A Few Ideas For Presidential Candidates

Al Tompkins of the puts out a daily e- to help journalists come up with fresh story ideas — something all of us need from time to time.

But a recent offering included a list of ideas for journalists to put to the presidential candidates.

We don’t agree with all of them, but think many of them are worth a public debate. We’re sharing the list here, along with our interpretations of some of the issues.

Let us know what you think:

Five-day-a-week postal delivery. Checks can be delivered by direct deposit, and if you really need an item, other, private services are available. England will probably stop delivering mail on Saturdays in 2011.

A for energy. If national security depends on , it’s worth the investment.

Year-round school. We’ve promoted this idea in this space before as well. Kids are no longer needed on the farm, and lose too much learning while they’re out of school. Vacations could be taken year-round, perhaps during the hottest or coldest month of the year in a particular location.

-resistant landscaping plants. It makes no sense to dump scarce, expensive, treated water out on the dirt. For Nebraska, that may mean promoting buffalo grass or , which many of us have already done.

Provide tax credit for blood and organ donations. Many people already want to do the right thing, but many more seem to need an .

All federally elected officials should hold a news conference at least once per month.

Scrap the electoral system. Replace it with a system that people understand.

Open all to cameras. Start with the Supreme Court and appeals courts.

Stop allowing the federal to sell policies to new construction in the worst flood-prone areas. Stop the “flood-rebuild-repeat” cycle.

Stop penalizing workers between 62 and 65 for earning more than $13,560 a year. Give people a reason to stay productive and keep contributing to society for as long as they can.

End special congressional health care coverage. Every member of Congress should be covered by a private health care plan just like the rest of us. Members of the house pay $300 a month and Senators about $600 a month for their own pharmacy, nurses and doctors, and can get a physical, x-ray or electrocardiogram without ever missing work. Taxpayers contribute about $2 million toward the congressional health-care system. Still wonder why we can’t get health care reform.

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Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

Landscaping Idea No Comments

Low Water Use Plants Pushed For Parking Strips

The Council recently launched its fourth annual Rip Your Strip campaign at an open house at Staker Landscape Center in .

The council is a community-based, grass-roots, dedicated to the of Utah’s rivers; sustainable, clean for its residents; and conservation of wildlife.

The Council’s campaign encourages homeowners and businesses to conserve water by tearing out the in their parking strips and replacing it with native, water-wise plants and decorative rock.

According to the council, nearly 70 percent of the in Utah is used outdoors and almost half of that is used to overwater lawns. By simply designing and managing yards more suited to our climate, billions of gallons of water can be conserved each year.

A parking strip is a great place to start outdoors, the Council contends. It is difficult to water efficiently and most homeowners flood the sidewalk and street in the process.

“When you convert your parking strip, not only do you save gallons of , you add a lot of interest to your and cut down on maintenance,” said Mark Danenhauer, spokesman for the Council.

Gardening expert, , agreed. “If the only time you step on the is to mow it, you might
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want to rethink your landscaping plan,” he said.Sagers offered a simple water-saving tip: Learn to water by how much (amount) instead of how long (time). “If you don’t quite understand this concept, order 20 minutes of the next time you go to McDonald’s,” he quipped.

For his part, Brian , center manager for Staker , says, “The average American family uses 60 percent of its total water on . is a water-wise strategy that allows you to create and maintain a varied, colorful, even and yard while reducing water needs as much as 70 percent.”

The Rip Your Strip campaign has been successful, Danenhauer said. The council had hoped for 100 participants in the first year. Instead, they got 1,000. Nearly 4,000 people have signed on.

“The beauty of this campaign is that the Council will provide free information to help the average person with no previous experience to be able to successfully convert their thirsty parking strip from to a beautiful, low-water-usage ,” Danenhauer said.

Once you’ve got a parking strip project under your belt, you’ll be familiar with -tolerant and the principles of -use design. Then you’ll be able to tackle a bigger project in your yard and keep on rippin’, Danenhauer said.

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Saturday, May 31st, 2008

Landscaping Rock No Comments

Its Hot Again This Year Eco Chic Gardening

the average household spent more than $400 for garden-related items. Landscaping grew by 19 percent, water gardening by 49 percent, planting by 26 percent and by 1 percent. Experts watch sales and several other areas to distinguish trends.

Why are they important? Garden and landscape trends shape for the next year and years to come.

I mentioned last year after returning from the International Conference in Little Rock that green gardening was the undertone of many of the speakers. For 2008, the Garden Media Group identified going green as the No. 1 , professional trend-watchers for the gardening industry.

“Environmentally savvy homeowners know that it’s not just good enough to live an environmentally friendly lifestyle; you’ve got to be environmentally responsible ” said Garden Media’s Susan McCoy.

Gardeners want to find , use locally produced or recycled materials and use environmentally responsible .

Eco-chic is the for gardens designed and maintained in an ecology friendly manner. Gardeners are recycling plastic pots, composting and using to catch rainwater. To restore balance in nature, they are creating feeding spots for birds and so that bees, ladybugs and have fruit and nectar to eat.

Water gardening is still trendy. However, it is not necessary to have a huge . In fact, is out. New smaller scale fountains and ponds are . They use less water, require less maintenance and can be more interesting in a home . Pondless waterfalls are an option as are tabletop and recirculating fountains.

Many gardeners are opting for less grass in smart and easy landscapes. They are adding stamped concrete patios, walks and driveways. Turfless landscapes are showing up as gardeners install rocks, , trees and ground covers rather than traditional . More expensive initially, it will save time, money and energy in maintenance, especially if combined with a drip irrigation system. Natives show up frequently in gardens as well as ornamental grasses.

Half of this country’s consumers say that a lack of time is a bigger issue than a lack of . The service industry is exploding as homeowners who have purchased homes with large landscaped lawns just cannot find time to maintain the outdoor aspects. Full-grown plants and trees are hot sellers for homeowners too impatient to wait for smaller ones to naturally mature in the .

Outdoor rooms take center stage in gardening trends. For the past five years, outdoor living and decorating were cited as the top two mega trends. In 2007, $6.2 billion was spent on outdoor furniture, accessories and grills. More than a million outdoor kitchens were constructed, and upscale homeowners opted for construction of gazebos near their outdoor pools. Stylish table lamps, special submersible lighting for fountains and dramatic illumination options are now on the market as a result of interest in outdoor living projects.

Simplicity is in with a new twist on the monochromatic slant. One basic color theme dominates a bed or pot with foliage and succulents, many of them variegated, used as accents. Services A ratio of 60 percent of a primary color, 30 percent of a secondary color and 10 percent of accent color is attractive for a pot or bed. Big is beautiful these days. Big in big containers with big bold color are being used to create stylish pot scapes.

The “slo” food movement is growing, according to and Garden Consultant Adele Kleine.

“This philosophy reduces dependence on convenience and processed fast food. One of the purposes of gardening is to encourage adults and children to feel better emotionally and to inspire them to take more control over what they consume. That’s what slo food does,” Kleine said.

Farmers markets and organic food stands are part of this movement, as well as home . Garden sales via the Internet are increasing dramatically. This year, sales are expected to equal or exceed catalog sales, growing from $7 million in 2007 to more than $10 million.

Consumers jump on the bandwagon for products that are new and hot, so growers will continue to introduce hundreds of new each year to meet consumer demands. Organic pesticides, fertilizers, eco-friendly products and tolerant and/or pest-resistant , many of which are container suitable - plus more native options - are expected to be big sellers this year.

Hopefully, these eco-friendly trends are not merely fads that will fade with time Landscaping Services. We all can be responsible caretakers of the environment, but need readily accessible products to help us do so.

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Monday, May 26th, 2008

Landscaping No Comments

Day In The Mud Makes One Long For The Great Indoors

It’s hard to believe, but there was a when one season after another passed away without my paying much notice. At that point in my life — about 15 years ago — I was fairly career-oriented. I spent much of my time chained to my desk in one or another.

When I finally left work, I’d be exhausted. I’d go to my apartment, plop down in front of the TV and drowse off within an hour or two. If I was feeling particularly energetic, I might read a book, have friends over or go to a movie.

I seldom spent much time outside, so the seasons didn’t seem very relevant.

Buying a home in a changed all of that. Staying inside all of the ’t work when you have landscaping to attend. (I know. I tried it the summer I was pregnant. I’m still trying to kill off some off the monster that flourished that year.)

For a after my daughter arrived, the seasons were once again irrelevant. Pretty much anything that didn’t concern caring for my newborn and trying to get some sleep was irrelevant. Rain, snow, flood, — I didn’t care. So long as I had plenty of on hand, I was oblivious to the world around me.

As the baby grew into a child, though, that all changed again. Small children are fascinated by all the that mark the year’s , and the interest is contagious.

Besides, the outside our house was really looking nasty. I had to get out there and try to restore some order to our .

So as my daughter got older, we started spending more and more time outside. The small by my the kitchen door evolved into an all-consuming gardening addiction. We grew herbs and vegetables, so I had to learn how to transform them into something good to eat.

The more I learned, the more I wanted to experiment. My plantings grew increasingly diverse, and I became increasingly sensitive to nature’s .

Then my daughter started school, and the seasons took on entirely new meanings. We have the school calendar to contend with, for starters. And grade-schoolers pay a lot of attention to the calendar. Every holiday, no matter how minor, must be studied and suitably celebrated.

Even though we’ve avoided over-scheduling our daughter, her extracurricular activities fill an ever-growing space on our calendar. We fit our lives in around soccer and ice skating; the county fair and Camp Rah-Rah.

At this point in my life, it sometimes seems as though each individual day is itself a season. It’s both fascinating and merciless, because I’m increasingly aware of how quickly each one slips away; how easily “the right time” becomes “too late.”

Sometimes it bothers me when I think of all of the seasons I missed when I was younger. But in a way, that was all part of a season, too: a season of me. That part of my life shaped who I am today as much as any other time.

I’ve been contemplating those indoor years a lot lately, because at several points in the last week, I’ve longed for their return.

There’s something about spending the final hours of daylight on a chilly Mother’s Day in the rain, shoveling mud in a desperate effort to keep a stone wall from collapsing onto the air-conditioning unit, that really makes a girl wish she’d never stepped out of a nice warm house.

It didn’t help that I had no one but myself to blame for that particular home emergency. I’d rigged a temporary drainage system for a broken downspout, and it couldn’t handle the weekend’s heavy rains.

Of course, it’s spring. It rains a lot in spring, and that water has to go somewhere. It follows the path of least resistance, not the path of best intentions.

I know these things, but I thought I could get away with a temporary fix until I had a chance to pick up some corrugated pipe. I didn’t want to make a special trip to a hardware store because we’re trying to conserve that liquid gold they’re putting in the gas pumps lately.

I ended up making that special trip first thing Monday morning. In the process of fixing the problem, I was late to work, my husband slipped and hurt his shoulder and I made sincere use of a rude word I’d never actually spoken before.

I couldn’t help but think that there was a point in my life when I went entire years without ever touching mud, much less being plastered with it. Sure, I didn’t know the difference between an annual and a perennial, but I enjoyed myself — and kept my hands clean.

I resolved, therefore, to make the repair, go to the office and get done what work was absolutely essential. I’d come home early that night, plop down in front of the TV and drowse off within an hour or two.

It was a lovely plan — just thinking of it made me feel better.

The day didn’t work out that way, of course. I had muddy laundry to wash, some cleaning to get done and a 7-year-old daughter who wanted to play. I also had to go outside and make sure the new drain was working. (It seems to be doing fine.)

I did get to sit down on the couch for a while, but we turned off the TV and played a few games of “Sorry!” We had a great time.

I still owe myself that drowsy evening in front of the TV, mind you. My eyelids get heavy just thinking about it. I will be gloriously lazy.

It’s already pretty late tonight, though, so maybe I’ll get around to it tomorrow. Or one night next week. July, possibly? I’m sure I can fit it in eventually .

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Monday, May 19th, 2008

Pool Landscaping No Comments

Energy Adviser Landscaping Can Keep Home Cool Bills Down

Our yard is boring with just a lot of grass. The house faces east, which means our living area in the back of the house gets hot in summer, even though I close the blinds. What kind of landscaping do you suggest that could help cool the house?

The right kind of can enhance the look of a home, offer more outdoor living space and even help cool a house in summer. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that carefully positioned trees can save up to 25 percent of a typical household’s energy used for cooling.

A well-designed yard offers environmental benefits, such as controlling erosion or limiting runoff, providing food and habitat for wildlife, and cleaning the air by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.

Landscape design typically is site specific, but in general, deciduous trees that shade in summer and drop their leaves in winter are the best choice for shading a house. Mike Odren, landscape architect and planner for Olson Engineering in Vancouver, suggests planting a deciduous canopy tree on the southwest corner of the building if possible or along the south side that will allow for maximum shading in summer.

Tim Shull, designer with Yard and Garden in Vancouver, said are a good choice of deciduous trees for our area.

“If the yard is small, the home owner should consider planting a more columnar tree,” he said. “Armstrong maple is a good choice because it’s narrower and fits into a smaller area.”

Exact placement of trees will depend upon where the windows are in the home, and if there are or solar panels, which you’ll want to avoid shading.

Odren added that plantings around a building also will help shade it and reduce the amount of heat it absorbs and stores during the day that is radiated back during the night.

“Use organic mulch or gravel for paths and walkways rather than asphalt or concrete,” he said.

Another tip from Odren is to incorporate into your , which gives the perception of cooling. Install a pond or even a patio bubbler.

“If you have water somewhere around your patio, it will tend to feel cooler,” he said. “But it has to be . Standing water will heat right up and cause other problems, like a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes.”

Whatever you plant, choose a species that will grow to the desired size, rather than buying a fast-growing variety that you will have to prune each year.

“If you take a 40-foot tree and try to make it stay at 20 feet, Mother Nature will win,” Shull said. “Look down the road 10 years.”

And before you plant a tree, look up. If your proposed spot is near any overhead power lines, you’ll want to choose a tree that will grow no more than 25 feet tall to ensure your tree won’t cause power problems once it grows up.

Reduce lawn

Lawn is typically the least eco-friendly thing in our yards when you consider the maintenance it requires. We mow it weekly, usually using a gas-powered mower, apply moss and weed killer, feed it, and water it — just to do it all over again.

By reducing the size of the lawn and planting native plants or -tolerant , we can have a smaller impact on the environment.

“There are a number of out there that don’t require supplemental irrigation, such as native ,” Odren said. “Consider alternate techniques such as drip systems or microsprays that use water more efficiently.”

Both experts recommend staying as close to native as possible because they thrive in our climate and are typically more disease- and pest-resistant.

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Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

Landscaping Design No Comments

We Need To Concentrate On Reducing Water Usage

Californians, in general, are urged to conserve water now. Why? Because by 2015, statewide predict Riverside County could be unable to provide drinking water to 360,000 people.

Residents can help the situation by watering lawns less, installing efficient irrigation systems and replacing grass with more -resistant plants.

Locally, we’ve all seen the streams of water flow through due to overwatering of , or inefficient sprinkler systems.

Local can help property owners, including businesses, design landscaping that conserves water. Most districts offer tips, demonstrations and other information to help property owners transform their landscapes.

One tip is to install sprinkler systems a few feet inward so water doesn’t land on the sidewalk and run into the streets. Rock, or desert , make an attractive display along the perimeter of a yard and help stop the runoff.

But because this is the desert, complete yards of desert makes sense. Residents should reconsider all together. Developers should give strong consideration to installing only desert in all new developments.

Ongoing conditions and lower-than-normal snowpack have around the state searching for ways to help their customers conserve Rock. But property owners shouldn’t wait for a mandate. Conserving water is the right thing to do now.

around the state are preparing for the shortage by planning mandatory . This is a smart move because simply asking people to conserve may not be enough to meet the growing demands our population puts on the water supply.

Here in the valley, officials are considering a tiered billing system that would help conserve water within a year.

Based on other districts around the state, the CVWD could keep a base rate for the majority of its customers, but charge higher rates for customers who exceed normal use, according to a tier system. Rock It’s been successful in other districts around the state and deserves consideration in the Coachella Valley.

Meanwhile, we encourage residents to avoid overwatering and consider making other changes in to conserve water - the desert’s most precious resource.

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Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

Landscaping Rock No Comments

Growing wild penstemon species

When I moved to Valley in 1992, I bought a house, which was surrounded by two acres of old overgrown manzanita. A fire trap to be sure. After hiring a brush-clearing firm, Hillside Landscaping I was left with an acre of bare red dirt and a few scattered oaks trees.

I immediately set to work transforming this barren landscape into a garden. I put up a deer and built a path system-all the while thinking about what I would plant in my new garden. Because I have a low output well, I was restricted to tolerant plants. And because I wanted to create an eco-friendly garden, I chose to plant California native .

I decided to experiment with as many different species of penstemon as possible. I had observed several spectacular species in the wild and hoped they would grow well in the garden. My research told me that wild penstemons are tricky to grow and can be short-lived in the garden. Their primary requirement is well draining soil and many of them require minimal irrigation. For those gardeners with poorly drained clay , one solution is to import a good sandy loam from a vendor and mound it up on top of the existing . Both Eaton’s penstemon (P. eatonii) and P. pseudospectabils have thrived in my garden on mounded sandy loam . They receive morning sun and are shaded by tall pines in the afternoon. Both these form sprawling clumps and have semi-upright stems with tubular flowers that attract hummingbirds. Eaton’s penstemon has red flowers and P. pseudospectabils has outrageous red/pink/pruple flowers that defy description. Both are native to mountainous areas of the southwestern states, but can flourish here in the foothills.

The trick when watering penstemons is to give them enough to keep them looking fresh through the summer, but not too much, otherwise you can kill them with kindness. Many of the penstemon species that inhabit dry desert and mountain habitat in the Southwest, can survive the summer without once they are established in the garden. But after a long dry summer without water they will look pretty ratty. A more practical solution is create a semi-dry border by combining penstemon species with wild buckwheats, monkey flowers, California , salvias and other -tolerant native and drip irrigating once every ten days in the summer, beginning in May. This will keep your looking fresh and extend their bloom well into the summer. In the Sierra foothills of Nevada and Placer Counties, azure penstemon (P. azureus) and foothill penstemon (P. heterophyllus) are native wildflowers. A hybrid of these two species called Penstemon ‘Margarita BOP’ is one of the easiest penstemons for garden culture. This hybrid was discovered next to the back porch at Las Pilitas nursery in Santa Margarita, Calif-thus its name Penstemon ‘Margarita BOP.’ It forms an evergreen, 3-ft wide sprawling mound covered with masses of tubular blue and purple flowers. Dave Roberts, President of EcoLandscape California, a non-profit ecological organization, grows P. ‘Margarita BOP’ in his Sacramento garden. He grows it in sandy and waters it once a week during the summer, beginning in May, which keeps the plant blooming and looking fresh through the summer.

Several penstemon species have persisted and thrived in my garden without any special improvement of drainage. They are all planted in full sun on a west-facing slope. Beginning in May, they are drip irrigated once every two weeks through their first summer after being planted in the garden. During subsequent years, I water them sparingly through July and then cease watering for the rest of the summer.

My hand’s down favorite has been Penstemon incertus. I grew it from seed that I purchased from the Theodore Payne Foundation in southern California.

The plant is clump-forming with multiple 2-foot tall stems, grey green foliage and beautiful blue/purple tubular flowers. It is easy to propagate from cuttings and seed and is now abundant in my garden. My original plant is still thriving after four years. Royal penstemon (P. spectabilis) has also thrived in my garden without improvement. This is a gorgeous three-foot tall clump-forming plant. When in full bloom it is covered with blue, pink and purple flowers and buzzing with visiting honey bees. Grinnell’s beard tongue (P. grennellii) also grows on a hot,Hillside rocky slope in my garden. It reaches about two feet in height and has multiple stems with coarsely-toothed shiny green leaves. It has puffy balloon-shaped flowers that are lightly scented and colored pink with delicate mauve tracings. This species is very sensitive to over-watering and should not be irrigated in summer. I recommend planting this plant in a sandy loam of decomposed granite if possible.

I have also experimented with several species of keckiella, which are the shrubby cousins of the perennial penstemons. They are sometimes called bush penstemons. My resident hummingbird loves the scarlet-colored tubular flowers heartleaf keckiella (K. cordifolia) in my garden. Bees favor the snapdragon-like flowers of yellow keckiella (K. antirrhinoides) in my garden.

All the penstemon species are very easy to propagate from cuttings or seed. I usually leave the spent blooms on some of the stems so that seed pods can develop. I harvest the seed and sow it in pots in the fall so that it is watered by winter rains. The germinate en masse in early spring. I transplant these directly into the garden or into 4 inch pots-in which case, I grow them through the summer and then plant them into the garden in fall.

Cuttings are easier. I usually wait until February and then cut year-old stems back to sprouting buds near the base of the stems. Then I cut the pruned off stems into 6-inch long sections, and stick these directly into the ground around the parent . With a little extra water, these cuttings root quickly and easily. In this way, as older die off, new young ones grow up to replace them.

All of these penstemon and bush penstemon species (plus many other California native trees, shrubs, perennials and ) will be available for purchase at the Spring Native Plant Sale and Wildflower Show at the Rocklin campus of Sierra College (Parking Lot S) on Saturday, May 3rd from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm.

Quantities of some of these are limited, so come early for the best selection. There will be a special presentation “Wildflowers of Placer and Nevada Counties - Where to See ‘em and How to Grow ‘em” before the sale at 9 am.

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Sunday, April 27th, 2008

Hillside Landscaping No Comments

Match Tree To Landscaping Site

Answer: Matching the tree to the site is critical. Site considerations include location of space above and below ground, water availability, drainage issues, Landscaping Contractor soil texture and pH, sunlight levels and exposure. Tree considerations should include growth rate of the species. The and form of the tree in addition to hardiness, heat tolerance and tolerance also should be considered. Pest resistance, maintenance issues and native versus non-native species also impact tree selection. Most trees will outlive the people who plant them.

Answer: Honeycrisp is a late-fruiting apple cultivar that it is very cold hardy, which means the tree should survive Front Range winters well. Honeycrisp blooms in the early to middle part of the apple flowering period. Honeycrisp does not carry any known exceptional resistances to disease or insects. Apple scab and cedar apple rust lesions have been observed on the leaves, but these diseases have been readily controlled with a standard spray program. Landscaping Contractor It has shown moderate susceptibility to fireblight. The fruit, which usually matures around mid-September, is very crisp and juicy with a flavor balance between sweet and tart. The fruits can be eaten fresh or cooked in pies or other recipes.

For more information, visit www.planttalk.org and read #1201, “Apples.”

Question: What do I need to know before signing a contract with a tree care company?

Answer: Typical services include consultation, problem diagnosis, planting, fertilizing, insect and disease control, cabling and bracing and pruning and removal. All tree care companies offering insect and disease control with pesticides must be licensed by the Colorado Department of Agriculture.

Tree care companies should be able to provide product labels and safety data sheets on fertilizers and chemicals before treatment. Contractor Ask for a list of references where a company’s finished work can be checked. Some tree care companies may employ certified arborists that have passed the test given by the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture on the principles of tree care and issued a license.

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Friday, April 25th, 2008

Landscaping No Comments

Nsrwa To Host Free Lecture Series This Spring

Services A free lecture series, sponsored by the Greenscapes program and supported by North and South Rivers Watershed Association,

Mass Bays Estuary Association and 11 towns on the South Shore, will take place from 7 to 9 p.m., Mondays, at South Shore Vocational Technical School auditorium, 476 Webster St., Route 123, Hanover. For information, call Debbie Cook at 781-659-8168 or visit debbie@nsrwa.org.

The Benefits of Plants and Landscaping – April 28, 7 to 9 p.m., with Steven R. Tomasi, president, A.J. Tomasi Nurseries.

Well-designed adds beauty to any home. However, can provide so many more benefits, such as providing natural air conditioning and protection from wind, trapping and filtering air pollutants, screening noise and unsightly views to name just a few. Landscaping Services Learn how to use techniques and plantings to make a yard a healthy oasis.

Tame a Water-Consuming Irrigation System – May 5, 7 to 9 p.m., with Ted Moriarty, owner, Smart Watering Co. Irrigations systems abound on the South Shore, but many of people do not know how to use or maintain them properly.

This can lead to water overuse, which can hurt and the environment. systems can help conserve water when designed, maintained and used properly. Learn some simple, effective ways to take control of an system, and develop a season-long water conservation strategy.

Growing Green – Landscaping Services Using Fewer Pesticides by Knowledgeable Plant Selection – May 12, 7 to 9 p.m., with Deborah Swanson, extension educator, Plymouth County Extension. Swanson,

will highlight that have few insect and disease problems, and yet are beautiful in the landscape. Many of these are native and often overlooked. Learning what they are and where to plant them will go a long way in reducing pesticides in the . Many of these trees, shrubs and perennials are also -tolerant, once established.

Landscape Design Ideas for Success – May 19, 7 to 9 p.m., with Chris Kennedy of Kennedy Country Gardens.

Kennedy will offer solutions to the toughest of gardening dilemmas. Hear suggestions that can increase the value of a property while reducing the work to maintain a beautiful yard and garden. Kennedy will explain how to improve thorny issues in a yard and how to match the right type of lawn and with existing conditions.

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Monday, April 7th, 2008

Landscaping No Comments

36Mln Rubles Will Be Spent On Improvement Of Primorye Capital

6mln Rubles will be spent on Vladivostok improvement this year. An expert on city landscaping Anna YAMKACH said it at the meeting of the headquarters on sanitary two months held in the City Administration, the correspondent of RIA PrimaMedia reports.

Including 21 million 380 thousand, Backyard Landscaping allotted on current maintenance of green plantations, 5mln - on the city center, placing of green architectural forms and taking care of them. It’s planned to spend 1,5mln Rubles on flower decoration of retaining walls, funds for their repairing are also stipulated.

“Flower decoration of Vladivostok will include some new elements this year. These are flower “mushrooms,” “stars,” decoration of blocks for flags with flowers. Usual forms, such as balls, pyramids of flowers, decoration of viaducts will be used. Relief of Vladivostok is difficult, and we try to brighten sad alternation of retaining walls and stones,” Anna YAMKACH said.

One of the problems of city ,Backyard in the opinion of Anna YAMKACH, is theft of flowers by citizens.

“We have to take extra measures for protection of green plantations. Some citizens think that flowers on flowerbeds are a source of free bouquets,” Anna YAMKACH noted.

According to Anna YAMKACH, there are experienced experts in the city, quality flower seeds have been already bought, a detailed plan of work has been worked out. But the funds allotted from the city budget are insufficient.

“Changing of climate caused, for example, appearance of droughty periods in Primorye. Lawns and flower-beds need watering in summer, but we do not have any means for organization of this work. There is also no opportunity to plant bushes on city squares, as it’s a very expensive procedure,” Anna YAMKACH said.

For comparison Anna YAMKACH gave information on organization of work on of the city in Nakhodka Backyard .

“130mln Rubles were allotted for of Nakhodka last year, three times more than in Vladivostok. We hope that the city Duma will follow this example and increase expenses of the city budget for purposes of improvement, Anna YAMKACH added.

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Monday, April 7th, 2008

Backyard Landscaping No Comments

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