Feeling a little lost because you don't know where to start in your garden this time of year? Here's a basic to-do list for April from the Landscape Contractors Association:
* Plant trees and shrubs.
* Prune forsythia as flowers fade.
* Fertilize azaleas after they have flowered.
* Eliminate Eastern tent caterpillars as nests appear.
* Apply broadleaf weed killers.
* Remove dead flowers from bulbs, but let the leaves remain until they turn yellow.
* Seed or reseed lawns.
For more information, call (301) 948-0810.
Design basics
You'll laugh, you'll cry, but you'll also get some solid help from "Interior Design for Idiots: A Self Help Guide to Interior Design" (Great Quotations; $5.95). Start by taking quiz No. 1, "In Depth Personality Quiz to Determine Whether a Person Is Decoratively Challenged or Simply Male." The author, Mark McCauley, is a senior interior designer for Marshall Field's in Chicago. Funny as it is, the small paperback is full of practical information on decorating techniques, styles and terminology. When, for instance, Mr. McCauley describes English 18th-century furniture styles as "the Fab Four: Chippendale, Adams, Sheraton and Hepplewhite," you may have a hard time forgetting them.
Quilt show
It's been a decade since the first show of the Baltimore Heritage Quilters' Guild. Over the years, it's evolved into quite a production, with an invitational exhibit, quilting demonstrations, a raffle and a silent auction. This year's show, "A Decade of Quilting," will be held in the Friends School Gymnasium Saturday and April 23 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $4. For further information, call (410) 444-5135.
Frame up
Now that Valley Framing has moved out to Cockeysville, it's nice to have another framing shop move into the Belvedere Square area. The new Framin' Place, at 528 E. Belvedere Ave., offers a complete line of framing services, including a large selection of frames, hand-carved moldings, archival matting and shadow box mountings for memorabilia. Its gallery will exhibit local artists and sell antique engravings, etchings and hunt prints as well.
This is the area's third Framin' Place. (The first two are located in Randallstown and Mount Washington.) Hours are Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.