Feet Tall

Ornamental grasses are like universal guests. They enhance any gathering because they can be stars on their own, yet make everything else around them more vividly interesting. "Ornamental grasses are beautiful mixed in a perennial border, are good in pots, and some make great specimen plants," says Monika Burwell, owner of Earthly Pursuits, a perennial and garden design company in Windsor Mill. Tall and graceful, or squat and spreading, they also whisper romantically, in even the gentlest breeze.

St. Agnes Hospital lit the state's largest illuminated cross Wednesday — a seven-story structure with 792 LED lights — as it prepares to open its expanded patient facility. The 5,440-pound aluminum cross is one of the most visible parts of the Southwest Baltimore hospital's seven-year, $220 million expansion project, which includes a 190,000-square-foot patient tower, where the cross is attached. The tower expected to open in May. "This cross is symbolic of where we have been and where we want to go," said Barbara Bozzuto, the hospital's board chairwoman, who led the countdown to the lighting of the cross at the fields of former Cardinal Gibbons School across the street.

Do you know? Do giraffes have horns? Answer: Yes! Giraffe are born with horns that are covered with skin and hair. As they get older, the horns become bone and are used for protection. Learn more! Visit the giraffe herd at The Baltimore Zoo. Read "Giraffe and a Half" by Shel Silverstein. 1. The markings of a giraffe's coat are unique to each individual. Born with a brown and white coat, the pattern will never change, but the color might fade or get darker. 2. Six feet tall at birth, a giraffe can grow to 17 feet tall.

TOKYO - -Adios, Santiago! Ciao, Tintoretto! It's a fresh page for art history books, as former contenders for the globe's biggest oil-on-canvas murals - artists such as Columbia's Santiago Martinez Delgado (1906-1954) or Italy's Tintoretto, (1518-1594) - were recently bested by a painting in Japan. When an Abercrombie & Fitch store opened in Tokyo's Ginza neighborhood late last month, it contained what the Ohio-based retailer boasts is the world's largest oil-on-canvas mural.

Autumn is when trees get all the good press -- until the leaves fall and cover the lawn, of course. Meanwhile, as trees receive kudos for color, equally spectacular shrubs grow in Rodney Dangerfield's corner of the garden. These smaller, versatile plants can get no respect in October, no matter how bright their colors.Fall, in fact, can be nature's showiest party at any height in the garden where you plant deciduous plants. The process that produces a leafy palette of crimson, scarlet, orange, maroon and yellow does not stop at tree top but paints a worthy salute among many midsize shrubs.

Two Baltimore County banks were robbed yesterday, one by men armed with handguns and the other by a man carrying a note claiming he was armed, authorities said.In Catonsville, two men entered the First Virginia Bank in the 900 block of Frederick Road shortly after the bank opened at 9 a.m. and brandished handguns, police said. The men fled through a rear door with an undisclosed amount of cash.One robber was described as a black male in his mid- to late 20s, about 6 feet tall and weighing 170 to 180 pounds.

Harford County Crime Solvers is offering a reward up to $1,000 for the arrest and indictment of two men believed to be responsible for robberies at Harford National Bank in the 2900 block of Emmorton Road in Abington on Dec. 30 and Feb. 8.Police described one suspect as a black man, 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet tall, weighing about 185 pounds and 25 to 30 years old. He was wearing a three-quarter-length dark brown coat with hood, a bluish gray scarf or bandanna...

The giraffe is the tallest animal in the world. When it drinks, the giraffe has to spread its front legs far apart to lower its neck to the water. The giraffe's tail is used to keep away flies. The animal's sharp hearing, eyesight and towering height help it keep watch for danger. What's for DINNER? With its long neck and tongue, the giraffe eats the highest leaves on trees found throughout Africa. Do you KNOW? Do giraffe have horns? Answer: Yes! Giraffes are born with horns that are covered with skin and hair.

When Johnny Roo Adams sold his home last year and moved, he had to leave behind a real trophy, a living trophy. It's a copper beech and it's a state champion in the Maryland Big Tree Program. Measuring 16 feet, 9 inches in diameter at breast height, standing 75 feet tall with a crown spread of more than 65 feet, it stands in the 2200 block of Rock Spring Road, just south of Forest Hill. The Rock Spring Road beech is the largest copper beech in Maryland, but it often goes unnoticed by the motorists traveling along busy Route 24. Route 24 has been widened several times to deal with increasing traffic, so it's something of a miracle that the stately copper beech still stands, so close to the two-story frame house directly behind it. Another miracle of survival stands within spitting distance of Smith Road, just off U.S. 1 approaching Darlington.

Hey kids! Here's a hot piece of real estate for you: a free-standing, custom-built house with features that could include skylights, copper roof or Greek and Roman-style columns, all in your parents' backyard, for just $5.Voices For Children, an Ellicott City-based children's advocacy group, plans to raffle off four such deluxe playhouses at $5 a chance, as part of a fund-raising effort for its Court Appointed Special Advocate program.These aren't ordinary backyard clubhouses, the kind that sit in a tree and have three-foot ceilings.

In an event that dares competitors to reach new heights, Marriotts Ridge pole-vaulter Jocelyn Henline continues to raise the bar on her expectations. After finishing seventh at the Howard County indoor track and field championships last winter with a height of 6 feet, Henline dedicated herself to the sport, attending pole-vaulting clinics and seeking guidance from a coach at the University of Maryland. After adding 2 feet to her vaults by the end of the outdoor track season last spring, Henline pushed herself to clear 9 feet, which she did in a matter of weeks.

As the son of a former small college standout, nephew of a top assistant coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference and brother of a two-time Carroll County Player of the Year, Westminster's Kevin Carr was born to play basketball. His body, however, needed a little convincing. After spending most of his life as the smallest player on the court, Carr began a physician-supervised regiment of human growth hormones about a year ago. Now, after growing six inches in a matter of months, the sharp-shooting, 5-foot-10 point guard has raised his stature and his game, positioning himself for a chance to continue his career at the next level.

Amid the tastefully twinkling lights, the sparkling tinsel and the glowing candles that decorate homes for the holidays, there is plastic. This year, lots of plastic. There are giant inflatable snow globes showcasing Santa or Mickey and Minnie Mouse, snow swirling around them. There is Santa on a motorcycle and Tigger clad in a scarf and snowmen in an igloo. "When you want something more than the traditional lawn decor, it's time to try a 6-foot-tall Airblown Inflatable SnowGlobe," says a video on the Web site of Texas-based Gemmy Industries, one of the masterminds behind inflatable holiday decorations.

Baltimore County police yesterday asked for the public's help in finding three children who they say were taken last week by their father in violation of a custody order. Stephen George Kokinakos, 35, of the 800 block of Cold Bottom Road in Sparks was ordered Aug. 18 by the county Circuit Court to surrender custody of the children to their mother, according to police. He did not drop off the children that evening, and neither he nor they have been seen since, police said. Kokinakos was described as 5 feet 10 inches tall, with a medium build, brown eyes and dark hair.

PIERPONT, Ohio -- Farmer Settilio Codispoti hoped to beef up his three little goats. So he figured the towering, white-flowered weeds that encircled his barn would make great feed. "The goats got funny," the Italian immigrant said. "No produce milk, no produce kids, no do nothing. So I got rid of 'em." Now Codispoti knows it was not the goats. He should have annihilated the weeds. As if Americans don't have enough dangers lurking, here comes the advancing threat of giant hogweed. A public enemy on the federal noxious species list, the alluring weed is doing more than making goats impotent.

When developers unveiled plans last week for a 59-story tower on Light Street, at least one member of Baltimore's design review panel remarked that it could be Baltimore's tallest building for many years to come - so it had better be good. But even if the $300 million condominium and hotel proposed for the former McCormick & Co. property does become the city's tallest building, it definitely won't be the only new tower to rise downtown. Baltimore's skyline is on the verge of changing more than at any time since the Inner Harbor renewal began in the 1960s.

Gunmen rob 2 gas stationsTwo Ellicott City gas stations were robbed by gunmen over the weekend. A man approached the booth of a Crown gas station in the 9300 block of Route 40 around 3 a.m. Saturday and asked for a pack of cigarettes. When the clerk opened the window to complete the sale, the suspect pulled out a handgun and demanded cash.The clerk gave the gunman an undisclosed amount of money, and the suspect then fled on foot toward the Chatham Garden Apartment complex.The suspect, a black man in his 30s with a slender build, was 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall with short hair and a light complexion.

Baltimore County police yesterday asked for the public's help in finding three children who they say were taken last week by their father in violation of a custody order. Stephen George Kokinakos, 35, of the 800 block of Cold Bottom Road in Sparks was ordered Aug. 18 by the county Circuit Court to surrender custody of the children to their mother, according to police. He did not drop off the children that evening, and neither he nor they have been seen since, police said. Kokinakos was described as 5 feet 10 inches tall, with a medium build, brown eyes and dark hair.

Baltimore's Planning Commission put its seal of approval last night on a plan that would dictate how - and how high -one of Baltimore's most historic neighborhoods will evolve. The board, bowing slightly to emotional pleas from preservationists, unanimously approved a renewal plan for Mount Vernon that would allow buildings to stand 200 feet tall - down from a 230-foot limit city planners envisioned. More than 100 people packed the hearing, and for hours dozens of them testified, forcefully asserting their views on how tall buildings will either save or doom the neighborhood, Baltimore's oldest historic district.

Ornamental grasses are like universal guests. They enhance any gathering because they can be stars on their own, yet make everything else around them more vividly interesting. "Ornamental grasses are beautiful mixed in a perennial border, are good in pots, and some make great specimen plants," says Monika Burwell, owner of Earthly Pursuits, a perennial and garden design company in Windsor Mill. Tall and graceful, or squat and spreading, they also whisper romantically, in even the gentlest breeze.