In the Country
The Annual Flower & Garden Show chases away winter blues
This winter, get a taste of spring at the 8th Annual Flower & Garden Show: Glorious Gardens, Great and Small. All garden-lovers are invited to come in from the cold February 18 to 21 at the New Jersey Convention and Expo Center in Edison. The show encourages visitors to shake off the winter doldrums and get ready for the new season. More than a dozen display gardens offer the sights, sounds and fragrances of a world in bloom. For more information, visit njflowershow.com or see macevents.com and click on “Flower Shows.”

Your Country House
The heat is on
While the weather outside is looking frightful, you can still stay warm and toasty inside, you just may need to think outside the thermostat box. Anyone paying a heating bill in this state already knows that keeping a house warm in the winter can be a pricey undertaking. And in news that’s not so shocking, the U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration is once again predicting that the cost of heating oil and gas will steadily rise this year. But before you turn your thermostat down to 60 and hand out sweaters to your family members, give some of stay-warm tips a try. You may be surprised how easy it is to stay warm — comfortably — and still keep your heating bills from skyrocketing.

Find tips and more energy-saving information in the winter issue of New Jersey Countryside Magazine, available now at bookstores, on newsstands and by subscription. Click here to get one free bonus issue and save more than 80% on a subscription.