The Associated Press

Care to go a differenttack with your spring-time gardening? Plant aliving wreath for thefront door or garden gate.

Upscale catalogues,such as Viva Terra, havebeen selling livingwreaths for years. Therub is they can be expen-sive (at Viva Terra, $98plus other charges thattip one wreath toward$122 to receive).

The upside is they’reeasy and fast to assembleon your own, and requirea minimum of care. Re-wards include a summer-time of enjoyment anddo-it-yourself satisfac-tion.

The instructions beloware taken from the pagesof the DIY magazine“Fresh Home.” EditorKarol K. Nickell, fromthe magazine’s officesnear Milwaukee, advised

gardeners to have funwith this wreath.

Want to plant akitchen herb garden? Gofor it. Thinking succu-lents? That’s great. Howabout a holiday-themedliving wreath? Nickellsuggests planting aFourth of July wreathwith red, white and blueannuals. (There are moreblue flower hues on themarket than ever before.)

There are only a fewrules to plant by: Consid-er the sunshine and wa-tering needs of the herbsor annuals, and plant ac-cordingly. For example,stick to either shady orsunny plants — don’tmix the two. And ifyou’re apt to forget towater the wreath, youmight want to lean to-ward drought-tolerantsucculents.

Aim for variety: plantsof varying color, variega-tion and leaf shape and

size.Nickell says smaller

plants work best. Theycost less, are easier toplant in a wreath and al-so grow faster.

“That’s the nature of asmall plant — to reallypush growth,” says Nick-ell.

Armed with these tips,you can plant this novelgarden with creativeabandon. An examplethat appears in thespring issue of “FreshHome” includes wirychives and other, bushierherbs. Another wreath isplanted entirely withvariegated ivy.

LIVING WREATHAdapted from “Fresh

Home” magazineSupplies:Pre-made sphagnum

peat moss wreathSmall plants (such

Most of us have fa-vorite tools we use in thegarden. We reach for theold familiar friends whenheading out to weed, digand prune. But there arenew tools in the market-place andsome itemsyou mightnot havethought ofas gardentools.

A newset of toolscame outfrom Ra-dius thisyear(www.ra-diusgar-den.com). The diggingfork, shovel, spade, longhandle weeder, bulbauger, transplanter, etc.all have a top handlethat is round and cush-ioned, providing fourtimes the gripping space.

Radius also makes aPond Shark for cleaningout the koi pond and aGator Grabber that is

wonderfully easy to usefor picking up leaves andother garden debris with-out stooping over.

To make the wateringeasier this summer, con-sider adding a new hoseand an Excel Wobbler(http://bit.ly/aKQo0D).Space the Wobblers every24 feet, turn on the waterand sit back. A hose bibextender could reducethe hose dragging hassleand make life a little eas-ier, too.

And, when shoppingfor a new garden hose,you will find rubber,vinyl and combinationmaterials. For longer lifeand greater strength,look for a reinforced hosewith crush proof cou-plings.

The inside of a gardenhose grows mold and bac-teria. If your pets andchildren like to drinkfrom the hose while play-ing outside, look forAmes Microban antimi-crobial hoses or productsmade from 100 percent

new, non-recycled, non-carcinogenic materials.

Traditional cultivationtools include flat-bladedhoes and hand heldweeders. Long handledbarbeque tongs, screwdrivers, kitchen paringknives, grubbing knivesand other unlikely toolsalso find their way intogardeners’ hands atweeding time.

The taproot weeder hasa forked end and a bulkyhandle. Several compa-nies make a long-han-dled, ergonomic versionthat reduces bending andkneeling while pullingdeeply rooted weeds.

A Warren hoe has apointed end for pullingout weeds between rows.For a large garden aScuffle, Stirrup or DutchHoe is the tool of choice.The tool end has an oscil-lating stirrup with twosharp sides, that moveback and forth on ahinge. They come in 3-, 5-and 7-inch widths.

The DeWit Spork from

Holland is a combinationof a spade and a gardenfork (http://tiny.cc/lurel).It has a long T-handleand a sharp-edged, car-bon steel, head that isshaped like a shovel withbroad forks at the end.

Fiskars makes dozensof new-design tools forjust about every use.Their PowerGear andrear pivot pruners areeasier on the hands. ThePowerGear and PowerLever loppers have shockabsorbing bumpers thatwork to reduce muscleexhaustion from reachingand pruning.

The company thatmakes Liquid Wrenchmakes several items thatare helpful for gardeners.

Their Silicon Spray ap-plied to a shovel makescleanup easier. It will al-so waterproof plastic,metal and wood toolparts. Use PenetratingOil to get rid of rust andlubricate squeaky gatehinges. White LithiumGrease is useful on all-

weather items such ashinges — it resists bothmelting and freezing.Chain Lube applied to agarage door will preventweather related corro-sion, and Lubricating Oilapplied to hedge clipperswill prevent hinge rust.

A useful tool for relax-ing after the gardening isdone for the day is Ther-maCELL, a mosquito re-pelling patio lantern thatworks up to 225-squarefeet.

The lantern is aportable light with a bu-tane cartridge that pow-ers the mosquito repel-lent. Two batteries pow-er the LED lights. Therepelling mats are goodfor 4-hours. Therma-CELL also makes aportable, butane-pow-ered mosquito repellentto tuck into a pocket oronto a belt (www.ther-macell.com).

Father’s Day is aroundthe corner. Give the menon your list somethingthey can use.

Muskogee Phoenix Thursday, June 3, 2010 Section B, Page 4

Life

• Leilani Roberts Ott,features editor, 684-2908,lott@muskogeephoenix.com

• Fax: 684-2865.• Online: www.musko-

geephoenix.comWe welcome your com-

ments and story ideas.

Gannett News Service

Brace yourself for ablood-sucking summer dou-ble play. CW is pairing "TheVampire Diaries" (7 p.m.),which tonight offers a re-peat of the first post-pilotepisode, with repeats ofcorporate-cousin CBS's"Moonlight" (8 p.m.).Though whether that hasmore to do with CW's loveof vampires or the largercompany's love of "Moon-light" star Alex O'Loughlin(who will be back on CBSthis fall in the "Hawaii Five-0" remake) is open to ques-tion.

For those who prefer theliving to the undead (andwho don't plan to watchbasketball on ABC), thebig doings tonight are overat USA, which returns twoof summer's biggest script-ed hits. First up is "BurnNotice" (8 p.m.), whereMichael faces a terroristthreat, a lawyer whoneeds protection from abiker gang, and a possiblenew partner. That's fol-lowed by "Royal Pains"(9 p.m.), which features arecurring guest turn by Os-car-winner Marcia GayHarden.

Over on CBS, "The Men-talist" (CBS, 9 p.m.) offersone of its more amusingmysteries, as Simon Bak-er's Patrick spars with arich, luxury-car loving mur-der suspect (Currie Gra-ham) who comes on to Lis-bon. The show is usuallybetter when the suspectcan hold his or her own withPatrick — and this is one ofthose times. It's worthwatching just to see Patrickdrive blind-folded, a neattrick if ever there was one.Well, if you could actuallydo it.

Actor Tony Curtis is 85. TV producer Chuck Bar-

ris is 81. Actress Irma P. Hall is

75. Author Larry McMurtry

is 74. Rock singer Ian Hunter

(Mott The Hoople) is 71. Singer Eddie Holman is

64. Musician Too Slim (Rid-

ers in the Sky) is 62. Rock musician Richard

Moore is 61. Singer Suzi Quatro is

60. Singer Deneice Williams

is 59. Singer Dan Hill is 56. Actor Scott Valentine is

52. Rock musician Kerry

King (Slayer) is 46. Rock singer-musician

Mike Gordon is 45. CNN host Anderson

Cooper is 43. Country singer Jamie

O'Neal is 42. Singers Gabriel and

Ariel Hernandez (No Mer-cy) are 39.

Tennis player RafaelNadal is 24.

Actress-singer Lalaine is23.

While fishing with hiscousin, Dustin Kusler, An-drew Clay caught this bigfish and three smaller ones.No fish fry though, theywere released. Photo takenby Grandpa Donald Clay.

E-mail your snapshots tofeatures@muskogee-phoenix.com.

To contact us:

What’s on TV

Happy birthday

Slice of life

Molly Day

All theDirt onGardening

The right tools can maketime in the garden easier

Special photo by Molly Day

This ThermaCELL Mosquito Lantern is a portable light with a butane cartridge that repels mosquitos for 225-square feet.

Some tools you might not even have thought of as garden tools

AP

This photo provided by Fresh Home/Reader’s DigestAssociation shows a living wreath. Care to go a differ-ent tack with your springtime gardening? Plant a livingwreath for the front door or garden gate.

Living wreath’s appealingsurprise? It’s alive

(See PLANTS, 5B)