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PLANT PICK

An indispensable component of the late-summer garden, Japanese anemones come in range of flower colours in variations of purple, pink and white.

They are called Japanese anemones, or Anemone japonica, but most hybrids are actually off-springs of three species, all of which originated in China -- A. hupehensis, A. vitifolium and A. tomentosa.

All the popular cultivars thrive in partial shade in ordinary, well-drained soil. In the perfect spot, they can grow to 1.8 metres (six feet), but in most locations they stay around 1.2 metres (four feet) high.

'Honorine Jobert' is the best known, with pure white flowers. Top cultivars in the pink to dark purple tones are 'Queen Charlotte,' 'Hadspen Abundance' and 'September Charm.'

GET THE HANG OF IT

Leave it to a woman to find a way to hang pictures without stress.

Liette Tousignant, founder of Under the Roof Decorating, found that hanging her clients pictures on the walls challenged her more than any other aspect of the job.

She and her husband Kelly Krake, invented Hang and Level, a simple but effective tool to hang all types of wall decorations in the right place without making extra holes in walls. It looks like a wide ruler with hooks on one end. It costs $19.99 and is sold online at www.hangandlevel.com, and by mid-September, all Home Outfitters nation wide will sell it. You hang the picture on the hooks and then place it against the wall. When you find the right location, remove the picture from the hooks and press a button that pokes a small hole into the wall. Insert the nail or wall hooks, hang the picture and use the tool to level it. That's it.