This four-step process, provided by ACO Hardware, is easy and will keep any lawn looking lush and green all summer long.

By Tracey Moro

Is tending to your lawn a chore that you embrace? Thanks to the folks at ACO Hardware, you can buy most anything for your yard. They have four-steps for creating a beautiful lawn. Using their products, and following these steps promises to keep your lawn on track. But before you begin, you must wake your lawn up. Rake it to wake it. Trim your perennials back and get rid of dead grass and debris.

1. In April, before crabgrass germinates, apply a crabgrass preventer to your lawn. This stops crabgrass and weedy grasses before they sprout. Apply when grass is dry and before the temperatures have reached 65 degrees for three or four days.
2. Near Memorial Day, when weeds are just starting to appear, apply a weed and feed to control dandelions, clover and other broadleaf weeds. You should apply in the morning or evening when grass is damp. Or, water lightly before spreading. Do not water or mow for two days after applying.
3. Every six to eight weeks throughout the summer apply lawn fertilizer. This supplies a complete blend of all the nutrients needed to green up lawns. Water immediately after applying and avoid applications during extremely hot weather.
4. After Labor Day apply a fall weed and feed and fall lawn food. Using both products together ensures strong roots next spring and keeps your lawn healthy throughout the winter.

A Tasmanian Devil Rat who can burrow through anything. The description Sabrina Chuhran offers for Karen DeClark, owner of KD Organizing, is meant as a compliment to the lady who came to her cluttered house and made it a home again.

“I had a major issue in my basement that boarded on hoarding so I asked her to come in and help,” Sabrina said. “And she’s been a godsend.” She admits when she hired Karen to come to her Fraser home for a consultation she was nervous. Years of collecting and storing items had overtaken Sabrina and her husband Mark’s basement.

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By Tracey Moro / Photography: Maria Lisa Marino

Most people remember their high school prom. From guys in pastel colored tuxedos, or driving dad’s Cadillac to pick up your girl, to spending hours primping so you could look as if you belonged on a red carpet, prom is remembered as the ultimate high school rite of passage.

So with the 2013 prom season upon us it’s time to start thinking about what to wear and what’s in style. Macomb Now invited 15 local high school students to share in a special Prom photo shoot so we could bring you the latest styles and trends. Held at Palazzo Grande Banquet Hall, the site of many school proms each year, we invited local formalwear stores and hairstylists to dress our prom models in style.

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Since May 5, 1974, the WSO has been an orchestral leader in Warren and the tri-county area.

Any town can boast about the cultural amenities it has, but residents of Warren are especially proud this year of their own cultural gem, the Warren Symphony Orchestra. Celebrating its 40th season this year, the 65-member symphony is midway through its season. With lyrical strings, full sounding brass and delicate woodwinds the symphony brings orchestral music alive in spectacular performances currently under the direction of Gregory Cunningham.

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Residential home ownership is part of Macomb County’s DNA. Some Macomb families can trace their heritage through home ownership, beginning in Detroit and Hamtramck, to Warren and Sterling Heights and then onto Shelby and Macomb townships. This was not simply a search for status, because until 2007 these moves resulted in economic profit as the home was sold for more than it was purchased. Indeed, for many Macomb residents, the growing value of the family residence was their largest financial asset, providing the financing for their kids’ college education and their retirement.

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With Mother’s Day May 12, we celebrate family and special relationships between generations of moms.

Busy. It’s the word Donna Remer, 63, uses to describe her life as she navigates among four generations including caring for her elderly parents and spending time with grandchildren.

Donna’s parents, Hershel and Polly Underwood, gave up their retirement home in Kentucky to move back to Michigan and now reside in a senior residence in New Baltimore. Hershel, 93, developed dementia eight years ago and sadly he doesn’t know his family most days. It makes having them closer all the better for Donna, who says she has learned a lot and has a better idea of who she is and where she came from because of time spent with her parents.

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It’s a stately mansion that was built in 1848 by Dr. Neil Gray Jr., and still sits comfortably on a rolling hilltop in Ray Township.

Despite more than a century of change that brought various tenants and businesses, today the property continues to breathe history.

“This is one of the oldest homes in the community, and the Grays were one of the most prominent and wealthy families in this township at that time,” said Terry Goike, president of the Ray Township Historical Society.

Gray Jr., who emigrated from Scotland in 1831, settled in northern Macomb County. He commissioned the 14-room mansion for $1,000 and lived there until his death in 1868. Goike said the good doctor’s wife, Marie, remained in the home until her death in 1886.

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