Friday, May 9, 2008
SPRING HOME & GARDEN
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The Baton Rouge Botanic Garden Foundation Board, Friends of the Botanic Garden and BREC will hold its annual Spring Plant Sale from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 12 in the Botanic Garden at 7950 Independence Boulevard.
Spring is fast approaching, and with the growing season for vegetables and bedding plants drawing near, it’s time to begin the steps to ensure your 2008 garden is a plentiful one. Davanna Hart has raised cacti and succulents since childhood but got serious about it in the 1970s when she began to keep records of what she grew. She is a charter member of the Baton Rouge Cactus and Succulent Society and has been a Louisiana Master Gardener since 1995. Q: What is a succulent bowl? A: It’s a mixed planting of succulents, plants that can conserve water in their stems, leaves and/or roots, in times of drought. Choosing the right lighting for your home is just as important as finding the right furniture. Gone are the days of just a simple floor lamp or ceiling fixture. Lighting has become a key part in interior design. It can evoke mood, drama and visual interest. Most people don’t know where to begin when it comes to finding the perfect flooring for their homes. Options today come in a variety styles and colors. Consumers can be as creative or traditional as they please. According to Ken Edenfield of Floorscapes, there are some basic tips for consumers who are planning to purchase new flooring. “I think you need to have contact with a full-service company – one that can take you from measuring to helping you select the item you’re looking for and the installation process,” Edenfield said. After five successful years on the LSU campus, this year’s annual Baton Rouge Spring Garden Show is set to burst on the scene in full color March 29-30. Mulching is one of the most important tasks for a successful landscape. Ornamental plants benefit greatly from it. Mulching should be part of garden maintenance at least twice a year, according to LSU AgCenter horticulturist Dr. Allen Owings. LSU’s Hilltop Arboretum is hosting a garden trip to Fairhope, Ala., for a visit to nurseries, an art walk and more on April 4-5. Travelers will depart from Hilltop Arboretum at 7:30 a.m. April 4 and return between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. the next evening. A new adult-certification program in urban forestry is being offered at Hilltop Arboretum, 11855 Highland Road. The series will focus on the aesthetic, ecological and environmental benefits of trees and instruction on tree selection, planting and care in a changing climate by professional foresters and arborists. Fido and Socks are cute, most of the time. It’s when these beloved pets – or someone else’s, or something worse – kick up dirt or use your flower bed as a litter box that they become a problem. Most mornings you’ll find Bobby Dupont wandering “K” House at Dupont Nursery, his family’s plant nursery just outside Plaquemine. There, the former flower shop and garden-center owner keeps up with the 50 to 60 different types of Hibiscus plants and hanging baskets growing inside. Petunias are one of the best plants for landscape performance in the spring. Petunias can be planted in south Louisiana in the fall (ideally September through November) and the late winter/early spring (ideally late January through early March). They can be a cool season and warm season bedding plant. Building your own temporary greenhouse can be a simple process using a limited number of materials and tools. The following plans, provided by WBRZ’s lawn and garden expert Louis Miller, can be built in a day, and the materials can be found at local hardware stores. The Deep South Koi & Pond Society is hosting its first Ponds Galore event on April 26 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. This one-day excursion will present some of the most fascinating ponds in the Baton Rouge area. It is geared toward those who dream of putting a pond in the backyard and enjoy their tranquility and variety. It may have seemed like a good idea to plant all those bushes and flowers to fill up your flower bed. It may have seemed convenient to move into a house that was already perfectly landscaped. Even though lawn care isn’t a competition (wink, wink), having the prettiest yard around is certainly something to be proud of. In order to achieve that, knowing which grasses grow well in Louisiana is crucial. What’s a little dirt? It’s brown, messy and makes tracks on the floor – but it also serves a purpose: to grow that coveted, luscious lawn so many are after. The Baton Rouge Rose Society is a nonprofit organization, affiliated with the American Rose Society and sponsor of the Botanical Rose Garden at Independence Park. The organization partners with the Botanic Garden, BREC, LSU, the ARS and Burden to educate the public about rose growing. One popular ornamental plant competition is the All-America Rose Selections. AARS Winners for 2008 are Mardi Gras and Dream Come True. LSU AgCenter horticulture professor Dr. Allen Owings calls Dream Come True a stunning sight of catchy colors. This rose produces flawlessly formed yellow blossoms, blushed with ruby-red at the tips, all set among abundant matte-green foliage. The LSU AgCenter continues reaching out to the public this spring, with several events planned for the next few months. The Red Stick Hibiscus Association is a nonprofit hibiscus club and one of three Louisiana chapters of the American Hibiscus Society. It is in its fifth year and one of the most successful at the national level in terms of member numbers and fundraisers. The scenario usually goes like this: You see a plant, bush or tree that may be beginning to grow a little out of control. So you go into your tool shed and grab your handy pruning shears before returning to said tree. And you basically go to town on it. You trim and cut and prune until there isn’t really much of that plant left. The Baton Rouge Camellia Society was established in 1970 by a group of residents who enjoyed growing camellias and wanted to share their experiences with others. It has grown from the original 20 members to more than 160. Since the spring of 2005, hundreds of guests have visited the gardens of Chef John Folse’s White Oak Plantation, 17660 George O’Neal Road, for a series of culinary garden seminars focusing on growing and cooking with herbs. Have you ever watched a home-improvement show and wished your closet could be more organized? If so, you’re not alone. The mere thought of cleaning and organizing a closet is enough to make you cringe. But there are options, some of them quite sophisticated. Roof care is one of those things homeowners rarely like to think about. But knowing the ins and outs of repair, maintenance and replacement can save a lot of heartache. Homes are somewhat like people. They need proper care and maintenance to make sure they are running properly. If you’ve noticed an unsightly, discolored area of your yard that’s slowly eating away at the green and wondered what to do about it, look no further. In south Louisiana, there are two major grass problems, but Clegg’s Nursery Owner Scott Ricca says the solutions are simple. Some plants are the kind of things that grow not only in baskets but also in their gardeners’ hearts. Hanging baskets are highly visible, they require a little extra TLC and the options are as wide as a grower’s imagination. The most obvious and unique feature of hanging baskets is that they allow cascading plants to fall gracefully, creating visual interest. Enjoy herbs? Try joining the Herb Society of America, Baton Rouge Unit. Its mission is to promote the knowledge, use and delight of herbs through educational programs, research and community outreach. Summer flowering shrubs and evergreen shrubs need to be pruned in March; however, spring flowering shrubs such as azaleas, spiraea, forsythia and flowering quince should be pruned after flowering – this usually means late March through mid-April. |
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