Here’s a breakdown of various products available for use, with a review of whether or not they’ll harm your landscape: http://www.safelawns.org/blog/index.php/2011/01/calcium-based-ice-melt-is-safer-for-lawns/
Article source: http://www.safelawns.org/blog/index.php/2012/01/ice-traction-aids-avoid-salt-on-lawns-and-plants/
Originally written by Dave @ The Home Garden
Not to be reproduced or re-blogged without permission. No feed scraping is permitted.
All Rights Reserved.
Several readers have expressed interest in Frost Flowers after a recent post. Sue, from A Corner Garden, thought I might be teasing that such a flower can exist. But exist they do! Those of you with long memories will recognize some of this post~It’s a post from last year that I’ve reworked with new information and photos. I hope you come to love this native as I have.
Verbesina virginica (White Crownbeard) is a stately queen among the rough and tumble flowering natives in my garden. An easy to grow plant that can be found in woodland margins, openings in woodlands, flood plains, thickets, roadsides, stream banks, pastures; damp soils. Beloved of bees and visited by many butterflies, verbesina is rarely munched on by deer or rabbits. I’ve come to love this plant since I first saw it growing in the wayback backyard~behind the Garden Of Benign Neglect; a tall plant that I decided to watch for a season to see what it could be~
This tall asteraceae family member (can reach 6 or more feet) is a plant that most of us wouldn’t give a second look~At least not until it bloomed along with other Autumn beauties.
 |
| Verbesina with goldenrod, rudbeckia and native aster |
So don’t get that weed whacker out too fast! On those first cold and frosty mornings you might be able to see Verbesina virginica (more info here) transformed into Frostweed. A wonderful natural process that happens with just a few plants and Verbesinas are one of them~
Imagine a beautiful late fall day; it’s warm and the sun is shining. The verbisina’s roots draw water up into the stem and late that night when the temperatures drop well below freezing, the stems freeze, split open, emitting plant juices, which immediately freeze into ribbons of ice that curl around the stem and the base of the plant!
Isn’t nature grand!
Everyday there is something of the marvelous to behold.
Now aren’t you glad we didn’t mow this plant down after one look at those flowers!
 |
| The stems are winged so look for this characteristic when id-ing them in the wild. |
Frost flowers will continue to form as long as the temperatures are cold and the plant juices are flowing. 
Just in case you still need convincing to grow this beauty~
Verbisina with its friend the PokeweedWhite Crownbeard/Verbesina/Frostweed has been selected for monitoring by Monarch Watch because it’s an important nectar plant for monarch butterflies.
xxoogail
PS If you don’t like the white it does come in yellow!
v alternifolia or Yellow FrostweedThere are two ways to live your life – one is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is a miracle. Albert Einstein
We can’t help it. Humans are naturally competitive, and when the neighbors, your friends or even your family buy cool new appliances, electronics and other items, we can’t help but want to keep up or even surpass them.
Your best friend buys a new Maytag refrigerator with the ice maker, auto defrost and built-in electric screwdriver, and suddenly, your old white one just isn’t good enough anymore. The problem is that your friend secretly saved for months and months to get the top-of-the-line model and you’ve got $14, a pack of gum and a dream. So what can you do to give the illusion of supremacy without breaking the bank?
1. Buy an off brand. It may not have the word Maytag stamped on the front, but off-brand merchandise can be much less expensive and still have many of the options that you want. The truth is that many times, the extra price of an item comes from the name of the company. People expect name-brand items to be better, but in reality, the generic and off-brand items are usually just as good. When your friend comes over and sees your new Splurgendorfer 3000 fridge and asks about it, just say, “Oh, it’s European. I even had to buy a power adapter for the electricity.”
2. Skimp on the options. A fridge just needs to keep things cold, and an oven just needs to heat things up. Everything else is luxury. Expensive options on an appliance can jack the price up considerably, and before you know it, your budget is blown. Many times, people will buy an appliance as is without realizing that if you wait a week or two for shipping, then you can buy what you need instead of what is available at the store. Your friend may have an electric screwdriver on her fridge, but who is ever going to unscrew something with an appliance? Get the bare-bones model, and when they ask about the extras, just say, “I realized that I didn’t need all those extras and saved enough money to go on vacation to Fiji.” (In two weeks, stop the mail, stock up on food, lock the doors and don’t come out for a week. They’ll think you are on vacation.)
3. Buy used and refurbished. You are not the only ones trying to keep up with everyone else, so there are many used and refurbished appliances that are in great shape, but people just wanted something new. You can buy these for significantly less than their newer counterparts. They may not be the latest model, but often your friends won’t be able to figure that out. They will just see a new appliance that looks a lot like the one they just bought.
All’s fair in love and appliances, so these tips might seem a little sneaky… and cheeky… but they are sure to help you keep up with the Joneses. Just beware that your neighbors and friends may be reading this article, too.
Image Source: flickr.com/photos/clifnotes/4336313071
Related posts:
When I was a Boy Scout, we had a Winter Jamboree every year, where the troop would pack up the camping equipment and spend a weekend roughing it in freezing temperatures. There was a lot of playing in the snow, sliding on ice and that whole camping thing. We even received badges for camping in below-freezing temperatures.
One thing I learned was that camping in the winter is nothing like camping in the spring, summer and fall. It’s a different animal entirely, and if not prepared for correctly, could be dangerous or even deadly. Here are some tips that I have learned over the years for winter camping.
1. Cabin versus a tent: Camping purists may find this offensive, but unless you’re on a mountain 10,000 feet above the ground, camp in a cabin. Winter winds can gust and pull out even the sturdiest of tent pegs, but unless you get a subzero monsoon, a cabin is going to be pretty safe. You can get cabins with only the bare minimums, like no electricity, no fireplace and even with no coverings on the windows. When camped in the winter, the cabins had nothing but four walls.
2. Choose a spot within easy reach of other people or a town: In winter, blowing wind can cause frostbite in seconds, snow can pile up quickly and if you need medical attention, then you want to be near something. You can’t count on your car working, so you want something within walking distance, not more than a couple miles away. Trying to carry someone with a broken leg through 15 inches of snow in whiteout conditions and 30-mile-per-hour winds isn’t easy.
3. Have some kind of portable heat source: If you are camping in a cabin, then a propane-fueled heater (or even electric in cabins that have electricity) is ideal for when cabin temperatures get too low. If you are in a tent, then your options are more limited. Any large heat source is a fire hazard, so pack some chemical heaters to help heat up extremities. These heat up via chemical reaction and are small. The hands and feet are the most susceptible to frost bite, and these small heat sources will stay hot for a few hours.
4. Prepare food ahead of time: Freezing temperatures and strong winds can keep that Coleman portable stove from creating much heat, and wet wood will keep that fire from starting. Make sure to take plenty of food like beef jerky that you can eat directly from the package and that provide some nutritional value. Also, keep in mind that freezing temperatures will turn any water you bring into ice. Keep the water supply in an insulated container and put it back in the container after drinking.
I’ll let you in on a little secret. I hate camping in winter. It’s cold and more troublesome than it’s worth, unless you are in a heated cabin with a full stove and generator backup. If you do plan on camping in the winter, then follow these rules and be very careful. Old Man Winter can be cruel and has taken even the most experienced campers by surprise.
Image Source: flickr.com/photos/peupleloup/3095316041
Related posts:
Be sure to keep walkways, driveways, rooftops clear
BY CHARLES DAVIS
cedavis@greenbaypressgazette.com
Children aren’t the only ones hoping to get on a good list for the holidays. Whether you’ve been naughty or nice, you should expect a visit from an area snow remover.
Signing up early for services can get you preferred treatment when your driveway starts to look like the frozen tundra. And if you dare take on Mother Nature by yourself, here are a few tips to keep you safe.
Early bird
Homeowners can sign up for one-time snow removal or seasonal service, said Matthew Kispert, owner of Sawyer’s Tree Service in De Pere. Seasonal subscribers can get Kispert to come out every time it snows at least one inch. They also can get a 10 percent discount, which can save $5 to $10 each time it snows.
“The best thing to do is plan ahead and get on our list before the snow storm,” he said.
Those on the seasonal list also get served before those who call the day of the storm.
Clear the path
Kispert comes equipped with snowblowers, and he shovels off driveways and sidewalks leading up to the home. He even takes care of edges leading to garages and can shovel off your porch.
“Salt is optional, but even the ones that don’t want it, if there’s bad spots, we put it in for free,” he said. A bad spot consists of ice patches on the sidewalk.
“Once in a while, people will have us clear a path for a dog,” he said.
Snow stretch
If the snow isn’t bad enough to call out professionals, be equipped for some taxing activity, said Jason Pienta, owner of Heartland Construction & Services in Green Bay.
“Just stretch out before you go shovel,” he said. “If you can’t grab your toes standing up, I don’t think you should be shoveling snow.”
Necessary tools include at least one good shovel, a snowblower if you can afford it and rock salt, Kispert said.
Each year, people report heart attacks while shoveling, so take breaks if you do it yourself. “We’re prepared to stand the wet, the cold, the windy conditions,” Kispert said. “We have the right equipment for it.”
Call of duty
You don’t have to be a lazy bum to call on snow removers. Many customers simply didn’t plan ahead or couldn’t “get the kids out of bed to shovel snow,” Kispert said. Other clients live out of town or aren’t physically able to do it.
Up on the rooftop
Refusing to remove the snow at all will have you feeling ho-hum during the holidays, Pienta said. Snow left on the roof can create ice in the gutters — known as ice dams — and work its way back into your shingles. When the ice melts, it can rain inside your home. “It’s a pretty big thing,” he said.
It’s also not a good idea to let snow pack down in your driveway. “It can damage the underside of your car if you drive it through snow,” Kispert said.
When George Bailey first appears in the Christmas classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, he and a bunch of other boys are sliding down a snowy hill on their snow shovels (I guess their parents couldn’t afford sleds or toboggans). That’s about the only fun use to which snow shovels have ever been put, as far as I know.
For with that one exception, snow shovels signify nothing but drudgery. Worse yet, to those who suffer from bad backs, snow shovels are nothing less than instruments of torture. The human frame simply isn’t designed for extended periods of snow shoveling. It was with these thoughts in mind that I recently tested three different Ames True Temper snow shovels:
1. An Avalanche Ergo Plus ergonomic snow shovel
2. A Snow Blazer wide-grip snow shovel
3. A Penguin VersaGrip snow pusher
Snow pushers would seem, at first glance, to be a wonderful alternative for people with bad backs. With their wide, curved blades, snow pushers act like human-powered plows. Although you can toss snow with them in a pinch, that’s not really what snow pushers are designed for: the shape of their blades makes lifting and flinging snow with them somewhat more difficult. Instead, as their name suggests, the idea with snow pushers is to push the snow out of the way.
I must say, though, that as someone who lives in a region that receives a lot of snow, using snow pushers has never made much sense to me. For where do you push the snow so that it will be “out of the way?” If you push it off your driveway onto the edge of an adjacent lawn area, you’ll create a wall of snow lining the driveway. Where I live, that wall of snow will soon become a wall of ice. So while pushing the snow onto the lawn may work for the first storm, where do you push the snow for the rest of the winter? And if your response is, “Well, just push the snow from that first snowstorm way out into the middle of the lawn, so it will be out of the way,” I have two objections:
1. Doing so may damage your lawn
2. It seems like a lot of work to me!
But those of you who, unlike me, live in regions with minimal snowfall may be interested in the Penguin VersaGrip snow pusher. The plastic (poly) blade is 24″ wide X 11.5″ long and its edge is protected by a steel wear strip. Durability is further enhanced by a steel core shaft. But it’s the wide-grip handle of the product that gives the VersaGrip its name. The handle of this snow pusher is designed so as to accommodate two gloved hands and a variety of grips. For a picture, click the image above right to open my mini-photo gallery.
If, like me, you have no use for snow pushers but do find the wide-grip handle of the VersaGrip appealing, you may be interested in another Ames True Temper product: the Snow Blazer snow shovel. It boasts the same unusually-shaped handle as the VersaGrip, along with the same steel core shaft. The blade is also plastic and protected by a steel wear strip.
But the blade on the Snow Blazer snow shovel is 19″ wide X 13.5 inches long, giving it the shape of the more typical snow shovel. However, it differs from the common flat-blade snow shovels in that the sides and back are taller, creating more of a “scoop.” Because of their scoop-like blades, the Snow Blazer snow shovels could double as snow pushers in a pinch. Yet it’s still easy to toss snow with them. I think of the Snow Blazer as a nice compromise between snow pushers and standard snow shovels.
The Avalanche Ergo Plus ergonomic snow shovel is a much different product, despite also having a plastic blade with more of a “scoop” than do flat-blade snow shovels. Yes, as you can see from the picture (above right), the Avalanche is one of those funny ergonomic snow shovels with the bent shaft.
The edge of the Avalanche’s blade is protected not by steel, but by a nylon wear strip, so that you can shovel snow off decks without worrying about damaging the wood. If you don’t have a deck, the wear strip will at least extend the life of the blade a bit. Of course, you’ll wear down the wear strip in no time if you try to break ice with these snow shovels.
On the subject of breaking ice, by the way, let me reveal a little secret. Despite the skepticism one hears about breaking ice with plastic snow shovels, I’ve been doing it for many years and have had very little breakage (on the snow shovels, I mean, not the ice!). If you’d rather not chance it, though, just use ice melt products as an alternative.
But first and foremost, these ergonomic snow shovels are about ease of use — and avoiding back injuries. No steel core shaft here: this ergonomic snow shovel has an aluminum shaft, making it as light as possible. Reducing the weight of a snow shovel is one way to minimize the stress shoveling imposes on your back.
More importantly, the bent shaft is supposed to allow you to keep your back straight while shoveling, as you can get a good grip on the shaft without having to reach down too far. Nonetheless, when shopping for such ergonomic snow shovels, pick them up first and go through the motions of shoveling, to see if they’re the right length for you. The one I tested wasn’t quite long enough for someone of my height, meaning the temptation to bend my back was still there — thus defeating the purpose behind the ergonomic design.
If you truly dislike plastic blades and seek an alternative that’s still lightweight, another Ames True Temper ergonomic snow shovel (sometimes advertised as a “snow pusher,” it’s really a snow shovel), the Aluminum Ergo Articblast, bears an aluminum blade.
That load of snow in your driveway may be getting to you, but before you put your snowblower into action, make sure you’re really using it properly and safely. You probably have a healthy respect for your lawn mower and weed-whacker, and their ability to do real harm. Don’t think that your snowblower is more innocuous just because it throws the fluffy stuff around instead of slicing plants
away from the earth.
First rule: Don’t drink alcohol and operate a snowblower. Any time you dull your reaction time and impair your judgment, the last thing you want to do is operate any kind of machinery that could severely injure you or someone else.
Second, be careful where you aim that thing. If the snow is shooting toward your house, you could be looking at damage to your siding and windows. If you aren’t exactly sure where Patches the Cat ran off to, get her into the house first, unless you want to risk stunning her and burying her under a bunch of snow. Remember, not all snow is light and fluffy. Also, if there are heavier objects in the snow, like rocks or ice chunks, they will be flung farther, and perhaps faster, than snow. So, thoroughly inspect the area before you get out the snowblower. In fact, if you can survey the area before the snow covers the ground, so much the better.
Third, watch your fingers and other important parts you might need later. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons reports that several thousand people are treated each year in emergency rooms thanks to incidents with snowblowers and snowthrowers. Two-thirds of snowblower injuries involve the fingers, and of all the various consumer home and yard products, snowblowers are one of the top causes of finger amputations. Most injuries occur when operators attempt to clear the auger or the discharge chute with their hands. Use a stick or broom handle to clear away debris in the machine. Remember that the impeller blades may still be rotating for a time even after the machine is turned off. You should wait AT LEAST five seconds after turning the machine off before trying to clear any jams, even though you’ll be using a stick. You don’t want spinning blades to grab onto something you’re holding tightly.
Fourth, make sure you leave all the safety devices, like shields, guards and switches, on the machine. Customize your car, not your snowblower. For that matter, protect your own body by wearing gloves, long pants, goggles and boots. For one thing, it’s cold out there. For another, you want to keep your body parts intact, remember?
Fifth, if you have a gas-powered snowblower, fuel it up before you start using it. Never add fuel while it’s running or still hot from recent use. If it’s an electrical snowblower, make sure the cord doesn’t get tangled or snagged in any moving parts; electrocution is dangerous, not invigorating. Don’t touch the engine cowling while it’s still hot.
Sixth, keep the kids away from the snowblower. Around the age of 15, it’s probably OK to start introducing them to safe use of a snowblower. And make sure you supervise them until you’re sure they know what they are doing.
Seventh, don’t leave the machine unattended without shutting it off first. You don’t want the snowblower going off on its own, and you don’t want kids or pets to get caught up in it when you’re out of sight or out of earshot.
Finally (and maybe this should have been rule number one, but it should be obvious), read the user’s manual for your snowblower before you use it. No one’s going to respect you more because you figured it out on your own, particularly if the result is a couple missing fingers and a family pet that’s still reeling from that hunk of ice you flung at it.
Walking in a winter wonderland is all well and good until we’re confronted with the task of removing it from our driveways. Although snow can usually be shoveled away with relative ease (excluding the back pain that follows, of course), ice can be a little trickier to eliminate. Many options are available, but here are some tried-and-true ideas that continue to stand up to the cold.
Make your shovel more user-friendly by adding floor wax to it before starting on your ice-packed driveway. The slickness will help the shovel glide through snow and ice and prevent snow from adhering to the shovel.
Apply rock salt to your driveway for an inexpensive way to help melt away the ice.
Use calcium chloride pellets to melt ice at lower temperatures than rock salt.
Choose potassium chloride when it’s not as frigid outdoors and temperatures are above 15 degrees F. It is less harmful than some of its fellow deicers.
Remove ice using another kind of deicing product known as magnesium chloride. It removes ice at extremely low temperatures and is better for the environment because it releases less chloride than other salt deicers. Additionally, it is less harmful to plants, concrete and other surfaces than some of the other options.
Melt away ice using a hand-held propane torch. These multifunctional units are also good for killing weeds and insects, so it will prove useful all year round.
Eliminate driveway ice in the luxury of your own home
SECT Landscaping
Pressure Washing
Seasonal Clean Up
Junk Removal
Lawn Care 
Mulch Install 
Roof/Gutter Cleaning
