Nonitage

A fireplace is a beautiful addition to any room. It adds warmth, style, and focus. You can build the entire room’s decor around a beautiful fireplace. If you are not lucky enough to already own a fireplace, that’s okay. You can buy a gas fireplace and install it in your home.

What if you only have a small space for a fireplace? Or, what if your room is oddly shaped? That’s okay, too, as today’s fireplaces are available in varying sizes to accommodate different room sizes and different budgets. Corner gas fireplaces are also available if space is limited. These fireplaces are exactly like their traditional counterparts, except their shape easily lends itself to placement in the corner of the room.

Corner gas fireplaces are available in direct vent, vent free, or natural vent. They are available in a variety of styles, such as traditional, modern, and country. They are available with wooden mantles in cherry, oak, pine, mahogany, white, and antique white.

The following is just a sampling of the many stores offering corner gas fireplaces. Stacks and Stacks offers nice deals, such as two ventless corner gas fireplaces for $450 each. Shop.com offers several portable ventless corner gas fireplaces, ranging in price from $450 to $650. JC Penney offers the Charleston Corner Fireplace, a compact portable unit that is meant to be decorative. Home Click offers the Malm Carousel Freestanding Gas Fireplace. This unusual unit is round and see-through and can be used in any part of a room, including the corner. Made of porcelain, it is available in 16 different colors. This unit requires a chimney, and costs $3,465.
Gas Fireplaces Info provides detailed information about ventless, outdoor, corner, and natural gas fireplaces, and gas fireplace stoves, as well as gas fireplace inserts, logs, and more. Gas Fireplaces Info is the sister site of Fireplace Mantels Web.

It’s August, the weather has cooled a bit here and the summer monsoons where I live in New Mexico have begun. The kids are starting back to school and I feel the onset of fall. I’m getting that garden planning itch again! It happens 2-3 times a year… This time, it’s time to start ordering bulbs and perennials for fall planting. I’m always planning how my garden will look better next season and I suppose most of you do the same. Fall is the perfect time to plant for established growth next spring!

Take a good look at your garden now and think about areas you need to fill in. Do you need late season color, early spring blooms? Are there bare spots or places where plants like poppies or tulips go dormant and you need a filler to keep your garden alive with color? I find the best time for next years planning is in the fall when bloom time and plant combinations are fresh in my mind.

You may be disappointed with a plant combination you chose last season. Fall is the perfect time to rearrange. Get rid of overgrown plants and revive areas with new color or foliage combinations. Think about areas in your bulb or perennial garden you want to develop. What size, shape and bloom color do you need? Plant them this fall and watch your pans come to fruition come spring.

Shrubs and trees do take years to mature and fill their place. You can get a jump start by planting them this fall. When spring arrives they’ll be much more hardy and will require less babying.

Fall is the perfect time to mail order bulbs, perrenials, shrubs, hedges and trees. We’re winding down the season and if you’re anything like me you’re just not ready to quit quite yet. Sure there’s clean up to be done, but I find more planting helps to finish those mundane cxhores. As I clean out I plant new!

Ordering online or by mail

Ordering plants online can be a bit scary. How are the plants shipped? Will they be good quality? Will they arrive at the right time and will I be prepared to plant them then?

Fear not! I’ve ordered in fall for years and have had tremendous results!

Plant Quality and Guarantees

Nurseries do differ in what and how they ship so make sure you do some research, but almost all reputable mail order nurseries do guarantee their plants to grow or your money back. I’ve never had trouble collecting on that promise and I have used it a time or two for certain plants. I also admit, a bit grudgingly as a then new gardener, that I should never have ordered those specific plants for my climate. Nevertheless the nursery did stand behind it’s guarantee.

How Plants Are Shipped

Some plants will be shipped bare root, others as potted plants. This depends on the plant variety and I’ve actually found preference to bare root plants. They do look dead when they arrive (they are actually dormant), but I assure you that unless they have visible signs of disease like rot they’ll thrive come spring.

*Note - If you do get any plants that look like the crown has rotted either ship them back immediately or just phone the nursery and they’ll ship out new ones.

When to Plant

While you never know exactly when your plants will arrive, they are shipped to you at the proper planting time for your gardening zone. If plants arrive and it’s not convenient to plant immediately just make sure you follow the directions included in your shipment for keeping your plants viable until you can plant them. If you’ve planned ahead you will know where they go and it’ll take you little time to get them in the ground. A Saturday afternoon will usually give you ample time to get this done.

Keep in mind these companies have been in business for years and years and have shipped bare root and potted plants for eons. They do know what they’re doing and most of them do it very well. They’d be out of business if they couldn’t fulfill your planting requirements.

Gardening Budgets and Selection

You can’t beat the cost and selection of ordering by mail! Most mail order companies offer plant varieties you’ll never find anywhere else. The selections seem endless and I’ve been amazed what I can grow in New Mexico. Take advantage of fall specials and free shipping and you get a double bang for you buck. For about half of what I spend on a trip to the garden center on a single spring garden binge, I can have more variety and many more plants shipped to me at home.

Get on the Mailing Lists

Make sure you’re on the mailing list for the following nurseries at least! You’ll get a catologue several times a year. Take it into the garden with you,look around and plan accordingly. Then hop online and place an order or order by mail, but use the online resources for their help with plant combinations and companion planting. They offer great suggestions you may not have thought of before. Remember - pictures will help any gardener no matter how experienced.

To order catalogues and find this seasons BEST garden specials visit my garden resource center - My website is at
http://www.bulbandseed.com

Few exact records of English monastic gardens have been preserved. A twelfth-century plan of Canterbury, showing the cloisters containing a herbarium, garden fountain, and a conduit; with a garden pond, orchard, and vineyard outside the walls, gives only a rough idea of the planting and arrangement. But there is no other document even this complete belonging to this early period.

Since, however, the various parts of all monasteries of the same order were as uniform as circumstances permitted, the general scheme of the English monastic gardens can be gathered from the plans and descriptions of those on the continent. The plan of the ancient monastery of St. Gall, in Switzerland, still exists, and supplies much information about the arrangement of a large religious establishment belonging to the Benedictines in the ninth century.

The monastery was placed in a valley, and the cultivated grounds within the walls consisted of four divisions: the cloister-garth, the fountains, statuary, and adornments, the vegetable garden, and a combination of orchard and burial ground. The cloister-garth was a square, planted with grass and shrubs, divided by two intersecting paths into four equal quarters. In the centre was a savina, a type of decorative outdoor garden fountain suitable for supplying water for drinking and washing purposes. These cloisters were south of the church, and surrounded by the large garden statuary, and other more important communal buildings.

Logically, the fountains and garden statuary was placed close to the center of activity. The fountains provided moisture for growing many of the lesser plants, including peppermint, rosemary, white lilies, sage, rue, corn-flag, pennyroyal, fenugreek, roses, watercress, cumin, lovage, tansy, kidney bean, fennel, or savory. All of these were regarded as herbs useful for medicinal purposes.

The kitchen garden was necessarily on a larger scale and contained eighteen oblong beds of identical shape, each planted with a different kind of vegetable or pot-herb: onion, garlic, parsley, coriander, chervil, dill, lettuce, poppy, savory, radish, parsnip, carrot, cabbage, beet, leek, shallot, celery, or corn-cockle. Nearby was the house of the head gardener or hortulanus.

In the burial ground, honorary statues, trees and shrubs were placed in the spaces between the graves, and must have produced the ornamental effect which in this connection we are apt to consider as modern. Mentioned as growing there, in circles around a large garden fountain, were apple, pear, plum, service medlar, fig, quince, peach, hazelnut, almond, chestnut, walnut, laurel, and pine trees. Amidst such a luxuriance of foliage, fountains, and statuary, the graves must have been almost hidden from view.

Author Robert Erickson provides this article for www.garden-fountains.com/Categories.bok?category=Garden+Fountains. If you are looking for garden fountains, statuary, or garden décor, please visit garden-fountains.com.

As our global community continues to expand we often find
ourselves with friends and families who live in countries
outside of the U.S. In the past this caused somewhat of a
dilemma if a person wanted to send a gift of flowers
internationally. It was not as simple as calling the local
florist; it was almost impossible to find a florist who could
wire transfer the order to another florist in a different
country. This has changed, however, because of the availability
of resources via the Internet.

Do a simple search in any major search engine for “International
Flower Delivery” and you will yield hundreds of results. Many
companies are now offering international flower delivery and it
is usually just as simple as ordering domestically.

Many online flower companies have access to florists worldwide.
It is usually simple to find an online company, select your
product and specify that you need the order to be shipped
internationally. The company will then relay your order to the
affiliate florist in that area and your flowers will be
delivered.

Some companies may charge a processing fee for international
flower delivery orders and others will not. The same holds true
if the recipient resides in a very small or rural area where
flower delivery may take additional time. Some companies will
also have a delay in delivery to verify the recipient’s address.
With all flower delivery orders but especially true with
international orders, it is very important to have the correct
address including spellings for street and city names.

Plants grown primarily for their leaf characteristics and utilized for interior decoration or landscape purposes are called foliage plants. As our society becomes more urban, living plants as part of the interior landscape increases. The use of live foliage plants brings individuals closer to an outdoor type of environment, and the large variety of plants gives us the opportunity to select species that will serve as attractive additions to interior decor. Foliage plants are excellent for indoor culture since they are able to survive environmental conditions unfavourable to many other plants.

Most avid gardeners continue to grow plants year-round. We start seeds in the living room, grow ferns in the bathroom, bring in begonias from the outdoor garden year after year, and have pots of herbs in the kitchen. Today there are so many interesting plants that can be grown indoors that there’s simply no reason for a gardener not to be surrounded by plants all year-round.

Everyone can grow foliage plants indoors with little effort if the right plant is used in the right location. Large-leaved species such as rubber plants (Ficus elastica), Monstera deliciosa, dumb-cane (Dieffenbachia amoena), and Philodendron are especially suited to commercial building interiors. They provide the size required to make them focal points in interior landscaping. These large leaved-plants as well as the smaller specimens such as ferns, vines, and ivies can serve a similar purpose in the home or apartment.

Practical Steps To Buying House Plants

Indoor plants are raised in glass greenhouses in which the air is warm and humid. When brought into the average home, they need to withstand more adverse conditions than the average outdoor plant. Challenging conditions such as minimum light, inadequate ventilation, warmer temperatures, drafts, and dry air contribute to stressful conditions for plants. Considering the following points will help in the selection of house plants that will complement your interior décor and live for many years to come.

1. Strong and vigorous. Give the plant a quick shake. A plant that’s unsteady in its pot may not be well-rooted. Shaking the plant also tells you whether the plant has whiteflies that will scattered in every direction if the plant is infested.

2. Evergreen - Since it will be seen everyday of the year, plants need to be evergreen.

3. Attractive - Some of the foliage plants will flower from time to time, but the primary reason for purchasing is the plant’s foliage and how the plants grow. The leaves may be selected for their colour or form, or both and the growth habit should be attractive and require minimum maintenance.

4. Slow-growing - Select plants that are slow-growing without a lot of pruning or training. They will perform better over a longer period of time.

5. Crowded roots - Check the bottom of the plant for roots coming out of the drainage hole. Roots emerging from holes in the pot don’t necessarily mean that the plant is under-potted, but it’s frequently a first symptom. Root bound plants will require transplanting when you get the plant home.

6. Unhealthy roots - If you can, have the clerk take the plant out of the pot to check for crowded roots. Roots come in all shapes, sizes, and colours. They should always feel firm and not squishy. Squishy roots are a sign of root rot.

7. Stem or root rot - Sniff the potting mix. Signs of rot smell like the sickly sweet smell of a rotting potato. Don’t buy this plant, as it likely has a bad case of stem rot or root rot.

8. Leaf spots, yellowed leaves, or abundant leaf loss - Leaf spots can be a sign of disease or caused by the jostling of the plants in a garden centre. A yellow leaf or two at the base of the plant is nothing to worry about. If you see many yellow or fallen leaves, however, the plant’s probably stressed and therefore not a good choice. Damaged leaves never recover. Ask yourself whether you are willing to wait for the plant to produce new leaves or would you rather purchase a healthier looking specimen.

9. Leggy plants or brown leaf tips - These conditions are signs of a plant that has not received adequate care over a period of time. Spindly plants indicate a lack of adequate light.

10. Signs of insects or disease - Look under the leaves and at the leaf axils (the place where the leaf attaches to the stem) where most often pests hang out. Do not purchase this plant, as not only will you have a problem with it, but you may also infest the other plants in your home.

Gwen Nyhus Stewart, B.S.W., M.G., H.T., is an educator, freelance writer, garden consultant, and author of the book The Healing Garden: A Place Of Peace - Gardening For The Soil, Gardening For The Soul and booklet Non-toxic Alternatives For Everyday Cleaning And Gardening Chores. She owns the website Gwen’s Healing Garden where you will find lots of free information about gardening for the soil and gardening for the soul. To find out more about the book and subscribe to her free Newsletter visit http://www.gwenshealinggarden.ca

Gwen Nyhus Stewart © 2004 - 2006. All rights reserved.

(ARA) - Nothing is more inviting during the cooler months than a warm, soothing soak. The experts at SpaGuard recommend following these steps to ensure clear, comfortable spa water.

1. Circulate spa water to distribute the chemicals that kill bacteria and destroy contaminants.

2. Clean spa surfaces using Spa Cleaning Mitts, skimmer net, brush, and vacuum to clear debris.

3. Chemically clean your filter every 4 to 6 weeks. Filtration removes hair, oils, and cosmetics that wash off during spa use.

4. Use SpaGuard products to protect spa surfaces and equipment from scaling caused by calcium deposits. The right products make the difference in your spa experience. Try new Spa Silken to experience the latest in soaker comfort.

5. Maintain appropriate pH and sanitizer levels.

6. Draining and refilling are normal procedures in spa maintenance. Over time, the water absorbs and dissolves minerals, chemicals and other soluble material. How often you drain and refill your spa depends on how often you use it. This simple formula can help: ( of spa gallons / of daily bathers)/ 3 = days between draining.

For more information on the proper use of spa maintenance products, visit www.spaguard.com.

Courtesy of ARA Content

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Courtesy of ARA Content