Municipal parks hold major revenue generating possibilities. For instance, the Loose Parks Rose Garden in Kansas earned close to $36,000 last year by charging fees for weddings and rehearsals that took place there.
Carla Allen photo
Googling the garden
One of the ways I keep abreast of interesting happenings in the gardening world is to use one of Google’s many features - the news alert. Google has grown to become the most popular search engine used on the Internet and maintains its position with innovative introductions.
In my case, I’ve filed ‘garden’ as the news alert topic I want to receive notifications on. The Google search robot scans millions of webpages for the latest updates pertaining to the topic and sends links to relevant pages daily. It’s a handy and free service.
Over the past few weeks I’ve learned the following:
The December issue of House & Garden magazine was the last. The 106-year-old icon has ceased publishing those mouth-watering pages filled with photos of elegant homes. The magazine had close to 1,000,000 subscribers but faced stiff competition from newer magazines these past few years.
Here’s an idea for a revenue generator for municipalities. Kansas City has boosted its price to $300 for weddings held at Loose Parks Rose Garden. The price increase (up $50) is the first in five years. Last year, 120 weddings and 47 rehearsals were held at the garden, generating $36,600 in fees.
Convenience stores and gas stations aren’t the only businesses subject to dangerous thieves. In Swansea, U.K., masked robbers armed with what was believed to be a gun and a baseball bat terrorized staff at a garden centre before leaving with takings from the safe.
And also in the U.K., a 23-year-old Flimby woman was evicted for not keeping her garden tidy and failing to pay the rent. One wonders which was the greater offense.
A spokesman for the tenancy enforcement and rents teams said: “We hope this sends out a clear message that we will take action if residents fail to pay their rent or keep their homes and gardens tidy.”
In Soisy-sous-Montmorency, Paris, the charred remains of a man were found in a garden. The suburb is on the flight path of the nearby Charles de Gaulle airport and officials believe the man may have tried stowing away in the landing gear of a plane.
There was a more appropriate garden to fall in.
In Hong Kong the 900-square metre Cape Collinson Garden of Remembrance now accepts applications for the free scattering of ashes. A wall has been erected for mounting plaques in memory of the deceased and a memorial ritual can be arranged at the garden before ashes are scattered.
That’s all for this update but I may share some other google gleanings in the future.
If you’d like to comment on any of the above or have ideas for 2008 topics, email me at callen@thevanguard.ca
