Harry (94) wins prestigious gardening competition

Harry Gerber (94) is the proud winner of the Eedenglen Retirement Village Garden competition.


Harry Gerber (94) is the proud winner of the Eedenglen Retirement Village Garden competition.

After working diligently in his beautiful garden for many years, Harry Gerber (94) is the proud winner of the Eedenglen Retirement Village Gardening competition, a prestigious award for the elderly at the village.

Gerber said that before moving to the retirement village 16 years ago, he built his own homes over the years and planned out his own gardens.

Despite moving to the retirement village 16 years ago, Gerber only moved into his current home with his wife Minnie (88), 12 years ago.

He said that when they moved to their new home he redid their entire garden and transformed it into a succulent plant garden.

Since transforming the garden, with help from his wife, Gerber continued to maintain the garden and occasionally planted new plants while removing those that died.

He said that when

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Poway’s Enchanted Garden with its mythical creatures opens for holiday tours

Fairies, brownies, gnomes, elves and hobbits live in the Enchanted Garden in Poway, and many of them have fanciful stories about their lives and livelihoods.

Those stories are usually told by their caretakers, Bejai and Dan Higgins, who host guided tours of the garden at their home at 13631 Rostrata Road. They also open the garden to the public three times a year on Easter, Halloween and Christmas.

The next scheduled open house will be noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17. Dan Higgins will dress as Santa Claus and pose for pictures with children while his wife tells tales of what the garden’s creatures are up to in their miniature homes, businesses and other buildings.

“I don’t have stories for every building because there are too many, but when we build something for the garden we think about who lives there, what jobs they take in the garden, who

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Brussels sprouts are gems in the garden

A row of Brussels sprouts growing in the fall garden looks like green gems strung on upright, hanging necklaces. Brussels sprouts make an elegant border for the garden when their sprouts are filled out.

A clever marketing strategy for Brussels sprouts like these is to sell the entire stalk while the sprouts are still attached to the stalk, thus eliminating labor cost for harvesting each sprout separately. There are 57 sprouts on this stalk, which weighed 2.5 lbs. when cut from the stalk.

A clever marketing strategy for Brussels sprouts like these is to sell the entire stalk while the sprouts are still attached to the stalk, thus eliminating labor cost for harvesting each sprout separately. There are 57 sprouts on this stalk, which weighed 2.5 lbs. when cut from the stalk.

Brussels sprouts are members of Brassicaceae, the cabbage family. The specific epithet of Brussels Sprouts, Brassica oleracea Gemmifera Group, totally describes the little sprouts that look like green gems, hence the group name Gemmifera. The sprouts grow in nodes of leaves on thick upright stalks. Brussels sprouts look like tiny cabbages, but they are distinctly different from cabbages that form heads from the ground.

Members of

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Reducing food insecurity the goal of a rooftop garden at Baptist Health-Fort Smith

Baptist Health-Fort Smith is growing fruits and vegetables in a new rooftop garden in hopes of addressing food insecurity among its patients. It’s the first of its kind in Arkansas, and just one of 25 nationwide, according to hospital officials.

Located on the roof of Marvin Altman Fitness Center on the Baptist Health-Fort Smith campus, the garden is capable of growing 27 different crops of fruits and vegetables. Baptist Health employees and the River Valley Master Gardeners volunteered their time to plant winter crops such as swiss chard, turnips and beets at the end of October with the first phase of planting complete on Oct. 30, said Hannah Schultz, graduate assistant at Baptist Health-Fort Smith.

Those crops will be ready for harvest in the middle to end of December, said Schultz, who began researching and planning the garden in July.

“All crops have been selected and planned according to their

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Holiday train garden takes over Hanover fire museum for the 6th year

A popular Hanover holiday train garden has returned for its sixth year, welcoming guests of all ages to see the many trains and exhibits.

Visitors can see the exhibit at the Greater Hanover Area Fire Museum, at 134 Hanover St. in Hanover. The museum is open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays until Dec. 23, and then is open from Tuesday, Dec. 26 to Saturday, Dec. 30.

The exhibit opened on Nov. 24 and will run until New Year’s Eve, said Kevin Adams, one of the three co-chairs of the event at the Greater Hanover Area Fire Museum.

This year’s opening comes on the heels of the announcement that another popular York County holiday train garden, in Glen Rock, would be coming to an end after over 35 years.

More: Popular holiday train display in southern York County comes to an end after 35+ years

Trains speed through exhibits during the 2023 Christmas Train Garden, Friday, Nov. 24, 2023, at the Greater Hanover Area Fire Museum in Hanover Borough. The exhibit runs through the end of the year.

Trains speed through exhibits during the

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Your end-of-season gardening to-do list in the Midwest

As we approach winter, consider adding a bird feeder to your garden.

As we approach winter, consider adding a bird feeder to your garden.

We celebrated Thanksgiving, and the Ohio State vs. Michigan football game was played. This is usually all that needs to happen for people to put this gardening season behind them and look ahead to the upcoming holidays. There is nothing wrong with this. As we shut the gardening season down, I would like to remind you of a few things you may not have considered.

Out on the patio

There might be a few things out in the yard or around the patio that could be damaged if we have periods of extended sub-freezing temperatures. Items such as plastic rain gauges might get overlooked. You will want to move these items to an area where they will stay a little warmer, such as a garage or shed.

Ceramic and terracotta pots could crack if they are still filled

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Year-round gardening: Gift ideas for the Colorado gardener on your list | Lifestyle

As the garden goes to sleep, it’s time to replenish garden supplies, add a house plant or two, and plan for next year. What a great opportunity to peruse the local nurseries and immerse yourself in the holiday spirit.

Rick’s Garden Center offers tropical plants, a dedicated cactus room, along with plenty of Christmas trees and wreaths. Tools include space-optimizing kits for self-watering table gardens and balcony gardens, while the foldaway garden kneeler and seat provides gardening cushion and comfort. Prepare now for seed sowing with Rick’s large selection of heirloom seeds and check next spring for their enhanced tomato plant offering.

Phelan Gardens showcases a wide assortment of garden essentials, garden décor, easy-care air plants, and Colorado-made Fire Mountain edibles. The adjoining greenhouse is full of plants including cyclamen and colorful Christmas cacti.

Phelan’s centerpiece Christmas tree is a nice example of organic décor sporting seed pods, dried leaves

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Planting your leftover store-bought garlic

SAN ANTONIO – Garlic is a kitchen staple, and it’s really annoying when you have to run to the store for just one clove, so let’s plant our own supply in our gardens!

In South Texas, you can plant garlic from October to December. October is usually ideal, but November works, too!

What’s excellent about garlic is you can plant the leftover cloves you bought from the grocery store. When you buy them from the store, buy the biggest bulbs and ensure the garlic is dry and still good.

Of course, you can buy native bulbs from a nursery or online, but re-using your grocery store garlic is sustainable, cheaper, and can grow just as well.

Make sure you do the following to get the best results for planting:

  • Peel back and break up the blub into individual cloves but keep the skin on.

  • Plant in a spot that gets

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New Baptist Health rooftop garden opens up to patients

The produce from the garden will be included in the Baptist Health Food Rx program, which provides food-insecure patients with a three-day food supply.

FORT SMITH, Ark. — Baptist Health-Fort Smith opened a new rooftop garden at the Marvin Altman Fitness Center with hopes of addressing and combating the issue of food insecurity among its patients by offering fruits and vegetables.

The rooftop garden will be “the first of its kind” in Arkansas and “one of 25” in the nation, Baptist said.  

The produce from the garden will be included in the Baptist Health Food Rx program. The program provides discharged patients who have been identified as food insecure with a three-day food supply for a family of four.

Hannah Schultz, a graduate assistant at Baptist Health-Fort Smith, started researching and planning the garden in July. Volunteers from Baptist Health and the River Valley Master Gardeners officially began planting

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Centravis supplies almost 40 tonnes of stainless pipes for modernization of Parisian Garden of Plants

Centravis supplies almost 40 tonnes of stainless pipes for modernization of Parisian Garden of Plants

PJSC Centravis Production Ukraine, part of the Centravis Ltd. holding, supplied about 40 tonnes of seamless stainless steel pipes for the Garden of Plants in Paris.

According to the company’s press release, Ukrainian pipes are intended to modernize the complex.

As specified, the Garden of Plants in Paris was founded in the 17th century. It is the oldest botanical garden in the French capital and the first open to the public. For many centuries, rare plants from all over the world were planted there.

The Garden of Plants is part of the National Museum of Natural History. On its territory there are four large departments – the Museum of Mineralogy, the Museum of Paleontology, the Museum of Entomology and an extensive gallery of evolution, as well as a zoo and an aquarium.

The special pride of the park area of the Garden of Plants is the greenhouses, the first of

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