Keep Carbondale Beautiful honors home on Emerald Lane

This month's Keep Carbondale Beautiful Bright Spot Award goes to the home at 1013 Emerald Lane.

Sandy Brown, a retired Carbondale Community High School administrative employee, dedicates time during the growing season to maintaining a lovely landscape. A healthy gumball tree shades her single-story brick home while her adorable, silvery Yorkie DeAngelo oversees the yard.

Numerous welcome signs greet visitors. Up the walkway is an accessible ramp surrounded by large brick planters and green vegetation. A curvy brick border breaks up the straight lines of the yard and wraps around the house with playfully arranged blooms of color matching the border's rocky hem.

Box bush, black eyed Susan's, lavender, calla lily and English ivy are all carefully arranged throughout the yard.

"I take a little time to water it when it doesn't rain - about 30 minutes a day," Brown says. "Every year I add two or three new plants to the front of the house."

When asked if she had trouble with deer, she proclaimed the chipmunks are the biggest nuisance.

KCB encourages community members to get involved with projects like Adopt-a-Spot, litter cleanups and tree sales as well as the Bright Spot Award.