Recall of Picasso Two-Bike Folding Racks

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Picasso Two Bike Folding Rack

Units: About 3,500

Importer: Delta Cycle Corp., of Foxboro, Mass.

Hazard: The bike racks do not have sufficient hardware to support its weight on the wall. This can cause the bike rack to unexpectedly fall, hitting a nearby consumer.

Incidents/Injuries: There has been one report of a bike rack falling. No injuries have been reported.

Description: This recall involves Picasso bike racks with a collapsible shelf. The bike rack can be mounted on the wall and has slots to support two bicycles. The metal rack has the Delta logo and name printed on the front of the rack.

Sold at: LL Bean, Bike Nashbar and independent bike shops nationwide from January 2002 through September 2005 for about $40.

Manufactured In: China and Taiwan.

Remedy: Consumers should contact Delta Cycle immediately to receive additional hardware and installation instructions.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Delta Cycle at (800) 474-6615 between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.deltacycle.com

To view this recall online, please visit our website at: cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml06/06017.html

Daffodils - Fall Investment, Many Spring Returns

(ARA) – Gardeners - start your spring color planning now because fall planting time is upon us. Here are three good reasons to add daffodils to your landscape planting schedule:

First, there is a range and beauty in daffodils well beyond the traditional yellow trumpets you so often see along the roadways.

Second, daffodils are great naturalizers that will flourish for many years with little care when planted in sunny, well drained flower beds.

Finally, daffodils are deer and rodent resistant - a major benefit for those of you struggling to garden in the presence of our tetrapoded friends. Simply put, daffodils are a good fall landscape investment providing many springs of beautiful returns.

Variety

Nearly 150 million Dutch daffodil bulbs are sold in the USA each year, and that amount has been growing six percent a year. Tim Schipper, a 3rd generation Dutch flower bulb merchant emphasizes that “the variety of color, size, shape and bloom times of daffodils is far greater than most gardeners know.” According to The International Daffodil Register and Classified List published by the Royal Horticultural Society there are nearly 25,000 known varieties of daffodils. The fact is, however, that only 200 varieties are grown commercially and are generally affordable to residential and professional gardeners.

Daffodil Depot – For People Who Dig Daffodils.

For Daffodil Connoisseurs, a new specialized boutique at www.DaffodilDepot.com offers over 100 of the best and most unique daffodils at wholesale prices via the Internet and by mail order. Developed by Colorblends Flowerbulbs in conjunction with leading Dutch daffodil hybridizers, this new site is a virtual goldmine for people who dig daffodils. Daffodil Depot offers many limited production varieties not normally available to the general public.

Top Daffodil Picks

If you are finding it hard to decide on a specific variety, Daffodil Depot is offering a special collection called the Daffodil 100. This unique assembly is a virtual encyclopedia of daffodils, which are also referred to as Narcissus or Jonquils, running the gamut of colors (from yellow to orange to pink to white) with different flower types and very early to late blooming varieties. According to Tim Schipper, “The Daffodil 100 offers gardeners the chance to experience 100 different varieties of daffodils during an 8 week pageant, which runs from late winter through late spring.”

For those seeking a more traditional yellow trumpet daffodil, Schipper recommends choosing from among three varieties, which in his view are the “Gold Standard” among yellow daffodils. All three - Marieke, Carlton and Golden Harvest - represent the successors to the throne of the old time favorite King Alfred daffodil, a variety that has dwindled over the years. Marieke is a strong, graceful and long lasting bloomer. Carlton flowers later and is also suited to warmer zones, while Golden Harvest is a bright yellow trumpet, vigorous, and long lasting perennializer suitable for many garden uses.

If you are seeking other specific daffodil varieties, here is a quick rundown of some top recommendations. Among the cupped-division both Pimpernel (yellow with a tangerine nose) and Accent (an American bred pink cup) are among Schipper’s favorites. More exotic is Delnashaugh (double flowering fluffy peach and cream) and Gay Kybo (orange and white peony-like blooms) from the double-division; and there’s Thalia (a floriferous, orchid-like white) from the triandrus group. From the cyclamineous-narcissus he selects Jetfire (jaunty little reflexed petals with a long orange cup); and the multi-flowered Pipit (feint lemon yellow flowers with tiny white cups) from the jonquil group. A variety especially close to Schipper’s heart is Sailboat, which he enthusiastically describes as “a flowering little gem with white, swept back petals and soft yellow nose.” And finally there is Old Pheasant’s Eye (flat, pure white flower with a minute yellow red-rimmed cup) of the poet’s division as a big favorite because of its incredible sweet fragrance, its tolerance for some shade and it being the very last daffodil to flower in the garden.

Naturalizing

To bloom well, daffodils require well-drained soil and about six hours of afternoon spring sun. A basic working guideline is 4 bulbs per square foot planted 7 inches deep. If you are naturalizing daffodils, plant bulbs farther apart than you would do for garden plantings. This spacing gives room for increase. And be sure to plant them in drifts or shoals for a naturalistic effect.

The basic rules for getting many years of glorious spring returns from your daffodils are as follows:

1) Adequate sunlight - Don’t plant in full shade and always allow the foliage to die back naturally.

2) Good drainage - Bulbs hate wet feet or any signs of standing water.

3) Plant deeply - This allows the roots to draw necessary moisture during the growing season, and . . .

4) Nutritious soil - It pays to give them a sprinkling of bulb food in early spring during the growing cycle.

Under these circumstances, most daffodils will bloom and increase for many, many years.

Deer and Rodent Resistant

When deer are foraging and nibbling every garden plant you have, its reassuring to know that daffodils are about the last thing our four footed friends want to touch. The bulbs and foliage of daffodils contain lycorine and phenanthridine alkaloid crystals, which taste about as awful as they sound. Thankfully, deer memories are good enough to remember bad experiences. In most cases, after just a sniff or nibble, deer will walk away.

More Bang for the Buck

In daffodils, bulb size matters. Always go for a topsize or double nose bulb which will produce 2 or 3 flower stems rather than a smaller landscape grade of bulb, which may produce only one flower. After all, it takes just as much effort to plant a topsize bulb as a smaller bulb, so why waste the energy. The moral here is to buy daffodil bulbs based on the cost per flower rather than the cost per bulb. Given the delightful variety, natural durability and deer-resistance of daffodils, you’re looking at many happy years of blooming returns.

You can find more information about daffodils by visiting www.daffodildepot.com or www.colorblends.com or call toll free (888) 847-8637 to request a Colorblends 2005 Wholesale Catalog.

Courtesy of ARA Content

The Gift of Tradition

(ARA) - From the sugar-cookie-baking party at Grandma’s house to the way the ornaments adorn the tree, during the holidays many American families focus on tradition.

Traditions are most obvious during the holiday season, but our lives are interlaced with them - some big, some small; some special, some everyday; some old, some new. The one constant in traditions is the role parents play in passing them on.

“I was always aware of family traditions, but I didn’t really appreciate them until I became a parent,” admits Julie Jacobs of St. Mary’s, Ga., the mother of a 9-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter. “All of a sudden, all of those little things my parents, mostly my mother, did for me and my brother and sister while we were growing up took on new importance. I suddenly appreciated those traditions and knew that I wanted the same thing for my children.”

Jacobs’ attitude is validated by the majority of Americans in a recent survey conducted by Modern Woodmen of America of Rock Island, Ill., a fraternal financial services organization. “According to our findings, 77 percent of Americans think it’s very important to pass family traditions on to the next generation,” says Modern Woodmen’s Sharon Snawerdt.

Why traditions are important

Traditions are a direct reflection of a family’s beliefs and values. A very meaningful tradition that Jacobs brought from her childhood is praying. “Prayers were very important while I was growing up. I am teaching my children several of the bedtime prayers that I said as a child,” she says. “They are also learning the table grace that my mother’s family says. When we gather with the extended family, my 9-year-old knows it and can say it with everyone else.”

Whose job is it, anyway?

Most families have caretakers of the traditions. According to survey results, gender and age play a role in determining who takes on the role. In most families, the responsibility falls on the capable shoulders of mom or another female relative. “Definitely, women take the initiative in traditions in most families,” says Meg Cox, author of “The New Book of New Family Traditions: How to Create Great Rituals for Holidays & Everydays.”

But there are some exceptions. “When a father, husband or grandfather is active in creating and keeping traditions, it often has a huge impact,” says Cox. “For example, I am one of four children. When I was growing up, my father would take one of us every Saturday as he ran errands. We didn’t care that we were going to the hardware store or to get the car fixed, the important thing was we were spending time with him. We’d always end the time together at the coffee shop where he’d buy us hot cocoa with whipped cream and a doughnut. He’d also take us to Woolworth’s dime store or wherever else we wanted to go to spend our month’s accumulation of allowance. For me, such a simple tradition that required very little effort from my father has made a lifetime memory. And I have met other men who are taking the time to do the same thing for their families.”

According to the Modern Woodmen survey, 42 percent of Americans said that a mother and father equally share the responsibility of passing down family traditions to the next generation, while 35 percent said the mother took care of this role. Those who said the mother was most likely to pass down traditions were typically female, while those who said both parents were involved were married males between the ages of 25 to 44.

Another interesting finding in the survey, the importance of passing family traditions seems to increase with age – 83 percent of Americans ages 55 to 64 thought it was important, versus 70 percent of respondents in the 25 to 34 age bracket.

Old traditions in today’s world

Regardless of who keeps the traditions, most families find that they must adapt beloved traditions to fit today’s lifestyle. Cox has found many families that use technology to solve problems such as time and distance. She cites an example of one family that was too spread out to get together for Thanksgiving.

“They couldn’t get together physically, but the weekend before Thanksgiving they have established a pie-making night,” she explains. “Each household uses Grandma’s recipe to make pies and Grandma calls each house at some point throughout the night. It’s a beautiful example of how you can adapt a tradition, as well as stay connected as a family.”

This holiday season, let these stories serve as the inspiration for starting holiday traditions of your own. Modern Woodmen’s mission is to improve the quality of life for its members and their families. The organization created a Web resource, www.gatherings.info, which offers tips to help plan gatherings and encourages traditions with immediate and extended family.

Courtesy of ARA Content

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