New spray can reduce indoor allergens

New spray can reduce indoor allergens

A new spray promises to reduce common indoor allergens on soft surfaces up to 90 percent.

The Clorox Co. says its Clorox Anywhere Anti-Allergen Fabric Spray is effective on such allergens as cat and dog dander and dust mite matter. It works by chemically breaking apart the allergen protein, which is the substance to which people are allergic.

Dr. Jonathan Bernstein, a Cincinnati allergist, noted that it can be proved that many products reduce allergens, but it’s more difficult to prove they have health benefits. However, he said the spray may be useful as one intervention among many to ease allergy symptoms.

The spray has a suggested retail price of $2.99 and is hitting the shelves of major retailers nationwide.

Author connects painting, garden design

Painting and garden design both are forms of artistic expression. Gordon Hayward explores the relationships between the two in “Art and the Gardener: Fine Painting as Inspiration for Garden Design.”

Hayward, a garden author and contributing editor for Fine Gardening Magazine, pairs photos of gardens with famous works of art to point out the parallels between the two. He breaks down elements in the images to help gardeners better understand their effects and schools them in some of the basics of good design.

“Art and the Gardener” is due out this month from Gibbs Smith, Publisher. It sells for $40 in hardcover.

Company marketing bamboo vessel sink

Eco-chic bamboo has been finding its way into floors, furniture, countertops and even bedsheets. Now it’s been shaped into a bathroom sink.

Totally Bamboo is marketing what it says is the first bamboo vessel sink for homes and businesses. The bowl-shaped sink is formed on a lathe from laminated bamboo, hand-rubbed and sealed with polyurethane.

The sink comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, as well as in honey-color and two-toned versions.

It sells for $499 and is available now at www.totallybamboo.com.

Author shares how garden should grow

Barbara Ellis knows how your garden grows or more specifically, how it should. She’s sharing her wisdom in “The Veggie Gardener’s Answer Book.” In this compact volume, Ellis promises an “answer to every question you’ll ever ask” unless, perhaps, your question involves how often to apply chemical fertilizer or something of that sort. This book pledges its advice is 100 percent organic.

“The Veggie Gardener’s Answer Book” is intended as a reference in which you can look up the issues that are troubling you.

The book comes from Storey Publishing and sells for $14.95.

How to attract birds to your back yard

A wealth of bird-watching experience went into “Best-Ever Backyard Birding Tips: Hundreds of Easy Ways to Attract the Birds You Love to Watch.”

The book, by Deborah L. Martin and the editors of Rodale Garden Books, offers ideas for just about everyone from novices to more-experienced birders. Its offerings include the basics of attracting birds as well as such helpful tips as instructions for inexpensive homemade feeders, pointers on water features and ideas for discouraging pests.

Readers can learn more about some of their backyard visitors, familiarize themselves with bird behavior and find out which types of food and other amenities will draw their favorite birds to their yards.

“Best-Ever Backyard Birding Tips” is published by Rodale Books and sells for $19.95 in softcover.

McClatchy Newspapers