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Deadheading spent flowers on your annuals will keep your plants looking better and blooming better through the summer. So nip off the flowers as they fade. It's a good idea to deadhead perennials (before they form seed pods), too. That directs more of the energy into the plant's roots than into making seeds, which makes for healthier plants next year.

We Minnesotans love our hostas - those hardy, hard-working stars of the shade garden. If you want to see minis and maxis, bi-colored, tri-colored, variegated and ruffled hostas, check out this weekend's show, sponsored by the Minnesota Hosta Society. It runs from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in the Heritage room at Bachman's main store, 6010 Lyndale Av. S., Minneapolis.

Introduced at the recent High Point Furniture Market: The Paris Loft Open Bookcase from French Heritage, a towering geometric form that works as a room divider as well as for storage.

It has size: 101 inches tall, 71 inches wide and 13.5 inches deep. Made of reclaimed teak (each piece 70 to 100 years old), the bookcase is hand-finished in water-based pigment in a choice of five finishes and certified by the Sustainable Furniture Council. Priced at $3,885; www.french heritage.com. Call 1-800-245-0899 for the nearest Minnesota dealer.

Want to see famous foodie Lynne Rossetto Kasper's kitchen? A secret Thai palace in Minneapolis? A home where an artist uses the walls, floors, even the ceilings as her canvas? Check out the Inside Out video series at www.startribune.com/homegarden.

KIM YEAGER, CONNIE NELSON

www.nwf.org/gardenfurniture

What's the best place to buy an old house? When you're the editors of This Old House magazine, presumably, you are qualified to decide. Check out the mag's July/August issue for partial findings, with expanded listings at www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/best-places, for their idea of the best place to buy an old home in general, in the Midwest, if you're an art lover, a city slicker, desire a Craftsman, etc. Minnesota's winner in these and several other categories? The Dayton's Bluff neighborhood of St. Paul.

Cottage Living fans may want to check out "Cottage Gardens," the magazine's first newsstand special edition (112 pages, $9.99), featuring 76 ideas for starting or improving a garden. But be forewarned: The glossy does not include any Zone 4 gardens.

Insects and diseases are supposed to go after your plants. In fact, a little bit of munching is a sign of a healthy garden.