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Set to rebloom in April in reduced format editions are the lavishly illustrated Roses from the Archives of the Royal Horticultural Society and Orchids… ($16.95 each) by, respectively, Peter Harkness, contributor to the Royal Horticultural Society Roses Plant Guide, and Mark Griffiths, a noted writer on orchids. Flower-arranging aficionados will discover anything but traditional bouquets in Nico De Swert: Living with Flowers (May, $40) with photos by Wendell T. Webber. Famed for arrangements that mimic anything from an haute couture gown to a simple watermelon, De Swert suggests a wide range of plants to be used and offers hints for extending their life. "The very act of making a personal garden implies that the maker feels at home," says May Brawley Hill in her introduction to On Foreign Soil: American Gardeners Abroad (May, $40). She reveals insights into expatriate life as she explores the gardens abroad created by such notable Americans as Thomas Jefferson, Edith Wharton and Gore Vidal, as depicted in period prints, photographs and paintings.
Not sure how to encourage earthworms to inhabit your garden? Rejoice. The paperback reprint edition of The Earth Moved: Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms (Mar., $12.95) by Amy Stewart will answer that and any other questions you may have about these accomplished critters.
Coinciding with the bicentenary of its discovery in Nepal, acknowledged clematis expert Dr. John Howells's Montanas: Everyone's Clematis—A Book for Gardeners (Apr., $24.95) provides the seeds to successful cultivation of the climber whose tiny flowers provide swathes of color from early spring through September.
From Frances Lincoln: The secrets of creating glorious flower arrangements year-round can be found in The Cutting Garden: Growing and Arranging Garden Flowers (Apr., $45) by Sarah Raven, who offers step-by-step instructions for choosing, planting, maintaining and arranging more than 500 blooming plants.
From Verba Volant: With Herman Hesse's poem "Step" as an inspirational foreword, Becoming Being Passing (May, $39.95) captures the majesty of a single clump of tulips from birth to demise in 28 large-format color photographs by Sabine Rösner.
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Great Flowering Landscape Shrubs (Apr., $24.95 paper) by Vincent Simeone, director of the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay, N.Y., profiles more than 100 deciduous and evergreen shrubs selected for ornamental value, cultural adaptability, pest resistance and function. Six- to 12-year-olds whose thumbs haven't yet turned green can dig into Cindy Krezel's Kids' Container Gardening: Year-Round Projects for Inside and Out (June, $14.95 paper) for 18 kid-tested and kid-friendly projects designed to introduce the pleasures of gardening.
Location, location, location—as important to indoor gardening as it is to real estate—is just one of the topics detailed in The Indoor Plant Bible: The Essential Guide to Choosing and Caring for Indoor, Greenhouse, and Patio Plants (Mar., $22.95) by Dorte Nissen. Containing some 400 color photos, the spiral-bound volume offers tips on buying, potting, feeding, watering and more.
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The publisher adds three new titles to its All-Region Guides series. Intimate Gardens (Feb., $9.95 paper) by master garden designers and horticulturalists C. Colston Burrell and Lucy Hardiman offers easy instructions for transforming any outdoor space into an intimate garden for year-round enjoyment. Beth Hanson prescribes more than one apple a day in The Best Apples to Buy and Grow (June, $9.95 paper), a small-sized guide (especially handy at farmers' markets) with tips for buying, eating, storing and growing 60 of the tastiest varieties. Saving time and money—two things gardeners never have enough of—is the focus of Garden Tips and Timesavers (Sept., $9.95 paper) by Walter Chandoha, whose advice promises to minimize maintenance and maximize enjoyment.
Portable gardens are the mobile subject of Gardens to Go: Creating and Designing a Container Garden (Apr., $35) by Sydney Eddison, whose designs and instructions yield lush container arrangements for decks, terraces, balconies and yards.
The art and science of putting plants together in woodland-like patterns that forge mutually beneficial relationships to create a garden ecosystem is fully documented in Edible Forest Gardens Volume 1: Ecological Vision and Theory for Temperate-Climate Permaculture and Volume 2: Ecological Design and Practice for Temperate-Climate Permaculture (June, $60 each, two-volume set $100) by Dave Jacke with Eric Toensmeier.
From Permanent Publications: The Permaculture Way: Practical Steps to Create a Self-Sustaining World (Mar., $39.95 paper) by Graham Bell delineates the basic approach to making the most of natural resources by minimizing waste and maximizing potential. The Permaculture Garden (Mar., $29.95 paper) by Bell provides specific practical advice on reducing garden labor, recycling material, and planning crop successions for year-round chemical-free harvests. Specifically for sub-tropical and warm-climate gardeners, a revised edition of Permaculture Plants: A Selection (Mar., $39.95 paper) details hundreds of common and unusual edible, medicinal and useful perennials that thrive in those climes. Available for the first time in the U.S., The Basics of Permaculture Design (Mar., $29.95 paper) by Ross Mars is an introduction to the processes and tools needed for designing sustainable gardens in spaces big or small. A step-by-step guide, Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally (Mar., $69.95 paper) by Robert Kourik is back in print with advice on low-maintenance plants, soil improvement and pruning for temperate-zone gardeners.
From Seed Savers Exchange: Seed Savers Exchange, a nonprofit organization committed to saving heirloom garden seeds from extinction, has compiled its sixth Garden Seed Inventory: An Inventory of Seed Catalogs Listing All Nonhybrid Vegetable Seeds Available in the United States and Canada (Mar., $32; paper $26), which lists some 8,500 nonhybrids from amaranth to zucchini.
Tips from the Old Gardeners (Mar., $9.95) by Duncan Crosbie contains a bounty of gardening folklore (and quite a few chuckles) handed down from good old green thumbs, much of whose sagacity has been validated by modern botanical research.
New last month to the publisher's Jackson & Perkins brand line: Jackson & Perkins Rose Companions: Growing Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, Shrubs, and Vines with Roses ($22.99 paper) by Stephen Scanniello. February additions to the Can't Miss line include Can't Miss Container Gardening by Felder Rushing and Teri Dunn and …Flower Gardening by Teri Dunn ($18.99 each paper).
This month the publisher's Month-By-Month series grows with the following: Month-by-Month Gardening in Ohio: What to Do Each Month to Have a Beautiful Garden All Year by Denny McKeown; …New York… by Jacqueline Hériteau; …New Jersey… by Pegi Ballister-Howells; …Missouri… by Mike Miller; …the Prairie Lands… by Cathy Wilkinson Barash; …New England… by Jacqueline Hériteau; …the Rocky Mountains… by John Cretti ($19.99 each paper). New editions in the Regional Guides series are Tennessee & Kentucky Gardener's Guide by Judy Lowe, Washington & Oregon… by Debra Prinzing and Mary Robson, The Carolinas… by Toby Bost and Jim Wilson, and Alabama & Mississippi… by Jennifer Greer and Felder Rushing.Among the revised editions are Oklahoma… by Steve Dobbs, New Mexico… by Judith Phillips, Nevada… by Linn Mills and Dick Post, and Missouri… (Feb., $24.99 each paper) by Mike Miller.
Other key February titles include Native Perennials for the Southeast by Peter Loewer and California Gardening Rhythms ($22.99 each paper) by Bruce Asakawa and Sharon Asakawa. March roars in with The Abundant Garden: A Celebration of Color, Texture, and Blooms ($29.99 paper) by Debra Prinzing, which identifies nine key design elements epitomized in gardens on Bainbridge Island, Wash. Also out this month are additions to the First Garden series: …How to Get Started inRocky Mountain Gardening by Rob Proctor, …Southwest Gardening by Janice Busco and Rob Proctor, …Northeast Gardening by Rob Proctor and Darrell Trout and Southern Gardening ($19.99 each paper) by Nellie Neal and Rob Proctor.
Focusing on one of today's most popular trends, Landscaping with Stone (Mar., $19.95 paper) by Patricia Sagui covers basic design and provides step-by-step instructions for patios, rock gardens, walls and more; photos of completed stonescapes may inspire planting ideas. New Complete Home Landscaping (Mar., $24.95) is an updated and expanded edition, with comprehensive advice on preparing to landscape; setting the stage with paths, ponds and other features; and planting and growing. Water Gardens, Ponds & Fountains (Nov., $19.95) by Kathleen Fisher covers design and installation advice for features ranging from naturalistic to formal. Encompassing the entire U.S. and southern Canada, Trees, Shrubs & Hedges (Nov., $19.95 paper) by Jacqueline Hériteau offers complete details for the selection, planting and care of more than 1,000 environmentally friendly woody species and cultivars. Also coming in November are four additions to the publisher's regional series: California Home Landscaping by Roger Homes and Lance Walheim, Mid-Atlantic… , Midwest… , and Southeast… , all by Roger Homes and Rita Buchanan ($19.95 each paper).
Getting the season off to a chemical-free start is the paperback reprint of Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening (Feb., $25) by Pauline Pears. In Learn to Garden (Mar., $30), Guy Barter and a group of Royal Horticultural Society gardeners present beginning gardeners with tips and techniques. To ensure a brighter botanical future, Janet Marinelli of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and a team of international experts have compiled Plant (Mar., $50), a new-generation visual encyclopedia that provides complete cultivation details for some 2,000 plants that are currently endangered or no longer grow naturally in the wild. A portion of the book's proceeds will be donated to support plant conservation worldwide. Coming in October is a revised, updated edition of Illustrated Dictionary of Gardening ($60) by Michael Pollock, Mark Griffiths, Camilla Speight, Vana Hagerty and Andrew Lawson—a one-stop alphabetical reference for hundreds of plants, techniques, terms, pests, etc.
Helping to overcome the challenges of extreme weather and a short growing season is the focus of Gardens Adirondack Style (July, $35), in which garden photographer Janet Loughrey supplements her profiles of contemporary gardeners with historic photos of famed Adirondack-style estates and resorts.
Montrose: Life in a Garden (Oct., $34.95) by Nancy Goodwin is a month-by-month exploration of the author's efforts with unusual plants in the nationally known Hillsborough, N.C., garden.
The publisher grows its recently launched Horticulture Books imprint (in partnership with Horticulture magazine) with the launch of The Horticulture Gardener's Guides series: The Horticulture Gardener's Guides: Shrubs (Mar.) by Andrew McIndoe, director of the U.K.'s Hillier Garden Centers; and …Plants for Small Spaces (Apr., $19.99 each) by Clive Lane, administrator of the Cottage Garden Society.
Water conservationists will raise a glass to Dryland Gardening: Plants That Survive and Thrive in Tough Conditions (Apr., $24.95 paper) by Jennifer Bennett, who expounds xeriscaping—dryland techniques—to conserve time, energy and other resources as well as water. An extensive plant list, growing tips and sources are included. In Easy Orchids: The Fail-Safe Guide to Growing Orchids Indoors (Apr., $29.95, paper $19.95), Liz Johnson attempts to demythicize the plant's hard-to-grow reputationwith detailed instructions for 100 varieties.
In 75 Exciting Vegetables for Your Garden (Apr., $24.95), Jack Staub profiles history, lore and culinary insights for a selection of heirlooms, hybrids, natives and transplants as exciting for their beauty as they are for their taste. With its spiral-bound flip-page format, The Texas Flower Garden: A Seasonal Guide to Bloom, Height, Color, and Texture (Apr., $21.95) by Kathy Huber allows Texas—and other similarly-zoned—gardeners to preview prospective combinations and designs before investing in the plants.
The publisher's HarperResource imprint launches a new series, HarperCollins Practical Gardener, with three titles that address the most common uses of a home garden: HarperCollins Practical Gardener: Kitchen Garden by Lucy Peel, …Architectural Plants by Christine Shaw, and …Flowers by Alan Toogood (Mar., $12.95 each paper).
Ruah Donnelly braves roads paved and unpaved in The Adventurous Gardener: Where to Buy the Best Plants in New York and New Jersey (Mar., $25.95 paper), a guide to some 120 growing establishments that includes driving directions, business hours, Web addresses and mail-order info as well as tips on nearby roadside diners and historic sites.
A revised edition of the late Boughton Cobb's classic fern guide, Peterson Field Guides: Ferns of Northeastern and Central North America (Apr., $20 paper) by Cobb, Cheryl Lowe and Elizabeth Farnsworth, features an updated text (by New England Wild Flower Society members); 100 new color photos, in addition to Laura Louise Foster's original line drawings; new sections on habitats and conservation; and a botanical glossary.
From Georgina Campbell Guides: Whether arriving by plane, ship or armchair, garden-loving travelers are invited to tour 100 top gardens in Garden Lovers' Ireland (Apr., $19.95 paper) by Georgina Campbell and Marianne Heron.
From Stacey International: Gardening in the Middle East (Apr., $29.95) by American horticulturalist Eric Moore is the definitive work on the subject. Since 1977, the author has supervised landscaping and garden nursery operations in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, Egypt and elsewhere in the region.
From Japan Publications Trading: Creating Ikebana (May, $35) by Akihiro Kasuya presents techniques from Japan's classic Ichiyo School for creating arrangements for both personal and public spaces. Teahouses, rock gardens and ponds are just a few of the elements visualized in Styles & Motifs of Japanese Gardens (May, $12.95 paper) by Katsuhiko Mizuno. The two-volume paperback set serves as inspiration to stay-at-home gardeners and as a guide for those who visit the 31 public gardens featured in the books.
A gardeners' favorite since it first appeared in 1951 gets a makeover: Better Homes and Gardens New Garden Book (Feb., $34.95; paper $24.95) boasts an updated text that features more plants; the latest trends in all aspects of gardening; and over 1,000 photos. Weighing in at 93 ounces is the Miracle-Gro Encyclopedia of Plant Care (Feb., $39.95) with complete details for successfully growing some2,000 plants, which are identified in more than 2,300 photos. Other February titles in the Miracle-Gro line include: Miracle-Gro Guide to Growing Healthy Vegetables, Fruits & Herbs , …Flowers , …Houseplants , and …Trees & Shrubs ($14.95 each paper). A revised edition of Ortho's All About Lawns (Feb., $14.95 paper) promises to reveal up-to-date secrets for solving all lawn-care problems. New February titles in the Ortho brand line include Ortho Books Complete Guide to Landscaping , offering creative design solutions and installation procedures; and …Orchids ($19.95 each paper), a resource for the best and most easily grown species and a primer for their care and upbringing. And to avoid parched landscapes, gardeners may turn to Scotts Sprinklers & Watering Systems (Feb., $19.95 paper), a complete guide to planning and installing landscape irrigation.
The Intimate Garden: Twenty Years and Four Seasons in our Garden (Feb., $39.95) by professional gardener Gordon Hayward and his wife, Mary Hayward, chronicles the evolution of their Vermont garden, with sound advice for achieving a desired level of success "a lot sooner than we did." Those in search of deeper insight into creative processes—human and natural—will find much to ponder in The Wild Braid: A Poet Reflects on a Century in the Garden (May, $23.95), by former poet laureate Stanley Kunitz with Jenine Lentine. As he nears his 100th birthday, the acclaimed poet—and gardener—reveals connections between writing and cultivating. Leading the publisher's fall list is The New Garden Paradise: Great Private Gardens of the Modern World (Oct., $49.95), in which Dominique Browning and the editors of House & Garden magazineoffer readers entry to 35 landscapes created by pre-eminent designers.
TV's favorite gardener cooks up a smorgasbord of gardens that can be assembled in minutes in P. Allen Smith's Container Gardens: 60 Container Recipes to Accent your Garden (Mar., $29.95), with each project—from sophisticated to casual—presented in cookbook-style recipe format.
Determining whether those creepy crawlers are pests or welcome guests is clarified in Caterpillars of Eastern North America: A Guide to Identification and Natural History (Aug., $60, paper $29.95) by David L. Wagner, identifies and discusses the caterpillars of nearly 700 butterflies and moths found east of the Mississippi.
Through a series of linked essays, Laurie Lisle recounts how a passion for gardening an imperfect plot of land led her from a crossroads in life to discover personal fulfillment in Four Tenths of an Acre: Reflections on a Gardening Life (May, $24.95).
From meditative Japanese to wildly chaotic tropical, Great Garden Designs (Feb., $26.95) by Tim Newbury offers preplanned, fully envisioned templates for creating 40 specific styles, easily adaptable for any gardener's dream of a backyard oasis. Beginner's Guide to Gardening (Feb., $32.95) by the editors of Reader's Digest prioritizes and simplifies the myriad details that beginners often find daunting in this all-inclusive handbook. Putting out the garden welcome mat for birds, butterflies, frogs and other beneficial creatures is the focus of Wildlife at Your Back Door (Feb., $26.95) by Sharon Amos, who advises on creating an ecological balance with nature, using natural means to make the good feel at home and repel the harmful. Coming in April is the paperback reprint of Tim Newbury's Planting by Number ($15.95), with 40 unique designs that readers may follow as is or mix-and-match aspects of several to create custom gardens for any terrain or space.
Although Gertrude Stein thought otherwise, there is a rose for every budget and garden style, as outlined in Passion for Roses: Peter Beales' Comprehensive Guide to Landscaping with Roses (Mar., $45) by Peter Beales, recent recipient of the Royal Horticultural Society Victor Medal of Honour—the highest accolade in the rose world.
Transforming your landscape into an extension of your home is fully detailed in Homescaping (Mar., $35) by Anne Halpin. The Pruner's Bible (Mar., $21.95 paper) by Steve Bradley instructs how to apply the cutting edge to over 80 plants to achieve the best display of flowers and foliage. Square Foot Gardening (Mar., $18.95 paper) by Mel Bartholomew proposes an ingenious labor-saving planting method using square foot blocks of space instead of rows, which eliminates tilling after the first year. For spaces where the sun doesn't shine bright, Making the Most of Shade (May, $22.95 paper) by Larry Hodgson recommends nearly 300 shade-thriving perennials, annuals, bulbs, ferns and ornamental grasses.
From West Asia, moving northward into Europe, and across the Atlantic to the Americas, Garden History: Philosophy and Design 2000 BC—2000 AD (Feb., $75) is a comprehensive study of the evolution of western garden design over 40 centuries. Author Tom examines more than 150 gardens, tracing how differing social, artistic, religious and other factors have shaped the design traditions followed today.
The Big Book of Northwest Perennials: Choosing—Growing—Tending (Feb., $24.95 paper) by Marty Wingate alerts the region's gardeners to 150 A-list choices with full descriptions and suggests combination plantings of those with similar light and water requirements. While the emphasis is on cooking in Fresh from the Garden: Recipes Inspired by Kitchen Gardens (Feb., $22.95 paper) by Ann Lovejoy, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist includes a wealth of gardening advice along with her time-tested organic cultivation methods. Garden photographer Ilona zooms in to capture the beauty of 150 flagrant blossoms in Fleurish (Feb., $21.95) with text by floral designer Veronica D'orazio.
April brings two titles by horticulturalist Tara Dillard. Gardeners striving for elegance without going over the top may turn to her Beautiful by Design: Stunning Blueprints for Harmonious Gardens ($24.95), which offers easy-to-achieve arrangements designed to maintain their loveliness year round. And for those seeking to create or highlight a focal point, the vistas in Dillard's The Garden View: Designs for Beautiful Landscapes ($24.95) range from a grand Adirondack-style deck to an old-fashioned sundial embraced by climbing roses.
From Cassell Illustrated: A revised edition of Beth Chatto's Damp Garden: Moisture-Loving Plants for Year-Round Interest (May, $34.95) by Beth Chatto ensures success in every conceivable type of damp terrain, from wet silt to sticky clay. Helping city gardeners make the most of their limited space, Urban Gardens: Plans and Planting Designs (May, $17.95 paper) by Ann-Marie Powell presents a dozen inspirational designs.
The subtitle says it all in a revised edition of The House Plant Expert Book 2: The Must-Have Sequel to the Word's Best-Selling House Plant Book (May $14.95 paper) by Dr. D. G. Hessayon.
From Gaia: The Gaia Book of Organic Gardening (May, $17.95 paper) by Charlie Ryrie with Cindy Engel is a comprehensive guide to getting off the chemical treadmill, with checklists and planners for everything from crop rotation to making your own "green manure."
From Guild of Master Craftsman: With its extensive directory, Success with Bulbs (Feb., $12.95 paper) by Eric Sawford guides beginners to splendid flowering indoors and out.
From Hamlyn: Lure youngsters away from the TV with How Does Your Garden Grow: Great Gardening for Green-Fingered Kids (May, $24.95) by Clare Matthews, who suggests 40 projects for hands-on digging and planting, building a weather station, turning homegrown gourds into art and more.
From New Holland: David Squires contributes four additions to the publisher's Specialist series: The Small Garden Specialist: The Essential Guide to Designing, Creating, Planting, Improving, and Maintaining Small Gardens ; The Container Specialist… ; The Tree & Shrub Specialist… ; and The Orchid Specialist… (Feb., $9.95 each paper).
The Perennial Gardener's Design Primer (Apr., $24.95) by Stephanie Cohen and Nancy J. Ondra relies on basic design principles to achieve spectacular results with any of 20 garden plans; case studies of three existing gardens illustrate key points. Proving there's a wealth of new information on a timeless subject that's always "in," The Complete Houseplant Survival Manual: Essential Know-How for Keeping (Not Killing) 160 Indoor Plants (July, $24.95 paper) by Barbara Pleasant introduces exciting new imports, hardier cultivars of old favorites and an A—Z guide that ensures houseplant health.
New February paperbacks—$19.95 each—joining the publisher's regional series covering area-specific native plants, garden tasks and planting information include Tri-State Top 10 Garden Guide (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut) and Northwest… (Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and British Columbia). Gardeners from west Texas to Southern California will welcome the information on microclimates, soil, seasonal factors, design elements and more in Gardening in the Southwest (Feb., $19.95 paper). The Edible Garden (Feb., $19.95 paper) recommends tried-and-true as well as avant-garde methods for bringing a bounty of 70 delicious edibles from garden to table.
With the help of Containers with Style (Feb., $14.95 paper) by the editors of Taunton Press—an addition to the Do It Now, Do It Fast, Do It Right series—stylish arrangements can be created in minutes. .
From the Victorian era to today's boldest trends, Modern Garden Design: Innovation Since 1900 (June, $24.95 paper) by Janet Waymark examines the evolution of the art and puts the work of some of the 20th century's best-known designers in historical and international contexts.
One of the most-quoted and best-loved gardening books since its first publication in 1930, Down the Garden Path (Feb., $24.95) by Beverley Nichols is reissued with a foreword by Bryan Connon. The gates swing open to reveal a wildly fantastic combination of art installations and plantings in A Garden Gallery: The Plants, Art, and Hardscape of Little and Lewis (Feb., $29.95) by George Little and David Lewis. With its fully detailed information for growing 400 species, TheOrchid Grower's Companion: Cultivation, Propagation, and Varieties (Feb., $39.95) by David Banks makes the two-centuries-old hobby accessible to all. . Moving beyond traditional hostas and ferns, Timber Press Pocket Guide to Shade Perennials (Feb., $19.95 paper) by W. George Schmid describes 1,000 readily available plants; the pocket format makes it an easy carry-along on nursery junkets. Witch Hazels (Feb., $34.95) by Christopher Lane is the first comprehensive guide to all known varieties of the shrub whose distinctive flowers, showcased on bare branches, highlight snowy gardens in the depth of winter. Also out in February are expanded and updated editions of Botany for Gardeners ($19.95 paper) by Brian Capon, which answers questions about complex plant processes in simple language; and Hydrangeas: A Gardener's Guide ($34.95) by Toni Lawson-Hall and Brian Rothera, with added descriptions of20 new cultivars of the popular shrub. For those seeking an eerie, luminous quality, Elegant Silvers: Striking Plants for Every Garden (Mar., $34.95) by Jo Ann Gardner and Karen Bussolini delivers a bevy of the distinctively colored plants, prized also for their textures, silhouettes, and ability to withstand extreme weather conditions. A species previously thought to thrive only in tropical gardens is proved capable of weathering less hospitable conditions in Hardy Bamboos (Mar., $39.95) by Paul Whittaker. Another title of cool-clime interest is Native Plants of the Northeast (Mar., $39.95) by Donald J. Leopold, a resource for native plant gardeners and those committed to habitat restoration and enhancement of biodiversity. Plants described as flamboyant, funny, voluptuous or shy are just a few of those profiled in Plant Personalities: Choosing and Growing Plants by Character (Mar., $29.95) by Carol Klein, who demonstrates the importance of understanding plants' needs and providing appropriate conditions to encourage their personality traits. The spiky entries in Christopher Holliday's Sharp Gardening (Mar., $29.95), should thrill gardeners who prefer a crisp, clean-lined design over the "nice" look. Keeping borders looking lively is the focus of Succession Planting for Year-Round Pleasure (Mar., $29.95) by Christopher Lloyd, who recommends the best anchor plants, self-sowers, permanent perennials and more. Trees for a Small Garden (Mar., $29.95) by Simon Toomer suggests 100 trees that won't overshadow a small space. Also available in March are two revised editions: Perry D. Slocum's Waterlilies and Lotuses ($34.95), with expanded and updated information on 500 species and their needs; and Peter Thompson's Creative Propagation ($24.95) which nearly triples the number of plants discussed in the first edition.
A passion for plant collecting may result in a cluttered garden, but Design in the Plant Collector's Garden (Apr., $34.95) by confirmed plantaholic Roger Turner offers less than 12 steps to a coherent well-designed space. Dogwoods: The Genus Cornus (Apr., $39.95) by Paul Cappiello and Don Shadow, the first ever book on the genus, offers a solid overview of all dogwoods of horticultural merit, plus detailed identification and selection tips. The Nature of Plants: Habitats, Challenges, and Adaptations (Apr., $39.95) by John Dawson and Rob Lucas reveals remarkable ways that plants are able to adapt to the challenges of their habitats, visualized in over 200 color photos. Advocating more careful study of natural habitats and cultural needs rather than revisiting the usual seasonal approach, Bulbs for Garden Habitats (May, $$29.95) by Judy Glattstein recommends choices based on climate and local ecology. A flamboyant flower virtually unrivaled for impact and drama is profiled by Martin Page in The Gardener's Peony: Herbaceous and Tree Peonies (May, $39.95). Another flamboyant species takes center stage in Hardy Gingers (May, $34.95), in which T.M.E. Branney includes care details and descriptions of the lush foliage, intricately constructed flowers and intoxicating perfumes of those suitable for temperate-zone gardens.
Heucheras and Heucherellas: Coral Bells and Foamy Bells (May, $27.95) by Dan Helms and Grahame Ware chronicles the dramatic "makeover" through selective breeding that turned this perennial into a garden star. From a hands-on expert comes Gardening with Hardy Geraniums (June, $29.95) by Birgitte Husted Bendtsen, an enthusiast who shares her cultivation secrets for 400 species. Environmentally responsible types are highlighted in The Jade Garden: New and Notable Plants from Asia (June, $34.95) by Peter Wharton, Brent Hine and Douglas Justice, whose selection of 130 of the most fascinating species has been evaluated by the University of British Columbia Botanical Garden for hardiness and garden appeal. In Flora's Orchids (Aug., $59.95), Ned Nash offers an A-Z description of 1,800 plants and 1,200 photos that depict well-known species and rarely seen orchids in the wild. With thousands of cultivars on the market, right choices can be difficult, but Irises: A Gardener's Encyclopedia (Oct., $49.95) by nursery specialist and grower Claire Austin culls the best and provides meticulous cultivation advice. Orchid fanciers win by a nose with Fragrant Orchids (Oct., $29.95) by Sir Steven Frowine, who "scentsibly" profiles 110 of the most aromatic species. Proving that indoor gardening is always a hot topic, Tempting Tropicals: 175 Irresistible Indoor Plants (Oct., $29.95) by Ellen Zachos features plants native to both tropical and temperate regions and dispenses practical advice for the horticulturally clueless as well as the avidly addicted.
From Aurum: Histories, designers, restoration and conservation, visiting information and more are provided for the 60 entries in The Gardens of the National Trust for Scotland (Oct., $55) by Francesca Greenoak. Another eye-popping tour can be had with English Gardens of the Twentieth Century (Oct., $65) by Tim Richardson, which features 200 photos from the archives of Country Life.
From BBC Books: Delia Smith, the U.K.'s top selling cookbook author (18 million copies worldwide), and garden expert Gay Search combine expertises in Delia's Kitchen Garden: A Beginner's Guide to Growing Fruits & Vegetables (Apr., $35), which offers 50 recipes for cooks of all levels. Gardening from Berryfields (Apr., $35) by Monty Don spotlights projects from BBC's Gardener's World and offers detailed, lavishly illustrated advice on how to achieve them in any garden.
From Kyle Cathie: The encyclopedic Complete Book of Vegetables, Herbs and Fruit: The Definitive Sourcebook for Growing, Harvesting and Cooking (Mar., $50) by Matthew Biggs, Jekka McVicar and Bob Flowerdew highlights more than 1,000 edibles and provides 600 recipes within its 640 pages and 1,200 color photos—if it isn't in this book, you don't need it. Adding majestic beauty to the landscape is made easier with Trees for the Garden (Mar., $23 paper) by John Cushnie. Cushnie shares his expertise on another topic in Shrubs for the Garden (Aug., $35), taking into account color, texture, shape and year-round appearance in his 175 profiles. Marylyn Abbott, one of the world's foremost garden creators, shares her Thoughts on Garden Design: Inspiration, Style, Structure, Color, Planting (Sept., $35).
From Harvill: A landmark work by the "king of roses," Peter Beales's Classic Roses (Feb., $45 paper) is now available in paperback, presenting over 1,000 species and hybrids in more than 600 photos.
From a long-time student and certified teacher of the art in Japan, Keiko's Ikebana (June, $29.95) by Keiko Kubo provides a historical overview, the basic rules of design and easy-to-follow instructions for creating 20 stunning arrangements.
From Periplus Editions: The Art of the Japanese Garden (Sept., $40) by David and Michiko Young is a profusely illustrated examination of Japan's notable traditional gardens, with sections on modern trends and Japanese gardens in other countries.
California's Wild Gardens: A Guide to Favorite Botanical Sites (May, $34.95 paper), edited by Phyllis M. Faber, showcases the abundance of the Golden State's native plants in their natural settings, highlighting the distinctive ecology of more than 100 sites.
Proclaimed "the ultimate primer for growing cut flowers" by the Washington Post,An American Cutting Garden: A Primer for Growing Cut Flowers Where Summers are Hot and Winters are Cold (Feb., $16.95 paper) by Suzanne McIntire is now in paperback, presenting all aspects of the craft, from preparing a site to arranging blooms.
Weeding out a growing threat to ecosystems that dramatically decreases bio-diversity, Invasive Plants of the Upper Midwest: An Illustrated Guide to Their Identification and Control (July, $60; paper $26.95) by Elizabeth J. Czarapata targets 140 enemy species in all of their seasonal disguises to aid in early identification and offers manual, mechanical, biological, and chemical control techniques for their eradication.
February releases includerevised and updated editions of The Florida Lawn Handbook: Best Management Practices for Your Home Lawn in Florida by Laurie E. Trenholm and J. Bryan Unruh and Florida Landscape Plants: Native and Exotic (paper, $19.95 each) by John V. Watkins. Encouraging a beneficial ecological symbiosis, Florida Butterfly Caterpillars and Their Host Plants (Mar., $34.95 paper) by Marc C. Minno, Jerry F. Butler and Donald W. Hall is an eco-gardener's comprehensive guide to attracting and identifying the region's caterpillars and resulting butterflies, which have been found to play beneficial roles in pollination, pruning and providing food for other critters.
Palm lovers will swoon at the coffee-table format of Palm Trees: A Story in Photographs (Feb., $39.95) by David Leaser, with a fact-filled text including historical and cultural details; a photo gallery of palms around the world may well inspire gardeners in appropriate climates to try their luck.
Considering the loss of lives and property damage in the millions of dollars caused regularly by California wildfires, Firescaping: Creating Fire-Resistant Landscapes, Gardens, and Properties in California's Diverse Environments (Apr., $18.95 paper) by Douglas Kent presents essential information on identifying and removing existing fire-prone landscape elements and offers hands-on strategies for creating fire-resistant gardens.
Orchids for Dummies (Mar., $16.99 paper) by horticulturalist Steven Frowine provides a step-by-step route to successfully selecting, cultivating and even producing your own hybrids.


text:
ORLANDO — It's easy to forget 2-year-old Florida toddler Caylee Anthony was slain after all the plot twists and turns in her story.
There are the grandparents, George and Cindy. The phantom babysitter. The bounty hunter. The meter reader.
At the center of it all is Caylee's mother, Casey Anthony, the 23-year-old charged in her daughter's death. It's been one year since the toddler was reported missing, and while her remains were found six months ago, authorities still don't know exactly how she died.
That's one of the many unknowns that has kept the public's interest over the last year. Viewers tune in to the cable television news show hosted by Nancy Grace, who dubbed Casey the "Tot Mom," to find out about every development. People chat on parenting Web sites about her chances of a fair trial, and debate over her innocence or guilt has filled talk radio.
"It certainly has the makings of a made-for-TV movie or a soap opera," said Bob Longo, news director of Orlando television station WESH. "I think people have opinions on the characters in the saga. They identify with them or against them."
The story started as a mystery, centered on finding out what happened to Caylee. But soon, Casey Anthony became the chief suspect and the image of a sympathetic mother morphed into that of a party-loving club hopper. The stories she told detectives and her parents about where she worked and where she had dropped off Caylee with a babysitter were lies, police said.
It turned out Caylee had been missing more than a month before Casey Anthony told her family. After her arrest, she told police she had been conducting her own investigation into her daughter's whereabouts.
George and Cindy Anthony, the grandparents, were used to seeing the little girl almost every day. But beginning about mid June 2008, Casey and Caylee just weren't around.
When the grandparents inquired, Casey said she was traveling with Caylee around Central Florida. Cindy began to worry, though, and called her daughter frequently, demanding to know Caylee's whereabouts. There were always excuses: Caylee was with the babysitter or at the beach with friends.
In mid July, George and Cindy picked up their daughter's car from a towing lot and noticed a stench from the trunk. Cindy Anthony confronted her daughter, who initially said Caylee was with the phantom babysitter. Casey finally admitted the child had been missing for a month.
"There's something wrong," Cindy Anthony said in a 911 call. "I found my daughter's car today and it smelled like there's been a dead body in the damn car."
Casey Anthony was arrested the next day on charges of child neglect and providing false information to authorities. She continued to tell law enforcement that Caylee had been left with a babysitter, whom she identified as Zenaida Gonzalez.
That's when the story switched from a private drama of domestic tensions between parents and a daughter to a very public tale. Reporters camped outside the Anthony home for weeks and protesters with "Baby Killer" signs picketed their street.
Casey Anthony maintained her innocence throughout.
"I'm not in control of this because I don't know what the hell is going on," she tearfully told her parents during a jailhouse visit last summer. "My entire life has been taken from me. Everything has been taken from me."
Leonard Padilla, a cowboy-hat-wearing, California-based bounty hunter became part of the narrative by posting her bond last year. He thought having her out of jail would aid in finding Caylee, but he turned on her when she proved uncooperative. He made frequent appearances on television talk shows in the following months, offering unflattering commentary.
Meanwhile, hundreds of volunteers scoured woods in south Orlando in search of clues to Caylee's disappearance.
In mid October, a grand jury indicted Anthony on first-degree murder charges, even though Caylee's remains hadn't been found. She has been in jail since.
Prosecutors didn't have the toddler's remains until meter reader Roy Kronk became involved. In August, Kronk thought he had seen a bag in the woods near a road where he had stopped to take a break. He called authorities three times over the next three days, but when they finally came, they found nothing.
It wasn't until December, when Kronk returned to the woods, that he discovered a bag with Caylee's remains inside.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Geigerrig RIG 700 (Blue)
Perfect For
- Mountain Biking
- Hiking
- Adventure sports
Product Features
- 70 oz. filter-ready reservoir with quick release valves. Fully reversible, dishwasher safe, and include slide top for easy refill, cleaning, and drying.
- Made from heavy duty ballistic Rip Stop nylon
- Smartphone ready compartment with waterproof zipper garage
- Removable waist strap
- Integrated slider chest strap
- PVC reinforced compression straps
- Reflective zipper pulls and logos
- Internal storage compartments and organizer
- Eco Rig back pads
- Air Drive ventilation
- Heavy duty nylon pack handle
- Vertical attachment hoops


text:
John Wells goes undercover as the threat of nuclear war skyrockets between the United States and Iran, in the cutting-edge new novel from the number-one New York Times best-selling author.
In an Istanbul hotel, a deep source warns a CIA agent that Iran intends to kill a CIA station chief. Quickly, John Wells is called in to investigate, but before he can get far, the tip comes true. Which means that the next warning the source gives will be taken very seriously indeed. And it's a big one. We've put a package on a ship from Dubai to the United States. A radioactive one. A bomb? Not yet. It's a test run.
As the threat level jumps and the government mobilizes, something still doesn't smell right to Wells' old CIA boss Ellis Shafer, and so he sends Wells on a private mission to find out what's going on. But the two of them are swimming against the tide. From Guatemala to Thailand to Hong Kong to Istanbul, Wells uses every skill he has, including his ability to go undercover in the Arab world, to chase down leads. But it might not be enough. Soon there might be nothing anyone can do to pull the United States back from the brink of war.
©2014 Alex Berenson (P)2014 Penguin Audio
I rarely give myself the time required to sit down and do nothing else except read a book. Thank goodness for Audible!!
"What a disappointment!"
An ending. It honestly sounded as though Mr. Berenson got tired of writing, so he just stopped.
The ending. I've read every thing this author has written and I was eagerly looking forward to getting this audio book - it was on my pre-order list until it became available. However, I have to return it - I was just too disappointed.
As far as I'm concerned Mr. Guidal could read the phone book and make it sound fascinating - he's always great and he did not disappoint, unlike the author.
Yes, the most redeeming quality was the selection of the narrator. I wish Mr. Guidal could narrate all of my selections! The plot was involved, as are all of the author's novels. However, he failed to actually complete the story.
If, and only if, Mr. Berenson is planning to write an immediate sequel to this book, then as an author, he needs to rethink what he's doing. If a second book is forthcoming, why wasn't that stated?
I have been such an alex brenson fan.But what the hell. It was going so great and then "EPILOGUE".Are you kidding me.
Get on with it and bring it next 2 months or else loose a reader,because I will not buy another book until i know its complete
better ending.
helloo . HELL YES
Mike Grayson
"Grade: Incomplete"
Finishing the story. It was left in a very awkward place.
No. I like this series, but I would wait till the next one comes out.
George was great...
"Not as satisfying as others in the series"
I finished this book about a week ago and have been trying to figure out how to put my reaction to it in words. Like others I was disappointed that the story wasn't wrapped up, but it is more than that. I just don't feel satisfied with this book. I don't want to give anything away, but it seems Wells' development, his skills, maturity is frozen some place in the past. In many series as the character ages they become less impulsive, more wise, depend less on physical strength and speed and more on cunning, but not so here. Night Ranger showed some maturing of Wells and I liked where the character was going, but not so with The Counterfeit Agent. Plus, as another reviewer said Wells' personal relationship with Ann doesn't make sense. Within 24 hours of meeting him in an earlier novel, he was off saving the world. Why after multiple years in the relationship is she surprised to see he is still interested in the same work? Her reasoning almost seems like a slap in the face for all the people in the military who also go off to defend the country leaving spouses and kids behind. If you like the John Wells series then by all means get this but don't expect it to be as good as some of the previous novels nor to be as satisfied.
"Part one of two"
Had I known it was going to end with the criminal mastermind and Wells still mano y mano I would wait for the next one to come out before starting it.
Feel kind of cheated.
Not until the sequel was already out.
Westport, CT
"Great story and narration as usual but...."
Great to listen to another John Wells tale, Berenson did a fine job as usual, the novel has plenty of research and thought that went into crafting it.
Unfortunately is does end in a cliff hanger, I guess we will have to wait another year for part 2; Alex is getting GRR Martinesk as he is aging as an author.
"Listen a lot but dont write many"
FINISH the STORY
I have listen to all of them and this one must have been under publisher control. 2/3rds through the story the book ends.
If I have to wait a year as normal for his next book I am done with Alex.
Dont listen to the $ Alex listen to the readers. This is not what we pay for.
George is excellent as normal
Would not have just would have finished the fing story
DONT buy until the next book is out!
"Worse cliffhanger than The Hobbit Pt. 2"
Alex Berenson: Yes
George Guidall: Yes, and in my opinion he is the best reader in my 200+ audiobook library.
This book felt pointless. Nothing really happened except some drama in the personal life and setting up the plot for the next book in the series. This book easily could have been condensed into the first six or seven chapters and left the next forty to fifty chapters for the body, climax and conclusion.
He is an amazing narrator and really makes any book he reads more interesting and enjoyable.
They may as well have put "To Be Continued..." at the end of the book.
I would recommend this book only in a year or so when the next book comes out. I mean, for heaven's sake, the last words of the book are, "twelve days." Meaning, that they have twelve days the finish what they had started. They should have just waited another year and combine this book with the next one.
I am a husband/dad/granddad who loves books. My reviews are my subjective opinions. My hope is they will help others make buying decisions.
"Nuclear war averted!"
Alex Berenson's John Wells series has one of of the more interesting espionage series. I do not rate Berenson as top tier espionage thriller writers but all 10 of his books earn 4 or 5 stars. John Wells is a CIA assassin and a Muslim. His CIA boss/handler Ellis Shafer plays a major part in this book and others. In The Counterfeit Agent Wells at great risk to himself helps avert nuclear war.
George Guidall narrates this and the other novels in the Wells series. He is always outstanding.
"Solid Wells thriller except for the ending"
Berenson has maintained a high quality throughout the Wells' series and installment 8 is no exception. The plot is intricate with a well resourced and well connected adversary this time around. While Duto and Schaffer continue to evolve into different roles, Wells remains the pre-eminent spy/detective with assassin's instincts. This time out, Duto receives a tip and Wells investigates, while the CIA believes it's struck gold with a Rev guard informant. Wells performs impressive detective work to uncover the mastermind behind the various plots the CIA informant is passing along.
The action is less classic John Wells and more the gradual evolution of a middle age spy who prefers to forego the dramatic cinematic action scenes. At the same time, Berenson develops other characters with detailed backstories for additional action. The only ding to the tale is that while Wells does eventually get his man in classic John Wells style, the story ends without full resolution as the major puppetmasters remain at large and largely unidentified, suggesting, hopefully, that book 9 will complete the story arc.
The narration is simply superb. Guidall is a master of voices, tone, and pacing. His slightly gravelly rendition is perfectly suited for hard nosed spy thriller.
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text:
HP 6005 Desktop PC - AMD Athlon II X2 220 2.80GHz, 8GB DDR3 Memory, 2TB HDD, DVD, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (Off-Lease) - RB-HPDT00310187Item#: 1AS-102511360 | Model#: RB-HPDT00310187 |
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HP 6005 Desktop PC Product Details
HP 6005 Desktop PC
Get your business the HP 6005 Desktop PC. This PC has a 2.80GHz Dual Core processor with 8GB of DDR3 RAM to give you sufficient speed and memory to perform all your business related tasks. You can expand the RAM up to 16GB. It also has a 2TB HDD to store all your valuable data. It comes with Windows 7 Professional 64-bit pre-installed that runs all the popular business applications. 8 USB ports (2 Front and 6 Rear), Integrated Audio. Buy the HP 6005 Desktop PC today!
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- DVD; reads various disc formats
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Genuine Microsoft Windows®
- Operating System: Genuine Microsoft Windows® 7 Professional 64-Bit
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The term "Off-Lease" refers to a product that has been leased to, and used by, a customer, then returned to the leasing agent at the end of the lease period (typically 2 to 3 years). The leasing agent, or their third-party partner, inspects, repairs (if necessary), cleans, re-packages, and then offers the product for sale as "Off-Lease". Although we only purchase and sell the highest grade off-lease products some items will show signs of use, including minor scratches, slight wear on keyboards, etc. Purchasing off lease product saves you money, creates less waste and saves the resources that would be required to produce new products. If saving money and resources is important to you and you are not concerned with minor wear you should consider purchasing off-lease. Off lease products carry limited warranties through the original leasing agent or their third party refurbisher. See below for warranty details.
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What is Dimensional weight?
Click here for full warranty and support information
- HP (Canada) logos are registered trademarks of HP (Canada). All others trademarks and copyrights mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.


text:
Do you have your own
Nasus, Guardian of the River Styx
A quicky requested by a friend, who wanted a darker, more evil-looking Nasus. One of my first, and definately not my best, I decided to upload this to Leaguecraft anyway, since I'm sure some people like it.
The directory is \Game\DATA\Characters\Nasus
(Note: Since I lost the photoshop PSD file, I won't make edits to, or alternative versions of, this skin. Your comments and suggestions are still welcome though.)
Submitted by Duroth
0 Subscribers


text:
Details & Care
A crisp cotton sport shirt shows your school allegiance with an embroidered Louisiana State logo at the chest, and jaunty contrast trim to match.
- 31" length; 47" chest (size Medium).
- Mitered two-button cuffs.
- Cotton; machine wash.
- By Thomas Dean; imported.
- Men's Sportswear.
- Item #619997


text:
Here is a Beautiful and magnificent example of a Silver Aston Martin V8 Vantage! I Was walking down bridge Street when i saw a glimpse of what could only be a Beautiful British made Supercar. It was an AMV8. I Quickly whipped my camera out of course, i wanted to record it. I Recorded it idling at some Traffic Lights when suddenly, the Driver gave the car a right Bootfull, leaving a Brilliant Rumble of the 4.7 Litre V8. So Here you are, a Beautiful and stunning example of an AMV8, Accelerating from the Traffic Lights. Also you may notice the Audi TTS Driving by it. Anyway i hope you enjoy the Video! Please Feel Free to leave a Comment ~GTRJacko Shot in HD 720p and Uploaded in Full HD 1080p You can view some other picture of this car here: www.autogespot.com Note that the Pictures are not mine and this wasn't found by me first
Silver, Aston, Martin, V8, Vantage, Acceleration, Drive-By, Drive, By, Driving, Car, Cars, 4.7, 4.3, Litre, Liter, Carspotting


text:
Technical Article => Web => JavaScript
Ways to check existence of JavaScript object
Now we want to check whether a global object myObj exists or not, if it doesn't exist, we declare it. The pseudo code for this is :
if(myObj not exist){
declare myObj;
You may think it's very easy to write the code. In fact, it is much more difficult than we may think.
Juriy Zaytsev says there are more than 50 ways to check whether a JavaScript object exist or not. Only if you are very clear about the JavaScript realization detail, you can distinguish different methods.
1. We can write it as
if (!myObj) {
myObj = { };
}However, the web browser will throw the ReferenceError when executing this code snippet. What goes wrong?
The problem is when the if statement check the existence of myObj, this variable doesn't exist, so it will throw the error. Modify it as :
if (!myObj) {
var myObj = { };
What is the reason for not throwing the error after adding the var keyword? In this situation, when executing the if statement, does myObj variable exist? To answer this question, we need to understand how JavaScript interpreter works. JavaScript will first parse and then execute the code. So the declaration of the variable will be completed when parsing the code. So the above code equals to :
var myObj;
if (!myObj) {
var myObj = { };
Hence when if statement is executed, myObj variable does exist. This is code hoisting of var. The JavaScript interpreter will only only hoist the variable defined with var.
2. Besides var, we can rewrite it as:
if (!window.myObj) {
myObj = { };
}window is the top-level object of JavaScript. All global variables are its properties, so to check whether myObj exists, it is the same as checking whether window has the property myObj. This can avoid the problem of ReferenceError because of undefined myObj variable. However, we'd better add a var on the second line of the code:
if (!window.myObj) {
var myObj = { };
if (!window.myObj) {
window.myObj = { };
3. The problem of the second method is on some execution environment such as V8 and Rhino, window may not be the top-level object. So we should write the above code as
if (!this.myObj) {
this.myObj = { };
}for global variables, this will always point to top-level variables. So it is independent of execution environment.
4. The readability of the third method is not so good, also this can point to different objects, it's easy to make mistakes. So we can rewrite it as
var global = this;
if (!global.myObj) {
global.myObj = { };
5. Also we can use typeof to check whether myObj is defined or not
if (typeof myObj == "undefined") {
var myObj = { };
this is the most widely used method to check whether a JavaScript object exists or not.
6. The initial value of myObj should be undefined if it is not initialized. So we can simplify the method 5 as
if (myObj == undefined) {
var myObj = { };
here we need to take care of two points. One is the keyword var cannot be omitted, otherwise it will incur the ReferenceError; the other one is we cannot add single quote or double quote to the undefined keyword because here we compared the undefined datatype, not the "undefined" string.
7. Use strict equal(===) to compare, it is also working
if (myObj === undefined) {
var myObj = { };
8. According to the design of JavaScript, undefined==null, so we can check whether myObj==null.
if (myObj == null) {
var myObj = { };
the result is correct, but semantically, this method is wrong, we should avoid it. Since null refers to the empty object which is assigned with null, i.e, this object does exist, while undefined referes to the object which doesn't exist or is not assigned. Hence, here we can only use "==" instead of "===".
9. We can use in operator
if (!('myObj' in window)) {
window.myObj = { };
10. Use hasOwnProperty method
if (!this.hasOwnProperty('myObj')) {
this.myObj = { };
- If we only need to check whether an object exist, we recommend method 5
- If we still need to check whether the object is null except check the existence of the objec, we recommend method 1
- All variables should be declared using var keyword
- For cross-browser compatibility, avoid using window to refer to the top-level object
- In JavaScript, null and undefined are easy to be mixed up. When dealing with these two, we recommend to use === operator
Author : 阮一峰 Source : http://www.ruanyifeng.com/blog/2011/05/how_to_judge_the_existence_of_a_global_object_in_javascript.html
No comment for this article.


text:
Gone is the summer of my discontent
I'm sure it is of no surprise to anyone that summer is not my favorite season. While others bask in the sunshine, laze by the lake, picnic on the patio, and devour s'mores around the campfire, I can be found sucking up all the ice-cold beverages and air-conditioning I can handle.
Am I the only miserable person on the planet because of summer? .
I know I'm a terrible person. It's unheard of to hate summer. How dare I?
Summer. The season where intelligent beings are reduced to watching Wipeout while waiting on the fall TV season. Sweat. And did I say bad TV? Really bad.
Football withdrawals.
Ill-tempered drivers.
Hot car door handles.
Hot steering wheels.
Forget about going barefoot.
But, whatever you do, don't forget the sunscreen.
Ah, but all that is behind me now. It is September and the temps in Vegas have gone from the 110s to the high 90s. I may need to don my winter coat. Vegas locals have thin blood, which is partially from the free booze at the casinos, but mostly from the weather.
My ever-present OCD has me making a spreadsheet listing the fall TV shows and their start dates and times. I refuse to miss a single episode of Dancing With the Stars or Scandal.
Football is nigh and I am giddy. Oh Peyton, how I've missed you!
Soon I will be able to open a car door without using a towel to keep from getting scalded. That, in and of itself, is epic. You'd have to be a Vegasite to understand.
Summer! I bid you a fond farewell! I would say I'm going to miss you, but instead, I'm doing the happy dance. You know the dance. It's just like the one parents do on their kids' first day back to school.


text:
Teleflex Presents at Networking World Anesthesia Convention Congress in Austria
During the conference, Teleflex presented a number of products featuring its Z-Blocker bronchus blocker as well as the LMA laryngeal mask portfolio including the LMA Supreme second generation airway with gastric access.
Teleflex is a global provider of medical devices for critical care, urology and surgery.
More Articles on Anesthesia:TeamHealth Acquires Professional Anesthesia Services
12 Challenges for Anesthesia Groups Next Year
Anesthesia Group Acquisition Activity Grows in 2013
© Copyright ASC COMMUNICATIONS 2017. Interested in LINKING to or REPRINTING this content? View our policies by clicking here.
To receive the latest hospital and health system business and legal news and analysis from Becker's Hospital Review, sign-up for the free Becker's Hospital Review E-weekly by clicking here.


text:
Stephanopoulos vs. Snow on Anti-Business; Corporate Misdeeds Occurred in Clinton Years; Learn from Clinton & Inundate; A Fresh "Gorbasm"; Phil Donahue Not Liberal?
1) New York Times headline: "Lieberman's Pro-Business Views May Haunt Him." To ABC's George Stephanopoulos on This Week that demonstrated how Lieberman has "questions to answer about...close ties to corporate America," but to Tony Snow on Fox News Sunday it suggested an "anti-business" media bias.
2) The corporate misdeeds, which liberals and the news media are blaming on the Bush administration, occurred during the Clinton years, Brit Hume pointed out on Fox News Sunday: "How could that possibly be in all of this coverage, in all of this criticism from Capitol Hill by Democrats? How is it that they fail to notice who was the President during all this period?" But Juan Williams held Newt Gingrich culpable.
3) Learn from Clinton and inundate. The advice from Newsweek's Evan Thomas to the Bush team on how to overcome the news media's obsession with old news about Bush stock dealings? "Learn from Clinton" and "dump all the documents out" so it will be "confusing" and "journalists won't be able to figure it out."
4) More on Judicial Watch going from "conservative" during the Clinton years to a non-ideological "watchdog group" as soon as it sued Vice President Cheney: On the ABCNews.com Web site "The Note" linked to the CyberAlert documentation of the changing labeling, CBS on Sunday described Judicial Watch as "a public interest group," and Fox News Sunday showed video clips to illustrate the contrasting descriptions offered by ABC, CNN and NBC.
5) A "Gorbasm" from Oonagh Blackman, deputy political editor of London's Daily Mirror newspaper: "Mr. Gorbachev earned worldwide admiration for ushering in the era of glasnost and perestroika in Russia. He worked relentlessly to force the U.S. and others to join his campaign to cut weapons of mass destruction and improve world security."
6) MSNBC's new all-liberal prime time line-up debuts tonight, at least if you consider Phil Donahue to be liberal. Amazingly, Alex Jones, a former New York Times reporter, insisted that Donahue is not "a true liberal" because he's not as left-wing as Noam Chomsky. Also, Gerry Nachman, the host of a new pre-prime time MSNBC show, once wrote about how most journalists are liberals.
7) Letterman's "Top Ten Perks Of Being Saddam Hussein's Stepson."
Correction: The July 11 CyberAlert mis-dated when Peter Jennings offered this description: "A legal activist group called Judicial Watch..." He said that on the July 10 World News Tonight, the date of all the other new Judicial Watch citations in that CyberAlert, not on July 11.
The same headline which demonstrated to ABC's George Stephanopoulos that Senator Joseph Lieberman has "questions to answer about...close ties to corporate America," suggested media bias to Fox's Tony Snow. Both Sunday interview show hosts raised this July 14 New York Times headline with guests: "Lieberman's Pro-Business Views May Haunt Him."
On ABC's This Week, Stephanopoulos saw the headline as warning of something Lieberman should be concerned about. Stephanopoulos demanded of Lieberman:
Lieberman answered no and noted that without business there are no jobs.
Over on Fox News Sunday, Tony Snow pointed out the same headline to Secretary of Commerce Don Evans, but painted it as evidence of media bias: "I want to show you a headline in today's New York Times. It reads, it says: 'Lieberman's Pro-Business Views May Haunt Him.' Do you think the press is anti-business right now?"
Evans naturally demurred from saying anything negative about the news media.
The corporate misdeeds, which liberals and the news media are blaming on the Bush administration, occurred during the Clinton years, Brit Hume observed on Fox News Sunday. But Juan Williams held Newt Gingrich culpable to the consternation of Fred Barnes.
During the panel segment of the July 14 Fox News Sunday, Hume asserted: "Nearly all of this stuff we're talking about happened when? Between 1993 and 2001, I think it's reasonably fair to say. Presided over by a Democratic President, whose name is very rarely mentioned in all of this. Isn't that remarkable? How could that possibly be in all of this coverage, in all of this criticism from Capitol Hill by Democrats? How is it that they fail to notice who was the President during all this period?"
(Williams has never been fond, to put it mildly, of Gingrich's Contract
with America. Back in 1995, in the MRC's "Best Notable Quotables of 1995: The Eighth Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting," he won "The Contract's Not Done Until Every Child Is Dead Award" for this mean-spirted comment on the March 25 Capital Gang on CNN:
As Hume suggested, the news media are not looking back at Clinton. Every little tidbit about Bush or Cheney is considered the most important news of the day over any substantive policy matters. Check out how ABC and CBS led their newscasts on Saturday and Sunday nights:
-- Anchor Bob Woodruff at the top of the July 13 World News Tonight/Saturday: "On World News Tonight this Saturday, new trouble for the White House. The President's top corporate crime fighter served on the board of a company accused of securities fraud. It has been a tough week for Mr. Bush."
-- CBS Evening News anchor Thalia Assuras the same night: "Credibility gap: The President's top gun on corporate cheating faces questions about his own business past....President Bush, who last week proposed plans to get tough on corporate wrongdoing, has been dogged by criticism for not being tough enough on the business community to which he has strong ties. Well matters got even worse today. The man he appointed to direct the new task force on corporate crime and responsibility is facing credibility questions of his own."
Those two stories were about Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson.
-- Anchor Carole Simpson opening the July 14 World News Tonight/Sunday: "On World News Tonight this Sunday: More questions about President Bush's controversial stock sale and calls from Democrats and Republicans for the White House to release related records."
-- CBS Evening News anchor John Roberts teased the show the same night: "New questions: Did the President and Vice President know more about the business dealings of their companies than they've admitted? Under fire: The head of the SEC says he won't step down."
Learn from Clinton: Inundate. The advice from Newsweek Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas to the Bush team on how to overcome the news media's obsession with old news about Bush stock dealings? "Learn from Clinton" and "dump all the documents out" so it will be "confusing" and "journalists won't be able to figure it out."
On Inside Washington over the weekend, Thomas recommended:
That may have worked for Clinton, but I suspect that with a more conservative President journalists would take the time and effort to figure out the meaning of every document.
More on Judicial Watch going from "conservative," when it was rarely mentioned by the networks during the Clinton years, to a non-ideological "watchdog group" as soon as it sued Vice President Cheney last week in a filing which ABC, CBS and NBC all highlighted:
-- From the July 12 "The Note" by the ABC News political unit, as posted daily on the ABCNews.com Web site, an item which linked to the July 11 CyberAlert article. Friday's edition was written by Elizabeth Wilner & Marc Ambinder and included this plug brought to my attention by MRC Communications Director Liz Swasey:
For the latest "The Note": http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNews/TheNote.html
The archive:
-- A fresh label delivered by reporter Gretchen Carlson on the July 14 CBS Evening News: "Nor has the Vice President been forthcoming over questions about what he knew of questionable accounting practices at Halliburton, an oil services company he ran for five years. He was sued this week by Judicial Watch, a public interest group, which accuses Halliburton of cheating investors by overstating company income."
-- As part of its "Below the Fold" segment, the July 14 Fox News Sunday featured video clips provided by the MRC illustrating how ABC, CNN and NBC changed their take on Judicial Watch chief Larry Klayman. As host Tony Snow explained in setting up the video excerpts: "Larry Klayman, the litigious leader of Judicial Watch, was scorned by the establishment press when he was suing Bill Clinton. But now that he has filed suit against Vice President Dick Cheney, Klayman finds himself the recipient of strange new respect."
Fox News Sunday viewers then saw these contrasts:
# CNN's Judy Woodruff, March 3, 1998: "Lawyers for THE CONSERVATIVE GROUP, JUDICIAL WATCH, today questioned Clinton adviser, Paul Begala, about the FBI files flap."
Woodruff, July 10, 2002: "The WATCHDOG GROUP said that it was suing Vice President Dick Cheney."
# ABC's Brian Ross, October 24, 1996: "Larry Klayman, a CONSERVATIVE LAWYER who filed the lawsuit."
Peter Jennings, July 10, 2002: "A LEGAL ACTIVIST GROUP CALLED JUDICIAL WATCH filed a lawsuit today against the Vice President and Halliburton, the energy company he used to run."
# NBC's Tom Brokaw, December 19, 2000: "The news media, and at least one CONSERVATIVE ADVOCACY GROUP, have restarted the recount."
Anchor Brian Williams, July 10, 2002: "A WATCHDOG GROUP that tormented the Clinton administration filed suit against Vice President Cheney..."
As Snow then quipped as he snapped his fingers, "from hack to watchdog just like that."
Again, for CyberAlert's complete rundown, including fuller quotes of what Fox News Sunday played as well as a CBS News contrast, refer back to the July 11 CyberAlert: http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2002/cyb20020711.asp#1
When this CyberAlert is posted by the MRC's Mez Djouadi, it will include a RealPlayer clip of Fox News Sunday playing the contrasting examples.
It's been a while since I've seen a good "Gorbasm," but the MRC's Rich Noyes alerted me to one he found in a story highlighted late last week by www.DrudgeReport.com. At least it was a foreign reporter who had this "Gorbasm," as Rush Limbaugh long ago dubbed fawning media tributes to the former communist dictator.
In the midst of a July 11 story in London's Daily Mirror newspaper, deputy political editor Oonagh Blackman, gushed:
Yes, he had to "force" the militaristic U.S. to reduce weapons.
Headlined, "Gorbachev: I Fear Bush and Blair War Plan," Blackman began the story:
To read the story in full:
MSNBC's new all-liberal prime time line-up debuts tonight, at least if you consider Phil Donahue to be liberal. Amazingly, Alex Jones, a former New York Times reporter who now runs Harvard University's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, maintained that Donahue is not a liberal because he's not as left-wing as Noam Chomsky. I'm not kidding.
Plus, Gerry Nachman, the host of a new pre-prime time MSNBC show, believes most journalists are liberals. In a New York Times op-ed he wrote from Los Angeles just before the 2000 Democratic convention, Nachman suggested: "Most of the media coming to L.A. should wear delegate badges rather than press passes."
Today at 2pm EDT MSNBC debuts a new two hour Buchanan and Press show hosted by Pat Buchanan and Bill Press, both formerly of CNN's Crossfire. The prime time line-up, which will air from 8 to 11pm EDT and be re-run 11pm to 2am EDT, so it will air 8-11pm PDT: Phil Donahue at 8pm EDT/PDT, Hardball with Chris Matthews at 9pm EDT/PDT and On Location with Ashleigh Banfield at 10pm EDT/PDT.
Not a non-liberal amongst them.
(Also starting today, The News with Brian Williams will run at 7pm, 10pm and 1am EDT on CNBC, only the first one being a new air time, but it will no longer run on MSNBC. The 7pm EDT airing means it will be going head-to-head with the NBC Nightly News in some Eastern, Central and Mountain time zone markets. Hardball will no longer air on CNBC where is will be replaced on Mondays by After Hours with Maria Bartiromo. Capital Report will run Tuesday through Thursday at 9pm EDT, repeated at 12am EDT/9pm PDT.)
-- A piece in the July 10 USA Today by Peter Johnson demonstrated the liberal agenda Donahue has for his show:
For the story in its entirety: http://www.usatoday.com/life/2002/2002-07-10-donahue.htm
But Donahue, known for years of liberal crusading and a man who campaigned in 2000 for Ralph Nader, is not "a true liberal" in the judgment of a former New York Times reporter.
An excerpt from a profile of Donahue in the July 10 Los Angeles Times by reporter Elizabeth Jensen:
Although many conservatives have been quick to decry a liberal bias in network news and the media in general, there are almost no true liberals hosting TV talk shows, said Alex Jones, director of Harvard University's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, and he's waiting to see what Donahue has to say before putting him in that camp.
"Conservatives have been very successful at defining 'liberal' as anything that is not conservative; they have redefined the center," said Jones, defining a true liberal as someone like Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Noam Chomsky, who considers the New York Times "a really reactionary tool of the government....I don't think Donahue is anything like Chomsky."
Donahue is quick to agree that the left has moved toward the center. "[Former President] Bill Clinton is 12 noon!" he exclaimed, adding that he himself is "left of Bill Clinton." He rattles off his stance on various issues to prove it, expressing support for single-payer health plans, public financing of campaigns, enhancing the opportunity to form unions. "I don't think one company should own 1,200 radio stations," he said, in a reference to Clear Channel Communications, "[and] I don't think we should execute retarded people." He then veers off into a commentary on a recent Supreme Court ruling, proclaiming that the Nader camp is "too well raised to say, 'I told you so,'" barreling on to explain why the drug war isn't working....
END of Excerpt
For the piece in full: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-jensen10jul10002039.story
By the standard set by Jones that only someone on the America-hating nutty far-left like Chomsky is a liberal, and I should acknowledge the possibility -- which I hope is true -- that the LA Times misconstrued his beliefs, there are no liberals in Congress. Not Barbara Boxer, not Maxine Waters.
If the LA Times quote is accurate, that says quite a lot about the world skew of the people hired as reporters by the New York Times. As his bio on the Harvard Web site notes of its Director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy: "He covered the press for The New York Times from 1983-1992 and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for his articles on the collapse of the Bingham family's newspaper empire." For the bio:
Media reports late last week listed Jones as a finalist for Dean of the Columbia School Journalism.
-- There is some hope for a little non-liberal talk in the evening on MSNBC, but just not in prime time. Gerry Nachman, brought aboard in May as Editor-in-Chief, the number two slot at the third place news network, will host a 7pm EDT show. It will probably repeat at 2am EDT.
In a New York Times piece on August 13, 2000, the day before the Democratic convention opened in Los Angeles, Nachman, then Executive Producer of ABC's Politically Incorrect, expounded on his belief that most journalists are liberals. An excerpt from the piece by the former editor of the New York Post and news chief at both WCBS-TV and WNBC-TV in New York:
My phone is pulsating like a blender. The calls are from my press buddies. They're all coming, you know, to cover the Democrats. Years ago we'd be talking pegs, angles. Who's gonna defect in some platform fight? What caucus will Reagan try to charm to steal the nomination from Ford? Will Jesse apologize tomorrow night for the Hymietown thing? Dukakis definitely won't pick Bentsen; I got it nailed.
This week the calls are about whether I can get them into the Playboy Mansion soiree and, hey, you're in TV, what about that Streisand thing? Are you, like, going? I'm relieved. Better they're talking parties than politics.
When they talk politics I get irritated. Because most of the media coming to L.A. should wear delegate badges rather than press passes. What's not new is that most newspeople are Democrats, even liberals. One accepted study reported that 91 percent of journalists polled voted for Bill Clinton in 1992; 43 percent of their fellow Americans did so that year.
What is new is that newsies no longer try to keep their politics personal. There was a time when journalists held their political cards very close to the vest. But now they share.
I remember returning to WCBS-TV in New York in the fall of 1994 to run the news department. Election Day arrived, and a Republican was elected governor. The next day the newsroom was in emotional shambles. Remember, most of them are kids. New York governors had been Cuomo or Carey for all the memory they had. Rockefeller was the name of a skating rink.
The kids were keening. I thought I had walked into some large, collective shiva call. The staff was bereft. Those Republican guys, they explained with bewilderment and fear, had, like, taken over the Senate and the House, too. I think I heard a chorus of "Kumbaya" somewhere near the water cooler; I'm all but certain someone shouted "Oh, the humanity!" over by the assignment desk.
The staff shuffled into my office to be consoled. Many of them believed me to be avuncular, another misperception I would have to work on. "Children," I began, "it is true that a Republican is the governor-elect of New York." Someone sniffled. I flipped a box of tissues in his direction. "But you must remember that so are the governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut and New Jersey and California." I pointed out that Republicans had occupied the White House for 28 of the prior 42 years.
There was a collective gasp: they had no idea aliens had landed in so many places....
END of Excerpt
For Nachman's MSNBC page with a picture of him: http://www.msnbc.com/news/778618.asp
From the July 12 Late Show with David Letterman, the "Top Ten Perks of Being Saddam Hussein's Stepson." The Late Show Web page: http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/
10. For your birthday, you get the head of an infidel
9. People never refer to you as "The crazy one in the family"
8. On weekends, you get to bring home weapons of mass destruction
7. Don't want to clean your room? Threaten to tell the United States dad's exact location
6. Play your cards right and in 10 years you'll be torturing the Iraqi people
5. Unique chance to observe a tyrannical madman up close
4. Big inheritance when U.S. troops finally kill your stepfather
3. Father-son bonding over 3am prank calls to U.N. weapons inspectors
2. You can get first pick of the police auction's seized and repossessed camels
1. Get to call Bin Laden "Uncle Osama"
> Can't think of a good ending quip, so I'll skip ahead a couple of days and alert you to how George Stephanopoulos is scheduled to appear Wednesday night on NBC's Tonight Show. -- Brent Baker


text:
ATLANTA — There are apes on the walls of East Atlanta Tattoo.
It's tough to spot them all above the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd of pierced and painted artists, or the girls in monkey masks and banana suits, or the scenesters chomping gourmet corn dogs around the fire pit in back. But the apes are there, installations in "Damn Dirty Apes," a Planet of the Apes-themed art exhibit featuring works by some of the city's most provocative young artists.
Meanwhile, a few blocks east, hundreds of fans are coalescing for a sold-out concert by Unknown Hinson, a vampire-styled rockabilly singer who also happens to provide the voice for a trucker-hat-wearing squid on a popular late-night cartoon series.
In most neighborhoods, a night this wild might be considered a change of pace. In East Atlanta Village, it's just another Saturday.
Atlanta has a bevy of renowned tourist attractions to offer the world, from tours of CNN to the Georgia Aquarium, from Underground Atlanta to the Varsity.
Yet there is much to love about the corners of the city that don't always make the hotel brochure racks. The South's most diverse and creative metropolis — this is, after all, the city that gave us Outkast, Adult Swim and Ryan Seacrest — has a side that glows with graffiti and crackles with life well past midnight. These hot spots are surrounded by homes, not hotels, and are as treasured by the natives as they are by visitors.
Here's a quick tour of Atlanta's off-the-grid fun-spots. Most of the business districts of the neighborhoods are just a few blocks long.
Little Five Points
Where is it? East of downtown Atlanta, along Moreland and Euclid avenues. It's less than a mile east of Freedom Park, home to the Carter Center and Jimmy Carter Library and Museum.
Every trip through alternative Atlanta must begin in Little Five Points. Since the '70s, the neighborhood's charming homes and eminently browsable storefronts have made the neighborhood a longtime gathering spot for hippies, college kids and curious out-of-towners on the prowl for quirky bargains.
The real draws are the retro-style used-goods store, from the Clothing Warehouse, with its wall of used cowboy boots, to Stefan's, which has a case of vintage eyeglass frames. For used books and music, visit A Capella Books, which has a nice selection of works on street art, and Criminal Records, which doubles as a comic store.
But there is quality high-end couture there, too: American Apparel, that multihued outpost of hipster minimalism, has a boutique here. So does Bill Hallman, one of Atlanta's top fashion designers. And the new-goods stores, from the quirky footwear mecca Abbadabba's to the "feminist bookstore" Charis Books, are citywide destinations.
For food, don't skip the Vortex. If you can get past the schlocky minigolf-style skull that doubles as a doorway, you'll find what are almost universally hailed as the best burgers in Atlanta — and a bottled beer selection that rivals that of a liquor store, from Delirium Nocturnum to local fave Sweetwater 420. At times there's a line out the door.
Wherever you eat, stick around for a show. Star Bar, a small club housed in a former bank (the vault is stocked with Elvis memorabilia), is a more than solid venue. But the biggest live-music player in Little Five Points is the Variety Playhouse, which draws top national rock, folk and world music artists. Sold-out shows are the norm.
East Atlanta Village
Where is it? The intersection of Flat Shoals and Glenwood avenues, east of downtown, just south of Interstate 20. Take the Moreland Avenue SE exit.
East Atlanta Village is a colorful haven for the well-traveled and the well-tattooed. This funky little elbow of a district tempers its predilection for monkeys and vampires with a pleasant line of bars, cafes and retro-inspired boutiques.
At the center of it all is the Earl, one of Atlanta's favorite live rock clubs. Acts there range from the dark and quirky (Unknown Hinson, say, or Jonathan Richman) to the poppy and melodic (Cat Power, Death Cab for Cutie). Playing there is a must for rising Atlanta bands.
But the Earl isn't the only hip bar in the area. With its dark nooks, leather couches and wood paneling, the Graveyard Tavern looks like a hunting lodge, but it's got a welcoming, independent feel, and occasionally hosts local art shows. Mary's, a happening gay bar, and the Gravity Pub, the Graveyard's punky neighbor, are also worth a visit.
The shopping is good, too. A short walk from the Earl sits Rockstar Gold, a music memorabilia store with a stack of Xeroxed zines by the door and boxes of vintage Rolling Stone and High Times magazines. And beyond that are funky and stylish shops like Natural Beauty, a half-salon, half-boutique, and the quirky Traders Neighborhood Store, offering a range of colorful gifts and decor.
Of the district's handful of restaurants, Kasan Red, a lovely little bistro at the corner of Glenwood and Flat Shoals avenues, is the best. It serves brunch until 4 p.m., so you can sleep in and still indulge your craving for grits, eggs Benedict and tender apple cinnamon muffins.
Virginia Highland
Where is it? North of Little Five Points and Inman Park, east of Midtown and southwest of Emory University.
It may not have the same indie cachet as Atlanta's other boroughs, but if you're looking for a one-stop date night, Virginia Highland is the place to go.
Stretching roughly 1 1/2 miles north from Ponce de Leon Avenue on Highland Avenue, this neighborhood is a near-seamless row of shops, restaurants and walkable neighborhoods. It would be easy to spend an evening at any spot along the district.
Take, for example, the corner of Highland and Ponce de Leon. In a single block, there's the Plaza Theatre, an independent that shows current films and cult midnight movies; the Cupcake Factory, a bakery specializing in totable minicakes; shops ranging from Urban Outfitters to the spacious Highland Row Antiques; and Pura Vida, an acclaimed tapas bar with a rich, inventive menu (try the delectable Huazontle al Idiazabal: beer-battered Mexican broccoli, Idiazabal cheese and rosemary aioli).
Or visit the north end of Virginia Highland, near the crossing of Highland and Morningside Drive. There, you can: dine on elegant comfort cuisine at Food 101; snag dessert at Yotopia, an upscale frozen yogurt shop; and shop at Outsider Inside Art or the quirky boutique Providence.
As you explore Virginia Highland, be sure to venture about a mile west on Ponce de Leon. You'll pass local landmarks the Clermont Lounge (see Page 7) and Paris on Ponce, a kicky boho antiques warehouse notable for (A) its sprawling assortment of eclectic furniture and decor, and (B) Le Moulin Rouge, a faux turn-of-the-century French cabaret in the back that offers tango lessons on the second Sunday of each month. Your run-of-the-mill antiques store, it's not.
Castleberry Hill
Where is it? Less than a mile south of the Georgia Dome, along Walker and Peters streets.
Southwest of Downtown Atlanta sits Castleberry Hill, an eclectic mix of industrial businesses, chic shops and galleries, old-school barbershops and new and renovated lofts.
As throughout much of the city, several of the condo complexes that are being developed to spur growth are either not full or not finished.
But Castleberry Hill has the makings of a breakout community. From Urban Fusion, a street-chic boutique with sneaker-inspired art on the walls, to No Mas, a cantina and gallery of Spanish-style home furnishings, the district offers a more contemporary vibe than its counterparts east of Interstate 75.
The nightlife scene is still growing — there are only a few restaurants, and still too many dormant storefronts. But venues like the ultrasleek Tilt Coffee Shop are worth a visit. The look inside is minimalist and modern, with ancient brick walls flanking an airy interior full of streamlined furniture and even a few small, flat-panel TVs. If you go, try a shot of espresso served with a flavor enhancer, such as bittersweet chocolate, dried cherries, walnuts or lemon zest.
A few more spots like this, and Castleberry Hill will be a can't-miss destination in its own right.
Inman Park
Where is it? East of Interstate 75, in a pocket of streets between Irwin Street/Lake Avenue and Decatur Street/DeKalb Avenue. It's just east of the Sweet Auburn District, home to the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site.
Inman Park is no secret. People who make a lot of money live here. Cavernous old-South homes teeter on the edges of its green parks, and one of Atlanta's finest restaurants, Shaun's, sits within a block of the Inman Park rapid transit station.
But sprinkled throughout Inman Park are newer condo complexes stocked with young professionals, as well as home bases for a handful of creative businesses. At the edge of Inman Park, in the Old Fourth Ward district, are a couple of funky warehouses-turned-office parks, including Stove Works, which houses Atlanta's much-loved Rathbun's restaurant, home to chef Kevin Rathbun, a James Beard award winner. Rathbun's has won accolades from Esquire and Travel & Leisure.
A fun spot for breakfast is Lotta Frutta. Part smoothie shop, part fruit bodega, Lotta Frutta offers elaborate cups of fresh fruit, like the Limonatta, a mixture of fresh coconut chunks, cucumber, mango, melon, papaya, pineapple and watermelon with chili powder and lime juice. Or the Dolce Vitta, which blends apple, banana, kiwi, mango, orange, pineapple and watermelon, topped with vanilla yogurt, granola and honey.
There are snazzy home decor and fashion shops, too, like Laced Up, a destination for anyone wishing to become immersed in the world of hard-core sneaker hoarding. But the real draw of Inman Park is the look and color of the district itself.
Atlanta's antiquated brick walls serve as irresistible canvases to nationally known street artists like Totem, whose smirking ghost, Mr. Fangs, pops up on walls across the city.
The Krog Street underpass, just south of DeKalb Avenue in Inman Park, is the city's most famous virtual graffiti gallery. In every direction are cartoons and caricatures, slogans of peace, prayer and chest-thumping braggadocio, scribbled on the walls in puffy, airbrushed swoops and swirls. For those fascinated by street art, the minitunnel is as inspiring as the city's top museums, an underground shrine to those artists willing to sidestep the law for their craft.
The underpass isn't on any map. But like so much of Atlanta, it's an absolute work of art, concealed from the world in plain sight, visible only to those who seek it out.
Jay Cridlin can be reached at (727) 893-8336 or
An inside look at Atlanta's funky side
ATLANTA — There are apes on the walls of East Atlanta Tattoo.
Where to stay
The problem with venturing off the beaten path is that there's often no decent place
to stay.
You can't go wrong staying in Atlanta's Midtown area. Sure, it's full of swanky spots like the Four Seasons and the W Hotel. But there are also lots of fun restaurants like Agnes & Muriel's, a colorful '50s-inspired bistro with Bloody Marys that belie its June Cleaver vibe. Plus it's near the High Museum of Art, the sprawling Piedmont Park and the outstanding (if a bit creepy) Center for Puppetry Arts. I stayed at the Residence Inn by Marriott: Midtown (1041 W Peachtree St. NW, (404) 872-8885), a smaller, cheaper place with newer amenities but a historic feel.
Some Atlanta neighborhoods, like Virginia Highland and East Atlanta Village, are not easily accessible via the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit subway line. The good news is, Atlanta is dotted with stations for Zipcars, rent-by-the-hour autos that can take you wherever you need to go. Sign up to become a member at Zipcar.com, and you're good to go.
If you want to stay close to the action, here are four options:
• The Highland Inn: Near the happening intersection of Highland and Ponce de Leon avenues, the Highland is a popular spot for young travelers who want to stay on Atlanta's trendy east side. There's also an occasional cheeky burlesque show in the hotel's basement ballroom and lounge. 644 N Highland Ave.; (404) 874-5756, www.
• The Gaslight Inn: This quaint B&B inside a 95-year-old home is lauded as one of Atlanta's finest under-the-radar places to stay. A few blocks from the Highland Inn, it's in a residential neighborhood near a fun row of shops and restaurants in Virginia Highland. 1001 St. Charles Ave. NE; (404) 875-1001, www.gaslightinn.com.
•The King-Keith House: This historic Inman Park B&B, a converted Victorian manse, is about a 10-minute walk from Little Five Points. But it's close to a transit station, not to mention the acclaimed restaurant Shaun's. 889 Edgewood Ave. NE; toll-free 1-800-728-3879, www.kingkeith.com.
• Heartfield Manor: Like the King-Keith House, the Heartfield Manor sits in a very nice Inman Park neighborhood, about 10 minutes from Little Five Points. 182 Elizabeth St. NE; (404) 523-8633, www.inmanpark.org/heart.html.