Garden Center

Business center has programs for those seeking job, career The Carroll County Business & Employment Resource Center offers workshops and programs to help individuals seeking a job or new career. Programs include: Time Management: 1 p.m. to 3p.m. Thursday. Money Management: 9 a.m. to noon June 6. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: The psychological personality assessment test must be taken before the workshop on styles from 9 am, to noon June 14. Registration is required. The resource center is at 224 N. Center St., Westminster.

Garden tools and softball equipment worth nearly $1,400 were stolen from the bed of a truck parked in front of a Pasadena garden store Wednesday, county police said yesterday.John D. Slitzer, 27, told police he parked in front of the Garden Center in the 600 block of Mountain Road shortly after 10 a.m. and went shopping.When he returned 2 1/2 hours later, his lawn mower, hedge trimmer, gas-powered weed trimmer, softball bat, softball glove and other items were missing from his truck, police said.

A former employee of Homestead Gardens went on trial Wednesday, accused of stealing thousands of dollars from the high-end Davidsonville garden center over several years in a complicated scheme involving gift cards. Virginia Lee Christian, 46, of Davidsonville, helped with the 2005 switch from paper to plastic gift cards and then used the new system to siphon off funds, Assistant State's Attorney Michel Cogan told an Anne Arundel County jury in his opening statement. Internal audits in 2007 showed discrepancies between amounts that an electronic payment company was recording in plastic gift card use and sums in the garden center's purchases, he said.

The stone courtyard, which covers the space between street and front door of Leslie and Blake Goldsmith's Roland Park home, makes the house look as though it's firmly planted on earth and rock. But walk out back and it looks more like the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse. Perched at the apex of an acre and buttressed by vine-threaded decks, it clings to a hillside so steep it makes you want to yodel. Some gardeners would have thrown up their hands at this vertical challenge. Not the Goldsmiths.

SPLURGE OF THE WEEK MADE INTO A SHADE This lightweight tool, called the "soil scoop," handles a number of jobs in the garden. It can lift soil out of tight places, like pots and bags, without spilling. Its serrated edges are handy for opening bags or scoring soil away from the roots of new plants. Its pointed tip is perfect for digging furrows, and its bright colors make it easy to find in the garden. Visit your local lawn and garden center or go to createagarden.com. Suggested price: $17.95.

Through three decades of economic ups and the downs on his stretch of Ingleside Avenue in the Catonsville area, Garland Williams has provided flowers, plants and personal advice to the region's gardeners. Now, the owner of Garland's Gardens is planning to take advantage of an upturn in the neighborhood. He plans to build a strip of shops around the garden center. "Our volume has peaked, and there is so much going on in the area that it seemed like a good time to do this," Williams said.

Not every garden project is a raging success. If you have been a gardener for more than 10 minutes, you know that. The ladybug project is one of those not-a-raging-success stories. The cool and rainy spring brought with it plenty of garden pests, including the aphids that were chewing on my roses and the white flies that were attacking my herbs. At the suggestion of one of my colleagues, I decided to try the ladybug cure. Her husband had great success releasing ladybugs in his garden.

STORE OPENING GREEN FIELDS 5424 Falls Road, Baltimore / / 410-323-3444 Good news for gardeners. Green Fields at Falls Road and Northern Parkway has almost finished a major renovation. It doubles the interior size of the nursery, adds a pavilion with more climate control, and creates a layout that's easier to navigate. When everything is done in mid-January, Green Fields will be more of a garden center, selling not only plants and fertilizer, but also garden tools, books, gift items and even cut flowers.

Andrew Robert Buxton Cavendish, 84, the 11th Duke of Devonshire whose vast Chatsworth estate has one of the finest and most-visited houses in Britain, died there late Monday. The duke opened Chatsworth to the public in the 1950s and with his wife, the former Deborah Mitford, made it a thriving business, attracting a half-million visitors a year to its art collections and parkland. The house, mostly late 17th century, is surrounded by 35,000 acres of estate land in the heart of a national park in Derbyshire county, central England.

A broken water main that temporarily shut down a portion of York Road continued last night to affect traffic in the Cockeysville area. The early morning break closed York Road in Cockeysville from Wight Avenue to Beaver Run Lane, and traffic was detoured. One lane of the road was reopened during the afternoon to northbound traffic, but other lanes remained closed as repair work continued into the night. Officials said they were hoping to open one side of the road to two-way traffic. The 12-inch water main in the 11000 block of York Road broke about 3 a.m. yesterday, Baltimore public works officials said.