Arbor Day's the time to hug a tree

You know what Friday is, don't you? Yes, it's Arbor Day, a very important day at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, of course.

Admission is free for the day, the exhibit of a dozen Big Bugs carved from wood opens, and the plant sale starts for members.

As you might expect, the festivities continue through the weekend, and finally on Sunday the plant sale opens to the public.

David Rogers, the artist who wants you to learn more about bugs by seeing some that are 25 feet long, will be at the arboretum from 1 to 3 p.m. Friday. His bugs will hang around till July 20.

The arboretum is in Lisle on Route 53 just north of the Reagan Tollway (I-88). Visit www.mortonarb.org.

Many organizations will celebrate Earth Day this weekend. So get out there, enjoy and learn how to save the earth.

Why do weeds grow better than grass?

Spring is a time of hope for gardeners and anyone who cares about their yards and landscaping.

But what if your yard is just so dreadful that you're not sure how to tackle it?

Briggs & Stratton has a contest for you.

Yes, it's the ugliest yard contest. Eventually two winners will get advice, $1,000 checks and two pieces of outdoor power equipment.

So jump on www.myuglyyard.com. They want you to include a video tour or a photo montage and essay about why your yard needs emergency help.

The deadline is June 30.

Would Mom love this little volume?

We are going to start collecting ideas for that very important day of gift giving.

That's right, Mother's Day is coming up on May 11.

The rose is probably the most romantic of flowers. And "Pink Ladies & Crimson Gents," by Molly and Don Glentzer (Clarkson Potter, $22.50) fills the bill for both gardeners and dreamers.

What you get is a lush full-page photo of the rose and a story about how it ties in with its namesake.

We might have thought painter Peter Paul Rubens would be associated with a lusty red rose.

But the authors link a delicate, full, peach-colored tea rose to the painter of luminous women.

And what about Johann Wolfgang von Goethe? Doesn't the giant of German Romantic literature inspire a more complicated flower than a deep rose-colored Moss rose? But one of his best-known poems is "The Heathrose," a dialogue between a boy who picks a rosebud and the retaliation of the thorny bush.

And what of those who love yellow roses? Lady Banks, which comes in a yellow form, is named for Dorothea Hugessen Banks, wife of Sir Joseph Banks.

He had traveled around the world with Captain Cook and their London home served as the city's first natural history museum.

A plant hunter the Bankses supported discovered the rose in China.