NEW PRODUCTS

Light up your yard with Solar Garden Art

How does your garden glow? Add some flair to your yard and make the outside of your house as inviting as the inside. Allsop Home Garden presents new Firefly Florals to light up your garden day and night. New to Allsop’s selection of solar garden art, these hand-blown beauties emanate the stunning brightness of springtime flowers in full bloom.

Once you install the solar florals in your garden, you can adjust the height of the stake to your liking. In a moment, these flowers can be made to grow up to 5 feet tall without any watering.

Throughout the day, the Firefly Florals will collect sunlight allowing them to glow for six to eight hours.

The weather-resistant solar lights are designed in three different glossy versions — Blue Poppy, Magenta Blossom and Orange Poppy.

The limited-edition Firefly Florals are available online at www.allsopgarden.com for $44.99 each

DO-IT-YOURSELF

New tool displays accuracy in leveling

When leveling surfaces or measuring angles, guessing whether or not the bubble is in the center of the vial on your level can be as difficult as reading the leaves at the bottom of your tea cup. If you’re familiar with this frustration, take a chance on the two new digital levels from Craftsman and make life a little bit easier.

The 10- and 24-inch levels feature a brightly backlit 2-inch digital LCD screen that displays leveling, plumbing and angle calculations, and can be read right side up or down. When the level is turned on, the LCD screen shows the room temperature in Fahrenheit. Then, a picture of the angle is displayed with an arrow that indicates which direction to move to achieve near perfect level.

These levels also come equipped with a handy Laser Trac that emits a laser dot on the work surface — visible up to 300 feet. Not only is this tool helpful, but it is smart, too, as it retains a memory of the last nine angles measured.

The Craftsman digital levels can be used for a wide range of improvements around the house, such as leveling floor tile, installing cabinets and shelves, hanging suspended ceilings, framing walls or plumbing pipe.

Find the Craftsman 10-inch ($49.99) and 24-inch ($69.99) digital levels with Laser Trac at Sears stores or online at www.sears.com.

FIRST-AID

Homeopathic gel takes sting out of bug bites

Insect bites are a common and extremely irritating occurrence when working in the garden, cleaning out the garage, or when the kids are playing outside. Not anymore. Beat those itchy, scratchy, stinging, burning bug bites with Boiron’s new homeopathic Bitecare gel.

As summer marches on, Bitecare is ideal for taking along on vacations, day hikes, picnics or to the lake.

Bitecare is designed to heal insect bites and stings from a variety of bugs, including bees, ants and mosquitoes. You can apply the mess-free, clear gel up to every two hours whether you are at work or home. Once applied, Bitecare is not noticeable as it is water-based and quickly absorbed. The convenient tube is small enough to take for on-the-go relief.

Unlike other ointments and gels meant to relieve the itch and pain associated with bites and stings, Bitecare contains natural ingredients that work naturally with the body rather than masking symptoms. It does not contain preservatives, antibiotics or cortisone that may disrupt the body’s balance.

Purchase Bitecare at Whole Foods, Wild Oats and Sunflower Farmers Markets. For information, log on to www.bioronusa.com or www.affordablehomeopathy.com.

BOOKS

An instant fix to a spectacular garden

Turn your own backyard into paradise. Pamela Crawford, container garden expert, reveals her secrets to inventing a spectacular garden in her new book “Instant Container Gardens.”

In her book, Crawford explains the ins and outs of transforming a garden from boring to magnificent. “Instant Container Gardens” teaches you everything you need to know about importing color, such as what materials you’ll need, what flowers are best for what climates, common mistakes to avoid and creative design suggestions for the containers.

The book is filled with photos of complex-looking container gardens that Crawford insists are easy to create. There are step-by-step, illustrated instructions along with 33 container profiles that have been grown and cared for by the author. Readers will find examples of fast garden makeovers that show before and after photos.

With this book, any yard can be transformed into a stunning vacation spot, Crawford says.

“Instant Container Gardens,” published by Color Garden Publishing, retails for $13.57 at garden centers, major bookstores and at www.amazon.com.

–Compiled by Vicki Marquette

Doorware extends a warm welcome

When people come to your home, the first thing they encounter is your front door. And the door handle is only the beginning.

Today’s choices of door adornments have become so pervasive that there is an entire specialized category now referred to as doorware.

Specialists in doorware and masters of the metals are Eric Morris and his wife, Hu Man. Together, they founded Von Morris 16 years ago and began producing quality hinges.

“As design informs our lives more than ever before, people are realizing that style is all about artful details,” Morris said.

Unlike other decorative accessories, doorware is something you physically touch every day. This sense of connection — not only how the designs look, but how they feel in the hand — is what inspires Von Morris to create one-of-a-kind products.

Von Morris craftsmen hand-finish each piece through many stages of polishing to achieve a high luster. Six signature designs in 30 finishes include Bamboo, Beaded, Deco, Moorestown, Ribbon & Reed, and Weave.

For information, visit www.vonmorris.com.

— Copley News Service