The Flowers Of Life

The Flowers Of Life

Cultivating Life: Lotus flowers add new dimension to aquatic garden In Buddhism the lotus represents purity of body, speech and mind, floating above the muddy waters of attachment and desire -- pretty heady stuff for a plant that prefers to grow in the thick mud of shallow ponds, lakes and drainage ditches throughout India and other parts of Asia. This perennial aquatic known for its magnificent, spice-scented flowers has a North American cousin that is hardy as far north as Canada. The two plants are so closely related that hybridizers have been producing exquisite crosses between the two for many years.

Lotuses come in three sizes: large, semi-dwarf and dwarf. They are vigorous growers, and the large varieties require a lot of space. For patios, smaller spaces and backyard water features, dwarf varieties are the way to go. Richard Koogle of Lilypons Water Gardens in Adamstown, Md., showed me how to create a water container featuring a dwarf lotus. Although he had several potted lotuses, he explained that they are available from mail-order sources as dormant tubers in the early spring. First, choose a container that can hold water. The lotus plant will remain in a 6-inch pot that is placed in the container of water, so the container must be deep enough to let the lotus pot sit 4 to 5 inches below the surface of the water.

Lotuses love warm water to get growing in the spring, but as the summer progresses they prefer to sit in water that does not get hot. Koogle recommended using bricks in the spring to raise the plant's pot closer to the surface where the water is warm. Then remove bricks as the season progresses and the plant starts growing. After the lotus is positioned in the container, add one or two other aquatic plants for interest. Aquatic marginal plants (plants that naturally grow at the sides of ponds) are perfect companion plants for lotus in a container. We chose a water chestnut and a corkscrew rush, also in pots. We positioned them in the container alongside the dwarf lotus and propped up with bricks as well.

Sex Offender Registry

Sex Offender Registry

California's sex-offender registry has ballooned to more than 90,000 people now from about 45,000 in 1994, according to the California attorney general's office. Not only has the number of law-enforcement officers failed to keep pace, but recent state budget cuts have forced some local agencies to cut officers assigned to sex offenders, according to the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training.

The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, for example, said funding cuts have forced it to field only five officers dedicated to tracking sex offenders in the county, down from eight officers five years ago. Last year, California's Sex Offender Management Board criticized the system as it stands in a 225-page assessment, highlighting failures in the collection and analysis of data on sex offenders. It's "difficult if not impossible" to track the effectiveness of registry laws, the report said.

Mr. Garrido, who allegedly kidnapped the 11-year-old girl in 1991, was considered high-risk because of a 1977 conviction for rape and kidnapping. But he received about the same number of visits from officers at his Antioch, Calif., home as the 200 or so other sex offenders in Antioch and adjacent Pittsburg, said the Contra Costa County Sheriff, even though many weren't convicted of violent offenses. During dozens of visits to Mr. Garrido's home, authorities never found the tents and shacks hidden behind a backyard fence.

Ernie Harwell

Ernie Harwell

Hall of Fame broadcaster Ernie Harwell, the voice for the Tigers for more than four decades and an icon for the Tigers well beyond his retirement from broadcasting in 2002, has been diagnosed with cancer. Harwell has an incurable tumor around his bile duct. He revealed the diagnosis in Friday's edition of the Detroit Free Press, for whom he has worked as a columnist for several years, and where he explained his outlook. "We don't know how long this lasts," Harwell told the newspaper in a phone interview. "It could be a year. It could be much less than a year, much less than a half a year. Who knows?

Harwell, 91, was hospitalized for a few weeks with a bile duct obstruction. He returned to his home in suburban Detroit while doctors ran tests and was under orders to rest, though he still remained pretty active with his work, he told MLB.com recently, as he awaited news on what was causing the trouble. The tests eventually revealed the tumor and the outlook. His spirit, however, has remained surprisingly strong. "I think that when I heard the news -- that I had this cancer -- that I had a feeling of security and serenity," Harwell told the Free Press, "but I had a feeling of acceptance because of my belief in Jesus and the Lord."

Harwell's life and his ability to remain incredibly active into his 90s has become an example for people across the state through his role as a spokesperson for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. He has long credited his daily workouts, including walking and jumping rope, for helping him work for so long on Tigers radio broadcasts and defy the conventional limitations of his age well after he left the baseball airwaves. Now that he has received a worst-case prognosis, he has been forced to cut back on a lot of those activities. He'll reportedly close out his spokesperson engagements next week and will run a final column in the Free Press later this month. Still, he said he isn't in pain, and he joked that he has been able to eat like a kid again as he tries to keep up his weight.