Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Winter is so unpredictable anymore. Snow is pretty, heavy snows and cold temperatures do affect plants as well as humans. Fortunately, most of our landscape plants are well adapted to the snow and cold. Accumulations of snow can...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator The color blue is sometimes difficult to use in the garden. This is partly because there are very few true blue flowers in nature and partly because some of the most striking blue-flowered plants are challenging to grow in Central...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator I have been enjoying trying new foods using recipes that often call for ingredients I'm not familiar with. Last week I learned that quinoa is a grain-like seed with high protein value. Now, let's take a closer look at flax. Flax is...

New Release by Kelly Estes, Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey Coordinator for Illinois It is not uncommon to find stink bugs during the summer near tree fruits such as apples or peaches or in the garden. During the fall months, stink bugs are looking for places to hide in order to survive...

Cranberries are a staple for many people during the holidays. We use them to make cranberry salad or jello for the holiday dinner. Many people also string them with popcorn to make a beautiful garland decoration. I love to eat cranberries and find their history and production practices fascinating...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Old fashioned flowers and flowering shrubs are the most recent gardening trend. Roses, hydrangeas, sweet pea, lilac, and more are becoming commonplace again in our gardens. Technically, an heirloom is defined as a plant that is open...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Twisty curvy and weeping plants are fun to look at, but hard to use in the landscape. They are so unique and special that they must have a special spot to really work. Most should be used as a planned focal point, since they...

Did you know that the sweet corn you eat this summer most likely has direct ties to the University of Illinois? John R. Laughnan, a University of Illinois professor of botany and plant genetics, discovered supersweet corn in 1953. He discovered that the kernels of a mutant of corn were "unusually...

If you are planning a community garden, this toolkit from the University of Missouri will be a big help. https://web.extension.illinois.edu/fmpt/downloads/45968.pdf

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Gardening is for everyone, but is especially important for children. I cannot over-emphasize the importance of gardening with kids. It encourages personal growth, environmental stewardship, hands-on learning, improved nutrition,...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Summer is the time for family and school reunions. Rhonda Ferree, Horticulture Educator with University of Illinois Extension, suggests taking reunions to another level by starting a reunion garden. "School reunion gardens are...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Are you enjoying the "fruits of your labor" from your vegetable garden this summer? With proper care, vegetable gardens provide fresh produce well into the fall. It is essential to keep plants watered consistently during the heat of...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator I remember going on the Spoon River Drive each fall with my Grandma and Grandpa Simmons. I loved visiting the old school house in London Mills and eating ham-n-beans scooped from a large cast-iron pot. Each year my Grandpa purchased...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator When it comes to pollination, honey bees get a majority of the attention. However, many insects play a role in pollination. What is Pollination? Pollination occurs when pollen grains move between two flowers of the same species, or...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Growing your own food is easy and fun. This year I will write more spotlights on backyard food production in this column. To get us started, here are excerpts from an article written by my colleague Richard Hentschel. Richard writes...

Original article found at http://hyg.ipm.illinois.edu/article.php?id=826 Adult Japanese beetles have been reported in southern, central, and northern Illinois. Early control reduces damage through the six weeks that they are actively feeding as beetles are attracted to previous feeding damage....

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator We've all heard wives'-tales that predict the weather. I can still hear my grandma saying, "Red sky at night, sailors delight; Red sky in morning, sailors warning." There are legends of people using groundhogs, hornets, woolly bear...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator I have been battling some difficult and very invasive weeds this summer in my yard. A new weed in my gardens this summer is prickly sida (Sida spinosa), also called prickly mallow. This summer annual has a yellow flower and...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Every year I get questions about bizarre oak leaf damage that most people think is caused by a terrible insect infestation. Although some insects feed on oak trees, often the samples I see have a condition called Oak Tatters. I...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator As the holiday season approaches, it seems appropriate to discuss the issue of sweet potatoes versus yams. Officially a sweet potato is never a yam, but sweet potatoes are often sometimes referred to as yams. Sweet potatoes (...