Seed

We recently purchased a home that has a large stand of bamboo along the rear property line. Is this an invasive plant, and how can we get rid of it? With few exceptions, bamboos are considered invasive plants in Maryland. They spread more or less rapidly by enlarged underground roots called rhizomes and can be very difficult to manage. If you are not opposed to using chemicals for control, I would recommend killing the stand with a spray that contains the chemical glyphosate. Do not try to spray the full plant canopy.

Between 1983 and 2004, Syracuse advanced to the NCAA tournament semifinals every year, a remarkable accomplishment that may never be matched again. What makes Duke's seven consecutive appearances in the Final Four nearly as impressive is that the Blue Devils have achieved that in a four-round tournament, which was expanded from 12 to 16 teams for the 2003 season. But seventh-seeded Duke (14-5), which will tangle with Cornell (14-3) in the first of two national semifinals this Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, is just 2-4 in the Final Four, advancing to the title game in 2007 (losing to Johns Hopkins)

The NCAA Division I men's lacrosse tournament will be missing Johns Hopkins for the first time in 42 years this season. After a 9-5 season, the Blue Jays were left out of the NCAA Tournament tonight. But three local teams will be playing next weekend. Maryland is the No. 6 seed and will face Cornell Sunday at 1 p.m. in College Park. Towson, the winner of the CAA tournament, will face No. 3 seed Ohio State Sunday at 3 p.m. in Columbus. Defending national champion Loyola will face Duke in Raleigh, N.C., on Sunday at 5:15 p.m. The lack of quality wins hurt Johns Hopkins this season.

When Bill Tierney helmed Princeton to all six of its national championships during his tenure there, the Tigers were renowned for a suffocating defensive scheme that at times strangled opponents into offensive futility. When John Desko replaced Syracuse Hall of Famer Roy Simmons Jr. prior to the 1999 season, the Orange maintained their run-and-gun roots and outsprinted opposing teams en route to five NCAA titles. Tierney left Princeton to take a similar position at Denver for the 2010 campaign, while Desko still heads Syracuse.

I've recently been diagnosed with genital herpes and treated it with the prescription drug Zovirax.I would rather use something more natural.Have any of your readers found alternative treatments that cure it? I read in an herbal book that olive leaf extract works. Is this true?Herpes infections are caused by a virus that resists cure even by the prescription drugs that control it effectively (Famvir, Valtrex, Zovirax).These antiviral medications speed healing and, if taken preventively, dramatically reduce the number of outbreaks.

The Johns Hopkins baseball team has earned the top overall seed in the Mid-Atlantic Regional for the NCAA Division III tournament. The Blue Jays (39-4) will open play Wednesday at 1:15 p.m. against Moravian at Waterfront Park in Trenton, N.J. Salisbury, which ended Hopkins' 32-game winning streak May 8, will be the No. 2 seed in a regional held at Methodist University in Fayetteville, N.C. The Sea Gulls will face fifth-seeded LaGrange College on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.

Kevin Love scored 13 points and Kevin Durant 12 to lead a balanced attack as the United States remained perfect at the FIBA World Championship in Istanbul, beating Iran 88-51. Derrick Rose chipped in 11 points and Danny Granger 10 for the Americans, who improved to 4-0 to secure the top spot in Group B. The U.S. will conclude preliminary round play Thursday against winless Tunisia. "We were a little bit fresher," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "In our last game, when we played Brazil, that was our sixth game in 10 days in three countries.

As remarkable as 41 consecutive berths in the NCAA tournament are, Johns Hopkins has been unseeded just once (2010) during that span. The Blue Jays, who were awarded the No. 2 seed in the upcoming tourney, are very familiar with that position. They are 18-7 as a No. 2 seed and won national championships in 1974, 1978 and 1980. Coach Dave Pietramala chuckled when informed of that history. “All I can say is, I hope,” he said late Sunday night after the bracket was released.

After setting a school record for wins and matching another program mark for best start, the Loyola men's lacrosse team reaped a coveted reward: the top overall seed in the NCAA tournament. The 14-1 Greyhounds, who captured their first Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament crown and are ranked third in the latest Sun rankings, will meet Canisius (6-7), the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion, in the first round. The game is scheduled for Saturday at 5 p.m. at Ridley Athletic Complex.

The selection committee's decision to award the No. 1 seed to Loyola Sunday night was the first time the program had earned that seed since 1999. That year, the Greyhounds went 12-0 as the only undefeated team in Division I, but fell to No. 8 seed Syracuse, 17-12, in the quarterfinals. The coach of that squad was Dave Cottle, and the current coach of the Chesapeake Bayhawks of the Major League Lacrosse relived the memory of that loss during a phone interview Tuesday. “I know in '99, we were devastated that we were the only undefeated team in the country and we had to play the winner of Syracuse-Princeton at Princeton,” Cottle said.

Brendan Fowler won more than 55 percent of his faceoffs and scooped up at least 34 ground balls in each of his first two seasons at Duke, but still was not making much of a dent in terms of playing time. Then again, considering that C.J. Costabile - who won 53 percent of his draws and collected 376 ground balls en route to being named Division I's top midfielder - was atop the depth chart, Fowler was not fretting about his opportunities. “C.J. just brought a different dynamic as a faceoff guy,” Fowler recalled Wednesday afternoon.

Of the four teams left in the NCAA tournament semifinals, it is top-seeded Syracuse - the architect of a Division I-best 10 national championships - that is bringing up the rear in the offense department. The Orange are averaging 11.7 goals this season, which ranks 13th in the country - a still healthy number that many other programs would love to boast. But unlike previous Syracuse incarnations that dared opponents to keep up with them as they galloped up and down the field like a pack of unbridled thoroughbreds, this year's current squad is viewed as a more patient outfit, a group that prides itself on locking down opponents on defense and exhibiting patience on offense.

When you play on Cornell but are not part of an offense headlined by two-time Tewaaraton Award finalist Rob Pannell and fellow senior attackman Steve Mock, it is easy to be overlooked. And that is just fine, according to senior defenseman Jason Noble. “With Rob Pannell and Steve Mock and [sophomore attackman] Matt Donovan, all the credit does go to them,” Noble said Monday. “They're the ones that help the defense. [Junior] Doug Tesoriero on the faceoffs really helps get the ball to our offense and limit the [opposing]

Elisa Lane is not much bigger than the pigtails she wears when she gardens at the Whitelock Community Farm in Reservoir Hill. But she has a big impact. She sells the fresh vegetables from the empty corner lot that she just kind of took over at below-market prices to residents of the neighborhood. When her farm stand isn't open, residents can buy from the corner market that she supplies. And she has enough to sell to restaurants like Woodberry Kitchen and at the Waverly Farmers Market to help subsidize her cut-rate prices for the garden's neighbors.

Salisbury transfer Eric Law picked up a rebound on the edge of the crease and scored with 13.4 seconds left to cap a historic comeback and give No. 4 seed Denver a 12-11 win over fifth-seeded North Carolina in the NCAA men's lacrosse tournament quarterfinals at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Sunday afternoon. The game, played before an announced 7,749, was the first men's lacrosse quarterfinal held at a venue not on the East Coast. Denver, the first team in men's quarterfinal history to win after trailing by five goals or more, will face No. 1 seed Syracuse in the semifinals Saturday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

Dylan Donahue scored just one goal, but it might have been the most important one of the season for the Syracuse men's lacrosse team. The redshirt freshman attackman converted a feed from senior midfielder JoJo Marasco with 13 seconds left in the fourth quarter to help the top-seeded Orange escape past Yale, 7-6, in an NCAA tournament quarterfinal before an announced 3,939 at Byrd Stadium on Saturday. Syracuse, which has captured more Division I national championships (10) than any other program, improved to 15-3.

On July 12, 2003; G. MICHAEL SEED, of Bel Air, Maryland; beloved husband of Susan Carol Seed (nee McCormack); devoted son of Marian Cantey Seed and the late Paul Palmer Seed, Sr; loving father of Michael Seed and Lauren Seed; brother of Paul Seed and R. Scott Seed; son-in-law of Louis and Sylvia McCormack. Also, survived by brother and sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews. A Memorial Service will be held at Mountain Christian Church, Joppa, Maryland on Wednesday, July 16, 2003 at 7 PM. Friends may call at the church 1 hour prior to the Service from 6 to 7 PM in lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Michael Seed Memorial Fund, Provident Bank; 550 West McPhail Road, Mail Code-BW82, Bel Air, MD 21014.

Brenda Frese's 4-year-old son, Tyler, squirmed in his mother's lap Monday as they waited for word on where Maryland's women's basketball team would be seeded and whom the Terps would play in the first round of the NCAA tournament. If Tyler was impatient, so was Frese. The coach and her players have been eager all season to get back to the tournament and eclipse the memory of last season's second-round loss to Georgetown on Maryland's home court. After waiting for most of the televised selection show, the Terps (28-4)

A week ago, the thought was that Ohio State -- despite knocking off 2012 national champion Loyola and Denver to capture the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament -- was overvalued as the third seed in the NCAA tournament. Despite a convincing 16-6 victory over Towson in the first round, the Buckeyes are viewed as underdogs. That has to do with Ohio State (13-3) meeting Cornell (13-3) in the first game of Saturday's quarterfinals at Byrd Stadium in College Park. The Big Red are unseeded, but after walloping sixth-seeded Maryland, 16-8, last Sunday, many pundits and fans insist that Cornell will be the first team to advance to the national semifinals at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia next weekend.

Dickinson, the top seed in the South region, will make only its second appearance in a NCAA tournament quarterfinal when Salisbury visits Carlisle, Pa., on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Sea Gulls, a 10-time national champion, will play in their 16th consecutive quarterfinal. Advantage, Salisbury? Coach Jim Berkman declined to declare that, but he did agree that the tension and pressure is turned up as a team advances deeper into the postseason. “Being at this point, there is more at stake, there is more tension, there is more urgency into the game,” Berkman said Monday.