Outdoor stone fireplaces are probably one of the best and inexpensive ways that you could add elegance style and of course heat to the outdoor space at a home. Crafted with appealing stones, an outdoor stone fireplace causes a perfect gathering place on frosty nights.
Building it out of stone is the most preferable material for building an outdoor feature of any kind, as it is ongoing and non-combustible. This versatile material can be well-shaped and produced to suit any outdoor setting, both modern and classic, or even one that you thought out yourself.
Outdoor stone fireplaces are not only fun and great to sit around even during the winter months, but they also embody strength and durability and are a perfect option for the patio, backyard or pool. It is easier to install and clean when compared to a multitude of outdoor fireplaces. The most notable feature of any outdoor fireplace is this it can withstand the harsh climatic conditions.
The outdoor fire place can be a source of joy for the whole family, and in this time of energy problems and rising costs of heating it might serve as a partial solution for some, try thinking about what it would do for you.
Whenever someone asks me for suggestions on EZ to plant trees
and shrubs for the Sellersville Pa. area, I always begin with
Arborvitae.
Arborvitae are commonly used evergreen shrubs or trees useful in
urban areas where low maintenance and durability is needed. Many
cultivars with forms such as being globed in shape, columnar, or
narrow pyramidal, tend to be near buildings, doors, and
walkways. Other forms which are larger are used for screens and
buffers that are planted in rows. The form of arborvitae is
small, medium, or large depending on the cultivar. Some reach
50′, others only 3′. Most prefer full sun to partial sun.
Planting in dense shade conditions should be avoided. A moist ,
well drained, loamy soil in full sunlight are ideal conditions
for growing healthy arborvitae. These plants will tolerate
rocky, clay, urban conditions of heat drought and pollution. The
most important pest we have is bagworms which must be controlled
to prevent complete defoliation. Some cultivars have multiple
leaders which also prove to be a detraction for the plant.
Pruning out multiple leaders in some cultivars is a simple
remeady. Our most popular Arborvitae is the Emerald Green
arborvitae. Many people prefer to spell them Arbor Vitae . It is
a bright light green color and narrow in shape. It makes a
distinctive and impressive natural fence. It is easy to grow
,plant, and keep in shape.
The Hetz Midget arborvitae is a dwarf globe variety. This is a
good choice for along walkways and gardens. This is a tough
plant that is easy to install and not going to cost a lot. It
will maintain its color in the winter and will withstand snow
loads well. We carry these plants in 2 and 3 gal. pots. The
prices on these dwarfs vary from $15 to $30 depending on size
and quanity ordered.
Another small arborvitae that we grow in pots is the Rheingold
arborvitae. This is a small globe shaped plant that has a golden
green cast to it in the summer and a bronze winter color. We
also have the American Arborvita known as “Tiny Tim”.This
arborvita grows in zone 2 - 7. Its is a needled evergreen in the
Cupressaceae Family. It will grow in height from a half a foot
to 1 foot tall. Its spread will be about 1 to 1.5 feet. This is
a plant that requires little work. Selecting quality arborvitae
for the home landscape : When you get to the nursery or garden
center where you will buy your arborvitae, pick out the
healthiest, most robust plants that have no evidence of disease
or insect damage. The potting medium should be moist, but not
wet, and the roots should well dispersed in the medium.
Arborvitae that have roots growing from the drainage holes or
circling the top of the pot are less desirable. Many people
choose to buy arbs from a mail order company, which is perfectly
acceptable. However, realize that most woody plants purchased
from mail order catalogs will be shipped dormant and bare root,
that is, without any soil attached to the root system. Such
plants may be smaller in size because of the expense of
shipping. It is important to plant such material immediately
upon arrival. Generally it is best to purchase one-year-old
material from mail order companies since this material is more
vigorous and will transplant better. The larger material that is
offered is often composed of the less vigorous plants held over
from previous years. Most large sized arbs are balled and
burlaped. Don’t buy any arbs bare rooted over 3′ tall. Any plant
larger should be balled and burlaped.
We have thousands of arbs and always have hundreds ready for you
to pickup. From 2′ to 15′ we have inventory balled and burlaped.
Don’t worry about driving long distances to get to us. We are
easy to get to near Phila., on a major road, Rt. 313 in
Fountainville Pa.. We want to move our stock and will make sure
that you go home a happy camper. If you are coming from a long
distance, we will give away free inventory that is surplus to
our needs. One of our fields is being converted into ball and
soccer fields and work will begin Nov. 25 2005. Stock in this
field will go cheap. We will stay open til the last dog dies or
we sell out. I think we have more stock than what we possibly
can sell. You can see our web sites at:
http://www.highlandhillfarm.com
http;//www.zone5trees.com
Are you ready to redecorate but have a limited budget? Do you have some great furniture but nothing matches? Do you love antiques but not stiff formal decor? Then think Shabby Chic, a fun decorating style that solves all these dilemmas and more.
Shabby Chic is one of the hottest trends in decorating, and for good reason. It is versatile, easy, and inexpensive. Shabby Chic is based on simplicity — simple color themes combined with your favorite furniture and art.
Shabby Chic can be anything you want it to be, and is a great way to bring your personal style to any room. Most Shabby Chic decor is based on a white-on-white or beige-on-beige theme. Soft pastels are often used as accent colors, but with a little creativity, you can add just about any color you want. A classic example of Shabby Chic would be to cover couches and overstuffed chairs with white slipcovers, whitewash your wood furniture and hang white airy curtains. Then hang your favorite painting or artwork in the most prominent place in the room. Choose one or two colors in the painting as accent colors, and repeat the colors in throw pillows, flowers, soft throw blankets, and candles. Another great feature of Shabby Chic is the worn and well-loved look. That side table that has an interesting shape but has seen better days is perfect for Shabby Chic. Simply whitewash it and put a vase with flowers on top. Better yet, use an old china teapot or your grandmother’s favorite vase for the flowers. It’s the little details like this that make Shabby Chic work so well.
If you’re on a tight budget, Shabby Chic is a great choice. Make your own slipcovers with any durable white or beige fabric, and cover couches and chairs to match. Pick up interesting accessories at yard sales and flea markets, and paint them all the same shade of white. Pull out your favorite pictures and put them in frames painted white or coordinated accent colors. Throw in a few candles, flowers, and pillows, and you’ve got a beautiful Shabby Chic room.
Shabby Chic is also perfect for highlighting single pieces of furniture. Do you have a gorgeous, beloved antique but nothing else that goes with it? Decorate the room in Shabby Chic and let your antique be the center of attention.
Whatever your style, whatever your budget, whatever mismatched furniture you own, there’s a Shabby Chic look for you.
Johann Erickson is the owner of Online Discount Mart (http://www.onlinediscountmart.com). Please email the author and include an active link to this website if you’d like to use this article.
Due to their fears of early winter frosts, a lot of gardeners do
not think about fall gardening. If you’re one of them maybe a
few tips can make you change your mind. You should, because fall
gardening produces some first-rate vegetables long after spring
planted plants are finished. Autumn garden vegetables are can be
sweeter and milder than those grown in summer and present a
different taste to the same old veggies. What are the best
plants to grow during the fall, of course, depends on space
available, your climate zone, and what you like to eat, just
like spring planting. Even heat-loving crops, like tomatoes,
sweet potatoes and peppers, will produce until frosts hit, which
can be fairly late in the year in southern zones.
Then there are other plants that will give up as early as the
end of summer, such as cucumbers, snap-beans and summer squash.
Still, they can be harvested up until the first frosts also if
planted mid-summer. Hardy vegetables - potatoes, carrots and
other root and tubers will keep growing until the temperature is
as low as 20 degrees, but those that aren’t as strong can only
grow through light frosts.
When planning for fall gardening, look on seed packages for the
words “early season”, or seeds sporting the least days to
maturity. Choosing the vegetables with the shortest growing
season helps ensure they can be fully grown and harvested prior
to the appearance of frost. You may want to shopping for fall
gardening seeds in spring or early summer when the stores are
still completely stocked. Seeds stored in a cool and dry
location will keep until time to plant.
Speaking of time to plant, you need to know when the first hard
frost will usually hit your area in order to know exactly when
the best time to plant for fall gardening is. I recommend
looking this up in a Farmer’s Almanac. They are rarely wrong and
will give you specific dates. You also need to know just how
long your plants are going to take to mature. Then you will be
able to match up the plants with the right growing times to your
area.
Prepping your soil for fall gardening starts with getting rid of
any leftover spring-summer crops and debris. These leftovers may
spread bacteria and disease to your new plants if left in your
garden. Increase the nutrients in the soil by spreading a couple
inches of compost or mulch over the garden area. If summer
plants were fertilized heavily it may not need much, however, if
any. Turn over the soil’s top layer, moisten it, and let set for
12-24 hours. Congratulations, you’re ready to start planting.
Many gardeners shun fall gardening in order not to deal with
frosts, but if robust, hardy vegetables are planted properly
they can survive a few frosts and provide some wonderful tasting
fresh food.
Pruning your roses is one of the most needed and the most annoyingly difficult tasks that goes with proper rose care. It takes a steady hand the proper procedure to ensure the best possible roses that you can get.
Pruning your roses is basically the act of getting rid of dead and damaged pieces, and teaching the new growth to grow in the correct outward facing direction. That just means that you are training them to grow facing the outside of the shrub or bush. This gives your roses the correct amount of circulating air to thrive in.
Here is a list of the proper techniques to guide through the pruning process.
* Soak your pruning shears in equal parts of water and bleach. This will help to protect your roses from diseases and insects.
* Pruning in the early spring, just after the snow melts is best. However you want to do it before any new growth appears. The best time would be when the buds are swelled, or red.
* Hand shears are the best tool for pruning the smaller branches. (about 4 1/2 inches thick) Loppers are best for the branches that are thicker or the thickness of a pencil. This will make it easier. You should use a heavy pair of rose gloves to avoid the thorns.
* You want to get rid of the winter protection that you set up like cones, burlap, and mounded soil.
* You want to get rid of the dead wood first. (That would be the black wood that is black inside as well as out).
* Next, you wan to get rid of the thinner wood, which is the stems that are thinner than a pencil.
* Cut all of the branches that cross or overlap one another because these are often diseased or will become so.
* Keep the remaining five healthy branches. These are often dark green. You will want to make your roses fluted or vases shaped, with an open center, and keep them from touching or overlapping each other.
* Cut your healthy canes to be about one to four feet long, or whatever size that you prefer.
* Cut you roses properly so that they stay healthy. Cut so that the bud is facing outside of the bush and at a 45 degree angle that slopes inward so that you can keep promoting the outward growth.
* You should use bypass pruners that work like scissors and not the anvil types because the anvils crush the stems and make the roses more available to diseases.
About the Author
Gordon Goh is author of the free, informative website Flower Garden offering quality useful tips for Rose Gardening Tips. He is offering FREE Wealth Building Software for download
Isn’t technology a wonderful thing? I thought this as I received the text to my mobile phone telling me that my home security camera had detected movement. Someone or something was where they shouldn’t be at the rear of my house and I was 2000 miles away on vacation - yet I still knew they were there. Fortunately the text wasn’t followed up by another from one of the sensors on my windows telling me that someone was breaking in and it was urgent I did something about it.
A quick call to my neighbour and the drama was over, must have been that big old moggy over the back on his nightly prowl.
Just imagine the peace of mind knowing that my castle was safe and was being looked over by technology and that my worldly possessions weren’t strewn all over the back yard as some bad people made their hurried get-away and it was all down to technology.
Just a month earlier I had installed an add-on to my home security system that allowed me to monitor the state of various things around my home from anywhere in the world, either over the world wide web or by alert to my mobile phone. Even better still, I can logon to the internet in some friendly internet café, wherever I am, and set things up. I can setup lights to come on and off at will, I can turn the central heating on for a snug and warm return, I can even make a cup of tea (should any burglar want one whilst the police arrive) by controlling my trusty tea maker and all from anywhere in the world!
I am sure I am not breaking new ground here, this is not technology to revolutionise space travel or to solve the African drought problem but it certainly answers a need for me, the peace and mind of knowing my possessions are safe.
I got the idea to monitor my home remotely when, in the course of my work, I came across a little device that monitors anything from anywhere.
That’s probably a sweeping statement and needs to be qualified slightly, it might struggle to monitor wind speed on Mars and send the results to Venus but you know what I mean.
When I came across it first, it was monitoring a whole host of things in remote water pumping stations, interesting things like bearing vibration and motor temperature, water leaks and intruder alarm. It was sending information back to a central location in collaboration with dozens of it’s brothers and sisters in their remote pumping stations, all sending back information to the one central location - fantastic!
Of course it was the intruder alarm bit that sparked my imagination (I don’t have many vibrating bearings in my home). As I researched into it further I found that this remarkable little device (or one of its kinfolk) really could monitor ANYTHING and send the information ANYWHERE. I found that this technology was in use in areas that I had never imagined could benefit from remote monitoring or control, and for a variety of reasons. Reasons ranging from holding down costs to just plain peace of mind. It is used in healthcare to monitor vaccine temperatures in doctors surgeries, environmental monitoring in computer rooms, monitoring experiments in laboratories, in fact it’s uses are limited only by your imagination, if you’ve ever wanted to keep and eye on whats going on with ANYTHING from ANYWHERE in the world, you can.
So you see, in my case, in my humble “home security” application of this wonderful technology, Big Brother IS watching and I AM Big Brother, watching over my home wherever I am, give it a try, I can recommend the peace of mind.
About The Author
Bob Marles
Peace of mind and a secure feeling, knowing that your home is being monitored 24/7 by technology that will alert you if something happens. Visit http://www.netcommander.biz to find out more about how you can monitor anything from anywhere.
The Natural Beauty of Teak
Teak wood is beautiful, durable in exposed conditions, so teak furniture is in wide use as outdoor furniture. In addition to its wide use as teak furniture for outdoor use, teak wood is also used for making boat decks and indoor flooring.
Old teak wood, being harder and more durable, is best for making teak furniture. If the teak furniture is made of heavy sections and with mortise and tenon construction using brass fittings and brass screws, it will last more than a lifetime and can become part of the family inheritance. Teak furniture made from new teak is somewhat more vulnerable to splitting and water damage.
Teak furniture, particularly if made in heavy solid designs, has an elegance that is hard to match. Teak furniture is maintenance free for all practical purposes because teak wood contains deophosphate of lime and oleaginous saps that make it immune to fungus and termite attack. Because adverse weather and climate have no effect on teak wood, teak furniture is particularly suitable for long-term outdoor use.
Look after it with love
If teak furniture is left exposed to the elements without any care, it weathers to a pleasing silver grey shade. Those who are fond of the natural warm brown tones of teak furniture and wish to preserve that shade should treat it periodically with Teak Oil. You should dust teak furniture frequently and clean it from time to time with a mild detergent.
You may use Tung oil for restoring gloss to dry parts of teak furniture. If teak furniture has a dry feel and looks pale, you may allow the Tung oil to set for three or four hours, or even overnight. Thereafter, use a clean soft cloth to remove the excess oil - and the natural gloss of teak furniture will be restored.
It’s from the Tropics after all.
Teak is a tropical hardwood tree with the botanic name Tectona grandis and belongs to the Verbenaceae family. Teak is native to the monsoon forests of South-East Asia and of southern and eastern parts of South Asia. It is now widely planted in other tropical areas.
Much of the rare hardwood teaks are now tending to disappear, but teak is now grown in well-planned sustainable plantations. Unlike what is widely believed, teak does not grow in rainforests.
Popular for all types of furniture
Popular items of teak furniture include teak benches for the garden in various old and contemporary designs to seat two, three or four. Folding and reclining chairs, steamers and sun loungers are other popular items, as are fixed chairs of various designs viz. stacking chairs, side chairs, dining chairs and arm chairs.
Many kinds of tables including extending tables and folding tables are made of teak. Accessories often made of teak are Teak umbrellas, table centers and planters. Garden lighting made from teak wood is a popular teak furniture item.
The full range of Teak Lawn furniture, Teak Outdoor furniture and Teak Patio furniture made from Grade-A kiln-dried teak wood and provided with cast brass fittings that give the teak furniture a lifetime plus level of durability.
The dealers selling such teak wood furniture offer the complete range of services including import, distribution, sale and service of teak furniture. Items of teak furniture are usually shipped by road and come complete with all necessary drawings, instructions and fittings for easy assembly.
Teak Furniture - The Ideal Furniture for Lifelong Outdoors Use
Mike has been involved with exterior landscaping for several years, having first got the bug when he landscaped his own back garden. Since then he’s been helping people find and review the best value for money outdoor furniture, to meet your needs. Find out more at his site:
Outdoor Garden Furniture Reviews
Finally a Truly Compact Nepeta!
As a group, the various forms of Nepeta faassenii, commonly called Catmint, have a lot going for them. They are long-lived, easy-to-grow, drought tolerant and long-blooming. The deer don’t like them and the butterflies love them. In fact in some gardens nepeta is the perennial that is most attractive to butterflies, rivaling even the shrub butterfly bush. Nepetas are widely used in English perennial borders massed as a foreground plant, and as an edger. To date nepetas have had one major drawback, they tend to sprawl in a floppy manner. A few years ago a variety called ‘Walker’s Low’ was introduced from England and was quickly heralded as the long sought compact nepeta. When ‘Walker’s Low’ proved to be just as tall-growing and floppy as the other nepetas, it turned out that ‘Walker’s Low’ is the name of a place in England and has nothing to do with the height of the plant. Now with the 2006 introduction of ‘Kit Kat’, there is finally a compact neater Nepeta faassenii.
Add Continual Summer Color to Your Garden
‘Kit Kat’ will add color to your garden throughout the summer. The leaves are grey-green and are toped with spikes of small clusters of lavender blue flowers from June until August. At 15-18 inches high, it is not only smaller in height, but smaller in all of its parts. ‘Kit Kat’ has smaller leaves and flowers, but the flowers are much more numerous than other nepetas. It will thrive in sunny, dry areas, but also tolerates light shade, if the drainage is good. ‘Kit Kat’ is ideal as an edger, especially for an herb garden, as well as for summer color massed in front of shrubbery or to dress down foundation plantings.
Planting and Care
Click here to view ‘Kit Kat’ on the Carroll Gardens website.
