From left, Don Smith, president North Lake Garden Club, and Marc Giberson, tree chairman, North Lake Garden Club. Courtesy photo.

NICE, Calif. – The North Lake Garden Club is working on the final preparations for its inaugural Gardening, Craft, Bazaar & Boutique Faire.

The event will be held Saturday, Nov. 27, at the Sons of Italy, 2817 E. Highway 20, Nice.

The North Lake Garden Club objectives are to encourage interest in all phases of home gardening and in civic beautification; to promote better horticultural practices; and to encourage conservation of natural resources.

The club promotes civic beautification by planting trees in their communities.

In preparation for the upcoming holiday gardening faire, Marc Giberson, tree chairman, and Don Smith, president of North Lake Garden Club, planted two upright, columnar, evergreen, Blue Italian Cypress (cupressus semp 'glauca') in large pots owned by the Sons of Italy.

This is a gift to the Sons of Italy for allowing the club to hold their event at their facility.

Many of these trees can be seen around Lake County as they are used for screens, windbreak and formal gardens.

The cypress take full fun and are hardy to zero degrees.

North Lake Garden Club is a member of California Garden Clubs Inc., National Garden Clubs Inc. and the Mendo-Lake District.

The dinner will be served from noon to 2 p.m.

The church is located at 755 N. Forbes St., Lakeport, behind St. Mary's Catholic Church.

The Umpqua Bank Wish Trees help collect toys for children in need during the holiday season. Courtesy photo.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – There are still a few tags left on the Child Protective Services Wish Trees at the Lakeport and Kelseyville Umpqua Bank stores.

Wish tree organizers said they are amazed every year at the outpouring of support Lake County gives to this very deserving organization and the children they serve, and this year is no exception.

The bank's employees are hearing stories of the great deals found in the county for the gifts already purchased and of entire families getting involved in choosing the tags and purchasing and wrapping the gifts.

“We are truly blessed to live in such a close knit community and understand why generations of families have lived here,” said Paula Bryant, the bank's relationships manager. “We believe you will never find this anywhere else in this country.”

There are tags left and they challenge Lake County to show their support by coming in to get a tag and making sure all of these children have a joyous Christmas.

If you don’t have time to purchase a gift, you can make a monetary donation and they will be happy to do the shopping for you.

Umpqua Bank is located in Lakeport at 805 11th St., and in Kelseyville at 4280 Main St.

Should you have any questions, please call the Lakeport branch at 707-262-3342.

Students from Coyote Valley Elementary School tour the Stone House each spring, Many are awed by the idea of making your own French fries, although cutters similar to this 19th century model are still on the market. Courtesy photo.

HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – The Historic Stone House in Hidden Valley Lake will hold its annual Christmas Open House on Saturday, Dec. 4.

The house will be open for viewing from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., while across the way in the activity room, Stone House members will be offering homemade cookies and other finger foods, music, cider, wine and coffee.

The earlier-than-usual opening is hoped to encourage families with children to attend prior to seeing the tree lighting at the Hidden Valley Lake Golf Club starting at 5 p.m. But all residents and neighbors are invited; non-residents should simply leave their name at the Hartmann Road gate when entering.

Stone House is the oldest building in Lake County. It was built in 1853-54 by 24-year-old Robert Henry Sterling, who was ready to settle down after ten years of seafaring.

The house was owned for more than 50 years by Charles Marsh Young, who once owned one-half of Middletown and ran the Lake County Hotel there.

In 1942, the Frank Hartmann family added Stone House and its acreage to their adjoining property.

It was a rental property and residence until the middle 1960s when the property was bought by U.S. Land Co., a subsidiary of Boise-Cascade, to build the resort/retirement community that became Hidden Valley Lake.

Stone House is preserved and maintained as a community treasure by the Stone House Historical Society. It is furnished with an eclectic mix of mostly donated period pieces, representative of the lifestyles of the past 150 years.

Recent acquisitions include two christening gowns made by Velma Brooks Young and a handmade doll in authentic Friesian costume that belonged to Elly Hartmann as a child. Both date to the early 1900s.

There is no charge for the open house. Call Bonney Jorgensen, 707-987-8764, for further information.

Lake County residents have no control over many factors, such as the year round availability of fresh pears from other states and countries that has resulted in decreased demand for canned fruit.

Residents can certainly buy more Lake County pears, but can help local pear growers stay in business in other ways as well.

One of the biggest expenses of pear farming is pest and disease control.

Economic decline has prompted some pear farmers to sell their orchards, often to non-farming buyers who keep some trees as a screen from the road, for shade, or simply nostalgia.

This results in the remaining commercial orchards being inundated with pests coming from these neighboring abandoned orchards or small groups of unmanaged pear or apple trees.

New owners of orchard land with abandoned or unmanaged trees are often unaware of the impact these trees have on neighboring commercial orchards.

The ultimate result is that pest control costs are driven up to the point where growing pears can become impossible.

Some conscientious property owners cut down unwanted pear trees above the ground, hoping that this will solve the problem.

Unfortunately, pear trees are intentionally grafted onto vigorous rootstock which then resprouts shortly after the tree is cut down, growing into a full size tree – even without irrigation – in a few short years. It then can harbor the same pests and diseases as the original tree.

Property owners who have no desire to maintain and harvest their trees properly are strongly encouraged to remove unmanaged pear or apple trees, roots and all. This may require using a backhoe, or a registered systemic herbicide applied to the fresh cut surface of the stump to kill the roots (follow all label directions).

For those who intend to care for their trees properly, doing the “right thing” is easy.

The Unmanaged Apple and Pear Tree Outreach Program (UAPTOP) offers a multitude of tools to help Lake County residents be part of the solution and ensure the survival of the Lake County pear industry.

This includes a website with mapping software so residents can learn how close they are to a commercial orchard, read up about the issue in detail, and look up and download free tree care information. Simply click on http://uaptop.uckac.edu.

The UC Cooperative Extension Web site, http://celake.ucdavis.edu , also has an extensive section on the issue and links to the downloadable tree care info; just scroll down to the UAPTOP page.

The 2011 Master Gardener Calendar also focuses on this subject and describes many low maintenance, relatively fast growing shade and alternative fruit and nut trees that do well in Lake County and can be used to replace some of those unwanted pear or apple trees.

The calendar is available at the UCCE office for $10 ($12.00 if mailed).

Contact UCCE at 883 Lakeport Blvd., Lakeport; 707-263-6838; http://celake.ucdavis.edu.

Rachel Elkins is pomology and master gardener advisor, and Gabriele O’Neill is UAPTOP Program representative.

The Lake County Department of Public Works reported Monday that the Dry Creek Cutoff low water crossing near Middletown has closed for the winter.

For more information, contact the Lake County Department of Public Works, 707-263-2341.