As people settle into the new year and work at their resolutions, one local company can assist with a resolution that is increasingly common. Breeden and Associates Tax and Business Services, LLC provides accounting and tax services for individuals and businesses, assisting clients with IRS and state tax issues when they arrive, performing bookkeeping services, establishing accounting systems and maintaining them, assisting clients about to start new businesses and work with lawyers and financial advisors to assist clients with financial and estate planning as well as litigation support services.

By Jane King
Master Gardener, Fayette County

Do your friends talk about the number of hummingbirds they have in their yards? Do you love the colors of the butterflies in your own yard and want to see more? Do your tomatoes and pepper plants not produce as much as you would like? It may be because you do not have enough pollinators--birds, bees, and butterflies-- in your garden.

Whether you are looking to remodel your bathroom or kitchen or you just need some deck staining or pressure washing, Karettis Industries can handle the task. They also can do radiant attic coating for keeping the cool temperatures in the summer and heat in during the winter.

Pattillo Tree Farm, based in Griffin, Ga, is a full service landscape company and tree grower. With over 12,000 trees on hand, of nearly 20 different varieties, they specialize in established, or mature, trees and the integration into new landscapes. Pattillo Tree Farm provides top-notch container and field-grown Japanese maples, red maples, oaks, flowering cherry trees, and evergreens. Quality landscape design and installation at reasonable prices is the central focus of the business.

Allison Thorp, owner of “We Can Do It,” a company that provides a number of construction services, learned about architecture and construction from her father, a developer.

Going green is important for the community as well as the homeowner. As far as energy cost goes the largest culprit in your home is your windows. The U. S. Department of Energy reports that more energy is lost through windows in America than the annual amount of oil that flows through the Alaskan Pipeline.

By CAROL STROUD
Fayette County Master Gardener

When you get to thinking about fall and winter garden chores, the one chore that you can permanently leave out is whacking your crapemyrtles with a chain saw. Known as “crape murder” in the gardening world, it puzzles me as to how this practice got started. Pruning or topping your crapemyrtles straight across is a needless practice that takes too much time and energy that can be put into other more satisfying and beneficial gardening chores. Not only does this method of pruning ruin the beautiful natural shape of the tree, it also causes aphids, week stems, ugly knobby branches, and a shorter life span of the tree.

The fall is upon us. Back to school, falling leaves and football are hallmarks of this time of year. This is also one is the busiest and most important times of the year in the world of landscaping.

Who goes from a teenage janitor to a CPA for 30 years and then starts a residential cleaning company? Well, that’s just what Jerry Hicks did. He started The Maids Home Services franchise that provides services in Fayette and Coweta counties. Hicks located the office in Peachtree City to make it easier to get to customers in both counties.

The Fayette Master Gardener Association (FMGA) will hold an open public meeting Tuesday, Sept. 15, at the Fayette County Library community room at 6:30 p.m.  The speaker will be Ernest Koone who will speak on "Native Azaleas and Native Plants." 

You’ve probably heard of the new buzz word, staycation. It means trading an expensive trip for one in which you ‘vacation’ in your own home. The increase in gas prices and the economy in general has forced people to think of creative ways to save money, yet still enjoy a vacation atmosphere. This has led many homeowners to make changes in their homes, including adding pools and other outdoor enhancements. So, even during this economic downturn, Aabby Custom Pools, a division of The Aabby Group, has seen an increase in pool and exterior kitchen construction and landscape design.

By Jane King
Fayette County Master Gardener

Some people believe that if their plants do not thrive, they need to fertilize and water more. One of the messages at the Healthy-Soil, Happy Plants class at the Fayette County Extension Center on Tuesday, January 21st, was that all the water and fertilizer in the world will not remedy poor soil preparation before planting. Master Gardeners George Long, Jane King, and Laura Johnson explained to the 21 participants the in-depth process that will insure plant success.

The Fayette Master Gardeners Education Committee has planned a series of educational classes on vegetable gardening and landscape design techniques in February 2009. 

By Laura Johnson
Fayette County Master Gardener

Arthur is a pain! Literally. He hampers your movements and makes you stiff and sore. The bad news is that once he is here; he is here to stay. The good news is there are many wonderful tools to help us keep gardening with Arthur.

Dear Carl,
I was mowing my yard last summer, and ran over a toy car that my youngest son left in the grass. It flew out of the mower like a race car on Sunday. It left a hole in the white piece of siding on the corner. How do I go about fixing it?

“Doing things the right way the first time.”

Phil Jackson believes this philosophy is a key component in the success of his company, Nature’s Landscape Services, which is celebrating its 32nd spring in Fayette County this year.

By Brian Arnold
Special to The Citizen

Don’t worry about paying four dollars for a gallon of gasoline, as you can offset some of that cost by planting trees.

André Prinsloo was born in South Africa and moved to the United States of America five years ago with his family. Prinsloo was hoping to give his family a life of freedom and choice. Soon after moving to the states, Prinsloo started a computer software business with a dream to get involved in the cabinetry industry.

By Brian Arnold
Special to The Citizen

Faced with moisture stressed lawns with areas that have “browned out” and declined over the past several weeks, many homeowners are struggling to determine what they can do to help their lawns recover.

Whether you are looking to remodel your bathroom or kitchen or you just need some deck staining, pressure washing or general contracting done, Karettis Industries can handle the task.

Innovative Irrigation, Inc. is an irrigation installation and service contracting company specializing in commercial and residential lawn sprinkler installation. They have been in business since 1993 and maintain an office located just south of Atlanta in Tyrone, Georgia. They employ 10 full time employees year round with additional installation and service crew members being hired during their busy season.

The May meeting of the Fayette County Master Gardeners was the annual picnic and tour of three member’s gardens. This popular event is known as “Weed and Feed.” During the business meeting the members voted to become an association and voted on new by-laws. The group will now be known as the Fayette County Master Gardeners Association.

Spending some time outdoors can be a perfect way to start or end any day and Backyard Structures in Peachtree City can satisfy the needs of area residents looking for anything from decks and gazebos to trellises, canopies and awnings.

Given the impact that shade trees have upon the home and/or landscape environment, paying attention to their needs is a worthy task.

By Bonnie Helander
Fayette County Master Gardener

As school ends and summer sizzles, gardeners are busy creating lovely spaces for their family and friends to enjoy. You’ve been working hard, but are you able to fully experience the beauty and benefits of the outside space you are creating?

Andy’s Nursery Garden Club will be hosting one of the largest Japanese Maple and Conifer Growers in the Southeast at their Saturday, June 7 meeting.

Aside from the bedroom, it could be argued that the rooms where people spend the most amount of time in are the kitchen and the bathroom. Since 2005, Signature Kitchen and Bath in Tyrone has been assisting local residents complete their customer’s dreams for their rooms into reality.

One of the businesses helping to innaugurate the renaissance of Senoia’s historic downtown is Second Hand Sams, the eclectic boutique whose collection of new offerings and consignments serves as a metaphor for the growth and preservation of this small Coweta city. Karen Laing and Tammie Golden have at 90 Main Street assembled a potpourri of wares that is often surprising and certain to intrigue all who pass through. The consignments, where one can always discover something, are given new life by the new handbags, luggage, gifts, accessories, and articles of home decor, a combination of the antique and the novel that makes Second Hand Sams so unique.

By Brian Arnold
brian@natureslandscapeservices.com

Recently, while digging, almost paddling, through the saturated soil in which a poorly performing specimen tree was planted, I listened to the concerned home owner explain that she has diligently watered the tree as much as she can, within the current water restrictions. She went on to explain that because of the frequency of watering, the decline of the tree “can't be from a lack of water”.

Valances, swags and jabots, festoons and cascades have their place, but before burdening the typical ranch house window with a boatload of decoration, think twice. First, ask yourself what type of window you have and what you want from your window. Do you want privacy? To keep light in, to keep light out? To cover an unattractive window or to play up a beautiful one? Then, how does the window relate to the style and design of the room itself? And lastly, how can you be certain the treatment you choose adheres to basic principles of balance and proportion and scale?