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Home and Garden

  • Feeding summer hummingbirds provides entertainment and beauty

    Hummingbirds, which artist John J. Audubon called “glittering fragments of the rainbow,” are once again darting around flowers and feeders in South Carolina, say state natural resources officials.

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  • Yard of the Month: Colors of summer are all around

    This year, shades of pink and orange are popular in everything from clothes to flowers. That’s what makes the yard of Cynthia and Jerry Harper at 2657 Quiet Acres Road so appealing. It is filled with all the colors of summer including those vibrant pinks and oranges. Having a well kept yard filled with flowers has always been a passion for Cynthia. With flower gardens designed throughout the yard, Cynthia makes sure they are laden with a blend of color from perennials and annuals.

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  • Strengthen plants this season with a new tool for gardeners

    Melinda Myers
    Horticulturist
    As gardeners well know, there are plenty of challenges our landscapes will face throughout the growing season. Heat, drought, pests and disease can take their toll on our plants, causing wilting, brown leaves, damaged plants and even plant death. Fortunately, gardeners now have a new organic tool for growing healthy, productive, and beautiful landscapes all season long.

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  • Take a trip to Congaree Swamp National Park

    Did you know that South Carolina is home to the largest old growth bottomland forest left in North America?
    The Congaree Swamp National Park protects a primeval forested floodplain intermittently washed by the Congaree and Wateree rivers. This flooding carries nutrient rich sediment that feeds an amazingly diverse ecosystem, including 75 protected tree species and world record trees. Among the national champions is the country’s tallest loblolly pine, standing as high as a 16-story building.

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  • Fitness Challenge

    Gregory A. Summers
    gsummers@thelancasternews.com
    Katie Stogner is smiling a lot now than she was in February and there’s a lot less of her to be smiling.
    Stogner completed the grinding 12-week fitness challenge at Island Sun Fitness and Tanning, and the new mom is 32 pounds lighter. After giving birth to her son, Thaxton, on Dec. 7, 2011, she hoped to lose 30 pounds and exceeded her target.

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  • City firefighters to the rescue

    Nita Brown
    For the Lancaster News
    The Lancaster City Fire Department came to the rescue in a different way for YouthBuild and Habitat for Humanity of Lancaster County on Friday, June 1. Hoping to beat the ugly weather forecast, a team of 15 city firefighters, working as volunteers, showed up early at the Meeting Street job site to set roof trusses on the new home under construction.

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  • Supporting the arts enhances living

    Twyla Tharp, a famous American dancer and choreographer, is quoted in her book, “The Creative Habit,” as saying “... reading, conversation, environment, culture, heroes, mentors, nature – all are lottery tickets for creativity. Scratch away at them, and you’ll find out how big a prize you’ve won.”

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  • Fruit of the Earth

    Michele Roberts
    For The Lancaster News
    Ah, to be in a garden in the cool of the day, with the fresh smell of the earth and plants filling the air. On Beaverland Farm on Hoke Road in Lancaster County, Robert and Lisa Bowers enjoy a bounty of the fruit of the earth – and all of the sights and smells that go with it – in a half acre garden on their property.
    The garden began coming to life in February, Lisa Bowers said.

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  • Native Bees

    Angelo Sciulli
    For The Lancaster News
    The word “bee” usually makes people think of the honeybee. However, honeybees, Apis mellifora, were imported from Europe by the early colonists for their honey. The wild colonies of honeybees in North America are a result of the bees’ tendency to swarm.

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  • 12-Week Challenge down to the wire

    Editor’s note: The Lancaster News is tracking the progress of Katie Stogner and Jeff Holden as they undertake the Island Sun Tanning and Fitness 12-week Challenge for 2012. Here is their third progress report. You can also follow their progress at stevelewisplan.com.
    Katie’s story

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