DESIGN | by DEBRA PRINZING

INVEST IN NEXT YEAR’S GARDEN by planting spring-flowering bulbs in October. For a few dollars per bag of tulip or daffodil bulbs (and a little elbow grease), you can plop bulbs into the ground and cover them with soil. Wait a few months and you’ll enjoy the payoff: A spring garden filled with cheery blooms.

Planting bulbs is almost foolproof, says Becky Heath, co-owner of Brent and Becky’s Bulbs of Gloucester, Va. “Even if you’re a beginner, bulbs are probably the easiest plants to grow,” she promises.

Here are my five favorite bulbs to plant this fall:

Allium: An ornamental onion, alliums lend architectural drama to the garden with gorgeous pink, white and purple tennis-ball-sized blooms on tall stalks. ‘Globemaster’ is the hands-down favorite.

Crocus: Usually the very first bulbs to emerge from the soil (or even late snowfall), these tiny cup-shaped flowers with yellow, gold, cream and lavender petals look charming when planted into a lawn or rock garden.

Daffodil: ‘King Alfred’ daffodils explode in primary-yellow, trumpet-shaped blooms. Warm climate gardeners should try tazetta daffodils, with tiny sprays of flowers (tazetta means “small cup” in Italian).

Hyacinthus: Hyacinths are composed of many intensely fragrant, tubular florets that cover the 8- to 10- inch stem as a single flower head. When I’ve forgotten to plant them in fall, I “force” hyacinths indoors in winter. Like growing an avocado pit when you were a kid, you can root a hyacinth bulb in water and watch its stem, leaves and bloom emerge in your windowsill.

Tulip: The queen of all spring flowering bulbs, tulips are wonderful tucked between other perennials. They are also great for containers. My favorite, ‘Princess Irene’, has orange and hot-pink streaks.

Tool to use: I love Lee Valley Tools’ Soil-Replacing Bulb Planter, which is easy on the back and wrist.

TRENDSPOTTING | by ROBIN AVNI

PROBABLY THE LAST TIME YOU GAVE ANY SERIOUS THOUGHT TO FELT was either that black beret you so charmingly sported for a few moments in college, or late one afternoon when you were frantically searching for the material in a craft store for one of your kids’ school projects.

Well, felt has gone a bit upscale and sophisticated and is enjoying a bit of popularity as the it fabric. This season everything from pillows to hats to chairs — even coffee-cup holders — are all getting that felt feeling.

Shedding some insight on the world’s oldest fabric known to humankind was the spring/summer museum show  of Fashioning Felt, at the Cooper Hewitt in NYC.  The small, but comprehensive show highlighted felt’s rich history — did you know that in Turkey remnants of felt have been found dating back to 6,500 B.C.? — and paid great homage to one of the most sustainable materials around.

Yes, felt is “green” and we don’t mean the color of the felt that covers the surface of  that local pool table in your neighborhood bar. However,  for the record, it is avaible in a veritable rainbow of colors.

While the Netherlands seems to be one of the key innovators in the field of felt design, those stateside are getting into the act. Blog sites and websites host a variety of felt afficiandos from those with a sense of whimsy to those infused with indie-spirit. High-end designers continue to push the edge with innovative designs ranging from serious architecture, like the auditorium at The Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of  Tolerance, to home accessories such as curtains with cut-out motifs.

All in all, it never felt so good.

BACK TO BASICS | by JEAN GALTON

IF YOU’VE NEVER TASTED FRESH FENNEL you’re missing out. It’s a crisp, aromatic vegetable, tasting like licorice but sweeter and less powerful. You can eat it raw (my kids’ absolute favorite) or grill, braise or roast it; the flavor is less intense when cooked but still enthralling.

When you buy fennel, you’ll notice that it comes in two shapes. The fat, rounded bulbs are a bit juicier and the longer, flattened bulbs have a more concentrated flavor. Both shapes are equally good: Just be sure the bulb is firm to the touch and shiny. Rinse it and cut off the top stalks and any tough outer layers. Save the fronds (the wispy leaf parts at the top) and slice off the root end. Cut the bulb lengthwise and thinly slice it, either crosswise or lengthwise. If you want it sliced extra thin, you can try slicing it on a mandoline. Either way, you can’t go wrong throwing it into this salad.

Fennel Salad
Prep: 10 minutes
Serves 4

1 seedless cucumber, cut lengthwise in half and thinly sliced
1 large bulb fennel, cut lengthwise in half and thinly sliced, fronds reserved
1 shallot, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
2 tablespoons champagne or white-wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine all the ingredients except the fennel fronds in a medium bowl and toss to mix. Chop 1 tablespoon of the reserved fennel fronds and sprinkle on top. Serve.

STORYTELLING | by MOLLY MARTIN

IN ADDITION TO THE FEATURES EXPECTED OF GENEALOGY SOFTWARE, my  first version of Family Tree Maker had an unexpected one: A place to enter notes for each person.

Over the years I’d heard our mother tell many tales of her parents, aunts, uncles and cousins she’d grown up with in Chicago. I could recognize stories I’d heard before — Oma, as we all called her in her later years, was very consistent in her recollections. But I couldn’t have told them on my own (I hadn’t met even one of those relatives).

So one June when my husband was on an extended work trip, I made a deal with Oma: Each night, I’d call her at 7 p.m., after dinner and before any favorite TV shows. I’d give her the name of a relative, she’d say whatever came to mind, and I would strap on my telephone headset and type like crazy.

After we made it through Uncle Mike and Aunt Delia and cousin Jackie Breen and all the rest, we started in on her life: “What’s your earliest memory?” The next night: “And then what happened?” And onwards. She told about her family, friends, neighborhoods, jobs, moves, houses, children’s births, life, lives and deaths.

Before Oma died, she’d gifted us with more than 50 stories, and I’d started pairing them with old family photos. I try to give one story to my family each Christmas, printing 20-plus copies for my siblings, their children, and now their grandchildren. I put each story in 3-hole-punched plastic sleeves and presented the first (above right) in a binder along with that person’s family tree (also via Family Tree Maker).

Oma’s nine years gone now, but her stories live on, for all of us.

PASSIONS | by JANNA LUFKIN

IN MY GRANDMOTHER’S HOUSE there was a small illustration and calligraphy by my aunt. It hung in the same place in that old farmhouse until she passed. It now hangs in my mother’s home. Someday, I hope the sweet little picture will hang in mine.

The message in the picture:

“It’s not how much you have but how much you enjoy that makes happiness.”

I think about this little picture and its message almost every day.

This past year has been a difficult one for many of us. But the next time you go to purchase something, ask yourself these questions:

• Am I purchasing this item to enhance my life or simply because I think I should have it? In other words, is the purchase to keep up with the Joneses, or this item really going to help me in my daily life?
• Does this item help me pursue a interest, help with a hobby or enrich my creative spirit?
• Do I really need this? Might I already have something similar that can be reworked or refashioned?
• Will this make me happier for a moment? For a minute? For a month?
• Is this item a classic? Will it stand the test of time or will it eventually just gather dust?

We work hard and harder to afford the things we have. Often we don’t have time to enjoy them once we have purchased them.

There are only so many days in a week, so many hours in a day. Instead of chasing the next item, stop, take a second, and question.

BACK TO BASICS | by SHERRY STRIPLING

FALL IS HERE: TIME TO GET AN URGE FOR AN AIR CONDITIONER or patio furniture or blowup beach toys.

Seasonal merchandize is always a better bargain late in the season but the pickings are especially good in autumn, the last quarter of the year. As you start your own economic stimulus plan, here are items to consider.

Appliances
New models on ranges and washing machines and other major appliances hit the showroom floors in September and October. Sales go on all year, but big holidays, like Thanksgiving, are often prime time.

Again, new models for big-screen televisions often come out in August and September. Wait a few months for the price to drop. You’ll find bargains during the winter holidays.

Champagne
Why not? Prices are often lower during the holidays because of the competition.

Cruises
People tend to book in mid-winter instead of mid-summer when it’s warm at home, so there are more berths than passengers right now. Costs are lower because of new ships in the Caribbean and merged lines.

Cookware
October and November compete with April and May for good buys. Also buy your BBQ now, along with your matching poolside lounge chairs.

Toys
Watch for two-for-one specials beginning in October and November because toy manufacturers like to get the ball rolling early, so to speak.

TRENDSPOTTING | by KAT SPELLMAN

LET’S FACE IT, ALMOST EVERYTHING LOOKS BETTER ON A PEDESTAL: us women, our food, even soap and baubles. Take another look at those cake stands, vintage pottery, antique silver pieces and small pedestals shoved away in the cupboard, and consider them in a new light:

• Even something as simple as crackers can be an elegant addition to the table when marched neatly in a row on a simple raised tray.
• Fruit and veggies look like a still life when kept on the counter or kitchen island on a pretty tall tray. Purchase all of one kind, say apples fresh from this season’s harvest or simple lemons, for an especially sophisticated look.
• Earrings, bracelets, rings and necklaces will be worn more often when you see their dazzle in a sweet pedestal at the vanity or bedside.
• Bar soap next to the sink in a gorgeous little raised dish adds ritual to the washing, making it a pure little pleasure of the day.
• Even the day’s mail can cause pause when one passes by it shining from a sparkling silver tray on the entry table

In the words of the U2 song “Elevation” (be forewarned: gratuitous hyperlink to funny/lame/campy U2 Angelina Jolie music video), so many household items just seem to scream, “Elevate me!”

SUSTAINABLE LIVING | by CELESTE TELL

ROBERT F. KENNEDY FAMOUSLY ASKED US to not just “look at things the way they are, and ask why” but to “dream of things that never were, and ask why not?” And that is exactly what the Rice Design Alliance and Houston Chapter of the American Institute of Architects have done. In initiating the 99k House Competition, they have asked a very big “Why not?”

The 99k House Competition asked architects all over the country to design a house that would cost no more than $99,000 in today’s dollars to be built in Houston’s Fifth Ward, an older, run-down and neglected neighborhood where foreclosures and vacant lots are common. Through this initiative the organizers hope to:

• Broaden awareness of affordable green building strategies
• Demonstrate that sustainable houses for less than $99k are possible
• Stimulate creation of replicable designs
• Build a site-specific prototype

I recently attended a local reception for the finalists and winning project. In order to achieve the rigorous program goals, each entry is chock full of innovative ideas and concepts. Some of these are generalizable, and others are context-specific to Houston, the Gulf Coast and the Fifth Ward.

I’d love to see more of this across the country. Different regions, climates and local culture would drive different design solutions. Fully developed, planned, prototyped, market-tested and taken to scale, ideas like these could very well reinvent the U.S. housing market. Boston. New York. Virginia. Atlanta. Miami. Detroit. Cleveland. Chicago. St. Louis. Dallas. Phoenix. Denver. Salt Lake City. Los Angeles. Oakland. Sacramento. Portland. Seattle. You get the picture.

And if anyone asks why, you know the response: Why not?

CONNECTIONS | by ROBIN AVNI

A RECENT VISIT TO ELLIS ISLAND yielded much more than the discovery of the date of Grandma Pepi Fuchs’ transit to a new world at the age of 23.  Accompanying her husband, Chaim, she had taken passage on the Noordam out of Rotterdam, Holland, and according to the ship’s manifest arrived in the States on September 29, 1913 — 86 years ago today.

After my successful search of the archives, a tour of the museum was in order. Most fascinating was the room that showcased objects, artifacts and clothing that the new immigrants had deemed worthy of travel to the new land. As those who came through Ellis Island traveled third-class and steerage, they had limited funds to transport their belongings and had to carefully choose what made the journey. For many, though, all they had were the clothes on their back and what they could carry in one suitcase (with no easy handles and rollers).

What couldn’t they live without? Family photos of those left behind, a coveted feather pillow, their best holiday dress, important books (both religious and learned) and the family dishes. Artifacts used to steady to the soul, remind them of their legacy and act as a foundation for building their dreams.

If you look close at the current passion for tribe and origin, you can see patterns and styles that are showing up in today’s fashions, housewares and everyday objects. A seasonal Ralph Lauren design looks like it walked out of the Ellis Island display case onto the runway.

Classics and traditional are having a good run of it right now — a rediscovery of what stands the test of time as well as the economy. But Ellis Island isn’t the only source: Any well-traveled artifact can offer the seeds of inspiration. I think Grandma Fuchs would have been jiggy with that.

PASSIONS | by JEAN GALTON

HOW COULD A FERMENTED DAIRY PRODUCT possibly be described as blissful? Greek yogurt breaks all the rules. Even in its nonfat version, this lavishly creamy yogurt is heaven on the tongue.

So, do like the Greeks and eat it for breakfast with honey and chopped walnuts, or even topped with spoon sweets (a kind of uber-thick preserve.). But my idea of bliss is plain Greek yogurt with sliced, ripe nectarines and a drizzle of maple syrup.  And in tzatziki, of course, that classic, kicky, garlicky Greek sauce.

FIND IT: Fage yogurt (from Greece) is available all over the country. Stonyfield Farms now makes its own Greek yogurt, named Oikos. And Trader Joe’s and The Greek Gods have several versions as well.

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