Photographers can showcase their talents by participating in the first-ever "Planting Pride Photo Contest: Capturing the Spirit of America in Bloom." This contest, sponsored by America in Bloom and GIE Media, will showcase efforts to beautify and improve communities. Photos will be categorized into seven criteria: floral displays, landscaped areas, urban forestry, environmental efforts, heritage preservation, overall impression, and community involvement.
The deadline for entry is June 1, 2013. Public online voting will take place from June 2 - August 31. The winners will be recognized during the 2013 AIB Symposium & Awards, September 19-21 in Orlando, Florida.
Click here for more information and to submit your photos online.
A trend has been sweeping through the urban areas of the Midwest and it's feeding the appetites of entrepreneurs and the community. Cities like Chicago are making good use of the abundance of abandoned warehouse space by converting them to farms, but not just any farms, they're mega farms. 
Like yelling, "Chocolate!!!" at a quilting bee, the feeding frenzy was on! Now I'm not talking products of the cacao tree, or even about the feminine gender (to all the chocolate lovers reading this, my sincere apologies for the false alarm). Also, I beg forgiveness to those without the chocolate gene, who simply think my attempt at humor is outright chauvinism. For the life of me I just couldn't think of a better parallel to describe the excitement of the smallish red ants who were feeding at the sweet trough; the spiles (small wooden pegs) holding our sap buckets. 
From fertilizing to planning, you can now figure out everything garden related from your garden. It'll even remind you to water and provide you with basic care instructions. If you're ready to start your garden look no further than your phone or tablet.
I have just returned from a long week traveling the California coast from San Diego to San Francisco, looking at the new things breeders are preparing for introduction to the gardening trade over the next year or so. This event, which the horticultural trade refers to as "Spring Trials," is a tradition that began about 40 years ago by one breeder. Within 10 years it grew into an industry-wide event. Originally, the event provided distributors and their sales forces the opportunity to see what was coming down the pike for introduction from breeders for the following spring. 
