hAdding seasonal touch to your living space

hAdding seasonal touchto your living space
The changes outdoors give us clues for redecorating our indoor spaces to fit the mood of the seasons.
Bonnie Trust Dahan uses those lessons of nature as the inspiration for the decorating ideas in "Living With the Seasons: Creating a Natural Home."
Dahan is founder and chief executive officer of Pure Seasons, a natural-lifestyle catalog and Internet business.
In her book, she shows myriad ideas for seasonal decorating, including small changes such as replacing your tableware or creating vignettes of natural objects, as well as more ambitious projects such as slipcovering the furniture.
In some cases, the same room is photographed in different seasons, so the reader can see the impact of the changes.
The book incorporates both outdoor and indoor settings and includes a variety of house styles.
"Living With the Seasons" is published by Chronicle Books and sells for $27.50 in hardcover.
Pruning rose of Sharon
Q. How far can you cut back rose of Sharon without damaging it?
A. Tom Dayton of Dayton Nursery in Norton, Ohio, recommends cutting the branches back no more than halfway. It shouldn't hurt the shrub to cut it back even more, but the new growth will be thick, he said. If you do need to cut the shrub back severely, he recommended thinning it at the same time.
Prune rose of Sharon in the early spring because the plant blooms on new growth.