Brooksville aims to save about $10,000 in landscaping costs through a new partnership with Wal-Mart. ...more

July 30, 2009

My husband and I moved to Sebring several years ago. We wanted to help the local economy so we decided to use Sebring companies when possible. Unfortunately we had some disappointments with some companies like when we bought window treatments for the entire house and had problems with the blinds not working properly, only to find that the company was no longer in business. ...more

May 22, 2009

There were several friends who commented somewhat favorable about last week's column regarding our country's financial state and what I surmised was causing the problem. One fellow found an error and wrote me an e-mail on the story about a couple who could not pronounce the name of the town they were in and asked the employee of a Burger King to pronounce the name of where they were very slowly Burrrrrr, gerrrrrr, Kiiiing. ...more

April 2, 2009

With ground broken and equipment in place, FishHawk Ranch is closer to having a new major corporate neighbor, bringing in hundreds of subcontract employees to work in the area. ...more

March 27, 2009

If homeowners and their homeowners associations cannot bear the thought of a brown spot on a lawn during the summer, I wonder what they must be thinking now when there is scarcely a green blade of grass to be found, except maybe under some trees. It cannot have escaped anyone's notice that we had a hard freeze recently. That doesn't happen every year, any more than hurricanes or droughts are necessarily annual events. It is at times like these when we find out how well or poorly our landscapes have been designed, installed and maintained. ...more

March 22, 2009

I've just concluded the first week of my life devoted entirely to planting, pruning and puttering. ...more

March 13, 2009

It's in eastern Hillsborough County, but Plant City is the most Southern town around. ...more

February 22, 2009

The price of feed and fertilizer has nearly doubled. Transportation and the cost of labor are up as well. The threat of more government regulation always seems to be lurking over the farmer and rancher in Highlands County as well as across the country. ...more

January 18, 2009

For the second time this season, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has lowered its orange crop estimate for Florida. ...more

January 13, 2009

For the second time this season, the U.S. Department of Agriculture lowered its orange crop estimate for Florida. The agency expects Florida growers to harvest 162 million boxes of oranges during the 2008-09 season, down from its original forecast of 166 million boxes. The season runs from October through June. One box weighs about 90 pounds. ...more

January 12, 2009