In years past, serious rosarians would never consider having a potted rose on their property unless it was just waiting for its home to be prepared in the garden.

Times have changed and potted roses now have a place in the lives of condo and apartment dwellers, city slickers who don’t live within sight of a tree, and anyone who has an empty space on their terrace or patio in need of the beauty that only a rose can bring.

Not all roses are good candidates for growing in pots. The following varieties have been found to do best. However, you should feel free to experiment with any other varieties, even climbers, and see how they make out.

All that Jazz
Ballerina
Blush Noisette
Bonica
Cecile Brunner
Clotilde Soupert
Green Rose
Gruss an Aachen
Hannah Gordon
Hermosa
Katharina Zeimet
Mrs. Oakley Fisher
Peace
Perfume Delight
Precious Platinum
Sea Foam
Sexy Rexy
Souvenir de la Malmaison
Stanwell Perpetual
The Fairy
Valentine
Whiskey Mac

Planting potted roses is relatively easy, as long as you do your planting in the spring after any chance of a frost is long past. If you live in a warm climate, then hold off planting until autumn when the ravages of July and August are far behind.

When you’re ready to plant, choose an appropriate sized container with drainage holes. Make sure that the container has enough room for your plant to grow without having to transplant too soon.

Fill the container with garden soil that contains some compost or organic fertilizer. Dig a hole that’s large enough to spread out roots without bending or cutting back.

Knock the rose loose from its shipping container, and set it in the hole so that the bud union (”knob” from which canes grow) is just above soil level. Dig a shallow trench or moat around the base of the plant to hold water, then water it well.

Potted roses are susceptible to the same diseases as garden roses, and they require feeding, pruning and all of the other rose care basics. Potted roses aren’t less work or responsibility; they simply take up less space than a regular rose garden. Don’t plan to treat your roses as if they were ordinary potted plants, or you will lose them.

People often ask if they can grow potted roses indoors. The answer is: “Maybe, but it’s a risky proposition.” That’s because roses need high humidity and a lot of direct sunlight. Most modern homes with air conditioning do not have high humidity. However, if you live in a warm, humid climate, and you don’t have air conditioning, then you can probably get away with it as long as you put the rose in a sunny spot.

Of all the rose varieties that are likely to survive indoors, miniature roses are your best bet. Miniature roses are regular roses that have been bred to grow into smaller, more compact plants with equally small flowers. They do very well in pots and are quite beautiful. If you’re willing, go ahead and experiment. You’ve really got nothing to lose and you just might discover a whole new aspect of rose gardening!

About the Author

Ron King is a full-time researcher, writer, and web developer. Visit Grow-Roses-Now to learn more about this popular gardening activity.

Copyright 2005 Ron King. This article may be reprinted if the resource box is left intact.

One of my favorite succulent plants is named Crassula tetragona. These drought tolerant plants look a little like pine branches with the needles sticking out the sides, or a green bottle brush. They are often used in bonsai pots to look like pine trees. In the ground, they grow up to 4 feet tall. They will branch at the tips and can be used as a low, informal hedge. Their leaves, which look like fat pine needles are about an inch long. Their color can vary from green to deep, bluish green. They can take full sun to light shade, love heat and are easy to root and grow.

Like other Crassula, these grow well in dry gardens with other succulent and cacti. As houseplants, give them up to 6 hours a day of sun. They should also do well with bright, indirect light. These perennial plants are drought tolerant and only need water once a month or so. In summer they get wide, flat sprays of flowers that make me think of Queen Anne’s Lace. Blooms are produced on the tips of their branches. Flower color can vary from white to yellow. Visit my website at www.theGardenPages.com to see photos. Crassula are hardy to 40 degrees. In my garden they have survived light dustings of frost. But all that water stored in their leaves and branches will freeze if they are exposed to cold temperatures for very long.

Crassula are easily propagated by cuttings so you don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a lot of plants. These plants branch at the tips and can get a little top heavy. Trim the tops to create more succulents for your landscape. If you plant the cutting straight up, it will continue to grow that way. If you place a cutting on its side, the cutting will develop roots along the branch and form several plants. In my yard, the dog sometimes knocks off a few branches here and there. Those branches take root with no help from me, thank you. So, I’m slowly getting bigger groups of Crassula growing around the yard with no time or effort from me, cool deal.

Xeriscaping with drought tolerant cactus and succulent plants has become popular out here in the arid southwest. My crassula are growing in both full sun and shade, in heavy alkaline, clay soil. They are poking up around my cactus and their fluffy branches provide a nice contrast to the flat green cactus pads. They get watered once a month (if I remember ). They’re pretty, carefree and always look green when everything else has fried. If you think you have a brown thumb, this is the plant for you!

Laura Zinkan tends a gardening website at http://www.theGardenPages.com where you can read growing tips and lore about succulents and native plants. Drop by to smell the flowers, see lots of photos and even download garden wallpapers. Laura is a busy mom with a small yard in southern California so she expects a lot out of her plants. She also has a site called http://www.AngelCityArt.com where you can share her vision of Los Angeles and California with photos and essays. Copyright © 2005 by Laura Zinkan. Proper credit must be given with reprints of this article. All rights reserved under U.S. and international law.

As a Managing Partner of www.exquisiterugs.com, the question I am often asked, “What determines the quality of a rug?” While the question posed seems relatively simple it is broad in scope and indeed more complex. There are a number of factors that need to be addressed to answer this question accurately.

The rug industry is inundated with an extensive variety of area rugs. Unlike the past, today, there are rugs targeted toward specific market segments. Therefore, before furnishing a definite reply, I inquire, “Are you shopping for an inexpensive rug or a high end hand knotted piece”.

If budget is the primary criteria, there are abundant choices. For the price conscious consumer, there is an array of options. Machine-woven rugs are most popular in the mid to low price level segment, with modern machinery producing rugs beautifully simulating hand-made versions at affordable prices. One of the reputed machine made rug manufacturer, Shaw Group has a vast selection of area rugs from contemporary to traditional and floral to nautical. One strong highlight of this company is the price range, rugs retail from $49.00 - $2000.00. Most of the collections are wilton woven with polypropylene or nylon material thus controlling the price. At www.exquisiterugs.com, our top seller, the Antiquities collection boasts traditional Persian designs that are machine made with 100% wool. The intricate designs replicate hand knotted rugs along with offering the softness and shine. An added advantage of Wilton weave is that it is extra strong, and produces an incredible number of pile textures.

If you have decided to purchase a hand knotted rug, consider three important elements that profoundly impact the value of the rug. There is no doubt the quality, look and feel of hand knotted rugs far exceed any other construction. Created by hand, this category can include hand knotted, hand tufted, hand hooked, needlepoint, Aubusson and hand loomed rugs.

Three important factors determine the quality of hand knotted rugs.

The first factor, the quality of wool, which constitutes to shine is essential. Rugs made of wool have become increasing popular for two reasons; they last longer and are able to withstand high traffic. Look for 100% semi worsted, New Zealand wool.

The second stage - the weaving - is central to the quality of the rug. The number of knots per square inch is pertinent in determining the quality of the rug. The higher the knot count, the tighter the weave and generally the more expensive the piece. The finest carpets have from 400 to 700 knots per square inch. Most rugs, on average, have from 90 to 250 knots per square inch. A 9′x 12′ rug takes anywhere from three to six months, depending on the quality of the rug and the number of people weaving it.

Finally, the third factor, the wash constitutes to the value. The rug first undergoes a chemical wash and is then rinsed with water to give the rug a final cleaning. The chemical wash softens the yarn and gives the rug a silky feel. The rug is then set out in the sun to dry.

The next time you are shopping for rugs first refine your choice, is it a hand knotted or machine made rug you desire? If you have determined a hand knotted rug is the ideal choice, incorporate the three elements to make an informed purchase.

Tasneem Mirza is the Managing Partner of Exquisite Rugs LLC. and member of AWBA, NJWBA and Beta Gamma Alpha- honors society for business students. Under the leadership of Tasneem Mirza, Exquisite Rugs launched in April 2002 has gained increased recognition. Tasneem Mirza has indebt knowledge of the rug industry. For questions related to rugs or Exquisite Rugs products please feel free to contact her.

Tasneem@exquisiterugs.com

Cymbidium orchid plants were first mentioned in China during the Chin dynasty. Yes, way back in 265 AD. They are beautiful, delicate orchid plants which have been used for corsages. They come in a wide range of colors, including reds, yellows, whites and others.

And now they are grown for the florist industry because of their large flowers, about 5+ inches. The flowers on the cymbidium orchid last for five to seven weeks. Cymbidiums are used for corsage orchids.
There are other cymbidiums which do not have as large flowers, but have an intermediate size flower. One of these is the cymbidium ‘Royale’.
These plants grow well outdoors and can take cool temps and even a short freeze, to about 28 degrees F. But once this occurs bring the orchid indoors.

Cymbidium orchid plants usually bloom from February to May. During the summer months they will do better with cooler soil at night. If this is a problem in your region my suggestion is to add ice water to the soil after sunset during the month of August.

Water them well especially during their growth period, March through September. After this you can water the cymbidium orchid plants less but not allowing them to dry out.

Also, don’t rush to repot. Let the orchids get pot-bound and the psueodpods can get pushed out to the edges of the pot. Only then repot. They do better when in close quarters.

These plants do need good lighting for good growth. So, don’t park them under a tree.

Also, year round fertilizer is necessary. You can use a liquid fertilizer which is balanced or even a timed-release version. During the cymbidium orchid plants growth phase you will need to give them a supplement fertilizer as well.

Cymbidium orchid plants can produce some of the largest flowers and ones which will last 5- 7 weeks amid the wash of great colors.
Have fun with these plants, they’ll re-pay you time and time again.

Get a free e-book “All About Orchids ” Plus a 10% discount on an orchid plant. Just sign up for our Orchid Newsletter. You will enjoy the tips you get monthly. Also, I promise to use your email only to send you the newsletter.

Container gardening is for everyone. Whether all your gardening is done on a deck, in window boxes, even if you have an eighty by fifty foot garden, plants in containers will always have their place - can always be used to highlight, illuminate, accent and decorate your out-door living areas and places of visual prominence.

Metal pans, clay urns, terra cotta pots, wine tubs, wood boxes, bath tubs, glass bowls, wire baskets, sisal rope planters, cement hollows, hyper tufa hand crafted containers and broken crocks - to mention a few, all work well as planters.

Real wine tubs are excellent because they are already naturally ‘cured’ so resist rot. Redwood and Cedar are the most expensive woods but they last wonderfully well outdoors, need no weather treatment beyond a quick spraying of a preservative and are a pleasure to see, but beware. Many ready made planters are built of solid cedar on the outside but use toxic treated pine on the inside. Look for a sickly greenish yellow color. If it doesn’t look inside like the same wood on the outside, don’t buy it, or put a liner in it.

Liners can be made of metal, fiber glass or plastic, none of which is ideal because they don’t breathe but all of which will work. If you use a liner be sure to provide holes for good drainage.

Redwood planters are often dyed and that dye is questionable, as are those planters’ method of binding, (often flat metal bands which break before the wood has deteriorated.) If you choose a planter of this kind, you will do well to give it extra support before the binding breaks.

When selecting or making wood planters keep in mind that the more soil surrounding the roots of the plants the less tendency there is for desiccation and for freezing so keep them as large as space and pocket allow.

Terra Cotta pots are better than glazed clay or plastic pots because their permeability allows the passage of air. If you have a particularly pretty glazed pot, you’re better off planting in a plain pot and putting that inside the decorative one.

Container Making

With a little labor you can make your own attractive pots and basins. Here’s how:

If you have access to a level of ground: Dig a hole to the desired depth of pot you want. Take a plastic container, ( a child’s bucket, a water jug with the pointed end cut off, etc.) and put a round hole or two in the bottom. Coat the outside with vegetable oil and place it upside down in the hole over a mound of earth leaving, about two inches evenly all around between the container and the surrounding soil, and between the top, which will become the bottom of the pot, and the ground.

Into the holes of the container place snug fitting dowels or sticks extending above ground level. (The cement is going to go over the bottom of the plastic container and the dowels will stick through it, for drainage holes.)

Purchase a bag of sackrete, (a ready mix of sand, gravel and cement), and a small bag of peat moss. Mix a batch of sackrete, (follow directions on the package, making it the consistency of thick soup), adding a couple handfuls of peat, and if you like, of soil for an earthier look.

Pour this mixture into the hole and over the top of the plastic container
being sure the sticks are protruding through, and tamp it down. When the mix becomes firm, but not hard, carefully twist out the sticks.

When the concrete is hardened, (there are different kinds of mixes so read the bag label to see when this should be), remove your pot from the ground. The plastic container should slide out readily. Wire brush or hose off the pot and plant it up.

If you don’t have access to a level of ground: Get two cardboard boxes, one of which fits into the other with about an inch or two of space between all around. Unless they are very strong, reinforce them with tape around the sides and over the corners. Smear some vegetable over the inside of the larger and the outside of the smaller. Cut several candles each to two inches in length and fix these to the bottom of the larger box, evenly spaced. Make the mix as described above and fill the larger box to the tops of the candles.

Place the smaller box inside the larger, resting on the candles, and put a little weight in it. Work the sackrete mix between the boxes to whatever height you want the sides of your container to be. If necessary you can put small blocks of wood between the two boxes to keep the spacing right.

When the concrete mix is hardened, pull away the boxes. If the candles don’t easily pull out of the bottom you can drill through them.

Experimenting with these two methods you can fairly easily make a variety of shapes and sizes of attractive containers.

Designing With Containers

If you are grouping containers together, such as on a deck, a variety of sizes gives the best look. Aesthetically, you are better off with say, one large container and two smaller rather than three medium sized pots. In addition, they needn’t all be on the same plane.

Put a few on benches or tables or inverted pots and if possible, use hanging baskets and wall planters as well. All manner of old tubs and basins can be effective design elements in a container garden and as with size, a variety will give a richer look than will a collection of pots all of the same kind. Do have a repetition of textures, however, as overly eclectic can look too busy.

As with containers, a variety of plants, from small ornamental trees through shrubs and vines to perennials and annuals creates the most satisfying container garden. The idea, generally, and if space allows, is to create an environment, an little ecosystem comprised of members from several plant groups. Hanging baskets contribute to this effect too, bringing the garden upward and allowing it to reach downward. A future edition will be dedicated to hanging baskets and wall planters.

TO BE CONTINUED

To Read More Articles by Steve Go to www.landscape-design-garden-plans.com

FREE REPORT ON LANDSCAPE PROFESSIONALS

Keith Davitt is an award winning landscape designer with projects nation-wide and the author of four garden design books. To download a free, comprehensive report on landscape professionals and how to identify which of the seven different categories is best for you and your garden needs go to, http://www.landscape-design-garden-plans.com/landscape-design-report.html

Asthma Friendly Gardens

Tom Ogren
Recent studies have shown that babies born to mothers who were exposed to high levels of pollen in their last trimester of pregnancy have a much greater chance of developing asthma. One of the main keys with asthma prevention is avoidance.
When you have asthma the typical garden is not a very friendly place at all. There are mold spores to contend with and worst of all is the pollen. Typical gardens have pollen producing male trees and male shrubs and other plants that can provoke asthma attacks. Almost anyone with asthma will tell you that their asthma can be triggered by a good number of things, but pollen is often number one for causing an attack. Garden allergies are common, but they need not be. Allergies from gardening could be largely a thing of the past… if we’re willing to make some simple changes.
In fall of 1999 in Richmond, Virginia the American Lung Association of Virginia (ALAV) built a new Breathe Easy office and headquarters. They had this entire large building constructed with the latest innovations in green construction and sustainable design. No construction materials were used that would off gas any harmful or toxic chemicals, no materials were used that would trigger asthma or allergies. Every attempt was made to build something that would be pleasant and healthy to work in. The people who work in this office now will tell you too, that they all notice what a great improvement it is. Their office is a healthy building.
The ALA decided it would make perfect sense to landscape their new healthy building (in some states these are now called Health Houses) with an allergy free landscape. OPALS (the plant/allergy 1-10 numerical ranking system) was used to select only those plant materials that were either very low pollen, low allergy, or that were totally pollen free, allergy free. In effect they created the first true asthma friendly garden in the US.
Health Houses in other states are now also adding pollen free landscapes to their green construction, green buildings. A new Health House is about to be built in Pennsylvania, and the PA Association of Landscapers and Nurserymen are helping to surround it with an asthma friendly landscape.
Schools too are getting into the clean air act, and in the city of Visalia, California, the Tulare County Asthma Coalition recently directed the asthma friendly landscaping of a newly built elementary school.
Twelve keys to building your own asthma friendly garden:
1.Plant lots of female trees and female shrubs. Not only will these not shed any pollen, they will also trap a good deal of pollen that may stay in from somewhere else. Think of these female plants as nature’s air cleaners.
2.Use only low pollen or no pollen lawns. There are types of lawns now that are pretty well pollen free and these are a big improvement over some of the older lawn varieties. In southern states, if you have a common Bermuda grass lawn, consider replacing it with a newer, more asthma friendly hybrid Bermuda grass. ‘Princess 77′ is a new Bermuda grass hybrid that can be planted from seed. It is next to pollen free, grows very low and tight, and is especially good looking.
3.With OPALS 1 is best, 10 is worst. Use only plants with rankings of 1-5. The more plants in your gardens that have rankings ranging from 1-3, the friendlier your place will be for anyone with allergies or asthma.
4.Remove any trees or shrubs with rankings over OPALS #7. The woody landscape plants with rankings of 8-10 are all sure-fire allergy triggering plants and you can live without them.
5.Replace any removed high pollen, asthma triggering plants with their opposite, female trees or female shrubs. Also good as replacements are perfect flowered plants that are known to be very low pollen producers. These will all have good (low) OPALS rankings.
6.Use only plants that are well adapted to your own area. If you can find natives that have low allergy rankings, consider using them. Look around your own neighborhood, and see for yourself, which kinds of plants seem to be flourishing there already. For almost every kind of plant used in landscaping, there is now a no or low pollen version of it, if you know what to look for.
7.Use a wide variety of plant materials; diversity is good. Biodiversity always makes sense. The more diverse our gardens are the fewer problems we’ll have with insects and molds.
8.Avoid plants with strong fragrances or odors, as they can cause asthma. Don’t plant jasmines or similar vines next to entrances or exits and certainly don’t use them underneath bedroom windows.
9.For mulch, use rock or gravel instead of bark to cut down on toxic mold spores in the garden. Flat stones or pavers also make good, mold free mulching materials.
10.To further eliminate mold spores, encourage wild birds in your garden. Virtually all wild birds eat insects, and insect damage triggers outbreaks of mold. Even the tiny hummingbirds actually eat a large number of insects. Put up a hummingbird feeder!
11.Keep your plants healthy. This too will cut down on both pollen and mold. When it is hot and windy, do some irrigating. Fertilize everything in the garden spring and fall. If plants are crowding each other too much, thin them out. If tree branches overhead are putting your whole yard in deep shade, consider having the tree thinned to let in more light. Fresh air and light are the enemies of molds.
12.If a tree, shrub, vine or any other plant always looks sickly, looks dirty, or always attracts bugs, then shovel prune it. Dig it up and get rid of it. Replace it with something easier to grow. Don’t get caught up in having to spray insecticides all the time, as they too can easily cause asthma and allergies.

Make your garden a fun, stress free zone. Be sure to have a few comfortable garden chairs to sit in, and a little table of some sort is always good too. Wind chimes, bird feeders, and birdbaths can add greatly to your enjoyment and cost little. A beautiful, pollen free, allergy free, asthma friendly garden can be just the place for healthy children, and a great place for anyone to relax and enjoy the great outdoors. For more advice on low allergen gardening, look up allergy free gardening on the Internet, or go to your local library and read some books on this new important subject.

Tom Ogren is the author of five published books, including: Allergy-free Gardening, Safe Sex in the Garden (Ten Speed Press), and What the Experts May NOT Tell You About: Growing the Perfect Lawn (AOL Time Warner Books). Tom has an MS degree in Agriculture-Horticulture, taught landscape gardening for twenty years, owned and operated two wholesale-retail nurseries, and in northern Minnesota was host of the popular Public Radio call-in gardening show, “Tom Ogren’s Wild World of Plants!”
Tom (Thomas Leo Ogren) has published hundreds of articles on health and gardening. His work has appeared in diverse publications such as South Africa’s Veldt and Field, in Women’s Day, Alternative Medicine, the Burpee Seed Catalog, Sunset Magazine, Landscape Architecture, Der Spiegel, The London Times, The Seattle Times, The Washington Post, and even the Jerusalem Post. He has also made numerous appearances on HGTV and his work was the focus of two made for TV documentaries, one by the Canadian Discovery Channel.
Tom has been interviewed on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition and his groundbreaking research was featured on The CBS Evening News. He is a frequent lecturer for garden clubs, arboretums, civic groups, hospitals, medical groups, Master Gardeners, and professional associations of landscapers, landscape designers, writers, nursery people, arborists, and urban foresters. He has become well known for his fun, high energy, highly informative, unusual and provocative talks. Tom is a member of the Professional Landscape Designers Association, and the GWA, the Garden Writers of America. Unlike many well-published authors, he still tries to answer all of his own email. You can contact Tom through his website, at: www.allergyfree-gardening.com

Notice of Copyright: Copyright Thomas Leo Ogren

About the Author

Thomas Ogren is the author of Allergy-Free Gardening, Ten Speed Press. Tom does consulting work on for the USDA, county asthma coalitions, and the American Lung Associations. He has appeared on CBS, HGTV and The Discovery Channel. His book, Safe Sex in the Garden, was published 2003. In 2004 Time Warner Books published his latest: What the Experts May NOT Tell You About: Growing the Perfect Lawn. His website: www.allergyfree-gardening.com

Determining your home’s value, and setting a price, is probably the most important step in selling your home. Why? Because if your home is overpriced for your area, no matter what the cost of improvements that you have made on your house, buyers will shy away from it.

On the other hand, an underpriced home will probably move on and off the market because of a quick sale, but there goes your profit. So, to avoid losing time and money, you must properly price and present your home.

1) The easiest way to determine your home’s value is to pay for an appraisal, and price your home close to the appraisal price. You can find Residential Fee Appraisers listed in the Yellow Pages under Appraisers. For about two to three hundred dollars, they will give you a by-unit (room to room, fixtures, amenities; and square footage) comparison appraisal to similar property in your area. The downside is it will cost you money, but the upside is that you have in writing a professional appraisal on your home which you can display to prospective buyers. This can be an added selling feature. But there are other methods you can use, which won’t cost you anything.

2) Another way to find out the value of your home is to interview three or four real estate agents in your area. Of course, you will need to decide whether you want to use a realtor, or whether you want to go “for sale by owner.” If you use a realtor, he or she can help you determine your home’s value, and the best asking price to set. But you may find yourself saying, “Gee, if I sell my house myself, I can save thousands of dollars in realtor commissions.” If you would like to go it alone, you can find advice on How To Sell Your House in Six Easy Steps at http://www.paradoxpro.com/prdx.hosale.html

If and when you contact a realtor, talk to an agent directly. Let him or her know up front if your intention is to sell your home yourself. You can always use the agent anyway if you also intend to buy a home, since an agent’s services are free to the buyer. Usually you can get an agent to provide a bit of information about your current home, as long is there is some commission in it somewhere.

Ask the realtor for a CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) on your house. You will need to supply the agent with information pertaining to your house and the area. List the number of baths and bedrooms, and the total number of rooms. Do not count the basement, garage or bath areas as rooms.

Next make a list of up to 10 roads within a half mile to mile radius. Include your address, zip code and school district. This furnishes the agent with all the criteria necessary to run a market analysis. A CMA consists of the selling prices of the homes in the surrounding area that have similar traits to your house. The comparable should cover a six-month to one-year period.

Some web sites offer to provide a CMA. Many of them are based on tax rolls, and often charge for the service. At one time, there were several sites that allowed you to access the information anonymously, but a recent check of over 100 sites in a leading search engine showed that today’s sites require you to provide either money, personal information, or both.

3) A third method of figuring your house’s value is to determine what your city or county has set the value at, based on your property taxes. Let’s say the property taxes on your house are $2000 a year and your tax base is 1 percent (this is a percentage in which local municipalities multiply their estimate of the worth of your home to arrive at a yearly tax figure). The city or county in which you live uses many methods to determine what they feel is the worth of your home. To determine this estimated value, you need to multiply your base by the yearly tax amount. Usually the value, your tax base, and the yearly property tax amount are located on the same issued tax statement or bill. $2000.00 x .01 = $200, 000.00 YOUR TAX BASE OF ONE PERCENT (.01) MULTIPLIED BY YOUR YEARLY TAX OF TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS ($2000.00) = ESTIMATED VALUE OF YOUR HOUSE, OR $200, 000.00.

The problem with this method is that there have been great fluctuations in tax valuations in the past 20 years, and your property taxes may or may not be a good way to estimate your home’s value. Often it is best to try each of the three methods, as a way to check each of the other methods for accuracy.

Even the realtor’s conditional CMA may not be on the money. This is where a comparison between the information given to you by the real estate agent and the calculated value of your home may help.

Let’s say the agent tells you $310,000 is the average selling price in your area for a house with similar square footage and features. Another important factor is how long the houses stayed on the market before selling. A complete CMA will include a brief description of each comparable home and the days on the market before it sold.

Use the comparables to price your home, but if the market is fair in your area (90 to 120 days on the market) deduct 2%, and for a poor market (120 days or more), subtract 3%. Market movement is important. Likewise, if the houses move really fast, you may be able to set your price slightly higher. You want a starting price high enough to make the profit you want, but not so high as to scare off buyers.

Be aware that none of the suggested ways of determining your property’s worth referred to in this text will guarantee the house will sell for your calculated price. The marketplace is always the final word in regard to actual profit you can expect and the speed at which your home will sell.

About The Author

Jeffrey D. Leiser is the author of “You Can Sell Your House: For Sale By Owner” which includes 10 forms and a 60 page guide, plus a bonus report on salesmanship. Sell Your House in Six Easy Steps, http://www.paradoxpro.com/prdx.hosale.html.

Valentine’s Day is almost upon us so most of you lucky ladies
will receive some beautiful red roses on the day. I have some
tips on how to extend the life (and your enjoyment) of your
roses.

Hopefully your flowers will have been harvested less than 14
days ago; of course this depends on where you live, local
supply, and transport issues. If your roses have been
transported flat in boxes (not wet packed) you will only get
half the shelf life of roses packed in water from the harvest
stage.

When your get your flowers home, take the following steps to
extend their shelf life:

1. Cut a good inch off the stems and place in warm water for a
while to get them drinking.

2. Add some sugar as a first aid remedy.

3. Clean a vase with bleach and hot water, tip out and half fill
with cool water and 1 teaspoon of bleach. This will stop
bacteria breeding in the water and infecting the stems of your
roses.

4. Transfer roses into the vase.

5. Spray the heads with a mister often. All flowers drink from
the petals and leaves, even if the stems are deteriorating.

6. Change the water every third day and recut the stems. This
will revive even droopy flowers.

Enjoy, and happy Valentine’s Day!

Cucumbers are easy to grow in a home garden except for one problem. They are especially susceptible to one disease. Perhaps you’ve seen it in your own garden. You have planted a row of seeds and they have sprouted nicely and have grown into long vines that have spread out over the garden and turned themselves into a big cucumber patch. You are beginning to anticipate having a bountiful harvest of cucumbers for salads and maybe even pickles. But then one evening when you are walking through the garden you notice that one cucumber plant has wilted. Your first thought is that maybe one of the kids, or maybe even the dog, might have been running through the garden and maybe they broke the plant off at the base of the stem. So you get down on your knees and check things out. Nope. The stem is intact. Then you think that maybe the plant needs water, but if that is so then why aren’t all the other cucumber plants surrounding it wilted too? Then you notice a few little striped or spotted bugs flying around, especially near the blossoms of the plant, and then you realize what has happened. All those little bugs are cucumber beetles. They have infected your cucumber plants with a disease called cucumber wilt.

What can you do to control it?

Cucumber wilt is a bacterial disease that is carried by the cucumber beetle. If you find an infected plant in your garden the best thing to do is just to pull it out of the ground and burn it. At this stage, after one plant has wilted, the cucumber beetles have no doubt had a chance to spread through all the other plants in your garden. If you have a really healthy garden you might still be safe because many of your plants could be strong enough to resist the disease and still produce a crop. If this seems to be the case, then the easiest thing to do is just to do nothing. But if your garden is the least bit stressed or out of balance and you can see cucumber beetles zooming around everywhere then the wilt will probably spread and kill almost all the cucumber plants. The next thing you can do is to try to kill as many of the cucumber beetles as possible. Insecticides containing rotenone or pyrethrins are probably the easiest and safest solution and they do work, but it will still be a continuing battle to save the rest of your plants long enough to get a harvest.

Planning ahead and use floating row covers.

There is a simple way to raise cucumbers without having to worry about cucumber beetles and cucumber wilt.

Just put a barrier over your plants so that the beetles will never have a chance to touch them. The easiest way to do this is to use floating row covers. Floating row covers are big sheets of spun-bonded polypropylene fabric that are light enough and thin enough to lay over the plants. Enough light and rain can pass through the fabric so the cucumber plants can grow until they are ready to blossom without ever being molested by a cucumber beetle or by being sprayed with and insecticide. When the blossoms appear, just remove the cover so that pollination can take place. If there are any cucumber beetles around when you remove the cover it will probably take them some time to find the plants and then some more time to do any real damage. By then you will be picking cucumbers.

Tips for using floating row covers.

You should put the row covers on the same day you plant your cucumber seeds. Don’t let the seeds sprout uncovered because the beetles might find the tiny seedlings then and all will be lost. You should also place the covers so that they have room to puff up after the plants start to grow under them. Don’t put them on tight. Make sure to seal the edges completely with dirt all the way around. This is the only way. Don’t use rocks or garden staples because these things still leave openings where a bug can crawl through.

Copyright 2006, Terry Cunning

Terry Cunning is a gardener from Pennsylvania. For more information about organic gardening please visit his website at http://www.gardening.organiccavalcade.com/

If you’re anything like me, when you first wake up in the morning, eventually battle with the stuggle of getting up and prise open your eyelids, You need to start the day.
When your brain kicks in, you start thinking about the weather, what’s on the news which will be the hot topic in the office today, have I got any emails and so much more.

So you walk to the kitchen and you grab yourself a coffee, the probably turn the TV on for your daily burst of news or weather and the computer on to check if any of your friends have sent you pictures of their new dog.
Today, the weather is warm and cloudy, so when you can finally manage to get dressed, you decide on a shirt and jeans.
There’s a bit of news, your team won last night - that’s what the office will be talking about.
And you have an email from your Aunt Jemima with some pictures of her hoiday.

Now, imagine for one second, Imagine you didn’t need to turn the TV on to check the weather.
Imagine you could open your eyes and when you walked into the kitchen you get your much needed caffiene and you could instantly know what the weather’s like and what clothes you need to wear.

Imagine if you didnt need to turn on the TV to find out if there was news on your team, your local area or any other thing.
You could walk through your house knowing that your team won last night.

Imagine if you didnt need to turn on your computer to see if you have an emails, you could instantly know whether you have any emails, even before you turn that PC on!

Now, I hear you shout, how would that work?

Ambient Devices have released a wonderful new gadget which allows you to monitor information wirelessly from wherever you are. The Ambient Orb is a simple wireless object that unobtrusively presents information. Just like a clock on your wall, it allows information to be easy to access yet non-obtrusive. They communicate via subtle changes in color. So if your team won last night, it could show green and a brighter green the more they won by (or red if they lost!). Or could show green if its sunny or red for rain - It could even pulse to warn for snow or storms!

The Orb rteceives information Via a nationwide wireless network called the Ambient Information Network. It works in a similar way to cell phones and receivers. As it’s wireless you maybe worried about radiation. Well, technically just about everything that is powered in your house gives off radiation. Because the device only receives information, it gives off far less radiation than a cell phone or even a television.

The orb plugs simply into a power outlet, no computer is required, it doesnt need any configuration. Just plug it in and wait for the information to start flooding in.

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For more information, check Ambient Orb or Buy an Orb