Flowers, Fruits, and Frass

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Make a seed ball

July 14, 2020

Spread love and beautiful flowers! Mix clay, soil, and seeds to create a ball to easily share or you’re your own flowers. Find an area in your garden that could use some color. Toss or place the seed ball directly onto the bare soil. As it is watered (either by hand or by rain) the clay will break...

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Favorite Perennials For the Sun

July 10, 2020

While designing a perennial flower bed, remember to add personal favorites, and throw out “garden design rules” that don’t fit your vision. Some of the plants I choose are favorites because they are tough, dependable, and beautiful. blue false indigo (Baptisia australis) Native...

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Advanced butterfly gardening

July 8, 2020

Are you ready to take your butterfly gardening status to the next level and allow some of your beautiful plants to be eaten by caterpillars? Choosing the right plants, some care and voila caterpillars. I am not only altering the habitat of my backyard for the greater good, I will have some more...

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How much water does your garden need?

July 3, 2020

Originally published by Kelly Allsup on July 3, 2020. Last week's high temperatures and our limited amount of rain is making gardeners' number one job watering. Even though we have gotten some much-needed rain for the flowers and the trees, consistent watering throughout the season is...

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6 Tips for Watering Container Gardens

June 22, 2020

URBANA, Ill. – Every garden needs water, but with a container garden’s limited soil volume, proper watering is crucial for plants to stay productive. “Proper drainage is just as important as the amount of water added to the container,” says Andrew Holsinger,...

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Act Now to Avoid Unsightly Bag Worms

June 19, 2020

Bagworms hang off of trees like little diabolical ornaments, eating the needles and leaves. If you didn’t have them on your trees last year, you likely saw them elsewhere. When the Japanese tree lilacs are in bloom, it is time to scout and control bagworms. This species flowers later than other...

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Controlling Spotted-Wing Drosophila

June 16, 2020

Females can start laying eggs as soon as you see adults. Once the adult flies are discovered, management decisions should be made. Adult flies are tan with red eyes and a tiny 2-3mm-long (up to a one-eighth of an inch). Males have characteristic dark spots on their wings that can easily...

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Maple anthracnose, via U of I plant clinic

Too Much Moisture, More Tree Problems

June 12, 2020

If you are spending more time out in your backyard this week, you may have noticed some of our central Illinois trees are super ugly this spring. Maple leaves have black splotches, sycamore branches are falling to the ground and ginkgoes leaves are sparse and crinkled. All these symptoms are tree...

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Hedge Apple Woods, Bloomington, by Rick Tindall

Get Out on the Trails

June 5, 2020

In this time of social distancing and limited activities, enjoying nature should be made a priority for all who need a bit of stress release. Have you bathed in the forest lately, hugged a tree or had a therapy session with an oak? Forest bathing is Japanese practice of immersing yourself in the...

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Tropical Tuber Thrives in Illinois Heat

May 29, 2020

This week’s gardening task includes planting sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes may be a long crop (4-5 months) but with a gardener’s care, one can have poundage of storable food. Sweet potatoes, a tropical plant, usually need four to five months of warm day and night temperatures for optimal growth....

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