Herb Garden

Not many ornamental garden items can also revitalize home (( cooking, but the ones that can are hardy, fragrant and on occasion beautiful. An herb garden takes a little organizing and laying out to become an eye-catcher, but the double benefit -- good looks and good flavor -- are both hardy perennials.The proper mixture of a little science and a lot of common sense is the secret to garden success with herbs, says Janet Walker, curator of the National Herb Garden in Washington and a scheduled lecturer today at the fifth annual Baltimore Herb Festival.

While many garden clubs work to shed the dusty image of white-gloved flower-arrangers for a more modern one of community service, the members of the Glen Arm Garden Club are busy helping others, well, arrange flowers. On this morning in December, members of the club are making their regular visit to Morningside House assisted living in Parkville, where they help a dozen or so residents create flower arrangements for the dining room and another one each can take to her own room. "It is nice for them to come," said Arsala Ewing, in her holiday-inspired teddy bear sweat shirt.

WOULD YOU rather stroll through a magnificent herb garden or view an art exhibit? At Saturday's "Herbs and Artists" program in Ferndale, there will be no need to choose. You can do both. The program will be at the home of Sue Latini, who has cultivated a garden with more than 130 varieties of herbs. Here, you'll find the familiar - such as oregano and rosemary - and the uncommon. Ever heard of elecampane? It's a plant favored by goldfinches, which love to eat its seeds. "I try to put in something new each year," Latini said.

The first of the season's festive street fairs in Baltimore County comes to Towson on Thursday, promising to make Courthouse Plaza greener, sweeter and livelier. Towson Gardens Day opens at 10 a.m. along West Pennsylvania and Baltimore avenues and encircling the courthouse fountain plaza with nearly 100 vendors, musicians and environmental educators. "The emphasis this year is on native plants and pollinators, and natural fertilizers," said Dolores K. Shamer, chairwoman of the event that began in the 1980s.

Picture yourself in this all-too-common household dilemma:Dinner time approaches and so do your guests. But you, the cook, are in trouble. The soup tastes flat; the fish needs seasoning. The salad is boring and the white rolls look hopelessly bland.Do you throw open the cupboard doors, looking desperately for something in a jar to make things right?No, you calmly walk outside and snip off some oregano for the soup, a sprig of savory for the fish, basil for the salad and a bit of thyme and rosemary to mix with the butter for those rolls.

Half-hidden by enormous maples on the main street of Keedysville in Washington County, the 19th-century brick house and gardens of Seven Gates Farm look like something out of a storybook. An Arabian Nights-style urn is stuffed with long, green Egyptian onions in the living room, and white clematis froths over a wooden bench outside. The house is lovely, but the gardens -- a marriage of formal design and idiosyncratic touches -- are truly spectacular. They are the work of James Cramer and Dean Johnson, editors at Country Home and Country Garden magazines.

Eleven students from Ferndale Elementary School's recent class of sixth-grade graduates made the honor roll. They are: David Bush, John Cargo, Rachel Engel, Kristen Fitzgerald, Dana Hooe, Elizabeth Horn, Shannon Mason, Frank Maule, David Radford, Dana Semmont and Steven Webster.The Presidential Fitness Award for Excellence for carrying a 4.0 average went to David Radford. David Bush and Elizabeth Horn also received the Presidential Award for Outstanding Efforts.During graduation, the class gave Ferndale Elementary two beautiful potted plants that now decorate the school office.

Your own herb garden Don't let the winter weather stop you from planting an herb garden. Learn how to create a tiny herb garden for the windowsill, porch or patio tomorrow or Saturday at the Cylburn Arboretum Association in a workshop led by city naturalist Glenda Weber. Participants will be provided with all the materials needed and will be treated to goodies made with fresh herbs. The cost is $15 for members and $17 for nonmembers. Friday's class is at 12:15 p.m., and Saturday's class is at 10:15 a.m. Advance reservations are necessary.

You don't have to be Martha Stewart to have your own herb garden.In fact, if you've got Martha's money, you really don't need your own herb garden. Cooks in Ms. Stewart's sphere probably don't blanch at the $1.50 charged for a 1/2 ounce of fresh-cut herbs in grocery stores.But those who want to add freshness to the kitchen repertoire without crippling the week's food budget can grow their own herbs with little garden expertise and a minimal cash outlay.An herb plant bought at almost any local nursery will cost about the same as that supermarket 1/2 ounce and will yield fresh flavor for the entire growing season and, in the case of perennials, for many growing seasons to come.

On June 21, 2004, HERBERT FAIRFIELD GORDON, 73, of Woodlawn, Baltimore County died of cancer. Mr. Gordon was the son of Faith Fairchild Gordon, M.D. and Hugh Gordon, golf professional. The early years of his life were spent in Richmond, Virginia. After graduating from Washington and Lee University, he came to Maryland to teach high school English in Port Deposit. He soon found his love of literature was stronger than his love of teaching and he went to work as a film editor of the Milner Fenwick Company retiring from there in the late 1980's.

Kathy Hawkins is crazy about summer basil. She grows it outside, inside, everywhere she can. She even keeps a pot of it on the kitchen counter, so all she has to do is pinch off the leaves, chop them up and sprinkle them on her luscious homegrown tomatoes. With every pinch, there's a bonus. That heavenly basil fragrance fills her kitchen for hours. "I absolutely love that smell," she says. Hawkins, 46, is not an expert by any means, but she successfully grows lots of herbs every summer.

One of the greatest things about making an herb garden is there are so many choices. It's also one of the worst. So. Many. Choices. Especially if you define "herb" as our ancestors did: any plant useful to humankind. That is why it's helpful to have a theme. The theme can be sentimental (herbs that Grandmother grew) or practical (herbs to scent the closets and repel the bugs), or even disease-focused. For example, Topher Dulaney, a San Francisco landscape architect and cancer survivor, makes inspirational herb gardens using plants that are sources for drugs used in chemotherapy.

Your own herb garden Don't let the winter weather stop you from planting an herb garden. Learn how to create a tiny herb garden for the windowsill, porch or patio tomorrow or Saturday at the Cylburn Arboretum Association in a workshop led by city naturalist Glenda Weber. Participants will be provided with all the materials needed and will be treated to goodies made with fresh herbs. The cost is $15 for members and $17 for nonmembers. Friday's class is at 12:15 p.m., and Saturday's class is at 10:15 a.m. Advance reservations are necessary.

On June 21, 2004, HERBERT FAIRFIELD GORDON, 73, of Woodlawn, Baltimore County died of cancer. Mr. Gordon was the son of Faith Fairchild Gordon, M.D. and Hugh Gordon, golf professional. The early years of his life were spent in Richmond, Virginia. After graduating from Washington and Lee University, he came to Maryland to teach high school English in Port Deposit. He soon found his love of literature was stronger than his love of teaching and he went to work as a film editor of the Milner Fenwick Company retiring from there in the late 1980's.

You're exhausted. You've just finished painting the ceiling. And frankly, you'd like to never look at a paint roller again. Unfortunately, however, you've just noticed a few missed spots. You scream. Glidden hears your pain. Its new product -- Glidden Ceiling Paint with EZ Track Technology -- takes the guesswork out of painting the ceiling. Simple to apply, quick-drying and uncomplicated, the paint goes on pink and dries white. No more recoats or touch-ups. You see exactly where you've painted and where you need to paint.

The best way to design an herb garden is with an open mind. After you check parsley, thyme and basil off the list of essential culinary plants for your new garden, keep going. An herb garden needn't be limited to plants you can cook with. "Herbs are a great, diverse group of plants," says Jim Adams, curator of the 2.5 acre National Herb Garden at the National Arboretum in Washington. "For the purpose of this garden, an herb is any plant that has a use. Annuals, perennials, trees, shrubs, vines and aquatic plants can all be herbs."

FERNDALE UNITED Methodist Church, 117 Ferndale Road, is having vacation Bible school Aug. 10 to 14 at the church.Crafts, games and Bible stories will be available for children. A light dinner will be served at 5 p.m., and classes will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.Information or registration: 410-761-2880.Massage therapyMary Ann Roesler, a massage therapist, is offering five-minute massages to senior citizens Aug. 10 and 24 at Burwood Senior Housing, 6658 Shelly Road.Participants will have a choice of head, foot, back or neck massage.

For the cook who savors the sweet smell of fresh-picked basil, the pungency of tarragon and the other distinctive aromas and ** flavors of herbs, the books of Emelie Tolley and Chris Mead -- "Cooking with Herbs," "Gifts from the Herb Garden" -- are probably well-known.Now their newest book, "The Herbal Pantry" (Potter, $18), is packed with recipes as fresh as herbs plucked from your own garden.Flavoring food is what the book is all about. Information for stocking not only your own pantry but for using herbs as gifts is included.

Picture yourself on an exotic tropical island. Living in paradise in your own little world. Relaxing, savoring the sun, sipping something tasty. You could have the life -- well, almost -- in your own backyard. Yes, your own lovely backyard. Home designer John Hardy, who has lived in Bali for the past 27 years, has created a backyard paradise for average folks. OK, not exactly average folks. But for homeowners who can afford to toss around $15,000. Hardy's creation is a Bale, an open-sided bamboo pavilion with grass-thatched roof, like ancient Hindu living quarters.

Modern gardeners -- perhaps looking for a touch of instant aristocracy for the patio or just the right accent for the herb garden -- are reaching into their pocketbooks and buying lichen-encrusted stone statues, elegant sundials and handsome cast-iron urns from gardens of long ago. The garden antiques business is booming, and dealers specializing in antique garden ornaments of every description have cropped up like dandelions. Old garden ornaments have always lurked in the musty corners of antiques shops, but in the past few years, garden antiques have emerged as a category of their own, says Leanne Stella of Stella Show Management.