Features

October 2020

A few years ago, Palmetto State Park existed as a little-known gem on the San Marcos River as it headed east toward its confluence with the Guadalupe. Campers, hikers, and birders alike regarded it like a secret treasure, this sleepy haven resting at the crest of the Hill Country between the big cities of San Antonio, Austin and Houston.

Oh, the possibilities with that Wicked Witch! Son James dazzled me again with a combination planting featuring this year’s hot new coleus ColorBlaze Wicked with coleus and Canary Wing begonia. Immediately, I noticed his carefully intentioned design of having the lime green margins of the coleus echo the golden-lime of the Canary Wing begonia.

If you have never hung up a suet block for your bird friends, let me encourage you to do so.

It’s always nice to read that even with a reduction of recycled materials in the commercial sector due to the virus, new recycling facilities are coming on line. These are to handle more products from back-of-house commercial and industrial settings. From a recent Resource Recycling newsletter, we learn of such a new 64,000-square-foot facility in Green Bay, Wis.

This week is the fifth article about growing up Black in America: “I (we) attended an elementary school in Harlem on the next block over, 113th Street, because I lived on 114th Street, which was tagged in the New York Post as the ‘Dirtiest and most dangerous block in America’” (published in 1961-62 as I recall). I first read the article when I was a sophomore at Aviation High School; and it was kinda embarrassing because many of the white students knew I lived around that neighborhood.

San Marcos Public Library

San Antonio, TX – In a first-time collaboration, the McNay Art Museum and Texas Performing Arts (TPA) at The University of Texas at Austin (UT) join together to debut six rare hand-painted, sound-stage backdrops from Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) Studios alongside artworks from The Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts in the Museum’s latest exhibition, Hollywood’s Sistine Chapel: Sacred Sets for Stage & Screen.

When you hear names like Mexican Flame or Orange Glow, their titles do a good job in telling you this is a bold flower riveting in color. Considering it is a vine that attracts hummingbirds and butterflies and packs a fiery orange, it’s no wonder it’s an awardwinning plant.