Itching and scratching are bad enough. But did you know that fleas also can lead to tape worms or carry diseases like bartonella, and even the plague?

This summer, think of your backyard as the next decorating frontier. Use designer-quality furniture, rugs, lighting and charming decorative accents for stunning results.

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

When Nicki Myers’ son, Reece, was 18 months old, he itched so much he bled from scratching. Reece suffers from eczema, a non-contagious, inflammatory skin condition that may be caused by an array of triggers. “He had a moderate to severe rash on his lower legs and arms that became so inflamed and irritated he would scratch in his sleep,” says Myers. “He’d wake up with open wounds, and it was quite hard to manage.” The Ladue mom recalls slathering her child’s legs with various prescription and over-the-counter creams and ointments, and then wrapping them with gauze and compression bandages to prevent Reece from continuing to scratch.

Story: Vera is awakened in the dead of night by a loud pounding on her Greenwich Village apartment door. The unexpected visitor is her 21-year-old grandson Leo, who is filthy and smells from too many days away from soap and shower.

In the world of professional gardening, winter brings on different tasks. Hopefully, most of these jobs will be indoors when the weather is at its worst, as snow-shoveling and ice-chipping rank near the very bottom of our favorite jobs list. About the only things lower on that list are cleaning up the bird messes under the seed feeders, mucking out the pond on a cold spring day or spreading ripe manure in the heat of the summer. Gardeners usually use the winter season to plan future plantings, research new materials, order specialty items and peruse plant catalogs.

The Baldwin Report

When I was a kid, we had some fun Christmas traditions. For one thing, Santa Claus brought the tree. That essentially meant that my parents pulled an all-nighter Christmas Eve to transform the living room into a Macy’s holiday window. What I now realize was a desperate attempt to get a few moments of precious sleep, my parents told my brothers and me that when we woke up Christmas morning, we could go downstairs on our own and open our stockings.

We love giving gifts of plant products to friends near and far. One of my favorite treasures to send is maple syrup from our relative’s farm in New Hampshire. It takes 100 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup, but don’t look for the romantic image of draft horses hauling a sleigh of sap. Today, sap is extracted from trees with a web of plastic tubing and a giant vacuum cleaner. You can find the result in gift-sized cans or bottles at many local retailers.

Make her day with one of these thoughtful hostess gifts.

Whether you prefer your shower in the morning or at bedtime, there’s nothing like the fresh, clean scent of soap to invigorate (or relax) your senses. So go ahead and lather up! 

St. Louis husband-and-wife team John and Kelley Barr have opened a second store on Maryland Plaza in the Central West End. The store will operate in the Maryland Plaza location at least through December 2012.

If your home is your castle, the bathroom is the inner sanctum. New features let homeowners personalize the space, so they can start or end their day in a calming, relaxing oasis.

Story: Lawrence Jameson has made a very good living as a con artist on the French Riviera. He has a palatial estate not far from the casino where he plies his trade, with the assistance of local police inspector Andre. While relaxing at a café, he notices a loud American doing a cheap swindle on an unsuspecting tourist. He mildly chastises the Yankee, Freddy Benson, and compares his debonair style with Freddie’s blunter approach. Intrigued, Freddy asks Lawrence to mentor him.

Summer is a time for fun: vacations, swimming, ball games, picnics and trips to the emergency room. WAIT! Let’s work on avoiding the latter. This summer, almost 3 million children will visit the ER for treatment of trauma and almost 2,000 of them will die from their injuries. Simple preventive measures and close supervision can reduce this number. Think safety whenever you and your children are around water, riding in the car, playing sports, out in the sun or around fires.

Whether you call it eczema or dermatitis, you’ll know if you have it from the red, swollen, itchy skin that characterizes this common dermatological problem.

Our fervent wait for homegrown lettuce, asparagus, carrots, leeks, potatoes, beets and mushrooms (should I go on?) on our plates is almost over! With the days numbered, anticipation is growing for the grand re-openings of our area’s farmers markets.

Young Bobby Costas’—that’s how many of us remember Bob Costas when he first emerged on the St. Louis scene at KMOX Radio in 1974. The late broadcasting great Jack Carney pinned the ‘young Bobby’ tag on Costas when he included the station’s wonder-kid sportscaster in his ongoing radio soap opera called The Adventures of Tiki Jack.

1. What Oscar-nominated actress is set to replace Marg Helgenberger on CSI?

Some of the best gifts are ones that make the recipient feel beautiful. We asked Christina Polychroni, senior director of marketing and brand communication at L’Occitane, about the season’s top gift items, as well as how to take care of your skin throughout the winter months.