(ARA) – Bird feeding is in. More than 65 million Americans are doing it, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Bird feeding draws plenty of devotees and it’s easy to see why. Attracting birds to your backyard is a relatively low-cost way to relax, enjoy nature and beautify your winter surroundings. And it can be done by people of virtually all ages and levels of physical ability.

The majority of North American birds suffer from loss of habitat. Investment in avian habitat will return valuable dividends for birds and tons of backyard enjoyment for us. Now, as a new season is just beginning, it’s a perfect time to get started.

To attract the widest variety of birds, landscape your property with plants that offer birds cover and natural foods and always provide a source of water.

Need for feeders
When the ground is covered with snow and ice, it’s hard to resist just tossing seed out the door. But it’s healthier for the birds to get their “hand-outs” at a feeding station, off the ground. Food that sits on the ground for even a short time is exposed to potential contamination by dampness, mold, bacteria, animal droppings, lawn fertilizers and pesticides.

Sometimes it can seem like forever before birds notice a new feeder. Be patient and they will eventually come. And remember, if you fill your feeder only after it’s been empty for awhile, the birds will look for food elsewhere. They’ll return as long as you continue to fill it.

There are a multitude of feeders out there to choose from. Check out Web sites like www.BirdWatcherSupply.com for some good choices.

Winter feed and seed: food for fat

Winter weather is hard on birds. Their calorie requirements increase, food becomes hard to find, snow covers up seeds, and ice storms seal away the tree buds and wild fruits. Tiny birds must eat a third to three quarters of their weight each day. When the temperature dips below zero, easy meals at a feeder can mean the difference between life and death.

It’s important to stock your feeder with high-quality foods that will provide birds with the most fat, nutrients and energy. Look for a feed like Cole’s that is nutritious, preserves freshness, and gives you the most feed for your dollar. Cole’s Oil Sunflower is over 99 percent pure and is cleaned more than four times to ensure there are more seeds and fewer sticks in each bag. The feed is also nitrogen-purge packaged, just like potato chips, to ensure freshness and insect-free feed.

Birds love suet. It’s the solid fat rendered from beef, venison, or vegetables that provides concentrated energy to help birds make it through freezing winter days and nights.

Cole’s Wild Bird Products offers a good selection of suet cakes formulated to attract the largest variety and number of wild birds as well as specific bird species. They also have a new Hot Meats suet cake. This product is infused with habanero chili pepper – a patented technology researched and approved by scientists from Cornell to keep squirrels away. Birds love it and squirrels hate it, finally solving the age-old problem of squirrels at your feeder.

To cater to seed-loving birds, try Cole’s Nutberry Suet Blend. It’s a unique seed blend mix of premium human-grade cherries, apples and blueberry-flavored cranberries, preferred nuts, nutritious insect suet kibbles, and whole kernel sunflower meats. It appeals to both fruit and insect-loving songbirds.

Birds, like humans, do have food preferences. Feed them what they like and they’ll keep coming back for more.

For more information on Cole’s Feed visit www.coleswildbird.com.

NEW YORK (AP) — If the wreaths, menorahs and trees were jarring when they appeared before Halloween and you decided to wait to decorate — or if you just plain procrastinated — now’s the time to get cracking.

With Hanukkah starting Friday, many stores are likely to start discounting related supplies soon, if they haven’t already. And, if this year is anything like last — as many retail industry observers are saying — the biggest stores could begin cutting prices on Christmas decor late next week.

Meanwhile, here are four tips on filling your home with the spirit of friendship and celebration — for less:

1. LIGHT EXCHANGES: Energy companies have been making a push to replace consumers’ incandescent Christmas lights with energy-efficient LED lights. They use less than one-fifth as much energy and last much longer — but also cost more. Many companies have been offering the new lights for free, or at a discount, in exchange for old strings of lights. Home Depot’s exchange was limited to November, but Southern California Edison’s, for example, extends to Dec. 20 (or as long as supplies last). Search online for “LED light exchange” to see whether more are planned near you.

2. GET CRAFTY: Nothing looks as domestic and inviting on a tree as garlands of popcorn and cranberries. Francine Jay, author of “Frugillionaire: 500 Fabulous Ways to Live Richly and Save a Fortune,” recommends decorating with all kinds of natural items such as pine cones, poinsettias and evergreen branches.

“It’s one of the more elegant ways to decorate and the least expensive,” she said.

Making natural decorations can also be a great way to involve kids; they especially enjoy adding sparkle by spraying glue onto wreaths, cones and other decor and then sprinkling with glitter.

3. CHOOSE CAREFULLY. Jay recommends a restrained but personal touch. “Not feeling the need to cover every inch of your home in holiday decorations but concentrating on a few well placed items sets a festive mood,” she said.

“Heirloom ornaments, family photographs, and even greeting cards have a lot more warmth, tradition and meaning than something you buy in a store,” she said.

Outings also enhance the spirit in a way few decorations can. Try visiting Christmas light displays in your neighborhood, horticultural center or park to enjoy the season without buying anything.

“You can create a tradition of going to admire other people’s decorations,” she said.

4. SHOP OFF SEASON. Christmas and Hanukkah decorations can cost top dollar in season. But by Dec. 26, and sooner in some cases, you will see discounts of 50 percent and more — especially on bulky items that stores can’t afford to stow for next year, like artificial trees or large lawn ornaments. Check out Lowe’s, Target and Home Depot stores for these larger items, and stop in at local hardware stores, department stores and drugstores for smaller things.

(ARA) – While bathrooms are some of the smallest rooms in the house, they tend to be the areas where a lot of personal items are stored. Typical bathroom sink counters and shelves are crammed full of cosmetics, medications, hair-styling items and dental care tools, looking cluttered and messy and making it difficult to clean them.

“Research shows that many homeowners don’t like clutter in the bathroom and seek storage at their fingertips,” says Steve Bissell, president of Robern, a Kohler company and leader in bath storage solutions.

For an innovative storage option, Robern has designed a new mirrored cabinet for people who want storage along with the aesthetics of a seamless mirror.

The Uplift cabinet isn’t like the standard medicine cabinet over the vanity that opens out and may block your access to the sink. The seamless mirror lifts upward, with a position-hold feature allowing it to stay partly open while you access everything inside. It is deep enough to safely contain medicine bottles, toiletries and a small radio and has an optional mount for an LCD TV. Interior lights and outlets for up to six electronic devices make the Uplift cabinet perfect for bathroom storage so you can have all those items you need at your fingertips. And, they aren’t cluttering the countertop anymore.

If you need additional storage space in the bathroom, try rolling shelves or pull-out baskets that can hide in the cabinets under the sink. You can include one basket for each family member and, since they pull out, you don’t have to crawl on the floor to reach a bottle way in the back of a cabinet.

If you don’t have cabinets under your sink, there are many options for creative storage including bins and baskets to hold items like extra toilet paper, perfumes and colognes or hair-styling accessories. Depending on how tight space is, you can put a cabinet above the toilet, or find a stand-up container to fit between the toilet and the vanity. Another option is to find containers that work well on top of the vanity, allowing you to keep items within close reach.

In the shower, don’t trip on loose bottles of shampoo, conditioner and soap. Find an organizer that fits over the shower head or attaches to the shower wall with suction cups so you can get those items off the sides of the bath or the floor. If you have more than one person using the shower, consider getting each family member a separate organizer.

To keep your outlets uncluttered, make your nightlight part of the vanity mirror. The Uplift cabinet has an interior light to illuminate items stored inside and an optional nightlight along the handle that allows you to see well enough to move about the bathroom safely.

“Sometimes the most inspired ideas are the simplest,” Bissell says. “Who wouldn’t want to walk into his or her bathroom at night and find a softly glowing cabinet that allows them to navigate easily?”

To provide the best task lighting for your mirror, place lights to the side of the face to avoid shadows, and keep the lights less than 40 inches apart to create the ideal illumination. The Uplift Pendant lights hang from the ceiling directly in front of the mirror for a unique and striking look that provides ideal, even lighting.

For additional ideas on creative organization and storage techniques using modern products, visit www.robern.com.

By MARTY WINGATE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

1. Choose variety.

It’s the contrast of texture, form and color that make a garden interesting. A garden full of nothing but rhododendrons would be . . . well, it would be a botanical collection, but that’s beside the point. A garden with a few rhodies, some ornamental grasses, a deciduous tree with good fall color and a carpet of bulbs and ground covers has something going on all the time. The pattern of branches, the growth habit of plants and the color of flowers and leaves give the garden a vibrancy that is missing in monoculture. Combine big wide leaves with strappy foliage; pair orange and purple; plant a shrub with stiff, spreading branches next to an upright shock of grass. Live it up!

2. Grow up.

There’s always more room in the garden when you consider growing vertically, and height adds drama. So when you grow a vine, you are not only finding room for another plant, you’re also practicing good design. Vines hold on in different ways — some, such as sweet peas, have tendrils that grow around a support and cling to it; others, such as clematis, have leaf stems that do the twining; and still others, such as Virginia creeper and Boston ivy (Parthenocissus) have pads that stick to a surface without invading mortar or cracks in brick. Climbing roses hold on with thorns that are pointed downward; when they catch on a branch of a tree, it provides an anchor. Most of the time, vines look best with the support of a fence, an arbor, trellis or free-standing structure such as an obelisk, which acts as a cage. You also can grow vines through shrubs and up trees; just be sure not to pair a rambunctious vine with a delicate tree.

3. Hardscape is a good made-up word.

Landscape architects like to talk about how the garden is space, and we need to design that first, and then add plants. It’s true that when the structure of the garden is in place, it makes more sense. So design paths, patios, courtyards, seating — putting them all in logical places where they will be used and not just on display — and then you’ll be able to see where the plants go. You might even want to plant between pavers. And when you design the hardscape, you’ll get to choose the material that will make up what’s underfoot — crazy paving or cut stone? Brick or concrete? You’ll also be thinking about the sublayers, and how best to level the ground, replace cracked bricks, keep the stones from sliming up in the winter . . . and at this point, you need to remember that it’s OK to hire a competent garden designer.

4. Deal with it.

Are you in denial about your garden’s conditions — putting roses in the shade, planting a Japanese maple in clay soil — and then looking for someone else to blame when problems occur? Face facts and make adjustments; you’ll be happier for it. If you have clay soil yet yearn for a lovely Acer palmatum ‘Beni Otake,’ build a berm about 2 feet high of good-quality topsoil, plant and lay a soaker hose (because the berm will dry out more quickly than ground-level soil). If the sunniest place in the garden is the deck, then get a big pot and plant the rose there. When life gives you acid soil, plant heathers!

5. Make room for veggies.

You can grow green onions in an 8-inch-deep container. Put a tomato in a pot surrounded by basil. Set a pot of peppers out in the hot parking strip. You don’t need an acre to grow a few fresh vegetables, you just need to find some sun. Growing vegetables in containers within the garden or on the deck allows you to provide them with the water and nutrients they need without overwatering everything in sight. Also, you can place them in and pull them out without disturbing the ornamentals. In August, when a pot of lettuce has been clipped to stubs a few times, remove the pot and stick in a container of some short, beautiful dahlia, such as the pink ‘Fascination,’ until your fall pot of lettuce is ready to go out.

6. Divide the garden.

Use fences and hedges to make different areas of the garden (often called garden rooms). But don’t get carried away with tall hedges or fences, or your garden will end up feeling like one of those Victorian mazes (of course, you may want to plant a maze). Use screening judiciously, and it will work better. Hide the garbage with a row of three upright yews (Taxus x media ‘Hicksii’), not a whole army of them. Create a reason for the path to take an abrupt right turn by planting a box guard (Buxus sempervirens ‘Graham Blandy’) to stand sentry (this also will lead to a new view around to the other side). Use low hedges to delineate areas without closing them in. Herb gardens use this to good effect — a hedge made of lavender, germander or Japanese holly can section off an area of the garden as well as a wall of Thuja.

7. Add water.

A pond, a fountain, a birdbath with a mister, a shallow black basin — it doesn’t matter how or what — add water to the garden. Moving water adds life to a garden, but even a still pool creates a mood like nothing else. A fountain makes noise, so remember to listen before you buy, to figure out if you want a strong gush or a babbling brook. Recycling pumps come in all sizes, from tabletop to estate garden size. But remember when you do that you can’t hide its merits under a bushel. As Robin Williams said to me (no, not that one, the British garden designer), it doesn’t matter where you put a water feature — off in a corner or next to your prized sculpture, the water is what draws people’s eyes.

8. Defy height requirements.

The tall kids always go in the back row of the class photo, right? Break the rules, and put tall plants in the middle or even in the front of a border. It all depends from what position you see the garden, and what plants you use. If you can see the garden from all sides (an island bed), you can put the tallest in the middle — a tree, shrub or even a tall perennial. Some tall perennials with an airy form work well in the middle of the border, or even toward the front, because you can see through them. Plants that work include Chinese meadow rue (Thalictrum delavayi), sea kale (Crambe cordifolia) and Boltonia asteroides. If you see a garden bed from above, you may want to plant for a tapestry effect — who cares how high the plants are when you are looking down on them?

9. Choose your style.

You may not want your garden to be an Italian design in the strictest sense, but you can add elements, such as a pair of tall, elegant Italian cypresses (Cupressus sempervirens) that imply Italian (and then you’ll be able to use that lovely descriptive term, “Italianate”). Using certain structures or plant forms that are associated with a particular style can be evocative without turning the garden into a complete replica. What style are you? Add an Asian component with a flat-topped, pagoda-style arbor. Arbors with rounded tops, picket fences, voluminous perennials spilling out into pathways suggest a cottage style. Big leaves and big flowers of shocking colors have a tropical effect. Plant Brugmansia, cannas and bananas or, for a pseudo-tropical effect, an Empress tree (Paulownia tomentosa), which you can cut back hard every winter to encourage it to grow really big leaves.

10. It’s your show.

Put plants where you’ll enjoy them the most. You’re missing a lot if you plant the witch hazel in the back corner because you know it grows 10 feet high and wide and there’s no room anywhere else. Who should enjoy its fragrance if not you? You can espalier the witch hazel on the wall of the garage, where you will sigh with delight every winter day as you walk to the car. In summer, put a pot of Heliotrope at the front door, and the vanilla scent will greet you as you come and go. Put tiny treasures where they can be admired. Little geranium relative Erodium ‘Flora Pleno’ should cover the ground along a pathway (just out of foot-step’s way). Prairie smoke (Geum triflorum) needs to be at eye-level to admire its whiskery seed heads. Plant a paperbark maple (Acer griseum) where you’ll be able to admire its fall color and winter bark from the kitchen window.

First impressions last forever, so give your houseguests an introduction to your home that they can appreciate, enjoy and may even try to emulate

BY CARLEY RIBET
SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Image courtesy J. Josephson, Inc.

The entryway is the gateway into a home, and helps to set the tone for the rest of the household. As a result, it’s important to think about what you should and should not have in this area of the home.

“It’s important to maintain the flow; invite people in with a certain look and continue that look throughout the house,” says Michelle Jennings, ASID interior designer of MJ Designs, St. Petersburg, Fla. Here’s how to differentiate your entryway and make it stand out as an unique prelude to the rest of your home.

This little light of mine

A light fixture can go a long way in the foyer because it is such a small area. Changing the lighting scheme in such a small space can impact the area, and help you add dimension to the space.

“You could reselect the lighting fixture and it can really help. Sometimes foyers have small lanterns that don’t give up much light,” says James Rixner, ASID and owner of James Rixner, Inc., New York City.

“You can put in semi-flushed mounted fixtures, which can give the space better light. No matter what you have in there, it will look better.” Depending on the style, Jennings recommends smaller light fixtures. “For a traditional or contemporary home, pendant lighting would be appropriate,” she says.

Color codes

As long as it coincides with the design of the rest of your home, a warmer color palette in the foyer is a must. Because the entryway is not a “living area,” according to Rixner, you have the ability to use bolder colors.

“If your foyer is a separate entity in terms of its walls, you can paint a rich accent color. Those kind of rich colors are used best in a passageway where you don’t have to live in the room,” he says.

No more last-minute scrambles

Make practical use of the entryway by giving yourself consistent spots for everyday essentials that need to stay in the foyer.

“If you can come in and set your keys down, put your purse away, and have a place to put an umbrella, everything can be in its place and you don’t have to drag everything into the home,” says Jennings.

Use an accent table with a dish on top for keys, loose change, and assorted other items that pile up in the foyer.

Keep it in perspective

Making sure that the design you have in the foyer fits the space might be the most important of all.

“You want to avoid it being physically crowded. You want to be able to circulate, move around, let people come in,” says Rixner.

“You need to be careful of scale. You can’t pack these rooms too tight with furniture.” Give people a chance to walk in and see the rest of the home.

By MARY ELLEN HUNT
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

BY MAUREEN FITZPATRICK
THE ADVOCATE

Now that the witch hazel has finished blooming – a dwarf plant installed last autumn managed to put out tiny yellow flowers on and off all winter – I’ve got to move it from the large container at my back door to permanent quarters in the garden.

Its present home, a graceful urn, holds a small tomato plant in summer. But it’s much too early to start seeds of that heat-loving favorite, so in the meantime I’m planting a salad garden: tasty and decorative lettuces too fragile to make it to commercial grocers, some no-fail radishes, maybe a few ball carrots. I may add a teepee of bamboo poles as a centerpiece, or maybe just one of the twiggy branches that litter our lawn. Sweet peas add a nice touch and they love cool weather as they wind their way up these supports. Parsley and a few herbs are worth adding, too, for convenience sake, and they can stay when the lettuce is finished and the tomato goes in. Parsley and herbs at the back door are a lazy cook’s delight.

Lots of containers work for a miniature vegetable garden. Good options are half-barrels, pots, window boxes, retired wheelbarrows or the great, new self-watering containers that come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

You’ll want a container that holds at least a gallon of soil – the bigger the better, unless you’re planning to move it! It must have a drainage hole. Consider the aesthetics of one large pot or a group. I have grouped three or five pots of varying heights and sizes, planted with different varieties. They look interesting and produce a nice yield in a relatively small space and short time.Unless the container is new (soak new clay pots well before filling with soil; otherwise they’ll wick any moisture from the soil and your plants will dry out quickly), it should be emptied and washed out to eliminate potential problems. A capful of bleach in a gallon of water sloshed around its insides, then disposed of, takes care of any nasty bacteria that can damage newly planted seeds.

Choose a container deep enough to allow for at least eight inches of soil to accommodate root systems. I fill with a bag of sterile potting mix. These come with time-release fertilizers and water-holding polymers, so all I then need to do is plant, either seedlings or seeds. You might create your own mix, but don’t use garden soil, which will be heavy and often contains pests and other problems. Some peat in the mix is a good idea since it retains moisture and pots can dry out quickly, especially if weather is warm and or windy.

What to plant? Loose leaf lettuces, arugula, spinach and chards can take the cold, and if you choose several varieties of dark and light colorations, you could mix the seeds together before you plant, which will produce an interesting pot. Try tatsoi or Asian greens.

Root veggies like Parmex Baby Ball or Adelaide Baby Carrots (Kitchengardenseeds.com) and radishes love the rock-free mix, root quickly and don’t need a lot of space, although root vegetables ask for 8-12 inches of soil depth.

Look for varieties recommended for container growing. Try a colorful Swiss chard like Magenta Sunset, which will add some leaf interest to your container and your salads (shred a few leaves picked from the outside to keep the plant going). Rather than havest the whole plant, pick outside leaves of leafy greens. If you plant thickly, you can harvest the thinnings and eat them as well.

Water is key to a good crop of vegetables, in the field or in a pot. Depending on wind, temperatures and how much sun/rain your container receives, you will probably need to water at least once a week. Avoid stressing the plant by letting the soil go dry; stressed vegetable plants don’t produce as well. If you use a commercial soil mix, you also might want to add a liquid fertilizer to your first few waterings. This will give the plants a boost until the time-release fertilizer in your soil mix kicks in. Be sure the soil is moist when you fertilize – you don’t want to burn young roots.