questions to ask prospective landscapers.
1. Can I see your plan? A drawing is the best way to be sure you can envision what a landscaper proposes. Ask each bidder to provide a design sketch. They may charge a fee if you want to keep it, but they should at least be able to let you see it. In addition, ask for photos of projects they’ve done that are similar to what you want.
2. What’s your process? Ask about basic work practices and what materials and equipment would be used. For example, would they dig your patio out by hand or use machinery?
3. What’s your experience? Does the contractor have the experience, manpower and skill to handle your project? How long has the company been in business? Find out what kind of training the contractor and his or her staff have undergone. Do they belong to local, state or national landscaping associations?
4. What’s your guarantee? Reputable landscaping contractors should be willing to guarantee their work for at least two years, preferably five. Ask about separate warranties for plants.
5. How well do you communicate? Ask each bidder for the best way to communicate so you’re likely to get a timely response.

The outdoor plant specialists at Tinga Nursery, located between Castle Hayne and Wilmington on Hwy. 133 have the answers to all your landscaping questions. With over 100 years in business, the staff at Tinga has a unique understanding of what it takes to plan, plant and maintain the kind of garden this area is famous for.

Owner Eelco Tinga, Jr. and his son Eelco Tinga, III are the third and fourth generations to operate this family run nursery and are proud to carry on the legacy of Eelco I. Tinga, who started the business in 1913. Still located on the same piece of land and making use of some of the original buildings, Tinga Nursery carries on the tradition of excellence by offering customers the kind of service and knowledge more common in days gone by.

Situated on over 30 acres of land just minutes from downtown Wilmington, Tinga Nursery makes good use of its space by growing nearly all plants on site. Tinga III noted a number of advantages to growing their own plants from seed or cuttings, most importantly, locally grown plants are acclimated to our climate. Another benefit is the year round availability of plants. In many garden centers a plant will only be available for a few short weeks during the year. Tinga is able to keep all of their products in stock year round.

Many family run companies benefit from the accumulated knowledge of years in the business and Tinga is no exception. The staff at Tinga are all North Carolina Certified Plant Professionals, ensuring they are well prepared to answer any customer’s questions. By taking the time to talk with customers, the staff learns about the sun, soil and moisture present in a customers yard ensuring “they can help find the right plant for the right place,” in Tinga Jr.’s words.

Finding the right plant couldn’t be easier at Tinga. The superb selections of plants are arranged in easy to navigate rows clearly labeled with the plants name, potential size and advice on the best growing conditions for the plant. This kind of organization is vital when dealing with the variety available at Tinga. From flowering shrubs like azaleas, hydrangeas and knock out roses, to edible plants like grapes, figs and blueberries. Tinga also carries a wide range of ornamental trees, shrubs, perennials and palms.

Armed with all of the information and plants needed for any project, but don’t forget to pick up pine straw, fertilizer and mulch to keep your new plants healthy and looking great. With delivery service available for large orders, Tinga is a one-stop shop for landscaping projects large and small.

Tinga Nursery is less than 10 minutes from downtown Wilmington, just 3 miles north on Hwy. 133, and is easily accessible from both Martin Luther King Jr. Pkwy. and I-140. For more information or any questions call 910-762-1975, email info@tinganursery.com or visit Tinga’s web site, www.tinganursery.com.

A 10th of the 85 homes in the King Country township of Benneydale have sold to out of towners for bargain basement prices in the last 16 months in what one real estate agent described as “a bit of a flurry”.

The latest, a derelict three-bedroom weatherboard home on Maniati Rd, sold for $10,000 yesterday.

“We have just signed another contract this morning with another Aucklander just picking up a home that’s in disrepair,” said Bruce Spurdle First National residential sales consultant Mary Tapu.

“The houses you get for that are run down and no-one has done anything to them. Aucklanders will do a great job on them. There’s grass growing through the walls.

“We have sold four houses another four have been private sales on Trade Me.”

Bruce Spurdle First National said it was currently offering 10 properties in Benneydale with an average asking price of $76,000.

Yesterday’s new buyer didn’t want to talk to the Times, but told Tapu he intended to renovate the house and live in it.

“The buyer thinks he has got a steal. He has got big ideas and has got a budget.”

Tapu said similar properties sold for $5000 to $8000 a decade ago.

“Most of the people we have sold to are just looking for a different lifestyle.

Spurdle described the sales as “a bit of a flurry”.

Around 185 people live in Benneydale.

Among the new Benneydale residents are wood turner Gary Howe, who is building a workshop and studio, and mosaic artist Isabelle Isaaco, who is landscaping her gardens with mosaic features.

Waitomo District Mayor Brian Hanna put some of the activity down to the recently opened 85 kilometre-long Pureora Timber Trail at nearby Pureora Forrest Park, which he said was attracting cyclists to the area.

Prime Minister John Key opened the $4.5 million trail about a year ago.

“I think some of it is people realising their assets in Hamilton or Auckland and buying cheap houses and being able to do it up,” Hanna said.

Monica Louis, who moved with her husband Maurice to Benneydale’s old Four Square superette, which they converted into a home a decade ago, recently opened Timber Trail Accommodation.

“There is life in Benneydale. You can see all these people on their bikes on the road because of the Timber Trail.

“It’s very much a place that people are attracted to because of the low property prices, but they tend to be a bit shocked when they discover the high rates,” she said.

The average Benneydale home pays $3000 a year in rates.

“At the moment Benneydale still looks a bit sad,” Louis said. But she expects that to change with the restoration plans new buyers have.

The Timber Trail operations manager Kim Tukaki said the Timber Trail would create sustainable economic value to local communities and the region.

“The Pureora Forest Park stretches across both the Waitomo and Ruapehu Districts, as does the Timber Trail,” she said.

“My feeling is that Benneydale has the potential to become the next Tirau with quaint shops, cafes and accommodation.”

– © Fairfax NZ News

Sponsored links

Comments

Let me start out by saying that there are some good eco-friendly options. My advice is to not overwhelm yourself. If you can’t or don’t want to eliminate all your gas-powered equipment at once, choose one tool. Replacing one piece of equipment is a great first step.

Traditional gas-powered landscaping equipment makes up 5% of our earth’s pollution. The EPA tells us that if as few as 1,000 lawn mowers were replaced by eco-friendly models, it would eliminate about 9.8 tons of harmful VOC (which is dangerous to our health with long-term effects).

Living in Ridgefield, with most of us having a significant amount of property, this poses a problem. We want to be eco-friendly, but we don’t know how to start eliminating these harmful tools. Here are some ideas to think about, so that when you are ready, you can transition into using eco-friendly equipment.

Reel mower — obviously the greenest choice. This may not be an option if you have a large lawn.

Solar-charged/battery-powered mower — a good choice, providing two hours of energy with no gas.

Cordless rechargeable battery-operated mower — a great choice, using no gas. You can even find cordless rechargeable battery-operated ride-on mowers!

Propane-powered mower — an excellent choice, because propane is nontoxic and not harmful to your health or the environment. Propane cuts the greenhouse emissions in half and reduces carcinogens and toxins.

Extra tip: Consider a mower with mulching power. This disposes of the clippings by turning them into fertilizer for your lawn!

Also consider solar/green-powered blowers, electric blowers, propane-powered blowers, electric chain saws, rechargeable battery-operated chain saws — which are lighter and less noisy as a bonus, propane trimmers, and rechargeable battery-operated trimmers.

Extra tip: If you use landscaping companies to do your yard work, why not look for a company that is eco-friendly. For example, go to Mowgreen.us, a company that is totally eco-friendly!

See you all next week, and remember, it’s fun and easy to be green!

Localgood – Great Social Enterprise Pitch logo

Organizers are promoting the Great Social Enterprise Pitch with the hashtag “#Localgood.”

Posted: Monday, May 5, 2014 12:09 pm
|


Updated: 12:45 pm, Mon May 5, 2014.

Social Enterprise Pitch semi-finalists selected

By TIM STUHLDREHER | Business Writer

TownNews.com

---

Tim Stuhldreher is a Lancaster Newspapers staff writer who covers business and finance. He can be reached at tstuhldreher@lnpnews.com or (717) 481-6137. You can also follow@timstuhldreher on Twitter.

More about Social Enterprise

• ARTICLE: Have a great socially-conscious business idea? Make your pitch

More about Assets Lancaster

• ARTICLE: ASSETS Lancaster program offers small loans, credit repair and business advice
• ARTICLE: Have a great socially-conscious business idea? Make your pitch
• ARTICLE: ‘Great Social Enterprise Pitch’ aims to nurture startups focused on the greater good
• Melody Williams is winding her way to success

More about Lancaster County Community Foundation

• ARTICLE: Have a great socially-conscious business idea? Make your pitch
• ARTICLE: ‘Great Social Enterprise Pitch’ aims to nurture startups focused on the greater good
• ARTICLE: ‘Extraordinary Give’ taps into community’s generosity
• Gathering stresses importance of businesses bettering the community

• 
  Discuss
  
• Print
  
  
  

Posted in
Local business

on

Monday, May 5, 2014 12:09 pm.

Updated: 12:45 pm.

| Tags:


Social Enterprise,

Assets Lancaster,

Lancaster County Community Foundation

RAISE YOUR VOICE: Share your own opinion online at dallasnews.com/sendletters. Sign up for Sounding Off or submit a guest column (and include your full name and contact information) by visiting dallasnews.com/voices.

Early voting for the May 10 general election began Monday. What issues concern you the most? If your city is not holding elections, what initiatives, if any, would you like to see your City Council take on this year?

Jerry Frankel, Plano: As a longtime Plano resident, there are several areas where our community does not provide vital services. In Plano, we have thousands of residents who lack access to health care because they are under- or uninsured. Many suffer in silence, eventually forced by severe illness to go to the ER late in their illness. Plano is a wealthy community, and nothing is more important than one’s health.

Besides establishing primary clinics throughout Plano, elected officials need to discuss with county commissioners how to re-establish hospital services for the uninsured as it was done before selling off the county hospital. There are several affordable options to provide these services besides building a public hospital. Related to public health, the air we breathe is polluted by a cement factory south of Dallas. Elected officials need to exert their authority as the responsible party for a healthy environment and urge the EPA and the state to clean the air we breathe by taking appropriate action against polluters and, if necessary, sue the major polluters of our land, water and air.

Charles Raper, Plano: My fear for the future of our nation is the loss of constitutional government and the laws which protect it. Another concern is the overt attacks by the administration on Christianity, the religion which has been the root of our form of government. I think Plano is a well-managed city, but I think we should go to single-member districting to get more people involved in the management and reduce the cost of running for city positions.

Carol MacDonald, Plano: My current pet peeve is drivers sitting in the right lane but not turning right. Especially during rush hour at Plano Parkway and Preston Road. Because there is no designated right turn only lane, it can take several cycles to make a simple right turn because one car is holding up six cars wanting to turn right. Perhaps there are other such intersections needing new lane designations?

Something the City Council needs to address soon is the deplorable condition of many of the aging community walls along our major thoroughfares. Back where I grew up outside of Texas, ownership of property extended from curb to back line and driveway to driveway. But not in Texas. Our homeowners associations are supposed to take care of the walls and landscaping facing the streets outside the walls. Evidently landscaping remains HOA responsibility, but walls are city responsibility. It’s quite clear that some walls are being ignored by both and those walls need to be identified and repaired. Perhaps a team of vigilante digital photographers can help document the worst areas. Park, Parker, Independence, Coit, Custer and Alma come to mind, but there are other areas as well.

Bob Jackson, Plano: We are very fortunate to have City Council members who study the issues from all angles before making any decisions with how our tax money is spent. For this we should all be very grateful. I’ve lived here for almost 40 years now and can truly say that for the most part, during those 40 years we have elected citizens who take their job very seriously and represent themselves in a very responsible manner. I really do not have any suggestions or ideas at this time. I truly do appreciate the time, efforts, and commitments that these men and women serve our community in representing our needs and making our city such a desirable place to live.

Ted Gold, Plano: The three most important issues to address both a locally and statewide: water, water and water. Nothing else to say.

Don Proeschel, Plano: I would first like to focus on what is right with Plano, having lived most of my last 34 years in Collin County and Plano. The changes in our population size — from 72,000 to 270,000 — and the addition of a number of world-class companies since 1980 have been wonderful to observe. We have an excellent public school system, low crime and numerous well-maintained libraries, parks and trails.

With the city nearly completely built out for constructing new residences, I believe our focus needs to be on continuing to attract new jobs and businesses to Plano, maintaining our infrastructure (roads, bridges and utility lines), eliminating decay in our older homes and apartments, and continuing to implement the county’s open space plans by building and repairing hike and bike trails.

Let’s energize our community even more to help repair and clean up aging residences. Recently, the Love Where You Live projects, involving more than 300 residents, many churches, businesses and city staff working together, was a terrific success, with potential for even greater impact. Finally, we need to determine how we can best serve the needs of our increasingly diverse population in our schools, places of worship and businesses.

Arnell L. Engstrom, Plano: In this time of serious drought and severely low lake reservoir levels, I would like to see Plano more vigorously pursue lawn sprinkler violations because, if truth be told, they seems a bit lax currently. And do it even if that means more money spent on enforcement monitoring.

I would also like to see Plano set up an annual or semiannual community-wide garage sale at one of their recreation centers the way Dallas does at the Campbell Green Recreation Center.

We want your feedback

The Dallas Morning News is always exploring new ways to serve our audience, and you can help. Sign up to join the DFW Opinions Matter Advisory Panel. If you’re selected, you could earn exclusive gifts and special offers. If you are curious about how people get their news in a digital age, you’ll enjoy offering feedback on our products and services, often before they are available to the public. Your input could make a difference. http://d-news.co/vZzt

Color is the candy of life. Without splashes of color, our world would become tasteless and much of the sensory enjoyment we derive from our surroundings would cease. Colors season our world with delicious excitement and beauty, both indoors and outdoors.

That is why it is so important to consider the many shades and hues of plants, trees and even outdoor furnishings when planning our yards. Making sure that, as much as possible, there are ever-changing splashes of color outside our homes during each season and also ensuring that those colors complement each other is key to making a splash with our landscapes.

Get Your Summer On

For five Sundays, the Home Garden section will feature great ideas to get your outdoor space in shape. Here’s the lineup:

May 4: Many shades of color

May 11: Room to grow food

May 18: Fire up the grill

May 25: The right equipment

June 1: What homeowners want and need

Hard to believe, but summer will arrive. (We promise!) That means it’s time for our backyard makeover contest.

For the third year, Daily Herald readers submitted photos with essays telling us why they needed to get their patios and yards in shape as part of our “Get Your Summer On” series and contest.

The responses this year had a, well, they had a desperate tone to them. After being cooped up for the last several months because of the winter that would never end, we know how much you want to spend some time outdoors. And you need an attractive backyard to do that.

A panel of experts selected 15 backyards, which will be featured for the next five weeks in Home Garden, along with transformation ideas from our contest sponsors to fit various tastes and budgets. All 15 of the finalists will receive a $50 gift certificate from Northwest Metalcraft.

In the end, four winners will receive backyard improvement packages ranging in value from $1,000 to $5,000 each, consisting of donations from a variety of our sponsors. The winning entries will be featured June 15. Check online for more photos and ideas from our contest sponsors — everything from patio furniture and grills to outdoor lighting, patios and landscaping. Go to dailyherald.com/summer.

Check each week to see if your yard was selected. Even if your yard wasn’t picked this year, we know you will get lots of ideas on how to spruce up your outdoor living space.

In addition, make sure to check out our Food section starting on Wednesday for advice and tips on how to give that grill of yours a workout.

Our five-week grilling university offers recipes and advice on cooking everything from burgers to pizza to grilled side dishes, as well as tips on the drinks to serve your guests.

Hey, the weather is finally warming up. It’s time to get your summer on!

Jean Bragdon, operations manager at Lurvey’s Garden Center, 2550 E. Dempster St., Des Plaines advocates the use of evergreens and colorful perennials in garden beds, interspersed with annuals, which bloom from spring to fall.

“Bright, bold colors, like tangerine, purple and bright greens, are hot this year. They are more popular than pastels right now,” she said. “But you can do whatever you want and we also suggest planting bulbs that will come up early in the spring and using colorful garden art like gazing balls and bird baths to make a yard look instantly bright and cheery.”

Bragdon also loves to see portable gardening containers of various sizes, filled with annuals and set out on decks, porches and patios.

“They enhance what you have and make your landscape instantly look alive. Buy a pre-made hanging basket and cut the wires off if you want to use what someone else already put together, or pick the flowers and put them together yourself. We usually say that you want a thriller (a tall, upright plant), a spiller (a plant that cascades over the side) and a colorful filler.”

Colorful resin Adirondack-style chairs, as well as deep-seating sectionals and other seating with colorful cushions, also add splashes of color to local yards. The Adirondack chairs, which are comfortable without cushions and come in more than 15 different colors, are particularly popular around fire pits and along front porches, according to Dan Mayer, owner of Northwest Metalcraft, 413 S. Arlington Heights Road, Arlington Heights.

“We are also seeing a trend toward more lounging furniture. People are still dining outside, but they also want to sit out there and kick back and relax in their free time on round or L-shaped sectionals and while the wicker or aluminum frames are still mostly brown, black, gray or beige, the cushions being chosen are generally colorful,” Mayer explained.

“People are entertaining more at home so they don’t have to drive anyplace and they want their yards to look nice. They want to live the whole outdoor lifestyle, even in this climate. It really adds to their living space. So, it is amazing how much money people are putting into their outsides these days,” he added.

Colorful free-standing umbrellas that swivel 360 degrees and come in different shapes are also dotting yards around the area. Most people today seem to choose solids instead of patterns, stripes or florals, according to Mayer, and the umbrellas are so large that they cover much more furniture than the smaller ones we remember from yesteryear.

“But this isn’t Florida, so you don’t see as many homeowners choosing bright colors as you would find down there. Most people in this area are still pretty conservative. They try to have their umbrellas blend in, using beiges and browns. But you do see primary colors every now and then,” Mayer acknowledged.

Those gorgeous colors should not just fade away when the sun goes down, however.

If you choose your exterior lighting carefully, those beautiful colors in your gardens and on your patios and decks can continue to enhance your home after dark, according to Thomas Reindl Jr., commercial lighting manager for NorthWest Lighting and Accents at 600 E. Rand Road, Mount Prospect and at 2414 W. Route 120, McHenry.

There is much more to selecting landscape lighting than just going to the store and buying something that looks nice, Reindl said. You need to have a professional who understands the intricacies of lighting consult each fixture’s specifications to see where it falls on the color rendering index in order to correctly light up your landscape’s unique attributes.

On a scale of 1-100 percent, you want the lights you choose to fall in the mid-80s to 90s if you want the lights to correctly illuminate your home and landscaping. Unfortunately, those ratings do not appear on the boxes of most outdoor lights. They can only be found in the fine print of the online specifications or by making a phone call to customer support for the manufacturer.

Hence, it is important to consult a knowledgeable professional before you choose either a low-voltage halogen or an LED landscape lighting system.

“Without getting into too much detail, halogen bulbs are very biased toward reds, yellows and oranges and without adding colored lenses to the bulbs, they don’t adequately light up blues, blacks, greens and purples. It is like when you have a hard time telling the difference between navy blue and black when you are standing under an incandescent bulb, but it is easy to tell the difference under a fluorescent bulb,” Reindl explained.

Similarly, he said, LED bulbs are biased toward the blues, greens, purples and blacks. An amber lens needs to be added to an LED bulb if you want it to highlight red flowers, brick or natural stone.

“Red is the hardest color to illuminate with an LED bulb,” Reindl said.

Despite their limitations, Reindl recommends the use of LED bulbs because they last much longer, use less energy and need smaller transformers and less wiring because they are so much more efficient.

“Because of those savings, we can now install an LED system within 10 to 20 percent of the cost of installing a low-voltage halogen system. So, it is starting to make sense for the average homeowner,” he stated. “These systems also lend themselves very well to do-it-yourself projects. You can just plug the transformer into any outdoor outlet and it is easy to run the low voltage wires and since you don’t need as much wiring, you don’t have to spend hours trenching.”

But, Reindl cautions, no matter what you do, do not purchase the inexpensive solar lights that you see in some big box stores. On that 1-100 scale, they average 65 and consequently, they tinge everything blue.

“Anything you light with them just dies under those lights,” he stated.

One of Southern Nevada’s busiest east-west arterials, named for a historic resort hotel that put Las Vegas on the map, will get a $30 million makeover over the next two years.

The 14-mile length of Flamingo Road — from Grand Canyon Drive at the west end to Jimmy Durante Boulevard at the east end — will be improved with new medians, dedicated bus and bicycle lanes, 86 enhanced bus shelters with shade and seating, and fresh pavement on about 7 miles of the street. Construction also will include the installation of concrete bus panels, the surface areas where buses stop.

From end to end, Flamingo will continue to be a six-lane road with bus lanes that also will accommodate bicycles.

Flamingo won’t be widened. The entire length of the road is about 122 feet wide from sidewalk to sidewalk, although there are some sections at Flamingo’s U.S. Highway 95 freeway entrance that are 100 feet wide.

Vehicle use of Flamingo varies by time and location. It ranges from less than 1,000 vehicles per hour at the ends of the road to nearly 6,000 per hour in the busy resort corridor.

Channelized and raised medians will guide motorists on left turns and U-turns and non-irrigated landscaping with rock, gravel and representations of desert animals are planned.

Design work is nearing completion and construction is expected to begin in October.

Regional Transportation Commission engineers will listen to the public for additional detailed repair ideas through the end of August. They’ll be looking, for example, to fix damaged sidewalks to make sure they’re compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act access laws.

The commission, which is coordinating the project, completed two open-house meetings this week, seeking comments from people who live and work along the road.

At the public meetings, the commission displayed 17 panels showing aerial views of the length of the project with map overlays outlining planned work. Those panels will be displayed online starting Monday at flamingo@rtcsnv.com and public comments can be submitted by email from the site.

Commission staff members are gathering notes on detail work that could be added along the road and allaying fears that driveways and entrances would be closed for extended periods. Some construction work will be completed at night, depending on the level of traffic and proximity to residences.

Flamingo is one of the busiest traffic corridors in Southern Nevada, extending east and west from the heart of the Strip. Its intersection with Las Vegas Boulevard is home to Caesars Palace, Bellagio, Bally’s and Caesars Entertainment’s revamped Cromwell boutique property. Engineers estimate

Flamingo skirts the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and carries 15 bus transit routes across the valley, including Route 202, which carries more than 12,000 passengers a day, the most frequented line in the area.

The commission envisions corridor improvements to benefit motorists, cyclists and pedestrians as well as bus riders.

The commission envisions improvements to be paid with revenue generated by fuel taxes indexed to the rate of inflation. The Clark County Commission approved the indexing plan to keep up with the cost of materials and labor, raising an additional $700 million to fund 185 projects and creating an estimated 9,000 jobs.

For motorists, the cost is 3 cents a gallon, about 10 cents a day through December 2016 for the average motorist.

“Most of the questions we’re getting are from people who want to know how it’s going to affect their businesses,” said Girlie Boorboor, the project construction manager for the commission who also oversaw 2012’s 12½-mile Sahara Avenue improvement project parallel to Flamingo about two miles to the north. “We’re assuring people that no one will be completely blocked and closures will be minimal.”

Project engineers will coordinate sequenced schedules that minimize the impact of traffic.

Flamingo won’t become a 14-mile construction zone. Work will be completed in segments so the entire project won’t end until September 2015. It’s estimated that 7 miles of the route would be repaved and restriped.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find him on Twitter: @RickVelotta.