Originally published by Kelly Allsup on October 23, 2020.
You have likely spied upon, or even befriended, praying mantises in your garden this growing season. Although most adults die out during the late fall and early winter, they likely left behind a foamy garden ornament in your...
A homeowner who is interested in eco-friendly gardening may want to consider incorporating a rain garden into their landscape.
A rain garden is a permeable landscape feature that improves the quality of water runoff while adding beauty and supporting pollinating insects and birds. Typically...
As many perennial plants are getting ready to go dormant for the winter, it is time to start thinking about next spring’s floral display and plant spring-flowering bulbs. The best time to plant spring bulbs is late September through October to allow sufficient time for a good root system to develop...
This is the time of the year to make tough decisions about what will take up residence in the house and what will succumb to the frost. Though frost will inevitably kill off most of the tender plants that I have cared for all summer, some of these plants can be saved for next year.
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A few years back, Illinois gardeners learned that there is more to monarch decline than a lack of milkweed to support larvae, or habitat destruction in their overwintering home. Another contributing factor is a lack of floral resources for adult monarch butterflies to make the journey in the fall...
Roadside weed, or golden torch beckoning all the bees in the neighborhood?
Tall and gangly, goldenrod offers the latter to interested gardeners. My front landscape bed is dedicated to pollinators, so I have planted native Showy goldenrod (Solidago speciosa) right in the middle, and it has not...
When thinking of fall bloomers for your garden, everyone's usual go-to is the mum, but don’t rule out the gorgeous asters sitting next to the mums. There are 180 species of aster, many of which are native to Illinois. New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) and aromatic aster (...
Proactive strategies can lessen the extent of wildlife damage to your gardens through fall and winter.
Once the ground is frozen, rabbits will have fewer places to take shelter or hide, and will forage for food a lot closer to the protection of their winter home. They will go for anything green...
Connie Kostelc has been a Master Gardener volunteer for University of Illinois Extension in Livingston County for the last 22 years. When gardening for edible plants, Connie uses the French intensive raised bed method.
Connie says the look of a French Intensive raised bed garden is different than...
1. Adding eggshells when planting tomatoes adds calcium and prevents blossom end rot. Fiction.
Eggshells add very little immediate calcium to the plant.
Any composter who has added eggshells to their pile know that it takes several months, often more than a year, for eggshells to break down. And...
