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Wait, don’t toss those poinsettias to the curb!
By DEAN FOSDICK Associated Press Poinsettias have become the best-selling potted plants in the United States, and are second in popularity only to Christmas trees during the holiday season. Unfortunately, they also are among the least understood. They are not annuals. Poinsettias don’t have to be tossed to the curb with the trees and tinsel once the celebrating is over. They can be restored to provide cheer for many more holidays, although it takes some work to make them color up again. “Poinsettias can be re-flowered for years,” said Thomas Ford, a commercial horticulture instructor with Penn State Extension. “One former client I worked with in Maryland flowered his one poinsettia for over 10 years. It grew so large that he used his dining room as the display area for it.” Whether that kind of dedication is worth it, though, is an altogether different thing. “I would say that the average consumer does not see any merit in keeping it for several years,” Ford said. “Overall, it is too time-consuming.” Poinsettias were introduced into the United States from Mexico roughly 200 years ago. They are grown in several Central America nations as perennial shrubs reaching 10 to 15 feet in height. That doesn’t mean they can be propagated even in the hottest parts of the U.S., however, said Peter Warren, a horticulture agent with University of Arizona Cooperative Extension. “Poinsettias cannot tolerate frost or freezing temperatures, so places in southern Arizona and other parts of the South that occasionally experience cooler temperatures are not good places to grow them outside,” Warren said. Poinsettia’s colored leaves, or bracts, have been hybridized over the years into more than 100 varieties, from the traditional red to pink, white, cream, burgundy and variegated. The plant’s flowers are small, yellowish green and positioned deep within the bract clusters. Here’s a generally accepted seasonal time line for recoloring poinsettias: — Keep temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees from December to February. Let the plants get as much sunlight as possible. Water them regularly. — In March or April, as the bracts age and turn a muddy green, cut the stems back to about 8 inches high. “Around July 4th, cut branches back again about half their length to encourage bushy plants,” Warren said. — From mid- to late October, the plants must be kept in complete darkness for 14 continuous hours each night. “This can be done by moving the plant to a dark room or See Poinsettias p. 2D
This Dec. 3 photo taken at a Langley, Wash., grocery store, shows poinsettias. Poinsettias come in many shapes and sizes but traditional red is still the most popular. There are more than 100 varieties of poinsettias, and range from the traditional red — still the most popular during the holidays — to pink, maroon, white and variegated. (AP photo)
In this undated photo provided by Kodi Bryant, Bryant stands on the front porch of her trailer home in Golden, Colo. (Nathan Shafer/Kodi Bryant via AP)
Trailer-home buyers find they can save money — and face, too By TRACEE M. HERBAUGH Associated Press When Mary Ann Ridenour and Bill Ridenour became empty nesters last year, their 3,200-squarefoot home suddenly seemed superfluous. As many couples at this stage of life do, the Ridenours decided to downsize. But unlike many others, they left their big house in a golf course community for a trailer home. “When I tell people what we did they think I’m joking,” said Mary Ann Ridenour. Their move, however, is not as uncommon as you might think. As housing costs — both buying and renting — remain high in many parts of the country, some people are finding trailer homes to be an affordable option. In fact, roughly 20 million people in the United States live in trailer houses, also referred to as mobile homes, according to Census numbers. For the Ridenours, the impetus for moving into a trailer was cutting costs. Mary Ann Ridenour, a 49-year-old who works full-time as a court reporter, started a side business a year earlier. The couple wanted more cash to support her endeavor, so the $1,800 monthly mortgage payment on their house in Summerville, South Carolina, needed to go. “We were working our butts off to live in this big
In this undated photo provided by Emily McBroom, a 2-bedroom trailer home is delivered for Jesse and Emily McBroom on their land outside Denton, Texas. (Emily McBroom via AP) house that we didn’t need,” Ridenour said. “We thought, ‘Why are we paying this ridiculous mortgage on this home?’ It was strapping us.” They bought a 3-bedroom, 2-bath trailer with a half-acre of land about 10 years ago, for $143,000. The trailer, whose previous owners had used it as a summertime crash pad, was 2 miles from the beach and across the street from native marshlands outside Charleston. The Ridenours moved in last July. “It’s not a sign of a great accomplishment that I’ve moved from a big beautiful home to a trailer,” Ridenour said with a laugh. “Once we swallowed our pride, we now find the awkwardness when peo-
ple realize our living conditions amusing.” She said she and her husband are much happier overall now that they’re not stressed about money. Trailer-home aesthetics have changed. Many today have modern interior designing, stainless-steel appliances and colorful paint. “I love my trailer,” said Kodi Bryant, 40, who purchased the home in Golden, Colorado for $20,000. Her side deck offers a view of the downtown Denver skyline and the Rocky Mountains. “I looked at apartments in the Denver area, but they were so expensive,” she said. “I didn’t want to work in a cubicle and come home to a cubicle.” Mobile homes have long
helped fill gaps in affordable housing. They were introduced after World War II and geared toward the millions of veterans returning home. Since then, trailer homes have grown in popularity. Census data from 2000 showed mobile homes constituted 7.6 percent of housing, compared to 0.7 percent in 1950. Trailers still play an important role in satisfying the country’s housing needs, according to Charles Becker, a professor of economics at Duke University, who has studied the topic. Not only is there a steady stock of trailer homes in otherwise tight housing markets, but mobile homes can accomSee Trailers p. 2D
2D The Mining Journal
Thursday, January 12, 2017
House to Home Mortgage Index 15-YEAR Rate-Fee/Pt.
30-YEAR Rate-Fee/Pts.
High rate
4.375
1
3.375
1
Low rate
3.75
1
3.00
1
Average rate
4.075
1
3.25
1
This graphic represents a Tuesday survey of regional lending institutions. Figures are based on rates at Range Bank, Northern Michigan Bank, mBank, Marquette Community Federal Credit Union and TruNorth Credit Union.
In this undated photo provided by Emily McBroom, Emily and Jesse McBroom pose for a photo outside of their 2-bedroom trailer home on their land outside of Denton, Texas. (Emily McBroom via AP)
Traile rs
This undated photo provided by the Jewish Museum shows Pierre Chareau’s (French, 1883-1950) and Bernard Bijvoet’s (Dutch, 1889-1979), glass house Maison de Verre. The photo is part of the exhibition “Pierre Chareau: Modern Architecture and Design,” at The Jewish Museum in New York. (AP photo)
‘A designer’s designer’ NY exhibit showcases Pierre Chareau
By KATHERINE ROTH Associated Press NEW YORK — More than a decade before Philip Johnson designed his iconic Glass House, French designer and architect Pierre Chareau designed the Maison de Verre in 1932 in Paris. It featured one of the world’s first glass-brick exterior walls — three stories high. Chareau’s work straddles industrial aesthetics and traditional fine craftsmanship, clean spare lines and playful 1920s whimsy. He made futuristic gadgets like folding staircases, a pivoting bidet and sliding walls. His furniture, with elegant woods and hand-wrought iron, was made for the few and the wealthy. Many pieces fold or have multiple uses, designed for small but chic Paris apartments. It was a gem-like world soon to be violently dismantled with the start of World War II, and Chareau, despite moving to New York to flee the war, has remained little known in the United States. An exhibit, “Pierre Chareau: Modern Architecture and Design,” billed as the first in the U.S. to focus on him, is on view at The Jewish Museum in Manhattan through March 26. It was organized by guest curator Esther da Costa Meyer, professor of the history of modern architecture at Princeton University, in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou in Paris. It will not travel beyond New York. The show is accompanied by a hefty and richly illustrated book with essays by a half-dozen leading scholars. “Pierre Chareau: Modern Architecture and Design,” was published in 2016 by The Jewish Museum and Yale University Press. “Chareau is the most invisible of the great designers, because outside of France, there are less than a dozen pieces by him on view in museums anywhere in the world. It’s all in private collections,” said da Costa Meyer. “And the most famous masterpiece he did, the Maison de
Verre, has always been in private hands and is not visible from the street. He is really known by designers.” Chareau worked in “the golden age of French design before the Depression, and he was trained in that grand tradition,” she said. “He was one of the leaders of the early trend to modernize. He was also known in his day as a patron of the arts, so we reunited here some of his (collection).” Through over 180 rarely seen works from public and private collections in the U.S. and Europe, the exhibit brings Chareau’s world of Paris luxe to life. Furniture displays are enhanced by an enormous white screen behind them on which shadow-like silhouettes of imagined residents come and go, complete with shadow cigarette smoke and the enthusiastic tail wags of a passing shadow dog. In another gallery, rustling leaves and glinting sunlight, visible through virtual reality goggles, bring visitors into Chareau’s Paris study, an apartment he designed, and a salon and courtyard of the elegant Maison de Verre, designed with Dutch architect Bernard Bijvoet. Those elements add context and movement to the furniture. The exhibit employs a large-scale digital installation that lets you experience different sections of the Maison de Verre as if moving through it. Film footage of actors strolling through the house using Chareau-designed gadgets adds to the experience. Floor plans are projected onto walls, making the space appear continually spliced, deconstructed, revealed and then reconstructed. “Chareau has almost no surviving interiors, since most of them were destroyed. And the furniture feels a bit orphaned in and of itself,” explains Liz Diller, founding partner of Diller Scofidio and Renfro, the firm that designed the exhibit. “So we brought back the domestic life and the feel of the furniture in situ ..”
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modate lower- or middle-income people “who don’t want to own more housing because they’re retired or they can’t afford it,” Becker said. The average price of a trailer home, which usually does not include the land under it, is about $73,000, according to Census data. This price is often more affordable than traditional single-family homes, especially for young families starting out or for first-time buyers. “In some ways, this could be looked at as the new American Dream because the old American Dream has become unreachable for so many people,” said Daniel Levine, director of the AvantGuide Institute, a business that watches
consumer trends. Affordability was what prompted Emily McBroom, 33, and her husband, Jesse McBroom, 32, to buy a trailer house outside Denton, Texas, for their first home. “We could get a brand-new trailer home with the newest appliances and pay less than the cheapest rent in the area,” Emily McBroom said. Their two-bedroom, 600square-foot trailer cost $29,000.The couple have their trailer on more than 7 acres of wooded land. McBroom said it came down to priorities: They wanted to own a place, pay down student debt and having enough money to travel. “It takes a certain person who will live in a trailer,” she said. “You have to be comfortable with yourself and throw off the old-school ideals that you must be poor if you live in a trailer.”
This Dec. 3 photo taken at a Langley, Wash., grocery store, shows poinsettias. Poinsettias aren't annuals if grown indoors. You can restore them to provide good cheer for yet another holiday season. The main attraction of poinsettias, like these pictured here, is not their flowers, but their leaves. The actual flowers are the small buds buried deep within the leaf cluster that bloom yellowish green. (AP photo)
Poinsettias from 1D placing a box over it,” Warren said. “During this period, the plant requires six to eight hours of bright
sunlight and night temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees. This regimen must continue for eight to 10 weeks in order for the plant to develop colorful bracts for the holiday season.”
— The bracts should be developing some color by mid-November. — In early December, bract coloration should be almost complete and the plant can be restored to everyday light.
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