As I look out the window and see the thermometer at minus 25, I start wishing for spring, still a long way off.

Seed catalogs and tree order forms can take your mind to a warmer time. As you browse and make your lists think about adding some edibles to your landscape. Edible landscapes have become more popular recently, but this is far from a new idea. Many of the ancient gardens of Babylonia, Egypt or medieval cloistered gardens used edible plants for their gardens.

Edible landscaping doesnt mean turning your whole yard into a vegetable garden. By using the same principles of landscaping such as balance, unity, pattern and inter connection you can include an assortment of edible plants into your landscape. You can have an attractive and productive landscape.

There is a large selection of plants or seeds to use in your edible landscape, including both annual and perennial plants. Many of the trees and shrubs in the catalog are natives which typically have the advantage of less watering and maintenance.

The following plants and seeds are usually readily available. Check those seed catalogs or the Internet for more. Now is a good time to order seeds so you have them in time to give them a head start under lights.

Rainbow chards, colorful kales can easily be incorporated into a flower bed and provide greens for tasty and nutritious salads. Herbs like chives, rosemary, thyme, parsley are all easy to grow and very good in the kitchen. Creeping thyme, chamomile and strawberry can be used as ground covers. Sweet or hot peppers are also available in many colorful varieties but be careful with children, touching hot peppers and then your eyes can be quite painful.

Shrubs with edible fruit such as raspberry, high-bush cranberry, serviceberry or hazelnut could be used as a hedge or a divider. If you dont pick the fruit the wildlife will love to pick it for you. Apple trees, flowering crab, wild plum and sand cherry can be used in the landscape. If you plant an apple tree, remember they are not self-pollinating so you will need two varieties. A neighbors tree will work well.

Many of these trees and shrubs are available quite reasonably at your Soil and Water Conservation District sales. They are usually sold in bundles of 25. If 25 trees are more than you need, talk to your friends and neighbors and share a few selections. Anoka, Isanti and Ramsey counties all have annual spring tree sales. For now, lets stay warm, dream and plan. Then we will be ready when spring comes.

The Anoka County master gardeners invite you to visit our web page http://anokamastergardeners.org/ Go to hot topics for information on the Home Landscaping and Garden Fair, plant sale and the plant diagnostic clinics.

Bob Vaughn is an Anoka County Master Gardener.

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Garden Views: Consider adding edibles to your gardens landscape

Austin, TX (PRWEB) February 11, 2014

An increasing number of homes, businesses, golf courses and municipalities are realizing the benefits of synthetic grass as a low-maintenance, environmentally-friendly and attractive landscape solution. Buyers can maximize their investment and avoid poor service and products by doing proper research and following smart purchasing guidelines.

John Baize, director of synthetic turf manufacturer Act Global, said that while there are hundreds of reputable companies, there have also been instances of false manufacturing claims and dishonest business practices.

By informing buyers of important issues to consider, we can help them avoid the frustration of poor quality product and service, said Baize.

Baize, who also serves as Chairman of the Board of the Synthetic Turf Council (STC), said the organization is focused on serving as a resource for trustworthy information about synthetic turf and promoting ethical industry standards. The STC has published Considerations When Buying Synthetic Grass for Landscape Use, which provides guidelines on artificial turf selection, suppliers, manufacturers and installation practices. The document is available on the STC website for download.

Act Global offers Ten Tips for Purchasing Synthetic Landscape Turf:

1. Know your suppliers.

Research the seller to understand their reputation and stability. Check their website, local Registrar of Contractors (ROC), business registrations and research any complaint records online. Most companies should be licensed, bonded and insured. Inquire about the companys quality checks and procedures. ISO 9001 Quality Certification is a good indicator of manufacturing practices, as a world-recognized standard for quality management.

2. Check references.

Know the companys business history and ask for installation references, both recent jobs and ones that are several years old.

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Act Global Issues Tips to Consider When Purchasing Synthetic Lawn Turf

Published February 09, 2014

Associated Press

Feb 8, 2014. The Alexander Wang Fall 2014 collection is modeled during Fashion Week in New York.Associated Press

There are hip fashion shows. And then there are fashion shows that seek nothing less than to redefine just how hip a fashion show can be.

How else to describe a designer who can get crowds of the most discerning fashion to leave Manhattan on a frigid Saturday night in February and head to Brooklyn to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, yet for a 15-minute fashion show?

That would be Alexander Wang, 30, who presented the fall 2014 collection of his signature line (he is also creative director of Balenciaga in Paris) at a 100,000-square-foot greenhouse at the navy yard, a huge space that provided a dramatic backdrop to his inventive fashions. The production involved a rotating stage that moved the models around, and a futuristic-looking set that resembled some post-apocalyptic world.

The design label, perhaps knowing that many guests would feel reluctant to leave Manhattan, particularly after running from show to show all day long, provided free ferry boat service to Brooklyn and back, and also chartered buses.

In a post-show interview, Wang explained that he felt a duty to raise the bar and keep experimenting.

"Fashion is always evolving and changing, so why not have a location change?" he asked. "With every kind of change there is opposition, but I think that's the exciting thing ... to keep the conversation new."

And, he said, fashion and theater go hand in hand. "For me it's part of the process," he said. "You want to create an experience. Clothes are clothes, at the end of the day. You're not reinventing the wheel there. So you want to be proposing an idea that entertains people and gets them to come out to Brooklyn in the cold. There are so many fashion shows on the calendar, it's important to create that individual moment between you and the audience."

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NY fashion show held in Brooklyn Navy Yard

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Metro Detroit home and garden calendar

Breeders of modern roses are developing varieties that are beautiful, carefree, disease-resistant, fragrant, and many make great plants for incorporating into the landscape, according to Keith Hansen, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service horticulture agent for Smith County. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service photo by Keith Hansen)

Writer: Robert Burns, 903-834-6191, rd-burns@tamu.edu

TYLER The first of seven seminars on the finer points of gardening in East Texas will be held Feb. 22 at Chamblees Rose Nursery, according to Keith Hansen, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service horticulture agent for Smith County.

We have an exciting lineup for this year, and were beginning with roses, Americas favorite flower, Hansen said. Mark Chamblee, owner, manager and professional grower, will discuss new, exciting rose breeds and give demonstrations on how to prune different kinds of roses.

After the pruning demonstration, Chamblee will give a tour of the nursery and be available for any questions, Hansen said. Chamblee is a Texas Master Certified Nursery Professional through the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association and currently serves as a Texas Nursery Landscape Association chairman.

The nursery is located north of Tyler at 10926 U.S. Highway 69. A map can be found at http://www.chambleeroses.com/contact.php .

Registration is $15 per individual lecture or $45 for a season pass to all seven lectures, Hansen said. The next three lectures will be held in March, April and May. After a summer hiatus, the series will begin again with lectures in September, October and November. All lectures will have registration at the door beginning at 8:30 a.m., with the program starting at 9 a.m. Ending will vary depending upon how many questions are asked, but should usually end by noon. For more information, contact Hansen at 903-590-2980 or go to http:// http://www.facebook.com/ETGardenConference .

After the lecture at Chamblees Nursery, the rest of the lectures will be held at the Tyler Rose Garden Center, 420 Rose Park Drive, Tyler. The full lineup of the remaining 2014 East Texas Garden Lecture Series is:

March 22 Location, Location, Location: Right Plant/Right Place and Ask The Designer. Tyler Rose Garden Center. Hansen will discuss selecting the right plants for landscaping projects for long-term success. Laurie Breedlove of Breedlove Landscape Nursery and James Willhite of Willhite Landscape will answer landscape design questions.

April 12 A Warm Welcome Landscape Tips for Curb Appeal. Dee Bishop, Smith County Master Gardener and longtime landscape professional, will share ideas on how to easily set out a colorful and inviting welcome mat to your home with plants. Demonstration planters will be offered as door prizes. May 17 Saving Water With Drip Drip Irrigation Basics and Applications. Dr. Dotty Woodson, AgriLife Extension water specialist, Dallas, and Brad McCullough, state licensed irrigator with Ewing Irrigation, Tyler, will demonstrate how to design and install a drip irrigation system. They will also show how easily an existing spray irrigation section can be converted to a drip system.

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First East Texas Garden Lecture Series set Feb. 22

For most gardeners this is the time of year when cabin fever is at its worst. There is little to be done in the yard. Planting is not an option. Weeding is impossible. And looking out the window watching the grass grow is nothing more than a joke.

The weather though, should not be a deterrent to at least planning for the new season. Its not too early to start thinking about changes in landscape design. Visualizing additions to existing flower beds or constructing new ones is just the beginning of the planning process. Building water features like a waterfall, fountains and ponds into a landscape design, creating walkways, adding a deck or adding onto an existing deck or sprucing up a patio are all possibilities. Experimenting with different types of annuals and perennials to enhance flower beds or even looking into the possibility of adding additional shrubs and trees to the landscape are added pluses for planning.

One of the major issues is how to get started and where to find the necessary information for any type of transformation. On-line research, catalogues and booking open doors to new ideas. Another avenue for research is attending one of numerous home and flower shows. Most shows contract with landscape designers to create gardens within the building and with suppliers to display everything from mulches to plant material to landscape building materials. Many also offer classes on a variety of gardening topics to help ease into the learning and planning process.

In Ohio the show season kicks off with The Great Big Home and Garden Show. It is open from Feb. 8 -16 and, as always will be in the Cleveland IX Center. Ahmed Hassan, a celebrity landscaper and TV host of DIY Networks Yard Crashers, and Joel Karsten, who offers a unique perspective on straw bale gardening for the vegetable garden are both scheduled to make guest appearances at the show. Pettiti Garden Centers will be offering seminars daily and there are 68 garden, landscape and outdoors exhibitors will be in attendance.

Throughout the state, in cities large and small home and garden shows are standard issue. The larger metropolitan areas of Columbus, Toledo, Cincinnati and Dayton host major events that offer a variety of exhibitors, garden displays and seminars. The number of exhibitors is greater in the larger city shows than those in smaller communities. The show season runs from February through April.

Visiting these shows is a great way to get new ideas for the 2014 season, to learn new garden techniques, to learn new uses for old materials and to see what new products will be on the market this year. It is a way to get out of the house, take a one day or even an overnight road trip. It is easy to locate the shows and the shows dates online just pick a show destination, plug it into the search engine.

For those less adventurous, the annual Great Lakes Home and Flower Show at Kalahari Resort is scheduled for March 14, 15 and 16 this year.

For gardening or Master Gardener information, check us out at erie.osu.edu or call 419-627-7631.

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Get a taste of spring at Ohio garden shows

Bradley C. Bower/Philadelphia Inquirer/MCT

Landscape architect David Hughes is also a skilled woodworker who salvages garden debris to make rustic furniture.

Flagstone terrace is featured that David Hughes, of Doylestown, Pa., carved out of the face of a cliff for clients in Upper Black Eddy. (Courtesy David Hughes via Philadelphia Inquirer/MCT)

David Hughes created this 4-foot-tall garden gate using native Eastern red cedar and Moravian tiles. (Courtesy David Hughes via Philadelphia Inquirer/MCT)

PHILADELPHIA David Hughes, a Doylestown, Pa., landscape architect with an affinity for native flora and natural landscapes, often finds himself ripping out dead, overgrown or otherwise-undesirable plants to make way for new.

But he doesnt haul that nasty Japanese honeysuckle, Chinese white mulberry, or Norway maple to the dump, curb or chipper. Hughes is that rare soul who prizes what other designers and gardeners despise, more so if its scarred by deer browsing, insect damage, or disease.

Thats because, in addition to designing ecologically responsible landscapes in the Philadelphia region, Hughes, 46, is a skilled woodworker who makes rustic furniture from garden debris, a kind of plant-world Dumpster diver.

To me, its a nice marriage, landscaping and woodworking, says Hughes, whose five-year-old business, his second, is called Weatherwood Design. It comprises about 70 percent landscaping and 30 percent woodworking.

Storm-felled trees and gnarly vines make good raw materials. So do pruned branches, old barn boards, and stuff plucked, with permission, from the side of the road.

An arborist friend scouts out intriguing branches and discarded trunks. Hughes helps the Natural Lands Trust and local preserves thin out invasives or dead trees. And every July 4, again with permission, he rescues unwanted driftwood from death by bonfire at a public beach on Marylands Eastern Shore.

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Recycling nature: Rustic furniture from garden 'debris'

9310 HILLTOP COURT, LAUREL, MD Presented by John Harrison.
Click link to see more photos, school, area information and more: http://www.searchallproperties.com/listings/1699825/9310-HILLTOP-COURT-LAUREL-MD/auto?reqpa...

By: Pam Harrison

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9310 HILLTOP COURT, LAUREL, MD Presented by John Harrison. - Video

Local landscaping professionals will learn "best practices" for wise water use in ridge landscaping when the Paradise Irrigation District (PID) holds a Landscape Irrigation Workshop from noon to 4 pm on Feb. 27.

Participants will explore new irrigation technology, discover plants that thrive locally with less water, and will learn about PID meter system tools to help their customers save landscaping water and cost.

The free workshop will include lunch, handouts, presentations by local experts in water-wise landscaping, and a roundtable discussion. Participants will learn how they can partner with PID to conserve water in our community and be recognized for that partnership.

In some homes, more than half of the water usage is for outdoor landscaping. A water-wise landscape is one that allows for a beautiful, healthy landscape with waterwise plants, minimal supplemental irrigation, and little to no adverse runoff. Yard professionals, including handymen, landscapers and gardeners who help customers care for their yards are eligible to attend this free workshop. Preregistration is required. Call PID at 877-4971 to register.

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Water-wise landscape workshop set for yard-care professionals

Heres a timely topic even with rain in the forecast for the North State this week. The Paradise Irrigation District is hosting a Water-wise Landscape Workshop for yard care professionals.

PID Officials say it will feature best practices for wise water use in landscaping on the ridge. The Landscape Irrigation workshop is scheduled from noon to 4 pm on Feb. 27. Participants will explore new irrigation technology, discover plants that thrive locally with less water, and will learn about PID meter system tools to help their customers save landscaping water and cost.

The free workshop will include lunch, handouts, and presentations by local experts in water-wise landscaping, as well as roundtable discussion. And it will cover conservation partnerships.

PID says that in some homes, more than half of the water usage is for outdoor landscaping. Yard professionals, including handymen, landscapers and gardeners who help customers care for their yards are eligible to take part. Pre- registration is required at 877-4971.

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Water-wise Landscape Workshop offered for yard care professionals