April 28, 2010 - ChaddsFordLive.com

Francis W. Eick of Kennett Square

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Francis W. Eick, 76, of Kennett Square, died April 27, at his home surrounded by
his loving family. He was the beloved husband of M. Catherine “Kate” Eick, with
whom he shared 51 years of marriage.

Born in Philadelphia, he was the son of
the late Frances D’Antonio.

He served his country in the U. S. Army
during the Korean War.

Eick was a sergeant and maintenance
supervisor at the Chester County Prison in West Chester for 22 years, retiring
in 2007. Prior to working at the prison, he was a self-employed mason
contractor.

He was a past president of the Kennett
Optimist Club and was a former coach for the KAU Little League and the
CYO. He was a member of St. Patrick Church in Kennett Square.

In addition to his wife, he is survived
by a son, Robert Eick and his wife Patricia of Cochranville; two daughters,
Theresa Eick DiSabatino and her husband Louis of Wilmington, and Susan Eick
Woodward of Kennett Square; two brothers, Ralph A. D’Antonio and his wife Marie
of Kennett Square, and Nicholas D’Antonio and his wife Barbara of Glen Mills; a
sister-in-law, Carol Jo Eick of West Chester, wife of his late brother Ronald
Eick; and by five grandchildren, Matthew R. Eick, Nicole M. Woodward, Louis
Francis DiSabatino, Zachary Eick Woodward, and Shayna Woodward.

You are invited to visit with Eick’s
family and friends on Sunday, May 2, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Kuzo & Grieco
Funeral Home, 250 W. State St., Kennett Square. His Mass of Christian
Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 3, at St. Patrick Church,
212 Meredith St., Kennett Square. Interment will be in St. Patrick
Cemetery.

Contributions may be made in Eick’s
memory to St. Patrick Church, 205 Lafayette St., Kennett Square, PA
19348. To send an online condolence, please visit www.griecocares.com.

About CFLive Staff

See Contributors Page https://chaddsfordlive.com/writers/

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Rendell proposes taxing professional services

Local News

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Gov.
Ed Rendell told a group at Kennett High School last Friday that he wants to see
a drastic reduction in sales tax exemptions. The proposal is one of five
measures that, he said, would generate almost $1.5 billion in revenue for
Pennsylvania.

Rendell
called the sales tax, “The big mother of all” among his five points. He wants
the tax rate lowered from 6 percent to 4 percent, but exemptions cut from 74
down to five.

Rendell
would leave the exemptions on food, clothing, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing
and ticket sales by nonprofit organizations.

“Everything
else is subject to the sales tax. Lawyers’ fees, accountants’ fees, computer
services [would be] subject to the sales tax,” he said.

“The
33 percent cut would be the largest any state has made in their sales tax in
the last two decades,” Rendell said, “but I’m going to produce $1 billion per
year more in revenue. …By broadening the base, even though we’re cutting the
rate by one third, we are in fact generating more revenue for the state.”

He
doesn’t think that will happen this year, Rendell said.

Among
his other points, Rendell wants to see a tax on Marcellus Shale and smokeless
tobacco, the elimination of the vendor sales tax discount and removal of the
“Delaware loophole” in the Corporate Net Income Tax.

“I
think, sometimes, that raising taxes is not a bad idea,” the governor said.

He
said it was time to tax Marcellus Shale, following the suit of other states.

The
shale has natural gas pockets. Rendell said extracting the gas is an expensive
operation, but technology has improved, and prices for the product have gone
up. He referred to “a gold rush” for the shale operators.

The
state auctioned off some leases of land for the drilling last year and received
more than three times the price originally thought, he said.

Six
of seven states with shale have a severance tax on it. The state that doesn’t
is Pennsylvania.

“It’s
time for ‘Big Gas’ to pay its share,” Rendell said.

He
addressed the tobacco industry, too. Pennsylvania, while it does tax
cigarettes, does not tax cigars, or smokeless tobacco.

“It’s
time for that anomaly to end,” he said.

The
governor also wants to eliminate the vendor sales tax discount.

Rendell
explained that in the days of manual bookkeeping, businesses that collected
state sales tax could retain a percentage if they paid the tax on time. He said
it was done because bookkeeping then was time-consuming. Computers make it easy
today.

He
said the average person doesn’t get a break when they pay their taxes on time
and neither should businesses.

Those
three points would produce about $325 million dollars annually, he said, citing
his desire to increase school funding by $350 million this year.

“That’s
the education budget,” he said. “… Nobody here can argue with any of those
three. You’d have to be a crazed right-winger, or Grover Norquist [president
of Americans for
Tax Reform,]
to argue against any of those three.”

There
is also, what Rendell called the “ Delaware loophole” in the Corporate Net
Income Tax. He wants that tax, now at 9.9 percent, reduced, but the loophole
removed.

Seventy-one
percent of the companies subject to the CNI paid nothing in 2009, he said.

The
loophole allows businesses that operate exclusively in Pennsylvania to maintain
an office, or even just a post office box in Delaware—where there is no
corporate tax—to avoid the Pennsylvania tax altogether, Rendell said.

He
wants the state legislature to remove the loophole, but drop the CNI to 8.9
percent. That would produce another $150 million to $200 million annually, he
added.

Rendell
told the people in the Kennett crowd who agree with him to e-mail state Sen.
Dominic Pileggi, R-9, of Chester. Pileggi is the senate majority leader.

“If
Sen. Pileggi wants to make sure that the education budget stays intact, he can
do it, folks,” Rendell said. “To use the vernacular, ‘He’s the man.’”

Rendell
spoke to groups at three schools Friday, April 23, looking to generate public
support for his budget.

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.

Rendell proposes taxing professional services Read More »

Adopt-a-Pet

Local News

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Cheech is a 10-year-old
neutered male Chow Chow mix that
is available for adoption through the Chester County SPCA. He is a very sweet boy who loves attention and is
housebroken. He gets a long with children, cats and other dogs. Cheech came to
the shelter on April 7, because his owner has too many small children in the
house and sometimes he is a little clumsy and he knocks them over. Cheech is
looking for a responsible
caregiver who will give him the love and attention he deserves. If you are able
to provide that home, visit the Chester County SPCA at 1212 Phoenixville Pike
in West Goshen or call 610-692-6113. Cheech’s registration number is 96798930.
To look at some of the other animals available for adoption, visit the shelter
or log onto http://www.ccspca.org

About CFLive Staff

See Contributors Page https://chaddsfordlive.com/writers/

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Rendell didn’t tell all

Opinion

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It
was as much what Gov. Ed Rendell didn’t say at Kennett High School as what he
did say.

The
Democratic governor, in the last year of his two terms in office, told Kennett
School Board members and a handful of others that the General Assembly in
Harrisburg has the power to bring roughly $1.5 billion into the state coffers
by adopting his proposals for the 2010-2011 state budget.

Mr.
Rendell made five distinct proposals, but one stands out more than the others.
He called for two changes to the state’s sales tax structure. One change was
reducing the tax from 6 percent to 4 percent. Hardly any Pennsylvanian, or
anyone who shops retail in the state, would object to that. There is, however,
another proposed change.

There
are currently 74 exemptions to the sales tax. The most obvious exemptions are
those on food and clothing. But, along with exemptions on pharmaceuticals,
manufacturing and ticket sales by nonprofit organizations, there have also been
exemptions on professional services.

The
governor said his proposal calls for a change to that. Those 74 exemptions
would be dropped to five. Professional fees to lawyers and accountants would be
taxable, he said. What he didn’t make clear was whether fees paid to doctors
would be subject to the tax.

To
quote the governor exactly: “ Everything else is subject to the sales tax.
Lawyers’ fees, accountants’ fees, computer services [would be] subject to the
sales tax.”

That
quote followed his saying that the only food, clothing, pharmaceuticals,
manufacturing and ticket sales by nonprofit organizations would remain exempt.
That could mean people better be prepared to see sales tax added onto their
doctors’ bills and that professionals— lawyers and accountants—must now become
tax collectors.

In
an e-mail to ChaddsFordLive.com, state Sen. Dominic Pileggi, R-9, of Chester
said, “Although the governor proposes taxing all non-prescription drugs and
veterinary fees, it appears that most doctors’ fees would remain exempt.”

We’re
glad to hear that and hope the senator’s interpretation is correct. It’s bad
enough to consider taxing any professional service, but pulling the exemption
from doctor’s bills flies in the face of decency. The governor’s own party is
decrying the high cost of medical care to the point of ramming through a
healthcare bill that might be unconstitutional.

Sen.
Pileggi made another interesting comment on the possible tax change: “ The
governor’s suggestion is actually to dramatically increase the number of items
subject to the sales tax, including caskets, funeral services, textbooks, and
water and sewage services. In total, his proposal would increase state revenue
from the sales tax—so it is properly described as a tax increase.”

We have
no objections to the goal of reducing the sales tax down to 4 percent. Maybe
that will give people less incentive to shop in Delaware where there’s no sales
tax at all. Maybe Pennsylvania should adopt that policy and simply reduce
spending.

However,
dropping the exemptions on professional services is wrong and further blurs the
distinction between public and private business. And a tax on textbooks is
disingenuous coming from a governor who regards himself as an advocate for
education. It’s no wonder the governor didn’t mention that little item while
talking to the crowd at Kennett.

Should
the governor’s pipe dream come before the General Assembly, we urge
representatives and senators to douse it with a bucket of cold water and vote,
“ No.”

There
should be less taxation and less spending.

About CFLive Staff

See Contributors Page https://chaddsfordlive.com/writers/

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Police log for April 29

Police

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• Pennsylvania State Police are looking for two people, a
man and a woman, who allegedly stole $1,000 in vending machine money and caused
about $1,200 in damage to several vending machines. A police report said the
pair—a 6-foot tall white male and a white woman about 5 feet 6 inches
tall—drilled the locks to open vending machines on four of the five floors at
the Holiday Inn Express on Route 1 at Route 202 on April 20.

• A 29-year-old man, reportedly from Chadds Ford, was found
to have a stolen Pennsylvania license plate in his car, according to a state
police report. The report said troopers stopped John James Griffin for
displaying a suspended registration. The troopers then found Griffin with a
suspended driver’s license and the stolen plate.

• Corey Allan Brown, 24, of Wilmington, faces drug charges
following a traffic stop in Chadds Ford for multiple traffic violations, a
state police report said. The report said the stop was made at routes 1 and
202, shortly before 1 p.m. on April 23. Brown was arrested for possession of
marijuana and paraphernalia, according to the report.

• Someone broke the rear window of a vehicle parked at the
Concord Country Club on Route 202 and stole a designer hand bag and wallet
valued at $2,500, according to Pennsylvania State Police. The police report
said the unknown suspect then used the victim’s credit card to make a purchase
at the Sunoco station at routes 1 and 202. The incident happened at 10:15 a.m.
on April 23.

• A laptop computer, valued at $1,100, was reportedly
stolen from a 2005 Chevrolet Silverado parked at the Wawa on Baltimore Pike in
Concord Township. A state police report said the owner thinks he left the truck
unlocked when he went into the store. The incident happened about 9 a.m., April
24.

About CFLive Staff

See Contributors Page https://chaddsfordlive.com/writers/

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Blogging Along the Brandywine: To see ourselves as others do

Along the Ford

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Toward the end
of 1785, the great Scottish bard Robert Burns was sitting in church.
Glancing at an impeccably dressed lady sitting in front of him, he
was shocked to see a common head louse crawling up the ribbons
of her beautiful hat.

And so it was,
from this unsettling experience he wrote the poem, “To a Louse.”
While the poem goes on for eight verses bemoaning the
situation, the two lines that everyone remembers are in the last
verse:

“O wad
some power the gifte gie us,
tae see oursels as ithers see
us.”

(No I’m not
typing in the dark again. It’s written in Scottish dialect.)

Recently I
started thinking: What if the village of Chadds Ford could “see ourselves as
others see us?”

We have so
much culture and history concentrated into just a few miles: The Brandywine
Battlefield, the Chadds Ford Gallery, the Sanderson Museum, the
houses of the Chadds Ford Historical Society, the Brandywine River
Museum and the Chaddsford Winery. And we’re either so self-absorbed
driving down Route 1 every morning or so involved in the volunteerism that we
cannot step back and be objective.

This past
weekend I found some “others” in Bill and Frances Lovelace, making a
return visit to Chadds Ford from their native state of Oregon. Both
college graduates, they took early retirement while still in
their 50s to see the world. Having toured most of Europe, they have now gone on
to Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Fiji, Croatia and Slovenia.

Active and
knowledgeable travelers, they’re the kind of people we like to
attract to our museums and restaurants. Their hometown of Baker City, where
they own two Victorian houses on the National Historic Register, is located on
the old Oregon Trail and is home to the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center.

Bill, who’s great-grandfather
came west on the Oregon Trail, felt that one of our strengths was our history
and spoke of Oregon as having a “short history.” “The oldest
towns and houses in the west are only 100-150 years old. In Oregon we can read
about early American history, but in Chadds Ford you can see it and visit
it.”

“The Oregon Trail was
an amazing migration, but it’s just too new,” Frances added. Of their
visit to the Brandywine Battlefield she said, “I’m just in awe of what
took place here”

But she readily admitted,
“When I hear Chadds Ford, I think of Andrew Wyeth. His art is
quintessential Pennsylvania art. I think of those scenes that make me feel
like I’m in Pennsylvania. He represents a significant chapter in American
Art.”

And they like
our food too. When Bill first visited the area he was introduced to
scrapple and loved it so much that he took home the recipe and learned to make it from
scratch. An avid cook, he grinds his own pork and blends in the spices and
cornmeal. Not surprisingly, when they visit Chadds Ford, they like to eat at
Hanks and the Chadds Ford Tavern.

On future trips, Frances
would like to watch the glass blowing at Simon Pearce, as well as see more
shops in the area.

In a couple of months I’ll
be getting married and moving away from this very special village. Please don’t
take it for granted. The others who see it don’t.

About Sally Denk Hoey

Sally Denk Hoey, is a Gemini - one part music and one part history. She holds a masters degree cum laude from the School of Music at West Chester University. She taught 14 years in both public and private school. Her CD "Bard of the Brandywine" was critically received during her almost 30 years as a folk singer. She currently cantors masses at St Agnes Church in West Chester where she also performs with the select Motet Choir. A recognized historian, Sally serves as a judge-captain for the south-east Pennsylvania regionals of the National History Day Competition. She has served as president of the Brandywine Battlefield Park Associates as well as the Sanderson Museum in Chadds Ford where she now curates the violin collection. Sally re-enacted with the 43rd Regiment of Foot and the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment for 19 years where she interpreted the role of a campfollower at encampments in Valley Forge, Williamsburg, Va., Monmouth, N.J. and Lexington and Concord, Mass. Sally is married to her college classmate, Thomas Hoey, otherwise known as "Mr. Sousa.”

Blogging Along the Brandywine: To see ourselves as others do Read More »

Art and garden shows benefits Pocopson PTO

School & Education

art & garden sale — Art and garden shows benefits Pocopson PTO

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Sunshine
and blue skies were the order of the day for all events Saturday, including the
seventh annual Art & Garden Show and Sale at Pocopson Elementary School.

The
yearly show and sale is a fund-raising event for the school’s PTO. It grew out
of an earlier program designed simply to let students show off their artistic
and craft talents.

While
school Principal Andrew McLaughlin was grilling hot dogs behind the school, the
cafeteria became an area for selling baked goods, potted plants, and for the
tables holding silent auction items. The gymnasium was turned into a crafters’
market with about 30 vendors selling their wares. Students were also selling
some of their projects.

“We’re
trying to have a fun day, a great day,” said event Chairman Alison Frey. “It’s
our biggest fund-raiser of the year.”

According
Frey, crafters had the option of buying their space for $75 and keeping all
their profits or splitting their profits with the PTO 50/50 without paying a
table fee.

Of
the money raised from the student projects, 50 percent goes to the PTO while
the remainder goes back to the classroom that the teacher can spend for
classroom use.

“All
of the classroom projects were done with the children,” Frey said.

Jodie
Weaver, PTO treasurer said the goal for this year was a minimum of $6,000, but
she was hoping the sale would raise $10,000. Last year’s event raised $14,000.

There
were myriad crafters on hand, including the return of Jill Bremmer who flattens
wine bottles in a kiln to make cheese boards. There was also a newcomer to the
sale, Love labors, run by sisters Shelley Byrne Steel and Susan Byrne
Lenkaitis.

Lenkaitis,
of Birmingham Township, said Love Labors is a women’s-based organization
“designed to inspire an outreach of human kindness.”

She
explained that the idea is to inspire people to “perform simple, meaningful
acts of kindness and foster stronger personal relationships.”

The
pair was selling their baskets, mugs, T-shirts, tote bags and handmade
stationary. Lenkaitis said the items were designed to act as a catalyst, a
trigger to remind people to do something nice for someone else.

“Pretty
much everything we make, we try to use as many recycled products as we can, and
try to be as pretty much green as we can,” Lenkaitis said.

She
added that they would donate a portion of their profits at the end of this year
to the Delaware valley Children’s Charity.

Love
Labors is a new business, and the Pocopson event was the first show.

The
sisters actually print the name LOVE LABorS and use the image of two Labrador
retrievers, a yellow and a black, in a heart-shaped logo. The dog images
represent Labradors the sisters once owned.

“The
dogs were our inspiration for our company,” Lenkaitis said. “ Dogs are
completely unselfish.”

About Rich Schwartzman

Art and garden shows benefits Pocopson PTO Read More »

The Garden Path: Are you an over-permissive gardener?

Home and Leisure

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Like over-permissive parents, gardeners who lack a
firm hand are likely to end up with unruly “children.” Gardening can involve
tough choices but, as a friend of mine likes to say, sometimes you have to just
“pull up your big girl panties” and move on.

Here are some times when it really pays to have
courage and firm resolve:

1.Thinning seedlings—you spent money on the seeds, prepared the soil, planted,
watered, and generally obsessed over these little darlings and now you’re
supposed to pull some out and thro them away? Yes. Crowded seedlings are
seedlings that will not thrive and may even die, due to the dreaded “damping
off” fungal disease. Thin early and often for healthy plants.

2. Staying ahead of invasives—give them an inch, and they’ll take a
mile-a-minute (the nearly literal name for an invasive vine). A single garlic
mustard plant, for example, can produce more than 7,000 seeds that remain
viable in the soil for up to five years. Learn the invasives and show no mercy.
Here is a good reference: http://www.invasive.org/eastern/

3. Getting rid of plants you don’t like—so you have
this plant that is doing well, looks OK, and is staying healthy, but you just
can’t seem to take a shine to it. Don’t let it take up space! Who’s garden is
this, anyway? Yours. You don’t like it, you take it out. If you just can’t bear
to simply toss it on the compost pile, offer it to a friend or take it to a
plant swap.

4. Weeding—I know, I know. Who has the time? But
turn your back for a moment, especially during cool, rainy springs, and things
will really get out of hand. Keep track of what you planted and move or remove
everything that doesn’t belong. It’s OK to let some self-seeding occur, but
just because a plant sets up housekeeping in your garden, doesn’t mean you have
to let the freeloader stay.

5. Pruning—Learn which of your shrubs and trees
should be routinely pruned. Some are fine on their own but others really do
need some maintenance pruning to look their best and stay healthy. Spare the
pruners; spoil the plant. Here’s a guide to pruning trees: http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/FreePubs/pdfs/uh099.pdf

6. Pinching/cutting back—Many multi-stem perennials
get too tall and spindly unless they are cut back a little in the spring. This
can seem cruel, to pinch their little heads off just as they are hitting their
stride, but in the long run, you’ll both be happier. Mums and asters, in
particular, bloom better and have better form if they are pinched back several
times during the growing season. Stop around mid- July.

7. Dead-heading annuals and perennials—When flowers
have passed their peak, cut them off (a procedure known as dead-heading). Some
gardeners wait until the flower has nearly turned to dust, but by then the
plant is saying to itself: I guess it’s time to stop making flowers and start
making fruit. If you want the plant to continue to flower, cut off the flowers
as they fade. That said, if you want the plants to produce seed (for the birds
or for more plants), leave some flowers. Here’s a good reference on perennial
maintenance: http://consumerhorticulture.psu.edu/files/pruning%20herbaceous%20perennials.pdf

8. Eliminating weak or diseased plants—your garden
should not be a hospice. If you have a plant that has been struggling for some
time, take action. If it is diseased, throw it out (not in the compost). If it
is just unhappy, you may want to try moving it to another area (look up the
preferred conditions—it could be it just needs more sun, less wind, more acidic
soil, etc.). Don’t replace an unhealthy plant with the same plant. If it was
diseased, the new plant may get infected; if it was unhappy, the same species
is unlikely to be any happier.

9. Cleaning up—plants, like teenagers, create waste
and don’t pick up after themselves. A certain amount of debris can serve a good
purpose (mulch) but too much is unsightly and unhealthy for the plants. Always
remove diseased plant material. After the birds have had their chance with seed
heads, remove dead plant material in the fall (add to the compost pile) and
make sure fallen leaves aren’t smothering desired seedlings. Moss never likes
anything on it, so be sure to carefully sweep your mossy areas. (You do have
mossy areas, don’t you?)

So, enough reading. Don’t you have better things to
do? You march right out into your garden and in your firmest voice call out:
“You’re not the boss of me!” Then grab your pruners, kneeling pad, and bucket,
and take charge!

Visit the Chester County Master Gardeners at the
Delaware Center for Horticulture Private Gems Garden Tour, June 19. They are
featuring several Chadds Ford gardens. For more information, call 302-658-6262.

• Nancy Sakaduski
is the Chester County Master Gardener Coordinator. Master Gardeners are
trained volunteers who educate the public on gardening and horticultural
issues. In Chester County, they operate through the Penn State
Cooperative Extension office in West Chester. Nancy lives in Pennsbury
Township. She can be reached at nds13@psu.edu.

About Nancy Sakaduski

Nancy Sakaduski is a Master Gardiner with Penn State Extension of Chester County.

The Garden Path: Are you an over-permissive gardener? Read More »

Mt. Cuba celebrates wildflowers

Home and Leisure

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Despite
the gray and drizzly skies, Sunday was a day to celebrate spring at Mt. Cuba
Center in Hockessin. Sunday was the center’s sixth annual Wildflower
Celebration.

The
focus of the day was on native plants, native plant biodiversity and native
plant gardening, according to Rick Lewandoski, the director of Mt. Cuba Center.

“One
of the things we have to understand is that North American wildflowers are the
second richest biodiversity in the world, and we’re trying to share that with
people …and to engage them in an understanding of gardening with native
plants,” Lewandoski said.

The
gardens are normally open by appointment only, with the annual Wildflower
Celebration being the only day of the year when the general public can visit at
no cost.

There
were 15 learning stations along the walking trail that led visitors through a
portion of the 587-acre estate, the former home of Lammot du Pont Copeland. The stations covered a variety of topics from gardening with
native plants to pruning and making dyes from plants.

There
was also a wildflower challenge where visitors tried to identify certain plants
by their pictures. Those with the correct answers received 2-for-1 visitors’
passes to stroll the gardens at another time.

Lewandoski
said the goal was to get people to understand the importance of native plants.

“The
main thing about native plant gardening is that there’s not one solution to any
particular situation. We think that native plants have been generally under
served and need to be used more in the gardens. It’s mostly about protecting
the environment and preventing the invasion of nonnative plants. There are a
lot of native plants that are a good alternative to exotic species that could
become invasive,” Lewandoski said.

While
wildflowers attract insects that, in turn, attract birds, the Wildflower Celebration
attracts people.

Maria
Taylor, of Wilmington, has been going to the celebration since the beginning.
She initially came because it was the first time the grounds of the old estate
were open to the general public for free, but it’s the grounds that keep her
coming back.

“It’s
one of the most beautiful places in northern Delaware,” she said. “I love
native plants, and wildflowers, and it’s just the most exquisite spot for those.”

Touring
the Mt. Cuba gardens, and talking with gardening experts during the celebration
over the years taught Taylor how to recognize and clear out invasive plants in
her own garden.

“And
I’ve learned about more beautiful things that I might plant,” Taylor said.

Another
visitor was Monica Tisack of Pennsbury Township. Sunday was her third time to
stroll the gardens during the celebration.

She
said she first came out because she likes wildflowers and wanted to check out
the gardens. It was that visit that keeps her coming back.

“It
was enchanting,” Tisack said. “It was beautiful. Everything was in full bloom.
We like to come out and see what’s new.”

She
said she has “absolutely” learned a lot about gardening at home by going to Mt.
Cuba.

“A
lot of the shade garden native plants here are great to use. A lot of times you
think you can only get big bursts of color from annual flowers. That’s not
true. You can use a lot of native perennials and get just unbelievable color
and interesting foliage.”

The
celebration draws about 3,500 visitors when the weather is good. Sunday’s
clouds and drizzle cut that back. Lewandoski said 800 to 1,000 visitors would
be good on such a day.

About Rich Schwartzman

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Bits & Pieces April 29

Along the Ford

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• Locations for the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District
budget hearings have been changed to avoid conflict with other events. The new
locations are:
May 4, 7 p.m. – Unionville Elementary School auditorium
May 5, 7 p.m. – Unionville Elementary School auditorium
May 6, 7 p.m.- Unionville High School large group instruction room (LGI).

• The new Barn House coffee shop in the Barn
Shops of Chadds Ford will open for business at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, May 4, according to owner Bill Githens.

• The land development plan for a Costco store on Evergreen
Drive in Concord Township is on hold while the applicant goes through the
conditional use hearing process. The next hearing is set for 7 p.m., May 20 at
the Concord Township municipal building.

• The Brandywine Conservancy is holding its annual
Wildflower, Native Plant and Seed Sale at the Brandywine River Museum May 8 and
9 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Gardeners can choose
from a selection of beautiful low-maintenance, native plants at this
year’s 29th annual sale.

About CFLive Staff

See Contributors Page https://chaddsfordlive.com/writers/

Bits & Pieces April 29 Read More »