Greenscape Gardens Green Blog

It's hard to believe its December already but a reality check is evident when you turn the leaf of the calendar to last month of 2004.

Tonight a great jounalist signed off for the last time. Tom Brokaw said his farewell after four decades of broadcasting. Telling his audience "we've been through a lot together," Tom Brokaw bid farewell as anchor of the "NBC Nightly News".

"We've been through a lot together," Brokaw told viewers at the end of his final broadcast in the hot seat. "Through dark days and nights and seasons of hope and joy. Whatever the story I had only one objective -- to get it right."

"When I failed it was personally painful," he added.

"The enduring lessons through the decades are these: It's not the questions that get us in trouble, it's the answers. And just as important no one person has all the answers," he said.

Brokaw, 64, began his career on a local station in Nebraska to covering the White House during the Watergate scandal. First as co-anchor in 1982 and then taking over as sole "Nightly News" anchor from John Chancellor in 1983, the no-nonsense South Dakotan with a flat accent won all of broadcast journalism's top awards including several Emmys.

But it was a work of history that Brokaw said he was most proud of: his book "The Greatest Generation," based on hundreds of letters and interviews with survivors of the D-Day landings in 1944 in northwest France.

Brokaw has signed a 10-year contract keeping him with the network as a documentary producer and host through 2014, but he said he expects to spend more time fishing and enjoying his grandchildren in the years ahead.

Signing off at the end of the evening news, he kept his composure: "You'll see Brian Williams here tomorrow night, and I'll see you along the way."

LEWIS & CLARK EXPEDITION 200 YEARS AGO TODAY 12/01/1804
The Mandans have received runners from an approaching party of Cheyennes who are coming to trade. The Cheyennes are at peace with the Sioux which causes the Mandans to be uneasy about the imminent danger. Lewis & Clark advise the Mandans to proceed with their peaceful trading with the Cheyenne.

HERE'S A GREAT WAY TO EXTEND YOUR PERENNIAL GARDENING SEASON ........EVERGREEN PERENNIALS

Extend the season into winter with evergreen perennials!
It's December, and here in St. Louis most of the perennials in the garden look terrible. Alas, all is not lost! This is the time of year when evergreen perennials really start to strut their stuff, thumbing their proverbial noses at the frost and laughing off freezing temperatures. Here are a few reasons why you should grow evergreen perennials:

• Evergreen perennials retain their shape all year long
• Provide continous interest even during the winter
• Hide dying bulb foliage and summer-dormant perennials
• Come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and bloom times
• Many are shade tolerant
• Many can be used as a low-maintenance ground cover

Helleborous x hybridus is an evergreen perennials and the 2005 Perennial Plant Association Plant of the Year. One of the most popular cultivars is the Royal Heritage™ Strain, selected by John Elsley. It includes a dynamic range of flower colors including purple, near-black, red, rose-pink, yellow, pale green, and white. Some are attractively spotted or brushed with a contrasting color. Each blossom has overlapping petals, forming a cup shape about two inches in length. The evergreen, leathery, serrated leaves form an umbrella-like covering which sometimes coddles the nodding flowers. Attractive seed pods create additional interest after the plants are finished blooming. These hybrids typically grow 18-24 inches tall, bloom in early to mid-spring, and are hardy in zones 4-9. They will be available in the spring of 2005 at Greenscape Gardens.

Here's a list of evergreen perennials:
Ajuga
Bergenia
Dianthus
Epimedium
Carex
Festuca
Helictotrichon
Hedera
Helleborus
Heuchera
Heucherella
Iberis
Lavandula
Lewisia
Liriope
Pachysandra
Phlox subulata
Potentilla
Sagina
Sedum (some, mostly low-growing ground cover types)
Sempervivum
Thymus
Tiarella
Vinca

Newspapers have comics.......The Green Blog has the bloopers

These are actual bloopers from church bulletins...

Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B.S. is done.
The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday morning.

The pastor will preach his farewell message, after which the choir will sing, "Break Forth Into Joy."

Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and community.

The eighth graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the church basement Friday at 7 p.m. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.

Thursday night Potluck Supper. Prayer and medication to follow.

A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.

Weight Watchers will meet at 7 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.
Tuesday at 4 PM there will be an ice cream social. All ladies giving milk will please come early.

The Lutheran Men's group will meet at 6 PM. Steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, bread and dessert will be served for a nominal feel.

Don't let worry kill you, let the church help.

This being Easter Sunday, we will ask Mrs. Lewis to come forward and lay an egg on the altar.

Thursday at 5:00 pm there will be a meeting of the Little Mothers Club. All wishing to become little mothers, please see the minister in his study.

Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

Bertha Belch, a missionary from Africa will be speaking tonight at Calvary Memorial Church in Racine. Come tonight and hear Bertha Belch all the way from Africa.

The ladies of the church have cast off clothing of every kind and they may be seen in the church basement Friday.

Announcement in the church bulletin for a National PRAYER & FASTING Conference: "The cost for attending the Fasting and Prayer conference includes meals."

Miss Charlene Mason sang "I will not pass this way again" giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.

Next Sunday is the family hay ride and bonfire at the Fowlers'. Bring your own hot dogs and guns. Friends are welcome! Everyone come for a fun time.

During the absence of our Pastor, we enjoyed the rare privilege of hearing a good sermon when J.F. Stubbs supplied our pulpit.

The church will host an evening of fine dining, superb entertainment, and gracious hostility.

This evening at 7 P.M. there will be a hymn sing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.

"Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don't forget your husbands."