Floral designer Scott Johnson with Community Florist in Pawleys Island demonstrated how to arrange fresh-cut flowers in a variety of different vases. Here are six vases, six ways.

Q: I have a home, built about 1950, that has tin siding. Can or should this siding be repainted (and how?), or is it best to remove it and install new siding, such as vinyl?

WHAT'S NEW: DEVICE SIMPLIFIES LAWN REPAIR

This time of the year the garden comes alive with shasta daisies. It seems to bring a renewal to the spirit like few other flowers. I was recently in Columbus, Ga., and had the opportunity to tour the Columbus Botanical Garden. There they had several large informal drifts that literally took my breath away.

It seems that wallpaper has been around forever, or at least for 2,000 years, dating back to when the Chinese started to hang decorated rice paper on their walls. Since then, wallpaper has been popular, reflecting designs and patterns that change to suit the fashion of the times.

The Orange County district attorney's office announced Monday it will seek the death penalty against a former Marine in the stabbing death of a mother and her son in Yorba Linda, Calif., and the killings of four homeless men.

Cyberspace was a-twitter this week with the news that Ryan Seacrest is buying Ellen DeGeneres's Beverly Hills compound for $37 million, and that she and spouse Portia de Rossi are moving no farther than a Hal Levitt-designed midcentury - also in Beverly Hills.

Dan Heims makes no apologies: "I'm a plant nerd and proud of it," he says.

WHAT'S NEW: ROOM FAN FRESHENS AIR

During the third weekend of June, 30 of the most private gardens in Amsterdam are open to the public as part of Open Garden Days. Some of them are opening for the first time ever, according to a press release from the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions.

The job of a homemaker is 20 percent more physically demanding than that of a clerical worker, according to a survey by the National Institute of Health and Nutrition and J.F. Oberlin University in Tokyo.

When the tomatoes are finally planted, any old daffodil foliage is cut back and the beds are weeded and mulched, it's time to add the final touch of perfection -- tropicals that give your porches and patios a little island mystique.

Considering that it took an hour to regain feeling in many of my fingertips, it might not have been the brightest thing I've done recently.

The lemon beebalm or purple horsemint has simply been incredible this spring and is continuing to show despite some record heat for our region. Here at the National Butterfly Center this native plant was used extensively as part of the Geoffrey McAllen Memorial Native Grassland and Wildflower Refugium which is planted around the Visitor Pavilion.

Now that we're well into spring, we know warmer weather is coming.

The mother of a mentally ill homeless man who died after he was beaten by Fullerton police has reached a settlement with the city that will pay her $1 million, officials announced Tuesday evening.