Five students chosen in the Baton Rouge Garden Club’s Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl poster contest. ä Page 2G
ADVOCATE THE SOUTHSIDE
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THURSDAY JANUARY 29, 2015 H
B O C AG E • C O U N T RY C LU B • H I G H L A N D • J E F F E R S O N T E R R AC E • K E N I LW O R T H • P E R K I N S • U N I V E R S I T Y C LU B THEADVOCATE.COM
Passion for camellias blooms in the family
Darlene Denstorff
BY C.J. FUTCH
cfutch@theadvocate.com
ON THE SOUTHSIDE
DDENSTORFF@ THEADVOCATE.COM
Events have bird lovers humming Hummingbird aficionados have two events this week to fill their interest in the tiny birds. On Friday, Dennis Demcheck will talks about each of the types of hummingbirds that might visit the area in winter, and provide tips on how to attract these birds to our yards. The program is from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center Education Center. Admission is free for Baton Rouge Audubon members and $3 for nonmembers. Then, on Saturday, BRAS will host the Winter Hummingbird Tour. The event is free but advanced registration is required. The group will meet at 7:30 a.m. at Brew Ha-Ha Coffee House at 711 Jefferson Highway. The tour is expected to end by noon. There is no charge for this event. Call (225) 757-8905.
Master gardeners host seminar
The East Baton Rouge Master Gardeners will meet from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Feb. 5 at Bluebonnet Regional Library, 9200 Bluebonnet Blvd., and will review two topics during the program. First, the group will review a segment on raised beds. Participants can learn about site selection and preparation, materials used to make a raised bed and what it should be filled with before planting, library officials said. During the vegetable gardening segment, participants can gain confidence about selection, planting and cultivation of a vegetable garden in south Louisiana. They also will learn tricks to growing tomatoes and other popular crops, organizers said. Call (225) 763-2240.
Lap sit story time
Advocate photo by C. J. FUTCH
Gosho Zakura, a camellia variety blooming now at the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens, is just in time for the Baton Rouge Camellia Society’s annual show.
Florence Crowder grew up the beneficiary of her father’s appreciation of camellias. When she and her family moved back to Denham Springs after World War II, she wandered in the beauty of the 100 or so varieties of the plant he collected over the years. Empress Josephine of France, consort to Napoleon Bonaparte, imported several varieties of camellia to France, Crowder said, and fashion design maven Coco Chanel made camellia blooms a classic accessory by wearing them while they were in season. Crowder inherited her father’s fasci-
äSee CAMELLIAS, page 2G
Raising awareness about heart disease in women gets fashionable
BY C.J. FUTCH
cfutch@theadvocate.com Most people tend to picture men when they think of heart disease, but it’s the No. 1 cause of death among women in the United States, said Casey Stannard, faculty adviser for Hemline@LSU, a student organization dedicated to promoting fashion at LSU. She earned her doctorate in apparel design, not cardiology, but Stannard and Hemline promoted heart health awareness among women at Macy’s Red Dress competition, held at the Mall of Louisiana on Jan. 24. For the second year, Stannard and Delisia Matthews, who is also Hemline’s faculty adviser, challenged students to create fashion using nothing but the red paper hearts distributed to donors of the American Heart Association. Matthews, who holds a doctorate in merchandising, said part of what Hemline aims to do is contribute to the Baton Rouge community, and using fashion to attract attention to an important health topic was a perfect fit. As part of the challenge, Hemline designers submitted designs, and six of those were chosen for the competi-
Rebecca Stephens’ first-place design is on display in front of Macy’s at the Mall of Louisiana. tion, Stannard said. On Jan. 24, each designer had four hours to execute her design on a mannequin. “They were allowed to use some kind of foundation underneath,� Stannard said. “Some chose to use Spanx, and some used Saran wrap, which makes it easy to attach the hearts.� Each designer was allowed up to 10 percent of material other than the paper hearts, she said. Most were red,
Advocate photos by C.J. FUTCH
Caroline Lamonte works on her dress Saturday during the Red Dress äSee RED, page 2G competition at the Mall of Louisiana.
Homewood Senior Center opens to community Advocate staff report
Fun Time story time
äSee SOUTHSIDE, page 2G
did the prevalence of early camellias. “These varieties are very difficult to find. Some of them can’t be found in the United States anymore,� Crowder told the crowd at the Friends of the Hilltop Arboretum Symposium on Jan. 24. In the last decade, Crowder has traveled around the U.S. and Europe in search of both information and seedlings of these hard-to-find varieties, and in many cases she found that nomenclature, itself, was the problem. “Some varieties were imported to the United States and just renamed when they got here, because we like to
Work of heart
Lap sit story time will be from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Tuesday at Bluebonnet Regional Library, 9200 Bluebonnet Blvd. Sessions are informal and include board books, simple rhymes, songs and finger plays and last about 20 minutes. The program is for babies from birth to walking. Call (225) 763-2240.
Fun Time Story time will be from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Monday at Bluebonnet Regional Library, 9200 Bluebon-
nation with the flower, and his garden, but as she began trying to identify the varieties of camellias in the garden, realized she lacked much of his knowledge. “He knew them all. I lost a lot of information by not paying attention to him,� Crowder said. What began as a family project to label the garden soon turned into a quest to preserve what she came to realize was a scarce supply of antique varieties — those that existed before 1900. Because people stopped asking for them, stores stopped stocking antique varieties. The number of flower gardens dwindled over the years and, since the turn of the 20th century, so
Advocate staff photo by PATRICK DENNIS
Visitors tour the aquatic facilities on Jan. 22 during the opening of the Homewood Senior Center and Aquatic Program.
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The East Baton Rouge Council on Aging has partnered with United Healthcare to open Homewood Senior Center and Aquatic Program. The groups held an open house on Jan. 22 to introduce area seniors to the facility. The Homewood Civic Association donated the building at 3653 Granada Drive to the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging in 2008, and in 2013, the agency made significant renovations to the pools. The partnership allows Unit-
ed Healthcare to create programs with a senior wellness and prevention focus in mind, the release said. In addition to providing a daily hot meal to seniors 60 and older, the site also will provide aquatic therapy, recreation, water safety education and swimming lessons for seniors. The Homewood Aquatic Center is also available for event rentals. For information, call (225) 923-8000. “The Council on Aging is thankful for the support we have received from our corporate partner, United Health-
care,� said Tasha Clark-Amar, East Baton Rouge Council on Aging chief executive officer. “Together we can provide a program that will help our seniors improve their mobility and help increase their quality of life.� The East Baton Rouge Council on Aging is a nonprofit organization serving the senior population of East Baton Rouge Parish. Annually, the agency delivers 125,000 meals through its Meals on Wheels Program and more than 85,000 meals to seniors through its senior centers and meal sites, the release said.