Dwarf lilac species and hybrids handle Maryland conditions much better than the traditional varieties. Some recent introductions will also re-bloom sporadically later in the summer. (Photo by Miri Talabac/ The Baltimore Sun) (Miri Talabac)

Q: My lilacs look like death-warmed-over this time of year. Do you know whats wrong, and is there anything I can do at this point?

A: Lilacs are sadly not very well-suited to our Mid-Atlantic conditions. Were at the southern edge of their heat tolerance, so while they werent among the best flowering shrub choices to begin with, climate change is only going to worsen their prognosis. Several types of leaf-spotting fungi and bacteria, plus general heat stress (which also increases their vulnerability to borers), results in foliage that looks quite beat-up by late summer. Brown spots, crispy leaf edges and bare stems from premature leaf drop are all typical. You can explore lilac ailments and their management on our lilac diagnostic page.

No fungicide will reverse these symptoms once they appear, and while they might work as a preventive if applied before bud-break (and reapplied repeatedly well into the summer), its simpler to just grow something else if a plant is going to be that much of a hassle. This is especially true if the treatments dont work and the plant still winds up looking horrible. Fungicides also carry the risk of harming other organisms.

For now, you can rake up and dispose of any fallen leaves, though this isnt a foolproof way of removing a source of infectious spores. Cut down the oldest, thickest stems this winter (they tend not to bloom well at that age anyway) and open up the canopy by selectively removing some stems that contribute to foliage crowding. You can do this thinning after bloom next spring.

For anyone really wanting to grow lilac despite these challenges, try cultivars with above-average disease resistance and heat tolerance. While not immune to problems, they perform much better, even if they dont look exactly the same or have blooms as large or heavily perfumed. Miss Kim is a round, compact-growing cultivar with pale lavender-purple flowers thats been around for decades. Other varieties are now available with pink or deeper purple blooms, some of which even rebloom a bit, sporadically producing flowers into summer and early autumn, though high heat could still hamper that.

All lilacs, but especially the traditional, classic French types, should be planted in a location with great air circulation (so, not up against a fence or wall) so wet leaves dry quickly after rain, dew, or irrigation. Wet foliage is more easily infected by diseases.

Weekly

Plan your weekend with our picks for the best events, restaurant and movie reviews, TV shows and more. Delivered every Thursday.

The main perk of growing lilacs is fragrance, so if you want a scented replacement, consider: winterhazel (corylopsis), Koreanspice viburnum (viburnum carlesii) and its hybrids, summersweet (clethra), seven-son Flower (Hhptacodium), Carolina allspice (calycanthus), various deciduous azaleas (rhododendron viscosum and several others), mock orange (philadelphus), and fragrant abelia (abelia mosanensis). Their scent characteristics, flower colors, mature sizes, and preferred growing conditions may differ from lilac, but nothing is going to be an exact substitute. Plus, several of these species will offer the additional bonus of showy autumn foliage or (for the native ones) better wildlife value. These are just some shrub ideas; there are also fragrant perennials and, if you have the room, several fragrant trees.

Q: I know we should ideally be growing alternatives to lawn, but for now I need to rehab a section of turf until I can figure out what to convert it to. Is this too early to begin fall lawn care?

A: Actually, nows a great time to start the rehab process for fescue-based lawns. Begin with a laboratory soil test if its been a few years since your last one (or have never done one), so you know what the soil characteristics are in terms of acidity and nutrient levels. Mid-August through September is when conditions are preferable for overseeding or seeding/sodding areas that need to be stripped and reestablished due to heavy weed infestation.

Core-aeration can be done just prior to seeding for better seed-to-soil contact and to lessen compaction, and applications of starter fertilizer and lime (if needed) can be made at the same time you seed/sod. Give careful attention to watering since germinating seeds and establishing lawns are intolerant of drying out.

This is the one of the rare scenarios where watering method goes against the deeply, infrequently recommendation, since youll need to irrigate lightly but more frequently. As the grass matures, wean it off that pampering to the typical technique of only watering thoroughly once the top few inches of soil becomes relatively dry. This encourages deeper rooting for a more self-sufficient lawn, conserves water, and reduces the risk of disease from frequently-wet foliage.

You can find a plethora of pages about lawn care on our website. A good starting point is the collection of page links under our Lawn Care and Maintenance tag.

University of Maryland Extensions Home and Garden Information Center offers free gardening and pest information at extension.umd.edu/hgic. Click Ask Extension to send questions and photos.

More here:
Garden Q&A: How to survive the lilac apocalypse - Baltimore Sun

One day after federal government monitors classified most of Morris County as a "moderate drought" zone, Denville is partially relaxing emergency restrictions on water use imposed last week on residents and businesses.

Thursday night, township officials posted an advisory on Facebook that the restrictions were immediately amended to allow the use of outdoor handheld watering devices on an odd/even schedule.

"This includes the use of a handheld watering device (garden hose, watering can, etc.) to water lawns, shrubs, ornamental plants, sod, etc." the advisory reads.

The use of automatic sprinkler systems or "any other water-delivering device that is not handheld" is strictly prohibited while the restrictions remain in effect, up to 90 days "or until otherwise altered, repealed or extended."

The odd/even schedule refers to your street address, allowing homes with odd numbers to water on odd-numbered days and even-numbered addresses to water on even-number days. Commercial businesses such as landscapers working at a residential address also are required to comply with the odd/even water restrictions.

Denville was already under water-use restrictions last week when a malfunctioning well pump forced officials to enact further emergency restrictions that banned lawn watering, car washing and other outdoor uses. Mayor Tom Andes said the seized pump was quickly repaired but the restrictions remained in place "out of an abundance of caution."

Violators are subject to summons, fines and penalties.

Read the original post:
Denville relaxes water restrictions, but automatic sprinklers banned - Daily Record

For the second year in a row, SingleOps was the highest-ranked and fastest-growing software company in the green industry on the list.

ATLANTA (PRWEB) August 17, 2022

SingleOps announced today the companys inclusion on the Inc. 5000, the most prestigious ranking of the nations fastest-growing private companies. For the second year in a row, SingleOps was the highest-ranked and fastest-growing software company in the green industry on the list. SingleOps is used by tree care, lawn care, full-service landscaping, sod farming and landscape supply professionals. SingleOps ranked 1,317 on the list with three year revenue growth of 495%, an increase from last years 423%.

Since founding SingleOps, our mission has been to help green industry businesses win customers for life by elevating the customer experience and improving operational efficiency through technology, said Sean McCormick, CEO at SingleOps. Weve seen tremendous growth the last few years and have truly begun to make a lasting positive impact in the green industry, as evidenced by our being the fastest-growing software company in our industry the past two years. Our success has only been possible thanks to our amazing team and customers.

About SingleOpsSingleOps is an all-in-one business management software for outdoor service industries, including tree care, lawn care, full-service landscaping, sod farms, and landscape supply. The company serves thousands of users who have collectively processed over $2 billion in revenue through SingleOps, and use it daily to operate their businesses and interact with clients. SingleOps is headquartered in Atlanta, GA. For more information, please visit singleops.com.

More about Inc. and the Inc. 5000

MethodologyCompanies on the 2022 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2018 to 2021. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2018. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independentnot subsidiaries or divisions of other companiesas of December 31, 2021. (Since then, some on the list may have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2018 is $100,000; the minimum for 2021 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. Growth rates used to determine company rankings were calculated to three decimal places. There was one tie on this years Inc. 5000. Companies on the Inc. 500 are featured in Inc.s September issue. They represent the top tier of the Inc. 5000, which can be found at http://www.inc.com/inc5000.

About Inc. MediaThe worlds most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Vision Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit http://www.inc.com.

Share article on social media or email:

Original post:
SingleOps Named to 2022 Inc. 5000 List of Fastest-Growing Companies in North America - PR Web

The food industry isnt known for its proverbs. If I were to write one, it might be: Give a man a frying pan, and he can stand by the stove and make himself dinner. Give a man some oven trays, and he is free to sit on the sofa and watch Love Island while dinner cooks itself. With that in mind, Ive adapted one of my favourite things to eat: a scoopable tomato, chickpea and aubergine dish made with just enough spice to raise an eyebrow into an oven-based recipe.

Think of this recipe as a starting point: you could drop the spices or add a spoonful of harissa, Thai curry paste, some lemongrass, perhaps you choose! to change up the flavours, and swap the chickpeas for whatever tinned beans you have in the cupboard.

Prep 5 minCook 1 hr 10 minServes 4-6

100ml extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for brushing3 medium aubergines (about 775g)6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed 3 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes1 tsp salt tsp ground black pepper tsp ground cinnamon2 tsp urfa chilli flakes2 x 400g tins chickpeas, drained

To serve200g vegan yoghurt 2 tbsp tahini mixed with 2 tbsp waterScant tsp fine sea saltMint leaves, chopped

Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6. Line a large baking sheet (or two medium ones) with reusable baking paper and brush with oil.

Chop the aubergines into 1cm-thick rounds, put these side by side on the baking tray(s) and brush the tops with oil.

Put the oil and crushed garlic in a 30cm x 40cm baking dish, then add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, cinnamon and urfa chilli, and stir gently to combine.

Pop the aubergine tray(s) and tomato dish in the oven and cook for 30 minutes, until the aubergine slices are collapsing when squished together; if theyre not, bake them for another five to 10 minutes. Scrape the aubergines into the tomato dish, add the chickpeas, mix and bake for another 30 minutes, by which time the sauce should be oily, dark and rich.

Meanwhile, mix the yoghurt, loosened tahini and salt in a pretty serving bowl. Spoon the aubergines, tomatoes and chickpeas into another large bowl, add a generous dollop of the tahini yoghurt, scatter over the mint leaves and serve with the remaining yoghurt mix on the side.

This article was edited on 19 August 2022, to clarify that both the aubergines and tomatoes are baked separately, before being combined and baked again.

View post:
Meera Sodhas vegan recipe for baked aubergines, chickpeas and tomatoes - The Guardian

Country

United States of AmericaUS Virgin IslandsUnited States Minor Outlying IslandsCanadaMexico, United Mexican StatesBahamas, Commonwealth of theCuba, Republic ofDominican RepublicHaiti, Republic ofJamaicaAfghanistanAlbania, People's Socialist Republic ofAlgeria, People's Democratic Republic ofAmerican SamoaAndorra, Principality ofAngola, Republic ofAnguillaAntarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S)Antigua and BarbudaArgentina, Argentine RepublicArmeniaArubaAustralia, Commonwealth ofAustria, Republic ofAzerbaijan, Republic ofBahrain, Kingdom ofBangladesh, People's Republic ofBarbadosBelarusBelgium, Kingdom ofBelizeBenin, People's Republic ofBermudaBhutan, Kingdom ofBolivia, Republic ofBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswana, Republic ofBouvet Island (Bouvetoya)Brazil, Federative Republic ofBritish Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago)British Virgin IslandsBrunei DarussalamBulgaria, People's Republic ofBurkina FasoBurundi, Republic ofCambodia, Kingdom ofCameroon, United Republic ofCape Verde, Republic ofCayman IslandsCentral African RepublicChad, Republic ofChile, Republic ofChina, People's Republic ofChristmas IslandCocos (Keeling) IslandsColombia, Republic ofComoros, Union of theCongo, Democratic Republic ofCongo, People's Republic ofCook IslandsCosta Rica, Republic ofCote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of theCyprus, Republic ofCzech RepublicDenmark, Kingdom ofDjibouti, Republic ofDominica, Commonwealth ofEcuador, Republic ofEgypt, Arab Republic ofEl Salvador, Republic ofEquatorial Guinea, Republic ofEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFaeroe IslandsFalkland Islands (Malvinas)Fiji, Republic of the Fiji IslandsFinland, Republic ofFrance, French RepublicFrench GuianaFrench PolynesiaFrench Southern TerritoriesGabon, Gabonese RepublicGambia, Republic of theGeorgiaGermanyGhana, Republic ofGibraltarGreece, Hellenic RepublicGreenlandGrenadaGuadaloupeGuamGuatemala, Republic ofGuinea, RevolutionaryPeople's Rep'c ofGuinea-Bissau, Republic ofGuyana, Republic ofHeard and McDonald IslandsHoly See (Vatican City State)Honduras, Republic ofHong Kong, Special Administrative Region of ChinaHrvatska (Croatia)Hungary, Hungarian People's RepublicIceland, Republic ofIndia, Republic ofIndonesia, Republic ofIran, Islamic Republic ofIraq, Republic ofIrelandIsrael, State ofItaly, Italian RepublicJapanJordan, Hashemite Kingdom ofKazakhstan, Republic ofKenya, Republic ofKiribati, Republic ofKorea, Democratic People's Republic ofKorea, Republic ofKuwait, State ofKyrgyz RepublicLao People's Democratic RepublicLatviaLebanon, Lebanese RepublicLesotho, Kingdom ofLiberia, Republic ofLibyan Arab JamahiriyaLiechtenstein, Principality ofLithuaniaLuxembourg, Grand Duchy ofMacao, Special Administrative Region of ChinaMacedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic ofMadagascar, Republic ofMalawi, Republic ofMalaysiaMaldives, Republic ofMali, Republic ofMalta, Republic ofMarshall IslandsMartiniqueMauritania, Islamic Republic ofMauritiusMayotteMicronesia, Federated States ofMoldova, Republic ofMonaco, Principality ofMongolia, Mongolian People's RepublicMontserratMorocco, Kingdom ofMozambique, People's Republic ofMyanmarNamibiaNauru, Republic ofNepal, Kingdom ofNetherlands AntillesNetherlands, Kingdom of theNew CaledoniaNew ZealandNicaragua, Republic ofNiger, Republic of theNigeria, Federal Republic ofNiue, Republic ofNorfolk IslandNorthern Mariana IslandsNorway, Kingdom ofOman, Sultanate ofPakistan, Islamic Republic ofPalauPalestinian Territory, OccupiedPanama, Republic ofPapua New GuineaParaguay, Republic ofPeru, Republic ofPhilippines, Republic of thePitcairn IslandPoland, Polish People's RepublicPortugal, Portuguese RepublicPuerto RicoQatar, State ofReunionRomania, Socialist Republic ofRussian FederationRwanda, Rwandese RepublicSamoa, Independent State ofSan Marino, Republic ofSao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic ofSaudi Arabia, Kingdom ofSenegal, Republic ofSerbia and MontenegroSeychelles, Republic ofSierra Leone, Republic ofSingapore, Republic ofSlovakia (Slovak Republic)SloveniaSolomon IslandsSomalia, Somali RepublicSouth Africa, Republic ofSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsSpain, Spanish StateSri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic ofSt. HelenaSt. Kitts and NevisSt. LuciaSt. Pierre and MiquelonSt. Vincent and the GrenadinesSudan, Democratic Republic of theSuriname, Republic ofSvalbard & Jan Mayen IslandsSwaziland, Kingdom ofSweden, Kingdom ofSwitzerland, Swiss ConfederationSyrian Arab RepublicTaiwan, Province of ChinaTajikistanTanzania, United Republic ofThailand, Kingdom ofTimor-Leste, Democratic Republic ofTogo, Togolese RepublicTokelau (Tokelau Islands)Tonga, Kingdom ofTrinidad and Tobago, Republic ofTunisia, Republic ofTurkey, Republic ofTurkmenistanTurks and Caicos IslandsTuvaluUganda, Republic ofUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited Kingdom of Great Britain & N. IrelandUruguay, Eastern Republic ofUzbekistanVanuatuVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofViet Nam, Socialist Republic ofWallis and Futuna IslandsWestern SaharaYemenZambia, Republic ofZimbabwe

Read more here:
More Thoughts While Weeding: Raised beds for many reasons - Conway Daily Sun

CHURCHILL DOWNS INC. HAS a market capitalization that touches $8 billion.

That's a nice number for a corporation that specializes in little more than gaming pies in the sky and shareholder value.

But its bosses can no longer get this crazy little thing called horse racing right.

In Arlington Heights, Euclid Avenue has turned into a death row as one of the most lush turf courses on the planet awaits extinction.

There is no compelling reason that Arlington Park isn't up and running this summer.

Other than perhaps that CDI CEO Bunker Bill Carstanjen and crew might not have been able to gather their kind of Insane Clown Posse to hover around it.

So this past weekend, the Arlington Million was moved to Churchill Downs, site of one of the most troublesome grass surfaces in America.

And in the end, matching Million Day '21 at Arlington, the event was nothing more than an embarrassment for Carstanjen and Co.

LAST AUGUST AT AP, with the honorable Dick Duchossois approaching his 100th and final earthly birthday, Carstanjen's crew tried to get clever.

They're not very good at that.

The cut the purse of The Million to $600,000. And, to "honor" Duchossois with the cheapened centerpiece, they renamed the race "The Mr. D Stakes."

But they still billed the afternoon as "Million Day" -- without a Million.

Had Duchossois been in his prime, anyone who came up with such low-rent distortion at a staff meeting would have been unemployed within hours.

Instead, the lame event went on. Few really cared about it.

TO CAP THE BIZARRE FAREWELL, a track hireling named Anthony Petrillo petulantly stormed into the press box approximately 90 minutes after "The Mr. D" and ordered nine members of the media -- almost all working on deadline -- out.

No coherent reason for the snit was given since there was no coherent reason.

Petrillo, CDI and Arlington were national laughingstocks.

Again, Insane Clown Posse stuff.

SO, THE TABLE WAS SET for transplanted Million Day '22 in Louisville.

That despite dangerous irregularities with Churchill's re-sod turf course.

A new top was planted last October. Racing on it this spring proved highly problematic.

Those flaws reached tragic proportion in June when a $50K claimer named Gingrich was coasting to victory and his legs suddenly slid out from underneath him.

Jockey Jimmy Graham did his best to avoid catastrophe.

But it wasn't enough for the crippled horse. He was vanned off and "humanely" destroyed.

And turf racing at CD was suspended -- until last Saturday.

INITIALLY, CARSTANJEN AND HIGHWAYMEN planned to move the Million, the Bev D., the Secretariat and the Pucker Up to their base track.

But the Secretariat and the Pucker Up were quietly ditched.

Then, rather than being run consecutively -- as had been tradition at Arlington -- the Million and the Bev D. were spaced 3 hours apart.

That was so the entire turf rail could be moved approximately 24 feet in after the Bev D.

In theory, that would give the eight Million starters fresh -- and safer -- primary lanes to run on.

TO PROMOTE THE BIG DAY, Carstanjen underling Tonya Abeln -- who appears to have power alleys of racetrack recipes and paddock hats -- announced that the oval would be offering "Chicago-style hot dogs" and "Italians beef sandwiches."

Apparently blown away by such imaginative inducements, an on-site paid attendance of less than 3,000 was reported by authoritative sources.

This at a Camptown that regularly claimed pre-pandemic Kentucky Derby attendances of 150,000-plus.

THE CD MILLION ITSELF came across as a colossal afterthought.

The turf looked awful.

The tarnished relic played out as "a merry-go-round race."

That means a few speed horses got out and no one made any chancy moves.

A race like that suggests jockeys were prioritizing their own safety.

A 4-year-old named Santin was among the leaders from the start. He made a mild move to first down the stretch and won.

As racetrack theater, the nine-furlong exhibition was about as exciting as watching Abeln stir up a pot of burgoo on a morning TV show in Kentuckiana.

SO, CARSTANJEN AND SUITE MATES apparently think they've preserved the legacy of the Arlington Million.

They haven't. Last weekend, travesty prevailed.

It's a lot easier to program slots with return rates of 94% or so.

They took the one day of the Arlington season that meant the most to Dick Duchossois and diced it into disrespectful tripe.

On their quarterly earnings calls, the CDI scavengers may continually boast of increased profits and fertile new gaming jurisdictions.

But Carstanjen, Abeln and carnivores will never have the one thing that set Richard Louis Duchossois apart.

And that's class.

Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears Sunday and Thursday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.

Originally posted here:
O'Donnell: With "Louisville Million," Churchill Inc. dissed the legacy of Dick Duchossois - Daily Herald

What a really silly thing for Darwin Nunez to do. He was probably just frustrated that Liverpool were sh*t.

Dont you just hate it when you accidentally headbutt somebody?We can only really start in one place, and that place is a murky area between fan and journalist which has only got murkier as more outlets have basically become something akin to fanzines. Which is how you arrive here from the Daily Mirrors Merseyside correspondent

He didnt actually mean it! He had literally tried to headbutt Joachim Andersen literally ten seconds before which earned him that shove in the back but he didnt actually mean it just a few seconds later.

If anything, he just turned around too quickly, Jeff.

Frustration!And David Maddock continued that theme in his piece from Anfield on Monday night, as he opened with statistics about Liverpool conceding the first goal far too often and arrived quickly here:

The pressure of trailing so often was painfully evident in the frustrated reaction of Darwin Nunez guilty of missing at least three proper chances when he placed his head into the face of Joachim Andersen, to be dismissed on his home debut.

Leaving aside both the stupidity of that, AND the overreaction of the Palace defender, it all came about because of the home sides inability to take the many chances they createdand the pressure that brings.

So, so much to unpick here.

Firstly, why was Nunez feeling the pressure of trailing so often in literally his second competitive appearance for the club?

Secondly, placed his head!? He headbutted him. He literally headbutted him.

Thirdly, the overreaction of the Palace defender? Now Mediawatch has thankfully never been headbutted but we suspect we might fall down. At the very least we might stumble. It looks like it might smart.

And no, it did not all come about because of thehome sides inability to take the many chances they created. It came about because a man-child lost his temper and needlessly smashed somebody in the face with his head.

Were caught in a trapHeres the headline on MailOnline:

Darwin Nunez endured a nightmare Anfield bow as he fell into Palaces trap with a STUPID headbutt. The meltdown was coming he hasnt yet got the technical mastery of Roberto Firmino

How clever of Crystal Palace to set a trap that gave Nunez almost no choice but to headbutt a fellow footballer.

Crazy, stupid loveThe Liverpool Echo do admit that it was a silly, stupid and mindless sending-off, though at this point we wonder why nobody is condemning Nunez for an act of violence rather than just being silly and stupid, which makes a 23-year-old man sound like a child.

How silly of him to headbutt a man in the face. The big daft sod.

Here is Ian Doyles description:

Eight minutes into the second half, Joachim Andersen had taken umbrage with Nunez and prodded his finger towards the Liverpool striker before invading his personal space. Unwise, yes. But that still wasnt sufficient reason for Nunez to then plant a headbutt on the Crystal Palace defender, who needed no invitation to hit the ground and ensure the inevitable sending-off.

The idea that there is a concept of invading personal space within a contact sport is simply wonderful. And when we say simply wonderful we mean absolute bollocks.

And why had Andersen taken umbrage with Nunez? Why, because he had literally just tried to headbutt him but missed. He really is a silly, silly man.

Defensive masterclassUnlike some of the Liverpool fans masquerading as journalists, Jurgen Klopp had no doubt that Nunez was in the wrong with his headbutt, that did not stop some outlets claiming otherwise. This was Eurosport

HE WAS PROVOKED LIVERPOOL MANAGER JURGEN KLOPP DEFENDS DARWIN NUNEZ AFTER HIS HEADBUTT RED CARD

He really f***ing didnt.

Read the gloomThe Sun website have moved on from Liverpool because the laws of Our Game decree that there can only be one crisis club at any one time and that club is currently Manchester United.

And their biggest story this giddy Tuesday?

Glum Man Utd flops arrive at training as Cristiano Ronaldo and Co look to end horror start to season against Liverpool

So in short, some men have arrived at work and they werent grinning as they arrived at work.

CRISTIANO RONALDO cut a glum figure as he rolled through the gates for Manchester United training this morning.

And his Red Devils team-mates didnt look particularly happy either as they reported for duty at the clubs Carrington HQ.

Lets imagine for a second the headlines if they had looked particularly happy.

Mediawatch did really enjoy the description of Ronaldo arriving behind the wheel of a beefy Cadillac 44. Suddenly, we are craving crisps.

How much is that alleged rapist in the window?Onto more serious matters and we arrive at the front page of The Sun:

If Benjamin Mendy did indeed rape three women in 24 hours then he is simply an evil man. What the actual f*** has that got to do with his transfer fee? Its as irrelevant as his waist measurement.

Follow this link:
What did Darwin Nunez do to get a red card? He turned around too quickly, the daft sod - Football365

Prairies are characterized by grasses and wildflowers, as well as their unique soil composition. (Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie / U.S. Forest Service)

Almost as soon as it was dubbed the Prairie State, Illinois began to lose the very features that inspired the nickname.

In short order, millions of acres of prairie that had gone undisturbed since the retreat of the last glaciers were transformed into some of the most productive farmland in the U.S. or churned to make room for cities and ultimately suburban sprawl. In the process, prairie, which once covered 60% of Illinoiswas all but erased.

Whats left is measured in decimal points. Among conservationistsmost oft-cited stats, only .01 of 1% of high-quality original prairie remains. Indeed, so little prairie still exists in Illinois, most residents of the state have never encountered this rare landscape.

I dont think people have a chance to see and understand prairies, said Kelly Mikenas, assistant professor of biology and director of the environmental studies program at Elmhurst University. There arent that many opportunities to go and visit prairies.

Whereas the word forest immediately conjures up specific images people know what trees look like prairie draws a blank or, worse, the brain serves up uninformed guesses, like faulty search engine results or autocorrect failures.

Unmowed field? Not a prairie.

Rural America? Not a prairie.

Garden plot filled with native plants? Not a prairie.

Swaths of roadside weeds? Not a prairie.

The mistaken association with weeds has been perhaps the most damaging to prairies reputation, and is the impetus behind a movement to reference prairie plants by their Latin names instead of common names: Vernonia gigantea, for example, flat out sounds more desirable than giant ironweed.

A lack of familiarity with or connection to prairies has made whats left of them vulnerable to development. Without a charismatic species to rally around, prairies tend to disappear with little notice. There are no sequoias to stir public sentiment. No dramatic waterfalls, no awe-inspiring cliffs, canyons or snow-capped peaks. No polar bears.

Today, having flown not so much under the conservation radar as completely off it, prairie is one of the most endangered habitats on the planet, according to experts.

To know prairies is to love them, Mikenas said. So here, then, is an introduction.

What is a prairie?

Big bluestem grass creates a colorful burgundy ribbon in a prairie. (Laura Hubers / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

A prairie, by another name, is a grassland. Its primary characteristic, as the name implies, is the presence of native prairie grasses.

Not to be confused with the stuff of lawns, prairie grasses go by names like side-oats grama, prairie dropseed and Canada wild rye.Apart from their much greater height, prairie grasses differ from turf varieties in that they tend to grow in bunches (called clump-forming) rather than spreading like sod. Whiskery plumage, unusual seed heads and striking colors are other prairie grass hallmarks.

Big bluestem, the official state prairie grass of Illinois, is among the most dominant. It can grow taller than an NBA center, glows burgundy in fall and terminates in spikes that look like a turkey foot.

But grasses are only part of a prairies story. Wildflowers are another (technically: flowering plants, called forbs, typically of a non-woody nature), with hundreds of species ranging from familiar coneflowers to rarities like the prairie fringed orchid. Trees occasionally make a cameo, but their notable absence is another prairie calling card. Traditionally, dry conditions, fire and species such as elk kept trees from establishing in prairies.

Though Illinois prairie no longer supports elk, it does provide food and shelter to a host of wildlife, from the tiniest of insects to small herds of reintroduced bison.

This interconnected web of grasses, forbs, wildlife and microorganisms is literally grounded in prairie soil, a complex stew thats perhaps the most critical and yet least understood component of what makes a prairie a prairie.

Its really the foundation, and yet we know so little about it, Mikenas said. Weve done a lot of studying of soil cores and we can extract DNA, but that science only goes so far. We only have the ability to identify a few species of bacteria and fungi, and there are tens of thousands of bacteria in a gram of soil.

Trying to replicate an individual prairies soil is almost impossible, she said. Its not just about calculating the exact amount of certain minerals, or the ratios of sand, silt and clay, but unknowable details like the number of air pockets.

Its like trying to bake a cake, but you dont know the ingredients or the proportions, said Mikenas.

Purple prairie clover. (Jennifer Jewett / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

The most iconic type of prairie and yes, theres more than one kind is tallgrass, said Mikenas. Picture covered wagons rolling through wheel-high grasses, she said. Thatstallgrass prairie.

The soil is usually very deep and so are the roots of tallgrass plants, creating a world below ground as rich and diverse as above, andsequestering carbon as the roots extend down into the earth.

And then theres the color. Grassland may imply an unbroken sea of green, but prairies are rainbow-hued.From spring through fall, prairie flowers bloom in a riot ofpurples, pinks, yellows, oranges and whites, basking in the full sun that beats down on this almost treeless environment.

All that sun means tallgrass prairies are hot. Theres no shade and very little water, Mikenas said, and the irony is that prairies are often at their most beautiful when conditions are the most brutal for visitors.

Theyre inhospitable ... to us, but thats part of what makes them so remarkable,she said. These scrappy plants can live in these places that might be discouraging, bringing immense beauty to inhospitable areas.

Apart from tallgrass, theres mixed and shortgrass prairie, differing in soil moisture, glacial history, topography (spoiler alert not all prairie land is flat) and soil composition. There are sand prairies, gravel prairies and even dolomite prairies, where the soil is so shallow, bedrock is exposed in places.

That same bedrock, gravel or sand frustrated farmers attempts at cultivation and is one reason any prairie remnants can still be found in Illinois.

What is a remnant prairie?

Environmental studies scholar Liz Anna Kozik creates comics that depict and explain the history of prairies and their restoration. Here she illustrates the differences between prairie remnants and restoration. (Courtesy of Liz Anna Kozik)

One definition of a remnant is that its never been plowed, said Becky Barak, a conservation scientist at the Chicago Botanic Garden and an adjunct professor in Northwestern Universitys plant biology and conservation program.Once land has been plowed, everything in the soil that marked it as prairie is gone, she said.

There are some 2,000 acres of remnant prairie in Illinois, which is as close as we can get to the states ancient post-glacial landscape. But to think of remnants as pristine prairie is a bit of a mischaracterization.

Not even remnants have escaped the influence of human activity, including exposure to light pollution, air pollution and herbicides applied to adjacent properties, according to Mikenas.Theres also no getting around the isolated, patchwork nature of remnants compared with what was once an unbroken vista as far as they eye could see.

All remnants have undergone some level of change, Barak said, but the degree of that disturbance varies widely. There are high-quality remnants, the rarest of the rare, which are as intact as a landscape can be considering centuries of proximity to agricultural or urban development.Other sites are so degraded, theyre scarcely recognizable as prairie. Still with care and management they can be brought back from the brink.

What all remnants have in common, regardless of quality, is that the key elements of original prairie, an ecological memory, are still present: seeds, roots and soil that have evolved together over thousands of years.

How is it possible, people might wonder, to know whether a remnant has never been plowed, grazed or otherwise tampered with? Land use records only go back centuries, not millennia.

In some cases, paleoecological studies have been conducted, Barak said, showing evidence of prairie plants dating back 10,000 years.

A far more analog method is the hands-on evaluation of a site. Scientists look for certain markers, Barak said, such as the really deep plant roots characteristic of a remnant. Theyll also catalog species, with biodiversity distinguishing a bona fide prairie remnant from a wannabe. Remnants will contain hundreds of different species in even a small section versus mere dozens in areas that have been altered.

Other indicators include the presence of rare species.

Flora of the Chicago Region is a 1,300-page plant book scientists like Barak and Mikenas use to assess a site. We know there are some species only found in remnants. They need this intact environment, Mikenas said.

Those are the species most at risk of going extinct if remnants are lost, and often the most difficult to successfully establish in a prairie restoration project.

What is a prairie restoration?

Restoration work can involve reintroducing native species to a landscape being reclaimed from agricultural, industrial, residential or commercial use. (Courtesy of U.S. Forest Service)

In some cases, restoration refers to rehabilitating a remnant, one that may have become overgrown with invasive species, for example.

In those instances, restoration can be an exercise in removal by peeling back layers, said Barak, and reintroducing natives.

More typical are situations where agricultural, industrial, residential or commercial acreage is reclaimed as a natural area, such asa farmer donating or selling their property to a land trust. Another example could be the demolition of a factory, where the site is topped off with soil and prepped for native plants, slated to become a preserve.

In these scenarios, prairie restoration is akin to historical recreation the equivalent of presenting a reasonable facsimile of the cabin Abe Lincoln grew up in because the original no longer exists.

This sort of restoration isnt prairie in the same sense as a remnant, most notably because restored prairies are engineered by human hand. Theyre created by us, Mikenas said. And theres so much about these habitats we dont know. Restoration is a scientifically informed field, but were only doing the best we can with what we have.

In a way, restoration specialists are aiming to unlock the key to natures secret sauce recipe. And theres been a lot of trial and error.

People talk a lot about the ratio of grasses to forbs, Barak said, as an example. Early restoration projects would typically include big bluestem the granddaddy of prairie grasses in their planting schemes. But big bluestem doesnt behave the same way in a young restoration as it does in an established remnant, displaying a tendency to overwhelm forbs. Today, big bluestem is planted sparingly, if at all, she said.

Perhaps one of the biggest constraints facing restoration ecologists, Barak said, is the availability of seeds for prairie plants (not cultivars or evennativars). These need to be collected from remnant prairies, where some plants are so rare and few in number, its not possible to gather enough seed to sow elsewhere. Seeds of spring blooming species are also harder to collect, Barak said, and cost is another factor.

As scrappy as prairie plants are, they can also be finicky. Some have proven downright obstinate,refusing to germinate in greenhouses or at restoration sites.

Among restorations white whales are plants called hemiparasites theyre capable of photosynthesis but they obtain water and other nutrients from a host plant. Bastard toadflax is an example of a hemiparasitic prairie plant thats yet to take hold in restorations, according to Barak, but not for lack of trying.

In some cases, hemiparasites can help keep dominant plants under control, Barak said. That and any other benefits they provide benefits scientists, perhaps, have yet to uncover are among the missing puzzle pieces in any restoration.

Given all of the aforementioned constraints, prairie restoration projects tend to rely on a short list of plants that are the easiest to establish and most adaptable to non-prairie soil think of them as restorations greatest hits resulting in far less diversity than would be found at a remnant, not just in terms of flora but also the fauna.

Think of the relationship between milkweed and the monarch butterfly without the former, the latter disappears. That kind of close relationship between species exists many times over in a prairie, Mikenas said.

Milkweed seed scattering at a Chicago Park District natural area. Prairie remnants and restoration projects go hand in hand in preserving biodiversity. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

Gradually a restorations soil and processes will come to resemble a prairie, but the emphasis is on gradual, said Barak. Progress is measured not in years but over the course of multiple generations of human lifespans.

The suggestion that a prairie can be translocated uprooted from a site where its existed for thousands of years and plunked down on a plot of land elsewhere manages to both vastly overestimate what restoration can accomplish and vastly underestimate the complexity of a prairie ecosystem, according to experts.

Even if you dug down 10 feet and could scrape up and move a prairie, youre not going to have the micro-topology, said Mikenas. There are all of these tiny differences. It matters and it does have influences.

Restoration isnt a substitute for remnants but rather the two go hand in hand, according Mikenas. Creating new habitat is as vital as holding onto existing ecosystems,making restoration one of the most important tools in a conservationists toolbox, she said.

The great and critical challenge of our time is the preservation of biodiversity in support of a healthy, functioning planet, Mikenas said.

You may say, This one little habitat doesnt matter. But they all add up, Mikenas said. Thats what led us to this situation now, where we have this patchwork.

The question for humans weigh is whether we can live without prairie. And if we can, do we want to?

Contact Patty Wetli:@pattywetli| (773) 509-5623 |[emailprotected]

Link:
Prairies Are Making Headlines. But What Exactly Are They? Here's an Explainer - WTTW News

By: Zephyr Melton October 30, 2021

Winter golf means you'll draw some less-than-ideal lies.

Getty Images

With the leaves changing and daylight dwindling, another golf season is coming to a close. But for the true grinders among us, the fun is only beginning. For many, winter golf is on the horizon.

Playing winter golf can present some unique challenges. Courses play longer as you lose distance in the cold, and keeping feeling in your hands can be a real battle. Youll also deal with some less-than-ideal lies featuring wet grass and squishy terrain.

These wintery lies will tempt you to pull out your lob wedge to try and lift the ball out of the soppy mess, but often times, youll catch it heavy and lay the sod over it. Thats why you should leave the wedge in the bag and opt to use a hybrid instead.

As GOLF Top 100 Teacher Jonathan Yarwood explained in a recent video, youve got to build in an insurance policy when you encounter one of these lies. That means using a wide-soled hybrid instead of a wedge.

You cant mishit it, Yarwood says. The club is going to skid.

With the more forgiving hybrid selected, youll want to choke down on the club a bit for extra control. Stand a little closer to the ball and then use your putting stroke to hit the ball off the wet lie.

Make life really simple for yourself, Yarwood says. The thing just skips and hops Im not going to mishit it out of this horrible lie.

If you can make a simple putting stroke to hit the ball, your chances of mishitting the shot are drastically lowered.

Try this shot next time you find yourself with a wonky winter lie. Your scorecard will thank you.

Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com where he spends his days blogging, producing and editing. Prior to joining the team at GOLF.com, he attended the University of Texas followed by stops with Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists on all things instruction and covers amateur and womens golf.

See the article here:
Why you should use a hybrid to chip when playing winter golf - Golf.com

FIFA is currently in the process of finalizing venue selection for the 2026 World Cup, which will be played in the United States, Canada and Mexico. As you surely know, Seattle is among the cities still under consideration and the selection committee will be in town Oct. 31-Nov. 1 checking things out and attending the Sounders-Galaxy match.

In preparation for the visit, Sea2026.com was launched and the executive committee was unveiled. The Seattle Sounders are heavily represented with majority owner Adrian Hanauer, minority owners Ciara, Russell Wilson and Amy Hood. Joining them are outgoing Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman.

While all of that is important to the bid being successful, I suspect most of you dont really care. So lets get to the good stuff:

Seattle is one of 17 U.S. cities still in the running and there are officially two more cities in Canada (Toronto and Edmonton) and three more in Mexico (Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey). The other U.S. cities are Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., Dallas, Kansas City, Boston, Denver, Houston, Baltimore, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Nashville, Bay Area, Cincinnati, Miami and Orlando.

Believe it or not, Toronto is the only Canadian city remaining from the three that were originally proposed after Vancouver dropped out early in the process and Montreal a bit later. Edmonton was actually added later in the process and Vancouver has been making noise about getting back into it, but nothing is yet official.

That has not been officially announced and could be somewhat affected by how many non-U.S. cities are selected. Notably, this will be a 48-team tournament and even if six non-U.S. cities are selected, its expected that the same number of games would be played here as would have been played in a 32-team tournament.

In recent years, FIFA seems to prefer having 12 host venues, but they had 10 in South Africa, while the 2002 tournament that was played in South Korea and Japan featured a whopping 20 venues. A safe guess is that at least eight U.S. cities will be selected, but there are surely scenarios where as many as 14 could be used.

The goal is to wrap up the venue tours by the end of the year theres still at least one more batch to be done after this group of tours is finished and for the final decision to be made in the first half of next year.

The most common criticism of Seattles bid has been that we dont have a permanent grass field here. I wrote rather extensively about this awhile back, but the TL;DR is that I dont think thats a particularly big problem. Half the cities under consideration dont have permanent grass fields and if Seattle is selected, theyll figure out how to make grass work one way or another.

All 17 U.S. venues under consideration house NFL teams with the possible exception of the Rose Bowl, which was presumably just a placeholder for the Los Angeles bid while SoFi Stadium was completed. The most dramatic concession any of those facilities have offered is Bostons Gillette Stadium, where theyve promised to re-install the permanent grass pitch that was there before they put in FieldTurf in 2006. In Dallas, Kansas City and Washington, D.C. theyve promised to take out some seats in order to accommodate a bigger pitch.

Its not yet known exactly what Seattle is planning to do in order to make Lumen Field even more attractive, but it does have the benefit of having hosted not only the Sounders but numerous international matches. It was also built with soccer in mind, unlike many of these other facilities, so they shouldnt need to remove seats or anything like that.

It will be interesting to see how they plan to install grass, however. Hanauer has previously tamped down expectations about installing a permanent grass surface, but simply rolling out sod the way they did for Copa America Centenario or the 2013 World Cup qualifier probably wont cut it.

It has been suggested that the Sounders should try to do something like they have in Las Vegas, Phoenix or Tottenham, where a full grass surface rolls out on top of the artificial one, but that would likely require a nine-figure infrastructure investment and seems unlikely. It might be possible to install something semi-permanent on top of the current pitch since theres at least a couple months between the end of the NFL season and the start of MLS, but that would almost certainly need to be removed when the NFL starts again shortly after the World Cup.

Its not hard to imagine permanent seating being added to the 300 level, signage being installed that allows the stadium to feel less like the Seahawks home when they arent playing and maybe even a permanent soccer locker room. The last two have been on the Sounders wishlist for quite some time and maybe this is the excuse First & Goal needs to make it happen.

My understanding is the Virginia Mason Athletic Center (VMAC) will be one of the primary training facilities. I suspect the University of Washington and Seattle University will also be leveraged. But the crown jewel could end up being a new Sounders training facility. The Sounders have been talking about a need to upgrade Starfire since at least 2015, when GM Garth Lagerwey supposedly nixed expansion plans that would have better accommodated S2 and the academy. The Sounders have gone back and forth about the pros and cons of upgrading Starfire versus finding a new facility ever since, but it seems like theyre finally close to making an announcement. I would expect to hear more about that by the end of the year.

I suppose its possible that theyll stay at Starfire, but the reality is that theres not a ton of space there thats going unused. The two sites that Ive heard speculated about are both in south King County, one at the Kent Midway Landfill site that nearly became the Sounders home in 2003 and the other being the old Weyerhaeuser Corporate Campus in Federal Way. But those are really just guesses. What Im fairly certain of is that the Sounders will want it to be visible, ideally have good access to mass transit, and provide some commercial opportunities.

I dont know if anything is planned expressly around the World Cup potentially coming here, but there are a lot of things already in the works that will make the bid even stronger by 2026. Most notable is the ongoing Link light rail expansion, which will stretch north to Lynwood, south to Federal Way and east to Redmond by then. Between now and 2026, there are supposed to be at least 19 new stations opened and it will be one of the biggest municipal rail systems in the country.

Light rail will be within reasonably easy walking distance of the stadium, airport and most of King Countys 45,000 hotel rooms, nearly 15,000 of which are in the downtown core.

Theres also a pretty significant waterfront reconstruction and expansion that is currently underway and will likely be done by 2026. The highlight of that project will be the Overlook Walk.

Im not going to pretend that doing business with an organization like FIFA is devoid of drawbacks. There will certainly be some accommodations made that rub locals the wrong way. I suspect tickets are going to be super expensive, and well all probably have to tolerate a level of disruption that is annoying.

But theres also reason to think that this tournament could speed up some of these long-planned projects and, at the very least, well get a Fan Fest. Ive only been to one in Germany, but it was a pretty awesome way to enjoy the games without having to spend a bunch of money.

Most journalists who have been handicapping the process seem to think that Seattle is among the favorites. Its hard to beat our soccer culture, weve got ample space to put everyone and getting around the region will be relatively easy, at least compared to many U.S. metro areas.

Maybe the biggest drawback is that Seattle is relatively isolated. Assuming Vancouver is out, the next closest venue might be Edmonton, which is more than 500 miles away. FIFA is also a pretty massive wildcard, and they might just not like whatever it is were selling.

But if its all decided on merit, its hard to see Seattle getting passed over.

Excerpt from:
Everything you need to know about Seattles World Cup bid - Sounder At Heart