Gardening
Keep Holiday Greens Looking Their Best
When outdoor temperatures are cooler, green arrangements, like this winter container garden, last much longer than indoor displays.
Photo courtesy of MelindaMyers.com
Wreaths, door swags, garlands, and containers filled with evergreens have long been part of winter celebrations and displays. Keep them fresh and looking their best throughout the holidays with minimal effort.
Fresh greenery with pliable branches and firmly attached needles will last the longest. Check for good color and an aroma you prefer. Consider buying extra greenery and storing it in the garage or another cool location. Use these to replace any indoor greenery that is starting to brown.
Recut the bottom of the stems with a sharp bypass pruner. Totally submerge the greenery in a tub of room-temperature water overnight to help rehydrate the needles. Gently crush the cut end to allow it to better absorb moisture.
Remove the cuttings from the water and once dry, seal in the moisture by spraying the greens with an anti-transpirant, often called anti-desiccant. These products seal in moisture, reducing drying due to warm, dry air indoors and drying winds and sunlight outside.
Follow label directions for application tips and dilution rates based on what you are treating. Avoid using these on juniper berries, cedar and blue spruce. The waxy coating that makes these look blue can be damaged by these products. Apply anti-desiccant products outdoors during the day, as light is needed to activate some of these chemicals. Allow the treated greens to dry for three to four hours before moving them inside.
Display indoor greenery in cool locations out of direct sunlight. This reduces moisture loss and extends the life of your garland, wreaths, and arrangements.
Keep greenery away from heat sources that speed drying, decorative lights that generate heat, and flames from candles. Check the greens every few days and replace dry, brittle, and brown cuttings with fresh greens.
Outdoor greenery lasts much longer when temperatures are cooler than indoors. Further extend their longevity by placing them in more sheltered locations, out of direct sunlight and wind where they suffer less drying. Avoid hanging wreaths and swags in front of windows in direct sunlight where the reflected light can burn the foliage. Use an anti-transpirant on outdoor greenery to help reduce moisture loss and extend your enjoyment.
Keep outdoor planters of greens looking their best throughout the winter. Keep the soil moist until it freezes when displaying spruce tips, cut holiday trees, and evergreen stems in outdoor containers. If and when the ground freezes, you can stop watering.
Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including The Midwest Gardener's Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses "How to Grow Anything" DVD series and the nationally-syndicated Melinda's Garden Moment TV & radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. Her web site is www.MelindaMyers.com.
Antiques
Latest Auction, Antiques, and Collectibles News
There has been a lot of auction news since my last column, beginning with the sale of a dinosaur skull. The New York Times reported that the skull was discovered on private land in a section of Northwestern South Dakota known to contain large amounts of fossils. The fossil was reported to still have 30 of the 39 original bones. There were high expectations for the skull nicknamed "Maximus". A Deinonychus skeleton for $12.4 million and a Gorgosaurus skeleton brought $6.1 million earlier this year. It had an auction estimate of $15 to $20 million but sold for only $6.1 million.
There was also some post-dinosaur animal auction news. A Charles Darwin manuscript on natural selection recently broke a record for a Darwin document, according to Yahoo News. The document was described as Darwin's "definitive statement on natural selection and his legacy". The English scientist theorized that all living creatures developed from a common ancestor through natural selection. After his death in 1882, natural selection was widely accepted as a key part of evolution by scientists. The previous record for a Darwin document was a little over $400,000. This manuscript sold for $882,000.
If you want to soar like the King of Rock and Roll did, you'll soon have the opportunity to buy his jet. The Smithsonian Magazine reported that Elvis Presley's 1976 JetStar plane will soon be auctioned. The top of the line was "decked out with custom red velvet upholstery, gold-finish hardware, a microwave, a VCR player, a cassette player and other lavish amenities", according to the Smithsonian. The jet is in poor condition after sitting at the Roswell Air Center in Roswell, New Mexico and mechanics removed the engines and many other components. The auction house hasn't estimated the value but believes that there will be plenty of interest from Elvis fans wanting to own a piece of his legacy.
In baseball auction news, Aaron Judge's 62nd home run ball will soon be hitting the auction block. The New York Times reported that Cory Youmans caught the ball at Globe Life Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Security ushered him inside the park and confirmed that the ball he caught had the special markings that were used on balls pitched to Judge when he was nearing the American League single season home run record. After it was confirmed that he caught the record ball, he fielded offers from people wanting to purchase it. He placed it in a safe deposit box until it was moved to the auction house by armed guards. It is estimated to sell for $3 million.
We also have our own baseball auction news to report. Our November sports cards and memorabilia auction brought some great results. We sold a collection of T206 (1909-1911) baseball cards in that auction. They were manufactured by the Carolina Brights Tobacco Company. A limited amount of these cards were produced for Carolina Brights and the cards are quite scarce. A Tris Speaker card graded at a 3.5 out of 10 sold for over $30,000 and a 1.5 Fair condition Ty Cobb card sold for over $50,000. We were pleased to see so many bidders step up to the plate for this great collection.
It was nice meeting the readers of this column who came to the Rotman auction of local memorabilia. We will also have a large auction of art, historical memorabilia and other antiques and collectibles online auction beginning later this month. Please visit our website www.centralmassauctions.com for links to upcoming events.
Please contact us at: www.centralmassauctions.com (508-612- 6111) info@centralmassauctions.com for antiques and collectibles auction services.