| Secrets covers gardening gamut
Every page is filled with brief, pointed tips and facts in the Reader's Digest 1,519 All-Natural All-Amazing Gardening Secrets, from the editors of Reader's Digest with Canadian consultant Trevor Cole (384 pages, hardcover, $34.95). A detailed table of contents quickly directs the reader to the information needed, whether it's advice on planting a window box, choosing a flowering tree, repairing a lawn, using lime, sowing seeds, gardening with children or any other topic. Part One: Creating Your Garden deals with the basics of landscaping and specialty gardens. Part Two: Caring for Your Plants takes gardeners through an overview of every type of plant and offers tips on growing them -- annuals, perennials, bulbs, container plants, shrubs, vines, trees, ground covers, ornamental grasses, vegetables, herbs, fruits and nuts.
City Council unanimously passes all motions Tuesday
Garbage fees will go up by 1.8 percent, said City Manager Jim Witt, which means the cost of trash pickup and recycling is now $14.14.A contract awarding Municipal Emergency Services greater than $240,000 was approved. Of the total, approximately $146,000 is from the Assistance to Firefighter Grant. The money goes toward the purchase of self-contained breathing apparatus equipment. Coppell Fire Chief said the money would replace equipment for every position of the fleet.The council also approved the Duke Lesley Addition which will allow for a 182,700 square-foot office building to be built off the corner of Dividend Drive and S. Beltline Road.During discussion about the landscaping requirements of the construction site, Council member Tim Brancheau said he was most concerned about the landscaping of the entryway off of Beltline Road as that would be the part most citizens would see.
Raleigh Hills man takes the sting out of beekeeping
(Jennifer Priest Mitchell is a writer who lives in Beaverton. She can be reached at jnjmitchell@yahoo.com.) Romans used honey, rather than gold, to pay their taxes. Steve Potter of Beaverton may wish our current government allowed for such payment, since his backyard beekeeping hobby yielded 5 gallons of honey this past autumn. One of many small-time beekeepers in the U. S. today, Potter is a busy father of two, a husband and a graphic designer, but about five years ago he took up beekeeping and has found great joy in the experience. "A friend of mine from church had me over. He kept bees and showed me his hives and told me about his hobby. Michael Stanley is his name and he is the one who really helped me get started. I wasn't looking to become a beekeeper and still don't really even think of myself as a beekeeper, though I guess I am.
City seeks donations for landscaping project
The city has kicked off a fundraising campaign to landscape a median that stretches from Almonte Boulevard in the south to Camino Alto in the north. The campaign is the second of two phases in a construction project aimed at improving the appearance of one of the main entrances into the city. The first phase, which will cost about $170,000, includes a new irrigation system. This phase will get under way about mid-June. The second phase will include adding soil and plants. Narrow parts of the median, according to city officials, will be covered with cobblestone while wider areas will be planted with drought-resistant plants and trees. The cost of this is estimated at about $40,000, which the city hopes to raise by Aug. 1 to begin planting. Checks can be made payable to the "City of Mill Valley - Miller Avenue Median Project" and sent to City Hall, Attn: Linn Walsh, at 26 Corte Madera Ave., Mill Valley, CA 94941.
Watercolor Painting Video: How to Paint Trees in a Landscape
Learn how to paint trees in a landscape using ultramarine blue, burnt umber, and yellow ocher. The watercolor is painted using a no. 10 round brush and a rigger brush, which is ideal for creating thin branches and twigs. The trees are painted as if they're in the distance, rather than close up. (Note: You'll need to turn the sound up quite a bit to hear the narration, but I think it's well worth it. Just remember to turn it down again when you're finished watching.) .
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