Is it too early to think spring plant sale

Save $7.00 off first plant flat/tray or bulk unit of bare root plants, plus lots of individual plant specials too!
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Website choices include:

achillea, aconitum, actinidia, adenophora, aegopodium, agastache, ajuga, alcea, alchemilla, allium, alstroemeria, ampelopsis, amsonia, anemone, anthemis, aquilegia, arabis, ardisia, arenaria, aristolochia, armeria, artemisia, aruncus, asarum, asclepias, aster, astilbe, aubrieta, aurinia, baptisia, belamcanda, bergenia, boltonia, brunnera, buddleia, campanula, campsi, caryopteris, catananche, centaurea, centranthus, cerastium, ceratostigma, chelone, chrysogonum, cimicifuga, clematis, convallaria, coreopsis, corydalis, crocosmia, delosperma, delphinium, dianthus, dicentra, dictamnus, digitalis, doronicum, echinacea, echinops, epimedium, erigeron, euonymus, eupatorium, euphorbia, fallopia, ferns, ficus p. creeping fig, filipendula, fragaria, gaillardia, galium, gaura, geranium, geum, gypsophila, hedera, helianthus, heliopsis, helleborus, heuchera, heucherella, hibiscus, houttuynia, humulus l. ureus, hypericum, iberis, iris, kniphofia, lamiastrum, lamium, lantana, lathyrus latifolius, laurentia f., lavandula, leucanthemum, lewisia, liatris, ligularia, limonium, linum, liriope, lobelia, lupinus, lychnis, lysimachia, macleaya, malva, mazus, molinia, monarda, myosotis, nepeta, oenothera, origanum, pachysandra, paeonia, papaver, parthenocissus, penstemon, perovskia, persicaria, phlox, physostegia, platycodon, polemonium, polygonatumo, polygonum aubertii, potentilla, primula, pulmonaria, pulsatilla, ranunculus, rodgersia, rubus calycinoides, rudbeckia, sagina, salvia, saponaria, scabiosa, schizophagma, sedum, sempervivum, sidalcea, sisyrinchium, stachys, stokesia, tanacetum, teucrium, thalictrum, thymus, tiarella, trachelospermum asiaticum, tradescantia, tricyrtis, trollius, verbena, veronica, vinca, viola, yucca, or

Ornamental grasses including acorus, arrhenatherum, calamagrostis, carex, chasmanthium, cortaderia, erianthus, festuca, glyceria, hakonechloa, helictotrichon, miscanthus, ophiopogon, panicum, pennisetum, phalaris, schizachyrium, or

from hundreds of hemerocallis and hosta.

slideshow: 10 great groundcovers to rely upon

Check out this slide show from Margaret Roach's A Way to Garden

Mesa Yellow Gaillardia National Home Gardening Club

Mesa Yellow Gaillardia National Home Gardening Club

How to Identify Garden Pest Worms

Garden Pest Worms
http://www.ehow.com/how_7725029_identify-garden-pest-worms.html

Save $10 on orders of $50+ in our CafePress shop during the Friends & Family Sale November 20-23 http://www.cafepress.com/bloomindesigns when you use code: Friend10.
* Save $10 off orders of $50 or more on http://www.cafepress.com/bloomindesigns, excluding shipping charges, gift wrap charges and applicable sales tax. Excludes Gift Certificates, Flip products, SIGG bottles, CafePress Groups purchases and bulk orders. Coupon code FRIEND10 must be entered at check out. Promotion starts on November 20, 2010 at 12:00 a.m. (PST) and ends on November 23, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. (PST). All orders must be from the CafePress. Offer valid online at http://www.cafepress.com/bloomindesigns only, cannot be combined with any other coupons or promotions and may change, be modified or cancelled at anytime without notice.

Designing with Grasses - Fine Gardening Article

Designing with Grasses - Fine Gardening Article

Add sand to loosen heavy, clay soil?

The worst remedy for a clay soil is to add sand. This practice turns the clay soil into a rock-hard, mortarlike substance. Instead, use organic matter, like compost, to loosen heavy soils because it is light in composition and also improves nutrient quality. Sand can improve a clay soil, but it must be added until it constitutes most of the mineral composition of the soil. At that point, it’s not really clay soil any longer; it is sandy soil.

Organic pesticides not always the “greener” choice

A product that is labeled organic doesn’t necessarily mean it’s environmentally friendly. A study conducted by researchers at the Univ. of Guelph showed that some organic pesticides can have a greater environmental impact than conventional pesticides because the organic product may require larger doses. The study has been published in PloS One.
Researchers compared the effectiveness and environmental impact of organic pesticides with those of conventional and reduced-risk synthetic products on soybean crops. The study involved testing synthetic pesticides (2 commonly-used conventional products and 2 new reduced-risk pesticides), a mineral oil-based organic pesticide and a product containing Beauveria bassiana fungus that infects and kills insects. These 6 products were compared for their environmental impact and effectiveness in killing soybean aphids. Field tests were also conducted on how well each pesticide targeted aphids while leaving lady beetles and insidious flower bug predators unharmed.
“We found the mineral oil organic pesticide had the most impact on the environment because it works by smothering the aphids and therefore requires large amounts to be applied to the plants,” said environmental sciences professor Rebecca Hallett.
The mineral oil-based and fungal products were less effective than the synthetic pesticides because they also killed aphid predators, which are important regulators of aphid population and growth. Hallett said the predators reduce the environmental impact because they naturally protect the crop, reducing the amount of pesticides that are needed.
“In terms of making pest-management decisions and trying to do what is best for the environment, it’s important to look at every compound and make a selection based on the environmental impact quotient rather than if it’s simply natural or synthetic,” Hallett said. “It’s a simplification that just doesn’t work when it comes to minimizing environmental impact.”

National Public Gardens Day

American Public Gardens Association (APGA), announced today a partnership to celebrate the role of America’s public gardens in educating the public on the importance of environmental preservation through the formation of the first National Public Gardens Day, May 8, 2009.
Scheduled for the Friday preceding Mother’s Day Weekend 2009, National Public Gardens Day will be supported by a local, regional and national awareness and education campaign that includes broadcast public service announcements, media partnerships, local and national spokespersons and media tours all focused on communicating the importance of building sustainable environments through improved plant management and water conservation.
“As a founding partner of National Public Gardens Day, Rain Bird is excited to join the APGA in showcasing the incredible contributions made by the nation’s public gardens in plant conservation, environmental education, ecosystem management, species preservation and the efficient use of water,” said Dave Johnson, Rain Bird’s Director of Corporate Marketing. "This event is a natural fit for Rain Bird’s Intelligent Use of Water philosophy. We aim to create a greater public understanding of the benefits provided by public gardens and green spaces in every community.”
In celebration of botanical gardens, conservatories, educational gardens and historical landscapes, many of the APGA’s 500 member institutions will mark the day with special events and activities for schools, families and thousands of visitors to explore and discover their local public garden. Many of the activities will continue throughout the busy Mother’s Day Weekend, offering visitors time to enjoy the beauty of the gardens while learning about each garden’s commitment to education, research and environmental stewardship.
“Public gardens play an increasingly important role in educating present and future generations on the importance of environmental stewardship through preservation of earth’s natural resources,” said Dan Stark, Executive Director of the APGA. "National Public Gardens Day will not only be a time for families and enthusiasts to enjoy the gardens, but will also showcase the achievements and expertise provided by public gardens as well as their commitment to education and outreach programs that are vital to people's appreciation and understanding of the irreplaceable value of plants.”

2004 Perennial Plant of the Year

The Perennial Plant Association has named Athyrium niponicum ‘Pictum’ the 2004 Perennial Plant of the Year. This perennial low-maintenance Japanese painted fern is one of the showiest ferns for shade gardens. It is popular due to its hardiness nearly everywhere in the United States, except in the desert and northernmost areas in zone 3. ‘Pictum’ grows 18 inches tall and as it multiplies can make a clump that is more than two feet wide. ‘Pictum’ produces 12- to 18-inch fronds that are a soft shade of metallic silver-gray with hints of red and blue. This lovely fern, which prefers partial to full shade, makes an outstanding combination plant for adding color, texture, and habit to landscape beds and containers.

Landscape Uses
The magnificent texture and color of the fronds electrify shady areas of the garden and make the fern a wonderful companion for a variety of shade plants. Japanese painted fern provides a nice contrast to other shade-loving perennials such as hosta, bleeding heart, columbine, astilbe and coral bells. A popular combination is Japanese painted fern with Hosta ‘Patriot’ and ‘Ginko Craig’. For something different, try Hosta sieboldiana ‘Elegans’. Another friendly companion plant for the Japanese painted fern is Tiarella (foam flower). One of the most unique possibilities is to use this fern with sedges. Carex (sedges) are shade-loving, easy-to-grow grasslike plants. Try Carex morrowii ‘Variegata’ or Carex siderosticha ‘Silver Sceptre’. Other selections that are excellent compliments to Japanese painted fern include Brunnera macrophylla ‘Langtrees’, ‘Silver Wings’, or ‘Jack Frost’; Lamium maculatum ‘Orchid Frost’ and ‘Purple Dragon’; Astilbe ‘Snowdrift’; Astilbe simplicifolia ‘Sprite’; and Dicentra ‘King of Hearts’. Use these selections with white flowers or variegated leaves to echo or pick other colors for contrast. Most any plant will make a great counterpart to the graceful, attractive, and versatile Athyrium niponicum ‘Pictum’.

Cultivation
This fern needs a well-drained, compost-rich soil and flourishes where moisture and humidity abound. ‘Pictum’ grows best in part- to full shade. The best frond color results in light shade. In the south, a few hours of morning sun will bring out the high colors. In the north they will take more morning sun without sunburning. The colors are more intense in the spring or in cooler temperatures or in cooler climates such as the Northwest. Add 2-3 inches of compost or peat moss to the beds each spring or fall. This fern is extremely reliable when grown in the proper environmental conditions. Its colorful foliage should be vibrant from early spring until frost, when it will go dormant and reemerge with its excellent foliage the next spring.

Propagation
Propagation can be done by tissue culture, spring or fall divisions or by planting spores. Growth habit and color uniformity is not ensured by spore propagation. Tissue culture may be used to clone exceptional plants, which are selected for excellent frond color and growth habit. Excellent selections of Japanese painted fern may also be produced by clump division. It is easy for a homeowner to buy the more colorful and uniform plants in the quantity needed or buy a few and divide the clumps yearly as needed. A well-grown plant can be separated in early spring into 3-4 divisions and replanted. Fertilize at one-half the rate of other perennials with an organic or time-release fertilizer.

Hardiness: Grows in USDA Hardiness Zones 3-8

Light: Part to full shade. The best frond color results in light shade.

Soil: Japanese painted fern needs well-drained, compost-rich soil.

Uses: The Japanese painted fern makes an outstanding combination plant for adding color, texture and habit to the shade garden.

Unique Qualities: The low-maintenance Japanese painted fern is versatile and provides impressive contrasting foliage that brightens landscape beds and containers. Fronds are 12 to 18-inches long and are a soft, metallic, silver-gray with hints of red and blue.

Planting Information: Japanese painted fern performs best in well-drained but moist soil with added organic compost or peat moss. It flourishes where moisture and humidity abound.

Click here for Bloomin Designs Hardy Ferns.

DAYLILY RUST - AN AVOIDABLE NUISANCE

Since its discovery in 2000, daylily rust (Puccinia hemerocallidis) has been found in daylilies in over half of the United States. The infection does not kill daylilies and, according to the All-American Daylily Selection Council (AADSC), can be avoided by proper selection and horticultural practices. In a worst case scenario, daylily rust can be controlled by treatment of the susceptible varieties.

Daylilies infected by Puccinia hemerocallidis show unsightly rust spots and yellowing, mainly on older foliage, similar to rust symptoms on roses, geraniums and other garden plants. The rust is confined to the foliage and bloomstalks (scapes) and does not enter the crown or roots. No daylily plants have been killed by the rust. Puccinia spores spread quickly by wind, on clothing and infected plants, but do not infect other plant species. Roses have their own specific rust species, as do most other ornamental plants. Just as with roses, symptoms of daylily rust vary greatly depending on growing conditions and the susceptibility of each variety. Among the 48,000-plus daylily cultivars are varieties that are unusable in some gardens and those that are virtually symptom-free.

The worst rust symptoms will appear on daylilies grown in conditions of high humidity, poor air circulation and nighttime overhead watering. Daylily rust spores require 100% humidity and temperatures between 40 and 90 degrees for five to six hours to germinate. If germination does not occur within two to three days, the spore dies. If germination occurs, infection can lie dormant within green tissue until optimal conditions arise. It appears that spores do not survive outdoors in winters colder than USDA Zone 6, making daylily rust less of a problem in colder areas.

Many gardeners simply cut off the unsightly, rust-infected foliage, which is quickly replaced by clean, new foliage. More aggressive action is also an option, which includes cutting the infected plants to the ground, disposing of foliage, and treating the plants with a fungicide specifically for rust prevention, such as Daconil.

Since 1989, the AADSC has operated a network of daylily test sites throughout the United States and has collected data on over 50 performance characteristics. In 2001, rust resistance was added as one of the key test criteria. In selecting for "bulletproof" performance, the AADSC has eliminated many of the highly susceptible varieties from its program and focused on identifying and promoting the most rust-resistant daylily varieties

More than 700 varieties have been or are being put through rust trials by the AADSC and University of Georgia, as well as Cornell University and the USDA. Here are the results on some of the most commonly available varieties:

Susceptible

• Pardon Me

• Ming Toy

• Russian Rhapsody

• Always Afternoon

• Mary Todd

• Pandora's Box

• Strawberry Candy

• Resistant

• Little Business

• Mini Pearl

• Butterscotch Ruffles

Among the AADSC's "All-American Daylilies," Black-Eyed Stella, Lullaby Baby, Bitsy, Frankly Scarlet, and Plum Perfect have been reported as rust resistant; Judith as moderately resistant; Star Struck as moderately susceptible; and Leebea Orange Crush as susceptible.

There are reasons that daylilies are America's favorite perennial. They are an amazing plant, available in a rainbow of colors, shapes, sizes, and varieties that can be easily grown anywhere in the U.S. With proper selection, there's no reason for gardeners to be intimidated by the rust challenge. For regularly-updated information regarding the benefits of gardening with daylilies, and comparisons of daylily variety performance (including rust resistance), visit www.daylilyresearch.org.

For more information about the All American Daylily Selection Council, please contact Mary McLoughlin at (616) 698-0748 P.O. Box 210 e 31606 East Pink Hill Road • Grain Valley, MO 64029

Go to our consumer website for additional gardening information at www.VirginiaGardening.com

The Virginia Green Industry Council is the voice of the horticulture industry in the Commonwealth and is dedicated to enhancing the beauty of the state’s environment, the well-being of our citizens, improving our state’s economy, and improving the health and wellness for everyone in Virginia. The Council is made up of providers and consumers of horticultural products and services. The Council works to provide public and industry education, environmental guidelines and other information that will keep Virginia green and growing. For more information, visit www.virginiagreen.org. 540-382-0943 FAX: 540-382-2716 E-mail:info@virginiagreen.org

Virginia Green Industry Council
383 Coal Hollow Rd
Christiansburg, VA 24073-6721

Let's go green!

Imagine some corporate strategy meetings these days - “Let’s go green, everybody else is doing it!”. Think the conversation would turn to real changes and a discussion on environmental responsibility or become a spin session? With a little public relations campaign and the business is now green.

It may be next to impossible for most of us to separate real efforts from puffery. Now there is help, a new website offers to evaluate advertisers' environmental claims. www.greenwashingindex.com was created through a partnership by EnviroMedia Social Marketing and the advertising faculty of the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. The site invites consumers to post advertisements and then offer their own assessments of the credibility of the message.

'Blue Mouse Ears' 2008 Hosta of the Year

'Blue Mouse Ears' has soft blue-green leaves, gently curled, just 2 3/4 inches long and 2 inches wide. A tightly mounded, dense plant, it reaches only 6 inches high and a foot wide, but draws the eye with its cool tones and soft texture.
This miniature makes up for in vigor what in lacks in size. New foliage unfurls from the center of the plant all season, and the older leaves keep their blue tones well in summer heat. At the base of each leaf, you may glimpse a hint of bright gold! Lavender flowers bloom above the foliage on short stems in summer.
'Blue Mouse Ears' can be used in containers of all sorts, as edging, in the front of the shade border, and as an accent among green- and yellow-leafed plants. It tolerates partial to full shade, and does not like direct sun. Zones 3-8.
Click here for more information.

Beginners Gardening Guide

Gardening can still be a fulfilling hobby even if you have a tight gardening budget. Many gardens can be started for only $100, or less. Less if you can find good quality second hand tools.

A spading fork should be your first gardening tool. It is a little bit like a pitchfork, but much smaller. It fits in your hand and resembles a three prong fork. This handy little gardening tool will help to improve the soil, aerate it and is great for digging plants you plan to propagate or share.

You will want a hoe for weeding and for cultivating your new garden. Add a long nozzle watering can to the cart as well as a round ended shovel for larger garden digging projects. Last on your budget list tools is a pair of garden shears. Make sure the garden shears fit comfortably in your hand, especially if you will be wearing gardening gloves.

Remove any layers of grass and then turn the soil. As you aerate the soil, remove any medium to large rocks and other debris to the surface. The next and perhaps most important step - establishing a balance between water holding capacity and aeration is the first key to a beautiful garden. If your soil is heavy, it should be amended with sand, bark, and / or compost material to improve drainage, and the soil should be mounded above grade to assure proper drainage. Mixing different components often provides the physical properties for optimum growth. Peat moss has excellent water holding characteristics, bark and sand promote aeration and drainage.

We cannot stress adding organic matter at every opportunity often enough.

Adding amendments such as humus or compost at planting time is critical, but nutrients leave the soil over time, and need constant replenishment. Nearly all plants grow better in soil that retains moisture, drains well, and is fairly fertile. Continually work your garden soil and plants will grow to their fullest potential. For perennial plants click on Bloomin Designs Nursery

Secrets To Beautiful Shade Gardens

There are principles behind successful execution in every art form and combining plants into beautiful arrangements is every bit as much an art as is music or painting. Entire books are dedicated to the subject of combining plants, but a few general principles can here be delineated which may prove useful.

Eclecticism is the most common sin of beginners, with one of these and one of those.. Whereas this can make an impressive collection of botanical specimens, it will not make a very satisfactory garden.

Some of the most beautiful scenes in nature consist of a massing of a predominant plant gradually giving way to another predominant plant in a natural drift, with an area in which both intermix. If these plants harmonize and or contrast nicely, the result is especially striking. Often this will be with a uniform backdrop and or foreground of some single or thoroughly intermixed planting of another kind which 'sets off' the main focal plantings.

So, defining an area, creating an element or unity with a particular look within the garden, which blends into another element in close harmony or distinct contrast is one key to combining plants.

This look need not be created with only one kind of plant and is often all the more rich and interesting if several plants having strong similarities and some differences are intermixed. A combination I personally enjoy, for example, is variegated ornamental grasses mixed with Iris and variegated Iris, with drifts of variegated liriope and an occasional daylily. All these are blade-leaved plants and together create a distinctive compositional element while providing variations in detail and in blossom.

Right in the middle of this I might place a variegated Hosta, or run the blade-leaved planting into a planting of Hosta, and I might place a Hydrangea macrophylla mariesi to the rear of the planting. The variegations all harmonize, relating even the Hosta and Hydrangea to the blade-leaved plants, and the broad leaf of the Hosta and Hydrangea contrasts very well with the foliage of the others.

Which brings us to the central principle: Relationship. What was just described is a planting in which all the plants involved relate to each other through several of their characteristics. If you take any two plants you have, or pictures of them, and put them together you can begin to see what is meant by relationship. Do they do anything together? Do they interact, visually? Does each highlight the qualities of the other or does nothing happen - there is no relationship that you can see?

This is similar in principle to combining colors effectively except that with plants it is more complex because we are working with the overall form, with the texture created by the foliage, with the individual leaves, with leaf color and with flower form and color. But the idea is the same. Is there a relationship? Do the plants work together? If not, then don't put them together.

Delicate leaved plants, such as ferns and Aquiligia can combine well with the rich textures of Taxus, Tsuga and other coniferous evergreens. The blue in the leaf of the Aquiligia blends well with the blue of Taxus, for example, while the wide, soft leaflets contrast beautifully with the needles of the evergreen.

If space allows, conifers, such as hemlock or thuja can make an excellent backdrop to most any flowering shrub, particularly broadleaved plants such as Rhododendron , Kalmia, Azalea and such. These same conifers also combine well with blade-leaved plants. In smaller areas, Ivy on a fence can also serve as a uniform background against which many plants can be seen to advantage.

Another consideration in designing the shade garden is lightness. A shady garden planted with dense conifers and dark broad leaved evergreens can be forbiddingly somber. Lightness can be introduced through both texture, (ferns, for example), leaf color and with bright blossoms. Variegated leaved plants are also very effective in this respect and there are very many variegated groundcovers, shrubs, trees and perennials available. White flowering shade plants are also not wanting and these too will add considerable brightness and cheer to a shady site.

As plants relate by foliage, so do they by form. A grouping of globe shaped shrubs may be punctuated by the spire of a conical shrub, for example. Or a low spreading planting may gradually rise into a mounded form, into a taller weeping plant type. What does not work, and this is the same principle as applies to foliage and flower, is a random intermixture of various forms. Again, unity, cohesiveness, is required, with an inter-relatedness between a variety of unities.

Each little grouping of plants - those areas which can be visually taken in from one perspective - should constitute a scene of inter-relating components. For example, the graceful, open branched Enkianthus might overhang an hinoki cypress with perhaps a small drift of Astilbe near by and a low spreading ground cover at the base of it all. The idea is to create, within your well laid out beds, vignettes and little worlds of plants in combination.

One such scene I recently created for a client consists of glossy, dark leaved groundcover, Gaultheria running into a planting of pale and variegated Lamium maculatum, punctuated by a scattering of Iris, overhung by spreading false cypress, and all embraced by the airy branches of variegated Cornus alba. These plants together create a little scene of considerable detail and richness, varied in form, texture and leaf color. Variety is introduced, not by a scattering of elements, but by an interaction of cohesive elements. Note that this combination does not even involve flowers, though Gaultheria produces an attractive berry and has good fall color.

This could go on indefinitely but we have not here space for that. The main point is to design an attractive, experientially enjoyable layout. Within this create unities which contain diversities, and which relate one to another pleasantly through both harmony and contrast. These unities can be created using foliage texture, foliage color, flower color and plant form. Combine plants which have a visable relation to each other, which have a give and take and use plant characteristics to relieve the less pleasant aspects of a shade garden. This is a study, and probably a life long study, but the application of these principles should help in the successful creation of your shade garden.

FREE REPORT ON LANDSCAPE PROFESSIONALS
Award winning author and landscape designer Keith Davitt ofers a comprehensive report on landscape professionals and how to identify which of the seven different categories is best for your garden and landscape needs. To get your free report go to landscape-design-garden-plans.

Keith Davitt is an award winning landscape designer with projects nation-wide and the author of four garden design books. To download a free, comprehensive report on landscape professionals and how to identify which of the seven different categories is best for you and your garden needs go to, http://www.landscape-design-garden-plans.com/landscape-design-report.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Keith_Davitt

Paper or plastic? Neither

Whole Foods Market created a sensation last year with its $15 “designer” reusable shopping bags. Why stop there? Stella McCartney is selling a grocery bag for $465 and Hermes has one for $960.

This story is a few months old, but I bring it up now because yesterday I saw a woman shopping my Central Market with her Chanel grocery bag stuffed with containers of barbecued chicken wings.

Paper or plastic -- which is better for the environment? You probably think you know the answer. And you’re probably wrong.

“There definitely was a period of time when the message was, ‘Choose paper over plastic,’” Jenny Powers, a spokeswoman for the Natural Resources Defense Council, told San Francisco Chronicle. “That’s not the way to view it.”

Powers and other environmental experts now say the best choice is neither paper nor plastic -- it’s reusable shopping bags made of substances like cotton, hemp, nylon or durable meshlike plastic.

“The ideal option is bring your own bag,” Powers said. “Second choice is to ask for the type of bag that you know will be reused -- plastic if you’ll use it for holding trash, or paper if you will recycle it.”

Las Vegas to Build World’s First 30 Story Vertical Farm

Las Vegas the tourist mecca of the World is set to begin development of the World’s first vertical farm. The $200 million dollar project is designed to be a functional and profitable working farm growing enough food to feed 72,000 people for a year and provide another tourist attraction to the city that does everything in a larger than life way.

The World currently uses about 80% of the available farm land and 60% of the earth’s population lives near or in an urban environment so the logical choice for farming is to go up for land where the environment can be controlled and where distribution is local. Las Vegas is seen as the perfect location for this project by Nevada State officials who would like to demonstrate their sustainability and environmental awareness instead of projecting an image of waste and excess.

Although the project initial cost is high at $200 million, with annual revenue of $25 million from produce and another $15 million from tourists the 30 story vertical farm would be about as profitable as a casino with operating expenses only being about $6 million a year.

There would be about 100 different crops grown ranging from strawberries to lettuce even miniature banana trees could be grown from each floors specially controlled environment. The products would go straight to the casinos and hotel properties and be a very visible and desirable addition to the overall Las Vegas experience. Design details should be worked out in 2008 and the project could open its doors by the middle of 2010.

Spring Garden Expo 2008

The Greatest Two-Day Plant Sale in Georgia Friday, April 11, 2008, and Saturday, April 12, 2008: The Spring Garden Expo, at Chicopee Woods Agricultural Center. Click on Hall County Master Gardeners for more information.

Being Green Impacted Holiday Spending and Shopping Habits

The 2007 Annual National Shopping Behavior Survey by the audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG LLC, came out with a clear report that consumers were thinking about the good of their planet as well as global manufacturing issues when they were spending their money this holiday season. The survey showed that 88% of the consumers surveyed were concerned about the environment and that 74% of them buy environmentally friendly products.
Other findings included:

* 60% of surveyors said they were willing to pay more for environmentally friendly items
* 55% said they make a special effort to patronize retailers with a “green” reputation.
* 40% of consumers said they checked the country of origin on potential gifts, with 31% using such information to decide against a purchase.

Read the full story at EnvironmentalLeader.com

Fiskars to award gardening grants

Fiskars Garden & Outdoor Living has launched Project Orange Thumb, a grant program designed to encourage community gardening. Ten grants will be awarded to community organizations, schools, gardening clubs and other groups. Recipients will receive up to $1,500 in garden tools and $800 for plants. Application deadline is Feb. 15. Winners will be announced March 15. Complete details are available here.