Pansies brighten up spring garden URBANA, Ill. - Pansies are making a comeback in the garden world, said a University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator. "According to the Garden Media Group, pansy and violet sales were up 6.4 percent in 2011," said Rhonda Ferree. "Since then, pansies...

Take container gardening to the next level by utilizing bulbs for stunning summer displays. Summer flowering bulbs can bear some of the most beautiful blooms or striking foliage, adding surprise pops of interest to your porch or outdoor garden. This gardening adventure can be very cost-...

Going organic in your vegetable plot or landscape can be easily achieved. Opting to use compost to amend the soil instead of liquid chemical fertilizers, native plants instead of highly managed plants and refraining from using chemicals like carbaryl and organophosphate are steps gardeners take...

Oak leaf blister has started to appear on oak trees on the Illinois. This disease is caused by the fungal pathogen, Taphrina caerulescens. Members or the red oak group are more commonly affected by the disease. Symptoms are distinctive, and appear as scattered blister-like, puckered, or...

We have been receiving reports of large wasps in recent weeks that some people have "identified" by using the Internet as Asian giant hornet. This is confounded by several news stories, including some in Illinois, on supposed sightings of the Asian giant hornet. From what I can tell, there have...

Fall is a great time to test the soil and alleviate questions about fertility in your vegetable gardens or beneath that beloved shade tree. Fall soil testing allows the gardener to make additions to the soil before winter. Individual types of plants (vegetables, trees and flowers) require...

When most gardeners are dealing with the remnants of their summer harvest and preparing the garden bed for winter, most professional vegetable growers are about to have their most productive growing season of the year: fall. The fall offers a second chance at growing cool-weather vegetables...

Scoliid wasps, family Scoliidae, feed as parasitoids on the larvae of green June beetles. Where there were high numbers of these beetles, this is followed by large numbers of scoliid wasps. These are one inch long black wasps with the posterior portion of the abdomen being orange with a couple of...

Excessive Moisture can cause Tomato cracking in Blooomington NormalPicture by Missouri Botanical Garden

Local Food Systems Continue to Grow in Central Illinois A healthy local food system is like a healthy ecosystem, requiring a diverse array of partners working in collaboration to create resiliency and a high level of functionality. The University of Illinois Extension local food...

Gardening Mistakes that Cost Big Horticulture Educator, Kelly Allsup, would like to share gardening tips that can potentially save you lots of money this spring. Do not try to growing grass under trees or in shady areas of your landscape. Generally lawns are seeded with a mix of Kentucky blue...

May bring us our fifth gardening trend for 2014: Bee-neficials: It's all about the bees this year. News on bee and other pollinator populations is everywhere this spring. Obviously, pollinators are an essential requirement for many of our favorite food crops. Pollination is a process that takes...

Hydrangea leaftier, Olethreutes ferriferana, has been noticeable in central Illinois and is present in other areas of the state. Damage appears as two to four cupped leaves tied together with silk at the end of a branch. An attacked plant will typically have ten to twenty of these...

  "Propagation may be a foreign word if you are not a horticulturist or gardener, but it can be easy by following a few simple steps." states University of Illinois Horticulture Educator, Kelly Allsup. Trained horticulturists grow new plants called clones by taking simple leaf...

Attending the 2014 Home, Lawn and Garden show can only compare in excitement to the sight of the first yellow of the daffodil. The excitement derived from nearing of warm sunny weather, the presence of lush green growth and blossoms of the coming spring. An excellent way to prepare for the upcoming...

Strengthening local food systems has become a great source of hope for farmers, food buyers and educators, with the unifying push to foster collaboration. Recently, at the 2014 Local and Regional Food Summit hosted by Illinois Farm Bureau and Heartland Community College, stakeholders and...

Populations of adult Japanese beetle continue to be light in most of Illinois. Although leaf feeding damage on linden, crabapple, rose, and other trees and shrubs is obvious in some areas, the amount of damage is less than in most years and not as widespread. The reduced number of adult beetles...

Bagworms will have hatched in southern Illinois. They should hatch by mid-June in central Illinois. When newly hatched bagworms emerge from their mother's bag, they climb to the top of shrubs, trees, and any other erect object. They spin out two to three feet of silk which catches in the wind...

The dreaded squash bug is inevitable if you are growing squash, melons and pumpkins says Horticulture Educator, Kelly Allsup. It is responsible for major crop failure and causes hysterical gardeners running to buy chemicals in which to kill them. Besides this issue these crops can be really easy...