| Accessorize outside: Liven up your landscape without plants
The prime gardening season is almost here. Some gardeners already may have purchased seeds and potted plants in preparation for their landscape masterpieces.
But what about the anti-gardener? People who can't even get weeds to grow can make a yard look great without getting down in the dirt. All it takes is a little creativity and sense of style. The first step to giving a yard a chlorophyll-free makeover is to figure out the reason for doing so.
"In general, more baby boomers are retiring and spending more time at home," says Nate Burke, co-owner of outdoordecor.com, an online distributor of exterior accents with headquarters in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Jacksonville, Fla. "People aren't moving as much as before. So you have to think, why are you doing this? For show or to build relationships?" Types of exterior accents for a home should depend on whether or not the yard will be for looks or for play, Burke says.
Lisbon Architecture Triennale
The Lisbon Architecture Triennale, happening between May 31st and July 31st, aims to become a Festival of architecture, participated by the local community and able to attract an international audience. In this initiative by the Architects Guild South Region Section, where some of the most relevant authors and thinkers of todays world will interact, Portuguese Architecture will be pretext for an important global forum dedicated to the reflection, debate, prospecting and display of Architecture, from the building to the city and territory planning.
Architecture is one of the most vibrant fields of Culture in Portugal, with a wide international renown and considered as strategic sector for the affirmation of Portugal in the international context.
The 1st edition of the Triennale will have as theme Urban Voids, focusing on rarefaction or urban rupture phenomena, generated by processes of decay and physical and social degradation in city areas.
School Garden Project continues to grow in Virginia
RICHMOND—Educators say the best way for students to learn is by doing. That is exactly what happens in the classrooms of teachers participating in the eighth annual School Garden Project. "This program is wonderful for children who may not have a chance to garden at home," said Karen Davis, executive director of the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom, which coordinates the project. "It teaches children the importance of nature and shows them how plants develop. This hands-on experience helps kids connect with the state’s science standards while having fun." Earlier this spring, packets of vegetable seeds and other materials were shared with about 1,300 teachers around the state. The School Garden Project is a partnership between the AITC foundation and Southern States Cooperative Inc., which provides teachers with free vegetable seeds and seed catalogs.
Garden Expo has healthy growth in Hall
Since moving to Hall County as County Extension Agent five years ago, I have witnessed something truly exciting--the growth of the green industry. The number of new and expanding nurseries, greenhouses, landscape service companies, lawn care businesses and equipment dealers has been remarkable. Another sign of healthy growth of the green industry is the growth of the Annual Gainesville Garden Expo, sponsored by the Hall County Master Gardeners and Hall County Cooperative Extension. Since our first Garden Expo in the spring of 2003, we've grown every year--both in the number of customers and the number of vendors wanting to participate. Described as the "Greatest Two-Day Plant Sale in Georgia," the fifth Annual Spring Garden Expo is set for Friday and Saturday at the Chicopee Woods AG Center located on Calvary Church Road.
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