Love the tropical look? Wish you were surrounded with luxuriant greenery? Want to enjoy it without sweltering in triple-digit heat? Want it all without going broke on water? The secret? Create an indoor oasis!

Indoor plants make sense on many levels. Plants soften the hard rigid lines of walls and furniture. Plants release oxygen into the air, taking up carbon dioxide and a number of harmful indoor pollutants. Plants reduce glare from light entering a window and can help provide privacy - all excellent reasons for creating an indoor oasis. Read more…

A very productive volunteer work bee completed most of the Oleson Pavilion this weekend.

The Grand Traverse Conservation District’s new covered outdoor facility, located at the Sabin Pond Trailhead, was roughed in Saturday and Sunday thanks to steady efforts by dozens who pitched in. District employees and area builders worked from sun up to dusk on Saturday and noon to six on Sunday to rough in the pavilion.

When the plumbing and finish work are completed later this summer, the 960-square-foot building will be available to the community as well as the conservation district for a range of educational programs. Read more…

The human home is now just as much the dog’s. Homeowners who are building or remodeling have taken to considering their pets’ needs as much as they do those of their biped family members, turning “pet-friendly decorating” into industry buzzwords.

This is about more than stylish dog beds that cost upward of $350; this is about stain-resistant fabrics, scratch-resistant flooring, colors that match a pooch’s coat, or out-and-out design and architectural elements.

In Chris Rudolph’s case, the Chicago architect put in “dog overlooks” and a “Doggy Detox,” a large porcelain-tiled shower with hand-held showerhead, when building his Michigan home. Read more…

We have heat on the way. When you combine that with the rain of the past few weeks, we are sure find our gardens growing gangbusters. All is not perfect, however, so here are some tips to make sure your space is looking its finest.
The first round of flowers on the annuals has already gone by on many plants. You can get your plants to re-bloom if you pinch off the dead blossoms. Use your fingers to take off the spent flowers where it meets the plant. This will help to keep most annuals going right to frost.

I have several chrysanthemum plants in my garden. To get the best and most beautiful blooms on straight, strong stems this fall, I remove the small side buds along the stems which form in the angles of the leaves. This will allow all of the energy to be focused toward one or two large flowers instead of a bunch of little ones. A little work now will pay off in September and October when everyone else’s gardens have little or no color. Read more…

It’s the Rose Garden and Arboretum in Renziehausen Park, this side of McKeesport.

Established almost 70 years ago by the Garden Club of McKeesport, the site includes more than 1,700 rose bushes of every description. There are gardens dedicated exclusively to miniatures, hybrid teas, grandiflora, floribunda, climbers, shrubs and old garden roses.

The three-acre site also has a lot more than roses. It contains magnolia and dogwood trees, azaleas, rhododendrons and a large variety of annual and perennial flowers.

The first tomb discovered in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings in 80 years doesn’t have any mummies, but archeologists opened the last of eight sarcophagi yesterday to reveal something even more valuable: embalming materials and ancient woven flowers.

Hushed researchers craned their necks and reporters scuffled inside the stifling underground stone chamber as Egyptian antiquities chief Zahi Hawass slowly cracked open the coffin’s lid for what scientists believe is the first time in more than 3,000 years. But instead of a mummy was a tangle of fabric and rust-coloured dehydrated flowers woven together in laurels that looked likely to crumble if touched. Read more…

AI would recommend bamboo only if you stick to the clumping types and avoid the more common running bamboos. Running bamboos create more friction between neighbors than any other plant, because their spread cannot be controlled unless elaborate precautions are taken. It is also impossible to use herbicide to kill a portion of a clump that is straddling a property line.

Umbrella bamboo, Fargesia murielae , is by far the most successful and popular of the clumping bamboos that can be grown in the Washington area. Because it is a clumper, it has a vase shape that is broader at the top and gracefully weeping at the ends of the branches. Although it can be used as a screen, it is best used more informally with other evergreens in a mixed planting. To grow well, it requires some shade, particularly in the heat of the afternoon. In a shady spot, you can combine it with winter-hardy camellias and hollies to give you some texture contrast and seasonal interest. Read more…

This week’s heavy rains bring a mixed blessing for gardeners who are now coping with soggy conditions after weeks of near drought.

Parched lawns and dry beds of ground covers, perennials and seasonal flowers will get a boost from a month’s worth of rain all at once, but the deluge also exposes the problems of soil erosion, poorly drained garden beds and, perhaps most worrisome, trees at risk of falling.

Gales that occur when the soil is saturated are more likely to topple trees with compromised root systems than those in dry periods. Certain trees naturally have a lot of surface roots — maples and beeches, for example — but raised roots visible above ground on other trees suggest a hardpan subsoil that has diminished a tree’s ability to anchor itself. Read more…

“Rebels and Martyrs'’ is the title of a new show at London’s National Gallery. It could just as well describe the mood in museum circles after a spate of record- breaking art sales.

The chief rebel is Charles Saumarez Smith, 52, director of the National Gallery since 2002. Minutes after the exhibition press view, he joined me, coffee cup in hand, for a chat about the art market and the $135 million paid for a Gustav Klimt portrait by cosmetics magnate Ronald Lauder.

Nayeri: This latest rash of art-market sales seems to have driven you to despair.

Saumarez Smith: It’s sort of depressing. Since I’ve been at the National Gallery, most of what we look at as possible acquisitions costs no less than 500,000 pounds ($910,000). Now, with the booming art market, the sorts of things that we’re likely to be interested in are costing between 5 and 10 million, or more, and the Klimt will have established a new benchmark. Read more…

Every weekday morning, Scott Taylor lines up with the other commuters along the South Acton platform, waiting for the 7:18 to Boston. Most have briefcases slung over their shoulders and are glancing through the morning’s newspaper while trying to balance a cup of coffee in one hand and flipping the page with the other.
The commuters are off to another day behind a desk, shuffling papers and staring at spreadsheets.
Taylor, 52, will share their ride, but he isn’t going to work. Instead, he will spend the day crafting furniture at the prestigious North Bennett School in the North End. Read more…