Garden Center

Carroll Gardens a quaint and slightly ragged cinder-block garden center at the end of a dirt road in Westminster, is closing at the end of this month after having been a resource for gardeners since the 1930s. Alan Summers, who has owned Carroll Gardens since 1984 and hosted a garden talk show on WCBM-AM for nearly as long, announced his decision Saturday on the show, stunning customers and disappointing longtime employees who had hoped against hope for a reprieve. Though Carroll Gardens is having a very good season, last summer was the worst in memory and the debt has finally overwhelmed Summers, 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.

For years, we relegated gardens to the back yard or to discretely planted aprons around the house. But lately, gardeners -- hungry for beauty and eager to embellish any bit of earth available -- have begun to create curbside gardens. "People want to see some color when they pull in," says Kelly Williams, manager of Kingsdene Nurseries and Garden Center in Monkton. Many also want to make a personal statement. "They want their house to stand out," Williams added. Curbside gardens can enhance the strip between curb and sidewalk, the napkin of ground around the mailbox, or even the dirt around street trees, which can host a gorgeous collection of tough shade-lovers like hosta and coral bells (Heuchera)

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.

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.

Tradition takes a holiday this season when it comes to the look of plain poinsettias. Garden centers and florists wanting to separate themselves from the red, white and pink poinsettias discounted at stores such as Wal-Mart and Lowe's are featuring the plants in decorator colors -- everything from lavender and blue to orange and pink. "People either hate or love them, there's no middle ground," says Devin Trippe, head grower at Anderson's Home & Garden Showplace in Newport News, Va. He's created a few of the novelty plants, using floral spray paint and silver or gold glitter to give them added sparkle.

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.

Sometimes all it takes is an eye-catching accessory to spruce up an outfit. Same with gardens. "The right piece can make the yard," says Sandy Gamble, buyer for American Plant Food in Bethesda. The "right piece" can be anything from a metal, wood, cement or ceramic wall plaque to a gazing ball, a statue, bust or sculpture, a whimsical fence post topper, or even an antique gate. Options abound at garden centers, antique and collectible shops and artists' studios. The object can even be homemade.

There are few garden sights more dramatic than an ancient stone wall blanketed in clematis blooms the size of dessert plates and in colors stolen from an Impressionist's paint box. After more than a decade of breeding, the colorful profusion of clematis is now available for smaller places: the patio, the deck or the balcony, or that cramped spot in a city garden. Raymond Evison, the courtly Englishman who is the much-decorated godfather of this plant, this season has introduced three hybrids for just such small spaces, as well as the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society)

Robert W. Wentz, former owner of a Pasadena garden center, died of emphysema Sunday at a hospice in Fort Myers, Fla. The Bonita Springs, Fla., resident was 62. Mr. Wentz was born in Baltimore and raised in Ten Hills. He was a 1960 graduate of McDonogh School and attended the University of Maryland, College Park. He had been vice president of Tri-State Vehicle Leasing for a decade before opening Wentz Garden Center and Florist Shop in Pasadena. He closed the business in 1992 and moved to Bonita Springs.