Just when it seems like the ethnic design trend has run its course, these out-of-the-ordinary patterns demonstrate their staying power. In fact, designers say ikat, susani, and batik-inspired patterns are so enduring, they’ve become staples in American design, just like traditional and modern.

Feeling a little green-eyed towards someone else’s green thumb? MoBot horticulturists explain how can homeowners achieve formal gardens in St. Louis backyards.

New Planting Opportunities

Olive Boulevard between 1-70 and Skinker Boulevard is home to an array of noteworthy (and authentic) Asian restaurants and markets. Lu Lu Seafood Restaurant, a fixture in the area for some 20 years, has been on our short list of must-trys for a while.

In 1990, when JoAnne Levy was ready to buy her first home, she returned to Olivette, where she had lived for the first few years of her life. Levy, VP of ROi, found a home in Chevy Chase and fell back in love with the area. After marrying Jim Thomeczek, an attorney with Thomeczek and Brink, their growing family dictated a move in 2001 to a bigger house just a half-mile away, in order to keep their kids in Old Bonhomme Elementary. Parents to Samantha, 25; Jake, 21; Jerry, 19; Mari, 16; and Josh, 12, the couple loves the diversity of the people, architecture and neighborhoods that Olivette offers. We ask JoAnne and Jim to share more about the community.

Through Thursday 14

Dr. Jeffrey Marsh takes the Chinese proverb, Teach a man to fish… a step further. He believes in “teaching men to fish, so they can teach others to fish.”

When Jimmy Loomis III was in fifth grade, he watched a movie that would spur him toward a life of community involvement. The movie was An Inconvenient Truth, and the moment took place just seven years ago. Called to action by the film’s message about climate change and its consequences, the then 10-year-old stood before the Ladue City Council and successfully proposed the creation of a municipal recycling program. “That’s when I first became really interested in politics,” he recalls. “I realized that no matter who you are, what you have and where you come from, you can make a difference. I was able to witness actual change taking place and that has motivated me ever since.”

Looking to add a little color and pattern to your abode? Consider geometrics. Few fabric patterns pack as much punch per square inch. Geometrics add instant graphic interest and style.

I was doing a little research online last week. Well, let me back up. We have had our puppy for a little more than a year. According to all the experts—you know, the neighbors, my dry cleaner, the cable guy—her, um, rambunctiousness should have died down by now. Yet for some reason, on the scale of canine insanity, she falls somewhere between peculiar and deranged. Of course, it doesn’t help that Whiny and Punch are for all intents and purposes human puppies, always eager for a little rough-housing.

Across

Story: Anne Frank, the 14-year-old girl whose life was one of millions of European Jews extinguished in concentration camps by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party in World War II, meets another 14-year-old, Emmett Till, a black boy from Chicago who was brutally murdered in 1955 while visiting relatives in Mississippi, an act that galvanized America’s black community and started the Civil Rights movement.

The Baldwin Report

This summer’s brutal heat and drought have been hard on the landscape, with dead trees and damaged lawns everywhere. We returned from traveling in late June to find our garden slowly turning to toast. The hostas were brown, crispy potato chips, and the swamp-loving box elder was the first tree to die. Japanese maples and yew hedges became blondes under the searing summer sun. Some trees would look fine on Monday and be completely brown before the weekend. In most cases, the oak, pine, maple and ash trees already had some hidden damage that weakened them and reduced their resilience. Dogwoods, red buds and sassafras all started dropping their leaves. One day in July, the thick carpet of fallen leaves under my sycamore made me think it was October.

Story: Yank and his cohorts spend their days and nights toiling in the boiler room of a steamship, stoking the fires with the coal they shovel into the gaping mouth of its churning engines. He is content with his lot until a chance encounter with the spoiled daughter of a steel magnate, who insists on visiting the ship’s engine room and is appalled by the look and behavior of Yank, from whom she recoils in disgust and terror.

On Trend: Brocade Brigade

For many years, Mai Lee has distinguished itself as the place where foodies, chefs and other culinary types go to get the best, most authentic Asian cuisine around.

It was a special moment for Diane Patershuk when she witnessed a group of second-graders speaking Mandarin at a Ladue elementary school. The Chinese language class is one of several programs funded in the Ladue School District through the Ladue Education Foundation (LEF). “It was neat to see those students participate in something like that. LEF allows us to provide those extraordinary opportunities,” says Patershuk, a member of the foundation’s board.

New York Times best-selling author Ridley Pearson is the Disney corporation’s best-kept secret. The East Coast native, who has made St. Louis home for the past 13 years, has written more than 35 suspense novels for adults and adventure books for children during the past 30 years. His book, Peter and the Starcatchers, a prequel to Peter Pan that he co-authored with Pulitzer Prize-winning author and humor columnist Dave Barry, was published by Disney and adapted into a Broadway play that earned nine Tony nominations—the most of any play in history. It received five Tony awards at the June 10 ceremony. Ladue News recently spoke with Pearson about life in St. Louis, playing ‘terribly’ in an all-author rock band, and his career success—from books to Broadway.

On Trend: Nautical Style

Story: Millie Dillmount departs Salina, Kansas on a train bound for New York City. It’s 1922 and Millie, who considers herself a ‘modern girl,’ sets her sights on landing a job and a husband at one of Gotham’s corporations. No sooner does she disembark from the train than she is robbed, leaving her with no money, no suitcase and not even both of her shoes. She trips an amiable passerby named Jimmy, a young man who advises her to leave the big city that clearly is too daunting for her.

Story: Lewis Carroll’s enduring tales about the enchanting dreams of a little girl named Alice have charmed readers perpetually since Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking Glass, were first published in the 1840s. Carroll’s fanciful yarns have inspired countless artistic interpretations for more than 150 years, including takes by the likes of Walt Disney and Tim Burton.

A lot of my gardening inspiration comes from visiting botanical gardens around the world in my travels with Peter. This column is being written while we are on the road with the Missouri Botanical Garden group in southern China. In this part of the world— Yunnan—there are images of elephants everywhere: in fresco, embroidery and sculpture. No live ones have presented themselves to us on this trip, but we have seen some stunningly huge annuals and perennials in these warm, tropical garden zones. Combining these two thoughts brought to mind the lyrics of Oklahoma with the line, “The corn is as high as an elephant’s eye.” So, with inspiration from the gardens at our sister institutions in Xishuangbanna and Kunming, Julie and I have selected a suite of bodacious specimens for the back of the border or center of a very large planting island.

The latest artist to collaborate with a fashion house is the legendary James Nares. Known for his exploration of gravity and weightlessness in a variety of mediums, Nares brings his brushstroke paintings as the signature element in a series of bags for Coach.

The Missouri Botanical Garden’s Lantern Festival opens May 26 and runs through Aug. 19. This fun Asian-themed extravaganza will introduce many people to the delights of the night-time garden ...