Home & Garden briefs

Published: September 21, 2006

Design students in their junior year or above are invited to enter the second annual JELD-WEN Student Door Design Contest to win a scholarship and travel package valued at $20,000.

Entrants must create and submit original designs for residential front doors, focusing on the theme "Honoring architecture." The entry form and rules are online at www.jeldwen.com/studentdesign. Deadline for submission is Nov. 1, with winners announced March 1.

Winners will be selected based on the originality of their front-door designs, the overall concept, creative use of materials and the strength of whatever styles they choose to convey. Designs can include panels of wood or other building materials, glass and decorative hardware — any element that reinforces the student's stated design objectives.

JELD-WEN will award two grand-prize packages, including a $5,000 scholarship and an all-expenses-paid trip to the next International Builders' Show, where students will have access to leaders in the building industry and hundreds of educational seminars. Three finalists will receive $1,000 scholarships. One representative from JELD-WEN and a panel of independent judges will review the entries and select the finalists.

Cool new home gadgets courtesy of HGTV:

• Bad Blade C-7 by Kwik Tool can cut wood with nails, steel, sheet metal, composites, laminates, PVC pipe and more without having to switch blades from machine to machine. This item replaces all the blades that are in your toolbox.

• Thumb Saver by FW Tools Inc. is made out of durable aluminum with a magnet on the end of it, which keeps your hands completely safe while nailing any kind of fastener.

• Instant Nails by Chemence Inc. is the fastest glue on the planet. The two-step glue has one activator based on acetone and another known as sinaacrolay (an industrial grade super glue), allowing it to dry within 15 seconds.

Want to cut back on electricity? GE claims that if every American home exchanged the five most frequently used bulbs with its "Energy Star" qualified bulbs, 1 trillion pounds of greenhouse gases would be kept out of the air over the course of the bulbs' lives.

GE offers more than 50 lighting products that are "Energy Star"qualified. GE Energy Smart• Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs that use up to 75 percent less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is taking nominations for its annual "Dozen Distinctive Destinations" competition. This nonprofit organization has worked with historic destinations across America to promote their unique heritage as great travel destinations. Each year, it honors 12 communities from across the country that offer authentic experiences.

Winning destinations are considered striking alternatives to Anyplace, U.S.A. They have dynamic downtowns, a strong commitment to historic preservation and revitalization, interesting architecture, cultural diversity, locally owned small businesses.

Past winners include Annapolis, Md.;Calistoga, Calif.; Thomasville, Ga.; Natchez, Miss.; Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; Oberlin, Ohio; Astoria, Ore.; Beaufort, S.C.; Burlington, Vt.; and Walla Walla, Wash.

To nominate your favorite destination for the 2007 list of Dozen Distinctive Destinations, or to learn more about the program, go online to the National Trust Web site www.national

trust.org/ddd or e-mail doz

en@nthp.org. Nominees should be recognizable locations, such as a city or neighborhood . All nominations must be received by Nov. 3.

• Gardening for butterflies will be a feature topic at the Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden Gala from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 30. Zoo visitors will enjoy a day of entertaining and informative talks and demonstrations by the zoo horticulture staff. Garden clubs, commercial nurseries, greenhouses and other businesses will demonstrate and sell products.

• Learn about new heat-hardy plants, grasses for Oklahoma landscapes, see a Bonsai display and more at the all-day annual Oklahoma State University plant materials conference, which will start at 9 a.m. Oct. 11 at the Holiday Inn in Stillwater. The workshop is sponsored by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, Horticulture and Landscape Architecture Department and the Oklahoma Botanical Garden and Arboretum. Early registration before Oct. 1 is $60; after that, registration is $90. Early registration prices are lower for students, OBGA members, Master Gardeners and county extension educators. Lunch is provided with paid registration. For more information, call Stephanie Larimer at (405) 744-5404 or e-mail stephanie.larimer@okstate.edu.

The 20th annual Canna Festival will be Sept. 28-30 as part of the Tri-County Free Fair in Carnegie. Starting at 11 a.m. Sept. 30, those attending can register to tour the Horn Canna Farm free. Viewers will see cannas during their peak growing stage. Tour rides will be available at the fairgrounds. Registration will be at the Carnegie Chamber of Commerce's hospitality booth inside the exhibit barn.

The Oklahoma Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse Grower's annual trade show and convention will be Sept. 28-29 at the Payne County Fairgrounds in Stillwater. For more information, call Wendy Gerdes at 942-5276 or e-mail OklahomaONLAOGGA@aol.com.

• The Apogon Iris Unit of the Oklahoma City Council of Garden Clubs will meet Wednesday in the home of Tis Bohlman, 1016 NW 41. Pearl Sullens will co-host. Peggy Ferguson will present a program on bog gardens. For more information, call Vivian Stewart at 373-0713 or e-mail vivirustew@aol.com.

• The Oklahoma City Hosta Club will meet at 7 p.m. Sept. 28 in Will Rogers Garden Center for a program presented by Sharon Beasley titled "Gardening with Succulents." Visitors welcome. For more information, e-mail Janet Colgan at jcolgan1@cox.net.

From Staff and Wire Reports