Northampton Nursery and Building SOlutions
Courtesy of Northampton Nursery & Northampton Building Solutions    

December 2011    

    


Northampton Nursery

In This Issue
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If you're considering any home improvements - interior, exterior, landscape, hardscape - give us a call. And share our number with your friends - we'd like to help them, too!

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Northampton Building Solutions

Check Out Our Expanded Video Series
For more than a year, we have been sharing ideas about landscaping, home improvement and remodeling in the Northampton Nursery Video Series on our website. This month, we're excited to announce we have expanded our video library with two new home-improvement videos. Click the link at the end of this month's Tailgate Talk to view.

Landscaping

LandscapeTipTips from the Pros
Use Imagination if You're Going to Give a Plant

In the holiday season, gardeners often get the urge to give plants as gifts. But if you're going to do that, stretch your thinking beyond the traditional poinsettias, amaryllis and Christmas cacti. Get creative and give plants that can be moved outside in the spring to become permanent attractions. One interesting choice, according to garden writer Charlie Nardozzi, is the Christmas Rose, or hellebore. Some selections bloom around Christmas, but even if it's not in flower when you give this gift, the dark green foliage makes it a handsome choice. And as soon as the ground thaws, you can plant the hellebore in a partly shaded spot in well-drained soil outside. Ornamental Christmas peppers such as "Riot" are another fun choice as a gift. They are compact, one-foot-tall plants that feature yellow, orange and red edible fruits. In spring, when the fruits have dried up, you can cut back the plant dramatically, plant and fertilize it outdoors and it will revive to flower and fruit again. Another colorful gift that can keep on giving are Miniature Roses. These produce flowers for weeks indoors in a wide range of colors on plants that grow 5 inches to 3 feet tall, depending on the variety. Even though they won't flower all winter without artificial lighting, move them outdoors in the spring and they'll bloom through the summer.

Plant of the MonthPlantMonth
Korean Fir
Japanese Snowbell
Korean firs look snow-covered even with summer flowers.

In December, many people look forward to fresh snowfalls to get them in the holiday mood. The Korean fir is a beautiful and unusual species that can create that mood all year round! That's because the needles of this evergreen are a mix of dark green and white that makes this shrub look as if it has been freshly frosted with snow. The Korean fir to look for in this climate is the Horstmann's Silberlocke type, which was introduced in the 1980s by German conifer specialist Gunter Horstmann. Unlike native Korean firs that grow high in the mountains and prefer cooler climates, Horstmann's Silberlocke can take the heat of Philadelphia summers and not succumb to the temperatures when they escalate. It requires full to partial sun and well-drained soil and grows slowly  - about 3 to 6 inches a year. Eventually, it reaches a height of 15 feet and a width of 5 feet. As an added bonus, the cones that develop when plants are 3 to 5 feet tall are a dazzling and surprising blue-violet in color.

 

TimeToIt's Time To...
Try Your Hand at Natural Decorations

December is a busy month for family activities, but a slow month for gardening. So why not combine your gardening interests with your holiday preparations?
  • If you have the time, try making natural holiday decorations. You can create door sprays, wreaths and centerpieces using evergreen boughs, pine cones and other natural materials you can find in your yard.
  • Or take a walk in a park to look for unusual seed pods, dried grasses or unusually shaped twigs for use in decorations. Gold or silver spray paint can turn them into lively accent features.
  • While you're in the holiday spirit, think about adding bright ribbons or ornaments to houseplants to give them a holiday flair!  
  • Glossy-leafed house plants such as philodendrons, rubber plants and palms should be sponged off periodically this winter, to remove dust and allow them to breathe.
  • Plants with fuzzy, textured or other non-glossy leaves should be set in the sink and sprayed gently with room-temperature water, until the dust is cleaned away.
  • If it snows, remove snow from your evergreen shrubs to prevent the branches from breaking. Tap the branches gently to do this, from the bottom.

Masterpiece Project

Masterpiece

A Home's New Hardwood Flooring Gives It a Fresh Feel and Look   

Hardwood flooring brought new life to Kathy and Joe's living space.
Wall-to-wall carpet was used throughout the house when it was built.

It's often been said that success starts at the ground level. So it should come as no surprise that when upgrading an interior space, success starts at the floor level. We often overlook them, but floors are a key to making a home feel like a Masterpiece. Consider the experience of Kathy and Joe. They live in a nice, single-level home that is about 10 years old. They like their space and the way they have furnished it, but something was missing. And when they started thinking about it, they realized the problem was right under their noses. Their house had wall-to-wall carpet throughout. Wall-to-wall isn't bad in many situations, but theirs had been installed when the house was built and was feeling a little tired. They wanted to freshen up the place with hardwood floors and to create visual variety by using hardwood in combination with the carpet in some spots. When we met with them, we talked over which areas would look best with hardwood alone and where they thought the hardwood would work with the carpet. Then we cut back the carpet and got to work. Because the house was built on a slab, we installed a "floating floor," in which the hardwood pieces click and lock together like the pieces of a puzzle. Then we finished the transition areas where the two coverings meet with a wooden border to create a smooth and handsome connection. At the end of the day, Kathy and Joe still had the furnishings and layout they liked, but the new floor treatments made everything seem fresher and more attractive. To us, that's what a Masterpiece is all about.     

Remodeling Trend  

RemodelTrendKitchen Cabinets Are a Hot Topic for Renovations

Kitchen cabinets are intended to be functional, but they have been getting more and more attention as choices and styles expand. Homeowners have realized kitchen cabinets can add interest and aesthetics to a home - particularly since many people (guests included) congregate in the kitchen. Higher-priced custom cabinetry can easily consume 50 to 60 percent of a renovation budget, but you don't always need to spend that much. Many ready-made kitchen cabinets can be fitted to existing space and will make a huge difference in the appearance of the room. A key decision is whether to build your cabinets all the way to the ceiling for extra storage or to leave a soffit above for displaying baskets and other decorative objects. Either is effective, though high cabinets are harder to reach. Below the counter, many homeowners are opting for European-style 36-inch high cabinets so they don't have to bend as they do with 32-inch ones, according to the National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA). For the interior of your cabinets, you can outfit them with everything from rollout shelves to fancy spice racks to appliances and carousels these days (though every extra adds expense). But don't skimp on the hinges. Many homeowners think it's fine to cut costs with them since they're not visible, but the pros know the best hinges made of chrome, nickel or brass keep doors aligned and adjust in every direction. So how much cabinet space do you need? The NKBA says the best way to decide is to measure your existing cabinets in linear feet and give yourself at least a third more storage for future needs.

Home Improvement 

HomeImproveMake Sure You Do It Right with Outdoor Light Displays    
Every year in the holiday season, many families go all out to create spectacular outdoor light displays. And every year we worry that they'll get themselves into trouble by cutting corners. We're not being worrywarts here. Hundreds of homes are damaged each holiday season by faulty electrical wiring and a lot of that damage could be avoided. For starters, always buy lights and electrical decorations bearing the name of an independent testing lab like UL or ETL. Never use lights outdoors that are not labeled for outdoor use, and all outdoor electrical decorations should be plugged into a ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI). You can buy portable units for outdoor use, or you can have them permanently installed by an electrician. Never secure the wiring of outdoor lighting with staples or nails, or place lights on sharp hooks or nails, or close doors or windows on extension cords. Use only outdoor rated extension cords, and avoid connecting more than three strings of lights to a single extension cord. Avoid using the larger seven-volt light bulbs. They burn much hotter than mini Christmas lights, and one of the most common causes of holiday house fires is these bulbs being too close to gutters filled with dried leaves. Never tap into your home's feeder electrical line to power your outdoor Christmas lights. More safety information can be found online at the My Great Home website.

Living Green & Well

GreenFamily Resources Materials from Wild Resource Conservation Program

Since it was founded 29 years ago, Pennsylvania's Wild Resource Conservation Program has worked to promote conservation, protect biodiversity, locate rare species and identify species that are most at risk through research, conservation and education projects. Families with small children may also be interested to know that this program of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources offers books on frogs, fungi, snakes, hawks and wildflowers, clothing, wildlife patches and other nature materials for sale on its website to support the efforts of the program. It's a fun place to look for stocking stuffers or small gifts - while supporting the state's environment. Check out what's available here on the last pages of the program's free, quarterly newsletter Keystone Wild! Notes.   

Check Out Our Video Series 
On our website we're now featuring our new Northampton Nursery Video Series, in which we show how we work and share our ideas for creating home masterpieces. Click on this link to view.
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