HOT TIPS : IT'S KNOT EASY.

He's expecting a tie, but this year it won't be an embarrassing conversation print or boring foulard.

In time for Father's Day gift-giving is the Preservation Collection for the Nature Conservancy, featuring bold giraffe and zebra prints, as well as designs reflecting tropical fish and birds inspired by environmental artist Karen Bierce. The silk ties, selling for $32.50, are manufactured by Mulberry Neckwear of San Francisco, maker of the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia tie collections, and are available at Robinsons-May, Bloomingdale's and Macy's stores.

For Dad who's a fish lover - as well as a Pisces - there's the new Parker Sage Astrology Neckwear collection. The entire collection is elegant, with elaborate designs based on each of the 12 zodiac signs to make sun sign spotting easy. Look for them at Bloomingdale's stores for $35 each.

- Barbara De Witt

Designer sponges soak up praise

Can fancy new sponges make housework fun? Probably not, but they might brighten up the kitchen counter.

O-Cel-O has come up with a new look for its tried-and-true, bow tie-shaped Light Duty Sponge Scrubbers that incorporates bright new sponge colors - aquatic blue, lemon, grape, geranium pink and apple green - with six new designs printed right on the scrubber part. ``Citrus,'' ``Daisies,'' ``Drinks,'' ``Gardening,'' ``Leaves,'' and ``Quilt'' designs are guaranteed not to wash out, no matter how much you scrub.

The new sponges cost the same as the old plain ones: About $1 each, $1.89 for a package of two. A bath-sized sponge sells for about $1.38. All are available in grocery, hardware, drug, convenience and discount stores.

- Carol Bidwell

Gardening series in full bloom 

A new series of books on what to plant in your garden to make it look its best will have gardeners itching to get their fingers in the soil - and nongardeners admiring the gorgeous photography.

``The Joy of Gardening'' series includes four volumes: ``Designing With Roses,'' ``Designing With Climbers,'' ``Designing With Bulbs'' and ``Designing With Perennials.'' The first three were written by noted garden writer Richard Rosenfeld, the fourth by Timothy Leese; Marcus and Jerry Harpur did the photography for all four books. (Published by Courage Books, each costs $12.98.)

These are practical, authoritative hard-cover guides for everybody from the novice to the expert in the garden.

Each volume gives how-to-select, how-to-plant and how-to-maintain advice, complete with drawings, and close-up photos enough like real life to provoke an allergy attack.

In addition to offering planting advice, the series suggests where to place plants for the best effect, such as planting a climber below a bedroom window so the fragrance wafts inside in the summer when the window is open.

The only drawback is the authors' use of Latin terms for virtually all the plants shown. While some who excelled in high school Latin will relish knowing the precise name for passiflora caerulea, most gardeners will just be glad to recognize it as a passion flower vine when they go to their home garden center to buy one.

- Carol Bidwell

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) no caption (Neckties)

(2--Color) no caption (Light Duty Sponge Scrubbers)

(3--Color) no caption (The Joy of Gardening books)