Century Care Center: Jamaican Party Mon! (With Photo Gallery)
August 21, 2010
The residents at Century Care Center enjoyed a Jamaican Party Friday afternoon. Caribbean food, tropical drinks, party music and a limbo contest highlighted the afternoon’s events.
For a NorthEscambia.com photo gallery from the party, click here.
Sunny Days: Growing Sunflowers
August 21, 2010
Sunflowers not only make the garden beautiful but can also be used to bring the beauty of outdoors inside.
It may be towards the end of summer, but you can still plant sunflowers and enjoy them during the fall. In north Florida, try to complete sunflower planting by the third week in August. Depending on the variety, sunflowers will bloom about 55 to 75 days after planting – 60 days is a good average. Some sunflowers are sensitive to day length and may yield shorter plants and earlier bloom when planted in late summer. This corresponds to the reduction in daylight hours as summer progresses toward autumn.
To begin, choose cultivars that fit your landscape. There are now more sunflowers than just the seed bearing giants that many gardeners are familiar with. Just take a look at the gardening catalogs.
Sunflowers can be broadly divided into two types: those grown for production of edible seeds and those grown as ornamentals and cut flowers. Most gardeners will be interested in the ornamental sunflowers, also known as Helianthus annuus.
Sunflowers come in heights ranging from less than one foot to ten feet and also come in a wide range of flower colors. While brilliant yellow will always be popular, you can also choose from creamy white, bronze, mahogany, rusty red, burgundy and orange. Some types produce flowers with more than one color. The center disk of the sunflower also adds to the display and goes through color changes as the flower matures and seeds form.
Sunbright, Sunrich Lemon, Sunrich Orange, Soraya and Moulin Rouge are some that are recommended for Florida.
For best bouquet results, choose cultivars that are pollen-less to prevent pollen from shedding onto a tablecloth or other flowers in an arrangement.
If you want to grow sunflowers for the delicious, nutritious seeds, make sure you choose varieties bred for seed production, such as Mammoth Russian – also known as Mammoth, Russian Giant and Gray Stripe. These tall-growing sunflowers produce a single enormous flower at the top of the plant. To grow a really big seed head, apply general-purpose fertilizer when the flower head begins to appear. Just be sure to place them so that you can stake them if necessary.
Sunflowers are true to their name, they need to be grown in full sun. Prepare a sunflower bed as you would for planting most vegetables. They tolerate heat and dry conditions and almost any soil type. The pH preference is 6.5 to 7.5 and the addition of composted organic matter is beneficial.
Plant seeds about one-quarter inch deep directly into a prepared garden bed. It’s common to plant sunflowers into landscape beds, and many gardeners include a row of sunflowers in spring and fall vegetable gardens. After sowing the seeds, water the bed well and thesun water it as needed to keep the soil moist – even lightly every day if the weather is dry.
Sunflowers should be harvested in early morning before 10:00 a.m. It is best to cut the stems and place them in warm water right away for best results.
The versatility and variety of today’s sunflowers offer something for almost every garden and gardener. If you haven’t tried this plant lately, give it another look.
Theresa Friday is the Residential Horticulture Extension Agent for Santa Rosa County.
Local Fire Department Wins FOX 10 ‘Extra Mile Award’
August 20, 2010
The Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department received this week’s Chris Myers “Extra Mile Award” from WALA FOX 10.
The award recognizes groups along the Gulf Coast that have gone the “extra mile” to help their community. The fire department was nominated by Shirley Hazley, who credited the Walnut Hill volunteers with saving the life of her son after a car accident a few years ago.
The Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department received $500 from Chris Myers Nissan for winning the award.
Pictured top: Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department Chief Chris Brown and Shirley Hazley. Courtesy WALA FOX 10 for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Escambia Schools Release 2010-2011 Bus Routes
August 20, 2010
The first day of school is Monday, and the Escambia County School District released bus routes for the 2010-2011 school year.
For current routes, click a school file name below. (North Escambia area schools appear in bold.)
Elementary Schools
Bellview Elem.pdf
Beulah Elem.pdf
Blue Angels Elem.pdf
Bratt Elem.pdf
Brentwood Elem.pdf
Cook Elem.pdf
Cordova Park Elem.pdf
Ensley Elem.pdf
Ferry Pass Elem.pdf
Hallmark Elem.pdf
Hellen Caro Elem.pdf
Holm Elem.pdf
Jim Allen Elem.pdf
Lincoln Park Elem.pdf
Lipscomb Elem.pdf
Longleaf Elem.pdf
McArthur Elem.pdf
Molino Park Elem.pdf
Montclair Elem.pdf
Myrtle Grove Elem.pdf
Navy Point Elem.pdf
Oakcrest Elem.pdf
Pine Meadow Elem.pdf
Pleasant Grove Elem.pdf
Scenic Heights Elem.pdf
Semmes Elem.pdf
Sherwood Elem.pdf
Spencer Bibbs Elem.pdf
Suter Elem.pdf
Warrington Elem.pdf
Weis Elem.pdf
West Pensacola Elem.pdf
Yniestra Elem.pdf
Middle Schools
Bailey Mid.pdf
Bellview Mid.pdf
Brown Barge Mid.pdf
Ernestward Mid.pdf
Ferry Pass Mid.pdf
Gulf Breeze Mid.pdf
Ransom Mid.pdf
Warrington Mid.pdf
Woodham Mid.pdf
Workman Mid.pdf
High Schools
Escambia High.pdf
Gulf Breeze High.pdf
Northview High.pdf
Pensacola High C2C.pdf
Pensacola High.pdf
Pine Forest High.pdf
Tate High.pdf
Washington High.pdf
West Florida High.pdf
Other Routes
For more information, visit escambiayellow.com.
Jay Hospital Foundation Awards Scholarships
August 19, 2010
The Jay Hospital Employee Foundation recently awarded two college-bound students a $1,000 scholarship each.
The 2010 recipients were Destiny White from Flomaton High School, and Kaitlin Hunter from Baker High School. White is pursuing a nursing degree and Hunter’s goal is a degree in physical therapy.
The foundation offers scholarships each year to students in high schools located in the Jay Hospital service area. Grades, class rank, ACT scores and volunteer hours are considered in the selection process. To ensure fairness, students’ names are not included on the selection roster, according to the group.
The Jay Hospital Employee Foundation also provides assistance to employees in need, contributes to disaster recovery, and supports local charitable organizations including the American Cancer Society.
Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Elementary Students Participate In Fire Dept. Poster Contest
August 16, 2010
Flomaton Fire and Rescue named winners Friday in their second annual poster contest at Flomaton Elementary School.
The halls at Flomaton Elementary were filled with posters reflecting all of the students’ hard work. Members of Flomaton Fire and Rescue were hand and had the hard job of judging and picking the winner. When they were done, there was a two-way tie for the winner.
Hayley Adams and Kristen Coleman had the winning posters. Thanks to a grant from Alabama Association of Volunteer Fire Departments, each students that entered the contest will receive a free T-shirt with the winning designs.
Pictured top: Kristen Coleman (left) and Hayley Adams with their winning poster designs. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Summer Fun: Camp Quarternote (With Photo Gallery)
August 15, 2010
Almost five dozen kids spent a week having a little summer “Fun In the Son” at Highland Baptist Church’s Camp Quarternote.
After learning an entire play in just a week, over 50 music camp students performed the play “Fun In the Son” Sunday night at the Molino church.
A cast and crew party followed the play in the church fellowship hall.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Do you have news or photos from your church to share? Email news@northescambia.com
Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Featured Recipe: A Sweet Chocolate Flan Cake
August 15, 2010
This weekend’s featured recipe from Janet Tharpe is a sweet Chocolate Flan Cake. This decadent cake will surely be the talk of your next party. It includes cajeta, a type of sweet Mexican syrup created by cooking goat’s milk with sugar, but you can substitute caramel ice cream topping.
To print today’s “Just a Pinch” recipe column, you can click the image below to load a printable pdf with a recipe card.
Fall Veggies Are Cool To Grow In North Escambia Area
August 14, 2010
In Northwest Florida, vegetable lovers can enjoy harvests from their backyard gardens throughout the year. However, to ensure a productive and enjoyable vegetable garden, you must understand and abide by planting times.
In general, vegetable crops can be grouped into warm-season and cool-season varieties. Warm-season crops do not grow well at temperatures below 50 degrees F and are killed by frost. Cool-season crops are those that grow at lower temperatures, are not injured by light frost, but can’t take the heat.
In late summer and early fall, North Florida gardeners experience a unique opportunity. You can still plant another round of warm-season crops and/or start your cool-season vegetables.
Planting of warm-season vegetables gets to be more critical with the fall garden because we have an end point—frost and freezes. When planted too late, plants will grow, but may not provide enough of a harvest to make the effort worthwhile. Examples are peppers, eggplants and tomatoes. These vegetables can easily take up to two months from transplanting to producing the first fruit. All the time, the fall is getting shorter in day length and cooler in temperatures. That’s really tough on “warm-loving,” full-sun plants.
Since timing is so important with the fall crop, choose warm-season crops that will produce well within a short time. Look for fast-maturing and determinant or bush-type cultivars to ensure a good yield before frost.
Crops to plant outdoors in August include bush and lima beans, cauliflower, collards, cucumbers, onions, southern peas, peppers, squash, tomato and turnips.
In September, you can set out beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, endive, kale, kohlrabi, mustard and radish.
The cooler temperatures of October are better for planting Chinese cabbage, lettuce and spinach.
To find specific recommendations on when to plant vegetables in Florida, read the UF/IFAS “Vegetable Gardening Guide”. It’s online at edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh021
The leafy crops excel in the fall. Some of the more popular leafy crops are Swiss chard, collards, spinach, mustard, turnip greens and lettuce. Endive, escarole, kale, arugula and the greens of mesclun mix also do very well during the cooler months.
Garden lettuces can be divided into three classes based on habit of growth – leaf or loose-leaf types, semi-heading types (such as butterhead and romaine) and heading or crisp-head types.
Crisp-head lettuces, such as the iceberg types available in supermarkets, are more of a challenge to grow here, so its recommend you stay with the leaf and semi-heading varieties. Other than generally avoiding the heading types, feel free to try just about any variety that strikes your fancy.
Leaf lettuces are the most decorative and least-demanding. They also are among the most heat-tolerant lettuces. This type of lettuce grows in a loose rosette of foliage, and the leaves can be smooth or crinkled, pointed, lobed, curled or ruffled. Foliage color runs from deep ruby red to dark green to pale greenish yellow, with just about every combination in between.
Collards will withstand wide ranges of temperatures if properly conditioned. They may be direct seeded and or plants can be transplanted. Collards may be harvested by cutting the whole plant or by “cropping” individual leaves.
Onions are generally grown from sets or plants. Sets and plants will require about six to eight weeks to reach eating size. Bulbing onions will not be ready to harvest until spring.
Radishes are fast growers and fun for the kids. Many are ready to harvest 25 to 30 days after planting.
So take the leap and “fall” into vegetable gardening.
Theresa Friday is the Residential Horticulture Extension Agent for Santa Rosa County
We’ve Got The Beat: Northview Band Summer Practice Photo Gallery
August 13, 2010
The Northview High School Tribal Beat band is wrapping up summer practice this week.
Band director Scott Slay said the band is preparing a Beatles halftime show for this year’s football season plus several rock songs to perform from the stands.
For a photo gallery from Thursday morning’s Northview Tribal Beat practice, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
