FAMILY CHRISTIAN BASEBALL PLAYER SIGNS WITH SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY ä3G
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THURSDAY APRIL 23, 2015 H
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Darlene Denstorff
Testing roses to find the one best suited for La. Advocate staff report
ON THE SOUTHSIDE
DDENSTORFF@ THEADVOCATE.COM
Stars align for Astronomy Day Spend an evening among the stars Saturday as Highland Road Park Observatory, 13800 Highland Road, holds at its ninth annual International Astronomy Day celebration. The event is from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. One day every year, astronomy clubs, observatories and other groups of sky lovers band together to discuss the wonders and excitement of astronomy. Officially, Astronomy Day is celebrated “to promote the forerunner of all scientific endeavors and to provide information, resources and encouragement in all facets of astronomy,� but showing that astronomy is fun is really what it’s all about, a news release from BREC said. The observatory’s International Astronomy Day celebration invites guest to explore a range of activities, including Scope-on-a-Rope, homemade comets, a renaissance sundial, radio telescope demonstrations, a sky tour at dusk and a slide and bounce house. Exhibitors will include the Baton Rouge Gem and Mineral Society, the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, the Baton Rouge Zoo, the Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center and LIGO. The Baton Rouge Amateur Radio Club also will teach patrons to send their name using Morse code; Episcopal High’s KnightVision Team will present the robot it entered in this year’s U.S. First Robotics Competition; and St. Joseph’s Academy will demonstrate 3-D printing. The event is free and features raffles, food and games for all ages. For information, visit hrpo.lsu.edu/programs/ astronomy_day.html or call the observatory at (225) 7689948.
Photo provided by MICHELLE MILLER
Roses are in bloom at the LSU Agricultural Center Botanic Gardens at Burden, where researchers are evaluating roses for relatively new research programs that test hardiness and disease resistance for the region.
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For flower lovers in Baton Rouge, spring marks the perfect time to visit the LSU Agricultural Center Botanic Gardens’ rose display, said Wanda Ellis, a research associate at the gardens who runs rose trial testing sites for two evaluation programs. Research and evaluation of roses are key to knowing what grows best in different locations. The LSU Agricultural Center grows roses that are part of those evaluation programs.
One of those evaluation programs, the national rose evaluation program, once known as the All-American Rose selection program, is being phased out to make way for new programs that favor disease resistance and hardiness to the regional conditions, in addition to attractiveness, Ellis said. The test sites are sponsored by the American Garden Rose Selections and The American Rose Trials for Sustainability, Ellis said, and are mainly in response to the fact that roses that grow well in one region of the country may require much
more maintenance, pesticides and fungicides to get the same blooms. “Apart from the initial watering to get the plant established, we’re looking for roses that will grow in the conditions we have, so don’t water, and use minimal pesticides,â€? she said. Lower maintenance doesn’t mean no maintenance, Ellis stressed. Regular pruning is still necessary, and occasional treatments for insects may be required. Overall, however, the newer äSee ROSES, page 5G
Kids learn science behind clean water at LASM’s Engineer It program
BY C.J. FUTCH
cfutch@theadvocate.com
Children participating in the Louisiana Art & Science Museum’s Engineer It program on Saturday spent the afternoon learning about the water they use every day to stay hydrated, clean and fed. In Engineer It: Water Works, a team of engineers from MWH Global’s Baton Rouge office took turns answering questions about both our local water supply and water supplies in general. Engineer It is part of a series of lessons presented by members of Baton Rouge’s local engineering community at the museum on the third Saturday of the month, said Sheree Westerhaus, planetarium educator. Last month’s program was on bridge building, she said, and LASM is in the process of coming up with more ways to expose area students to engineering, in itself a combination of art and science. The design process for artists is very similar to the problem-solving process used by engineers, said Douglas Kennedy, communications coordinator for the museum. Students learned, when presented with brown water from the Mississippi River just outside the museum’s doors, how the water they drink goes from dirty to clean. “Now, we don’t get our water from the äSee WATER, page 4G
Advocate photo by C.J. FUTCH
Cale Carlisle, 7, left, and Jesse Noble, 8, paired up at one end of their makeshift laboratory table and created a water filter using a 2-liter bottle, coffee filters, rocks and sand during Louisiana Art & Science Museum’s Engineer It program on Saturday.
Training days
Get your hats ready
The Hat Run starts at 7 a.m. Saturday at Pennington Biomedical Research Center. The event, which features a 1-mile fun run and walk, äSee SOUTHSIDE, page 4G Advocate staff photos by JOHN OUBRE
ABOVE: Officials cut the ribbon Saturday at St. George Fire Department’s new administration and training complex on Airline Highway. LEFT: Fireman Frank Dellucky watches as Mason Dellucky crashes his vehicle while using a driving simulator.
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