Home Front for Oct. 28: Home Front for Oct. 28: (October 28, 2005)

BUS TREE TOUR . . . Arborist and Canopy: Trees for Palo Alto board member Dave Muffly will lead a tree tour through Palo Alto and Stanford via chartered bus on Sunday, Nov. 6, from 1 to 4 p.m. Participants will meet on Stanford campus, and view more than 25 different mature trees, many at the peak of fall color. On board will be Bethallyn Black, Cooperative Extension agent for Contra Costa County. Cost is $10. To reserve a place, e-mail davemuffly@yahoo.com. Checks must be received by Nov. 1.

REDUCE WATER BILLS . . . Alrie Middlebrook will teach a class on "Gardening with Mother Nature" tomorrow from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Common Ground, 559 College Ave., Palo Alto. Her focus is on using California native plants, which reduces the need for water and does not use harmful chemicals. She will also cover creative ways to keep rain water in the garden and away from storm drains. Cost is $21. For information, call (650) 493-6072 or visit www.commongroundinpaloalto.org.

LAWN OR NATIVES? . . . Landscape designer Annaloy Nickum will discuss "How to Replace Your Lawn with a Native Garden: Basic Garden Design Principles" on Saturday, Nov. 5, 10:30 a.m. to noon, at Yerba Buena Nursery, 19500 Skyline Blvd., Woodside. Cost is $15, prepaid. For information, call Kathy Crane, owner, at (650) 851-1668 or visit www.yerbabuenanursery.com.

HOUSE OR HOME? . . . Coldwell Banker is sponsoring an essay contest, asking children what makes a house a home. Students in kindergarten through eighth grade can enter the contest, which is co-sponsored by Scholastic Custom Media, via short film on DVD or VHS, storyboard, comic book, photographs with text or illustrated essay. Prizes range from $100 to $2,000, with the teachers of the grand-prize winners getting digital cameras for their classrooms. Entries in the "My Home: The American Dream Contest" are due Dec. 1. For details, visit www.coldwellbanker.com/AmericanDream or www.scholastic.com/instructor.

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