Ernst: Australian pines’ fans actually have a point (The Sarasota Herald-Tribune)

Eric Ernst Seeking the perfect plant for waterfront scenery, a reader of “Florida Landscape Plants” might have chosen the offering on Page 126. “For clipped hedges and topiary near the sea nothing surpasses this species,” the book says

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Ernst: Australian pines’ fans actually have a point (The Sarasota Herald-Tribune)

Florida’s least wanted: invasive plants (St. Petersburg Times)

Some of them, like fire ants and water hyacinths, have been around so long they seem like a natural part of the landscape.

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Florida’s least wanted: invasive plants (St. Petersburg Times)

Irrigation Systems: Protect Your Landscape Investment With These Top-10 Water-saving Tips

Irrigation systems are a convenient way to protect your landscape investment in Orlando, while helping to preserve one of our most precious resources and saving you time and money. With all the new technology and practices available to every Orlando homeowner, irrigation systems can be made more efficient to lower your water bill and reduce wasteful run-off.
The Irrigation Association has named July as “Smart Irrigation Month” to provide homeowners with water-wise tips to keep their landscape looking beautiful through the use of proper irrigation systems. The key to an efficient irrigation system is applying just enough water…and only when necessary. This will not only give you more free time (you won’t have to stand around holding a hose anymore), but also reduce your water bill – sometimes drastically. Every Orlando homeowner can appreciate that!
Try these water-saving tips (offered by the Irrigation Association) to maintain and update your automatic irrigation system in Orlando:
1) Adapt your watering schedule to the weather and the season in the Orlando area. Familiarize yourself with the settings on your irrigation system controller and adjust the watering schedule regularly to conform to current weather conditions.

2) Schedule each individual zone in your irrigation system. “Scheduling” your irrigation system takes into consideration the type of sprinkler, sun or shade exposure and the soil type for your area of Orlando.
3) Inspect your irrigation system monthly. Hire an irrigation professional to regularly check your irrigation system for leaks, broken or clogged heads, and other problems. There are many reputable landscape professionals in the Orlando area.
4) Adjust sprinkler heads. Correct obstructions that prevent sprinklers from distributing water evenly to insure that your irrigation system is not spraying water on pavements or structures.

5) Get a professional irrigation system audit from one of Orlando’s landscape maintenance companies. Ask them to conduct an irrigation audit and uniformity test to make sure areas are being watered evenly.
6) Consider “smart” technology. Climate or soil moisture sensor-based irrigation system controllers evaluate Orlando weather and soil conditions and automatically adjust the irrigation schedule to meet the specific needs of your landscape.
7) Install a money-saving rain shutoff-switch. These are required by law in Orlando, as well as other parts of Florida. Sensors turn off your system in rainy weather. (The device can be retrofitted to almost any irrigation system.)

Consider low-volume drip irrigation systems for plant beds. Install micro irrigation for gardens, trees and shrubs.
9) Water at the optimum time of day…when the sun is low (or down), winds are calm and temperatures are cool in Orlando- between the evening and early morning – to cut down on evaporation and run-off.
10) Water only when needed. Saturate root zones and let the soil dry. This is important in the Orlando climate zone.
Most Orlando homeowners overwater their yard, unwittingly wasting money every time they take out the hose or turn on the sprinklers. Adopting water-savvy habits by installing an efficient irrigation system not only helps reduce this waste, it saves money, while promoting a healthier lawn and landscape.

Winslow Homer – American Landscape Painter

Homer was born in Boston, Massachusetts and, when he was 19, was apprenticed to a commercial lithographer. Despite having almost no formal training in art, Homer moved to New York in 1859 and opened his own studio as a painter and illustrator. He took art classes and was a regular freelance illustrator for Harper’s Weekly and other important magazines of the day. They would be his major source of income for the next 17 years.

When the Civil War erupted in 1861, Harper’s sent him to the front lines to document the fighting. He made faithful sketches of the battle scenes and ordinary life in the camps. Although these did not get Homer much artistic recognition at the time the drawings, with their strong draftsmanship and realism, are today considered to be among the best of America?s graphic arts.

After the war, Homer produced a series of paintings influenced by scenes he had witnessed, among them Sharpshooter on Picket Duty, and Prisoners from the Front, which was exhibited at the Paris Exposition of 1866. In the same year he traveled to Paris and stayed there for ten months.

Ten years after the end of the Civil War, Winslow Homer was in his mid-40s and an acclaimed painter and illustrator. Snap the Whip, painted in 1872, was exhibited at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and, in the same year, he decided to abandon illustration and devote himself to painting. But perhaps the most significant development in Homer?s artistic career came with his adoption of watercolors. He is quoted as saying “You will see, in the future I will live by my watercolors” and, indeed, the success he achieved with these fresh and spontaneous works permitted him to stop working as an illustrator.

At this time, Homer never went anywhere without brushes, paper and his pans of watercolors. He started depicting the coast of New England, the Adirondacks, the wild rivers of Quebec, the Florida Keys and the whitewashed walls of Bermuda.

In 1881 Homer returned to Europe and spent the next two years in Cullercoats, a small fishing village on the stormy North Sea coast of England. His subject matter was the sea and the courageous inhabitants of the small struggling community. The watercolors he produced of the village women going about their daily lives or waiting for their menfolk to return from a fishing expedition are some of the most powerful images produced by the artist.

Back in the U.S. he went to live in Prout’s Neck, Maine where he built a studio on the rocky sea shore that was to be his home until he died. Winslow Homer lived there alone, isolated and free to devote himself to his art. It is at this time that he began painting the seascapes for which he is best known such as Gulf Stream, Eight Bells, and Mending the Nets. His paintings underwent a fundamental change. He was now concentrating on the force, drama, and wild beauty of the ocean. His style was powerful and self-confident. Homer never spoke about the reasons for this self-imposed seclusion; it?s thought that perhaps an unhappy love affair might have been the cause.

Winslow Homer died on September 29, 1910 in his studio at Prout’s Neck. He was 74 years old. His painting, Shoot the Rapids, remained unfinished.

You can find a wide collection of Winslow Homer paint by number patterns at the Segmation web site.  These patterns may be viewed, painted, and printed using SegPlay™PC a fun, computerized paint-by-numbers program for Windows 2000, XP, and Vista.