Landscaping

HAGERSTOWN - Hagerstown officials want to beautify four high-traffic areas across town to send a positive message to motorists entering the city. The matter is scheduled to be discussed this afternoon during the Hagerstown City Council's work session. Cindy Blackstock, city community development coordinator, said city staff will propose landscaping Prospect Avenue at Pennsylvania Avenue, three traffic islands on Eastern Boulevard near Potomac Avenue, East Franklin Street at Cannon Avenue and two traffic islands at Virginia Avenue and Wilson Boulevard.

KEEDYSVILLE -- Weather permitting, the weekend of May 16 and 17 will see Eagle Scout candidate Matthew DeTora and his crew from Troop 20 working on the landscaping at the new Keedysville branch of the Washington County Free Library. A sophomore at Boonsboro High School, Matthew, 15, said he was interested in some sort of gardening to complete his Eagle Scout project at the library. "I intend to landscape around the building, clean and repaint the cement curbing and parking stops, along with painting the front and back pillars," Matthew said.

A new course focusing on a successful plan for growing woody ornamental trees and shrubs will be held at Hagerstown Community College on Mondays, Oct. 29 and Nov. 5, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Sandy Scott, a retired Washington County horticulture consultant and educator, will instruct students on the proper planning, selecting and caring for woody ornamental trees and shrubs. Scott will help students plan for a beautiful landscape with the right foundation of plants and shrubs. Cost for the course is $35. To learn more and to register, call HCC's Center for Continuing Education at 301-790-2800, ext. 236.

HAGERSTOWN -- By the time Ruth Tinney's family moves into the home being built for them by Habitat for Humanity, shrubs and small tress already will have taken root in the front yard. Six women from the Town and Country Garden Club dug, planted and watered a variety of sturdy plants Thursday morning as Women Build volunteers installed insulation inside the Habitat house and built a shed behind it. Organizers hope the home will be ready in time for "turkey in the oven at Thanksgiving," said Pam Meredith, head of the Women Build chapter.

Tonya Racanelli and Scott Shade of Shepherdstown, W.Va., finish landscaping at Shepherd University just before the rain falls Tuesday afternoon.

Name of business: Family Tree Re-Wholesale Nursery Owner: Becky Evans Address: 9915 Garis Shop Road, Hagerstown, Opening date: March 21 Products and services: "We will provide quality plant material at reasonable prices, including a large selection of dwarf flowering trees, long-blooming shrubs and hardy evergreen screening plants. We will also carry perennials, planting supplies and mulch. "Customers will benefit from free plantscaping design services and, if desired, fast plant installation services by some of the area's finest family-owned landscaping companies.

Volunteers are being sought to help with spring cleaning along Jonathan Street and West North Avenue in Hagerstown for two hours on Saturday, May 8. "This cleanup is being sponsored by C-SAFE, formerly known as HotSpots," program coordinator Carolyn Brooks said Tuesday. Collaborative Supervision and Focused Enforcement, or C-SAFE, is a state-funded, community-based crime prevention program based in the Martin Luther King Center on North Avenue. All ages are welcome to pick up trash, cut grass and do some light landscaping, Brooks said.

HAGERSTOWN -- The City of Hagerstown is looking for residents and businesses that have pretty posies, gorgeous gardens and lovely landscaping on display. The Highlight Hagerstown Awards, sponsored by the Hagerstown Beautification Advisory Committee (HBAC), has been designed to show appreciation for those who have beautified their property, the city said in a prepared release. This annual recognition focuses on those who have contributed to boosting the curb appeal of the city.

The problem: A median island at the intersection of Wayne and Glenwood avenues in Hagerstown's North End was allowed to become overgrown with tall weeds. A nearby resident who wrote in about the problem said the island previously was landscaped with various plants and shrubs, but this year those plants were removed and replaced with mulch. “As the pictures show, the island is now covered with weeds that are over two feet tall and this has become an eyesore to the neighborhood,” she wrote.

It may have been the first time that the three-day Franklin County Builders Show was held outside the Chambersburg area, but that didn't keep the crowds away. "I'm just tickled to death. It's just wall-to-wall people. I just think it's wonderful," said Tom Hanks, executive officer of the Franklin County Builders Association. Now in its 28th year, the show, sponsored by the association, continues to draw between 13,000 to 15,000 visitors eager to research landscaping, remodeling and financial management.

Spring has sprung even if it isn't as warm or as moist as we often think of spring. However, as weather goes in the spring here in the Great Valley, if you don't like today's weather, stick around, because tomorrow's will be different. Spring on the farm is full of new beginnings. Calves, lambs and kids are born and chicks hatch. The renewing of the land begins, as well as the wheat, rye, barley and pastures green up. Spring also comes with lots of activity and smells. There is the smell of freshly turned soil, and of course, the smell of manure.

The Continuing Education Division at Hagerstown Community College will offer a course called “Low Maintenance Landscaping,” on Thursdays, Feb. 28, and March 7, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the HCC Valley Mall Center. Participants will learn how to create a low-maintenance, vigorous home landscape with steps to save time, pesticides, and money. Emphasis will be on appropriate plant selection and plant maintenance. The course is taught by Deborah Smith Fiola, president and senior consultant at Landscape IPM Enterprises, LLC. She has a bachelor's degree in horticulture/ornamentals and a master's degree in entomology/landscape integrated pest management from the University of Maryland.

The Singer Society, the volunteer association of the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, held its monthly meeting Jan. 10 in the museum's Bowman Gallery.  Showing examples of his work, the guest speaker was Philip Koch, a modernist-influenced American landscape artist. Based in Baltimore, and a professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art Baltimore, Koch travels to New England and upstate New York to paint in the same locations that inspired Edward Hopper, Winslow Homer and the Hudson River School artists he admires.

There are no bulldozers turning the earth on old and historic fields, no acreage falling victim to the relentless march of development. Instead, Antietam National Battlefield is a dignified memorial to all who fought there - peaceful and picturesque. Shallow water murmurs below Burnside Bridge and overhanging trees shade narrow winding lanes that edge acres of cornfields. If you listen closely, you might think you hear heroic ghosts whisper of a great and terrible battle that was fought here 150 years ago - the site of the bloodiest day in the nation's wartime history.

The Continuing Education and Community Services Division at Hagerstown Community College will offer “Low Maintenance Landscaping” Thursdays from 6:30 to 9 p.m., beginning July 5 and ending July 12 at HCC's Valley Mall Center. Participants will learn about plants native to the local area, as well as how to choose the most pest-resistant plans. Time-saving landscape maintenance and design tips will also be discussed. Cost is $51. For more information, or to register, call 240-500-2236, or go to www.hagerstowncc.edu/coned/register .

Editor's note: The If You Go box has been updated on Wednesday, April 4   Dreams really do come true. The Texas Tenors are living proof. Marcus Collins, JC Fisher and John Hagen will take The Maryland Theatre stage with the Maryland Symphony Orchestra Saturday, April 7. Their story is a modern-day fairy tale. The handsome protagonists - all classically trained vocalists - are friends whose paths had crossed but who never had thought about putting their voices together, Collins said in a recent phone interview.

It's not Woodstock, but the Athletic, Recreation and Community Center at Hagerstown Community College will have one thing in common with the 1960s music festival this weekend - flower power. Buds, blooms, fronds and fern will be everywhere as part of the annual Flower & Garden Show, hosted by HCC's Alumni Association. The event will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 17, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, March 18. In addition to vendors, the show will feature floral and landscaping gurus who will be on hand to share their knowledge through a variety of seminars.

The landscape restoration project at the Antietam National Battlefield will be from 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturdays, Oct. 15, 22, 29 and Nov. 19. Volunteers are needed to plant native wildflower plugs in several buffer areas. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. at the Antietam National Battlefield Visitor's Center, 5831 Dunker Church Road, Sharpsburg. Work projects start at 9 a.m. and end at noon. Participants are asked to dress for the weather, bring a water bottle, and wear sturdy shoes or boots.

The problem: A median island at the intersection of Wayne and Glenwood avenues in Hagerstown's North End was allowed to become overgrown with tall weeds. A nearby resident who wrote in about the problem said the island previously was landscaped with various plants and shrubs, but this year those plants were removed and replaced with mulch. “As the pictures show, the island is now covered with weeds that are over two feet tall and this has become an eyesore to the neighborhood,” she wrote.