The ceiling in our living room is in bad shape. Rather than go to the expense of fixing it, we plan to install a lowered ceiling. The head of Dumbarton Oaks, the Harvard-owned institution in Georgetown, has abandoned a controversial plan to build an underground library beneath the lawn terraces in the public historic grounds. With its understated aroma of licorice, fennel is not to everybody's taste. But that curious essence is highly valued in many cuisines, from the Mediterranean to the Asian continent.
Many people grow banana plants outdoors for their leafy, tropical foliage.
Rare is the gardener who can claim a fruiting version this far north without the help of a greenhouse. The history of gardens is explored in a new Smithsonian Institution exhibition. Wash. The first among the Smithsonian's American Garden Legacy series, the exhibition will travel to Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania in January to start a nationwide tour running through 2005. Learn about medicinal herbs during an informal discovery station program this weekend at the U.S. National Arboretum. On Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m., find out how herbs are used to combat disease.