Planting Austin Friendly Flowers : A Guide To A Low Maintenance Garden (outdoor creatures)
No commentsBy Ki Gray
Do you love the beauty and color of flowers but cringe at the thought of the maintenance required for their upkeep? If your colorful blooms have a tendency to turn brown and crunchy from neglect in the hot Austin sun, there may be some flowers made just for you. Flora native or adapted to the Austin area thrive where others perish, resisting drought, pests and other hazards. Just choose your plants wisely and you can have fabulous landscaping for your property with little work.
There are many benefits to growing native plants. In addition to saving on water and fertilizer you save on time by choosing plants that thrive in the unique climate of Austin Texas. Your gardening is also more enjoyable when you are not fighting mother nature in an attempt to grow plants that are not suited to the Texas Climate. It is also nice to help maintain the original ecosystem of your locale by promoting local plants and flowers.
Perennials are an essential part of a vibrant landscape, and a beautiful choice for any Texas flowerbed is Cedar Sage. A shade lover, Cedar Sage has bright red spiky flowers that bloom spring through summer and can bring a pop of color to an otherwise gloomy spot in your yard. Sage comes in several other varieties, too, including Majestic Sage, Mealy Blue Sage and Mexican Sage bush all of which produce beautiful flowers and require very little water, just like Cedar Sage.
Trailing Lantana is another great choice, especially when used as a ground cover. It is very tolerant of poor conditions, highly drought resistant, and its lavender flowers are very attractive to butterflies.
Purple Cone Flowers, also know as Echinacea, require a little more water than the previous plants, but they are nonetheless exceptional specimens for an Austin garden. These daisy-like flowers are a Texas native and produce violet or white blooms. Preferring sun or partial shade, they can be planted almost anywhere.
Mexican Honeysuckle is another low-water plant. It displays its orange flowers spring to frost, attracting hummingbirds with its sweet smell. It only requires an occasional pruning to encourage full growth.
Ornamental grasses are another option for sprucing up your landscape, and there are many hardy varieties to choose from, such as Big Muhly, Little Bluestem and Dwarf Fountain Grass. Some grasses can be quite invasive, so be careful where you plant them, because they will thrive and take over.
These are only a few of the many ideal plants for your Texas landscape. There are a multitude of choices available out there, so next time you go to a nursery, make sure you do your homework first or ask the people running the nursery which plants and flowers are native to Texas. The city of Austin has worked to promote a green and environmentally friendly city. The city of Austin has a Grow Green plant list featuring native and adapted landscape plants that thrive in Texas. By planting smart you can save water, fertilizer and time.
Ki works as a realtor in the central Austin real estate market helping individuals looking for homes as well as investors looking for cashflow properties. His site provides a free search of the Austin MLS along with a blog covering news and statistics on the Austin Texas real estate market.
MTBE - Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether
By Katie Kelley
Methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) is one of various additives used to oxygenate gasoline. These substances are blended with gasoline to reduce carbon dioxide emissions (MTBE also reduces other toxic chemical compounds in vehicle emissions). MTBE has been in use since 1979, primarily in response to the diminishing use of lead in gasoline.
In 1990, with the passage of the Clean Air Act Amendments (specifically Section 211), the use of oxygenated gas was required in areas with excessive levels of CO air pollution. These areas were primarily urban, meaning that huge numbers of individuals have been exposed to MTBE. The positive aspect of the blend of gasoline and MTBE (which is highly flammable) is that it allows a much cleaner burn and less environmentally harmful emissions. Of the reformulated gasoline (RFG) mandated by this act, over 85% contain MTBE.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), although the use of MTBE appears noble, its use has caused many health and safety concerns for people who are exposed to it.
Not only can individuals suffer health risks by inhaling MTBE, but the contamination of potable water stores, and thus ingestion, are other very real concerns. Water contamination can happen through the leakage from gasoline storage or transport units, most of which are located underground.
MTBE has a very high level of solubility and there have been many incidences of water contamination all over the country, especially in places of high population density (such as California and New England). While MTBE is absorbed quickly into water, it is not similarly easy to separate from water as it is not readily biodegradable. On the other hand, in air, it quickly evaporates and produces a vapor which has a very distinct, unpleasant odor. Breathing this vapor can result in discomfort as described below under symptoms.
The National Center for Environmental Health (a branch of the Centers for Disease Control) suggests that people who concerned about overexposure to MTBE through inhalation or water contamination contact a state drinking water agency immediately. Potential exposure is at times identified by the strong smell and may or may not be indicative of harmful levels. Exposure to MTBE can be confirmed because it is detectable in the bloodstream, as well as breath and urine, for up to two days after contact.
While not considered as dangerous as Benzene (an element that MTBE replaces in gasoline) MTBE is a carcinogen at high enough exposure levels, as shown by laboratory experiments on animals conducted by the CDC. However, no governmental bodies have claimed to find sufficient evidence to recognize MTBE as a possible human carcinogen. Part of this reasoning is that it is eventually broken down and removed from the body, thus long term accumulation is not a risk.
Since humans do not encounter MTBE as a separate entity from gasoline, very few concrete conclusions have been drawn since a causal relationship cannot be adequately established between the chemical and health conditions.
Specifically, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has still reserved a definitive judgment on the adverse health effects of MTBE. Many other studies have been conducted though and indicate that the following are symptoms found after contact with MTBE.
Symptoms from inhalation include:
* Headaches
* Cough
* Nose or throat burning
* Other respiratory irritation
* Lightheadedness
* Eye irritation
* Nausea
* Vomiting
* Dizziness, “spaciness” or disorientation
Possible health issues resulting from ingestion or dermal contact (i.e. drinking, swimming or showering) include:
* Gastrointestinal irritation
* Liver and kidney damage and possibly liver and kidney cancer
* Nervous system effects ranging from hyperactivity and
incoordination to convulsions and unconsciousness
* Risks to healthy fetal development
Obviously, at the expense of the health of the general public, requiring oxygenating additives in gasoline has been a mixed blessing. Indeed, before the federal government suggested the use of MTBE, and before gas and oil companies began adding it, more research should have been done as to its effects on the environment and human health.
Learn more about the dangers of MTBE at http://mtbe.legalview.com/. Also visit the LegalView homepage at http://www.LegalView.com to find information on other potential dangers such as the Zimmer Durom cup recall or the Cipro side effects causing tendonitis among patients.
Learn About Outdoor Creatures In Wildlife
Rising Fuel Prices And How They Affect Society
By GARKO
The ramifications of unprecedented gas prices easily escape a cursory view.
How many more freeways must turn into parking lots because some unfortunate soul ran out of oil at the wrong time?
How many additional cars will be left stranded by the roadside, burnt out and gutted because the driver could not keep up with the price of insurance and gasoline?
How does one quantify or measure the number of ruined days, accidents, arguments brought on by skyrocketing oil prices?
Any time one starts to engage with other people beyond their immediate circle then they are impacting lives in ways unseen.
I had a somewhat popular ebook on traffic shortcuts in Los Angeles. It sold a few copies. Too few! lol
I would occasionally wonder whimsically if I had sent anyone off their usual path to some serendipitous event, good or bad.
Take that small example and compare it to how many lives are affected in so many different ways by the out of control rise in gas prices
Life is a series of probabilities, causes which cause other things which take us down roads that hold surprises. That is the plus and the minus.
So what really is the cost of rapidly rising oil prices?
And more importantly steps do we need to take as individuals to cease being robbed by large corporations and money manipulation?
Some may say that there is nothing that we can do.
But such people are already dead and they are just waiting for someone to come along with a shovel.
In this world there are cures for cancer to be found if one doesn’t take no for an answer, just as there solutions to global warming, the environmental disaster of New Orleans and the health problems of the 911 first responders if these problems would just be confronted and the solutions applied, a solution exists also to free us from slavery to the oil pump.
Did you know you can lower the gas consumption of a vehicle with water? A hybrid engine using both oil and water can be installed quite easily. A fully hydrogen engine system can be implemented with just a bit more know how, resourcefulness and effort.
It is worth it in terms of a higher balance in your bank account, a cleaner environment, a happier car and in so many unforeseen ways that could have positive ramifications that it really is wise to make the small investment of time and caring to get your car converted to a hydrogen system.
Entrepreneur, consumer advocate, songwriter and activist, GARKO, shows you how to increase power and save gas and how to run a car on hydrogen from water which is the best of the ways to save big on gas
For a list of current fuel prices in your neighborhood email garko@startlingdiscoveries.info
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 1:25 am and is filed under environmental. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
