For gardeners, weeds represent one of our biggest challenges each growing season. These formidable foes are relentless in their quest to invade spaces and rob the plants we love of precious water and nutrients. Left unchecked they are equipped to out compete and shade out our garden...
In many communities there are iconic trees that nearly everyone recognizes and admires in passing during daily life. The spreading, stately tree at the corner of University and Prospect Avenue in Champaign is certainly a historic and interesting specimen. I cannot count the times that...
Now that March has went out like a lamb, these warmer days we are really motivating me to get out into the garden and set things in motion for the 2019 growing season. Right now is a perfect time to direct seed many of our cool-season vegetable crops, but don’t go too wild with planting or...
This past week, many folks around Champaign-Urbana and surrounding areas may have noticed plumes of white smoke gently rising in the distance or caught the scent of what seems to be the well-known smell of a campfire. It is special time of year when a tiny window of time emerges for the...
Nothing signals the coming of spring quite like a daffodil (Narcissus psuedonarcissus) in full bloom. After winter slumber as bulbs beneath the ground, these tiny plants emerge very early in the year to put on a spectacular flowering display each spring. These delightful...
It’s beginning to feel more like spring and I know that many of us are anxiously awaiting the awakening of the plant world. Although we all know spring is sure to come, it would be nice to have some assurances on the timing and date of warm weather’s arrival. Unfortunately, that’s just...
Rain gardens are one way for homeowners to use garden design as means to mitigate storm runoff by capturing and detaining water before it leaves our properties. Although these carefully designed gardens function as tiny rainwater detection areas, you wouldn't know it unless they were inundated with...
Winter is an excellent time for reflection on the past year’s growing season and any gardening successes or failures to account for next year. In this season of multitudes of seed catalog mailings, I have found it to be an ideal time to set gardening goals for the coming year during the down...
The cold of winter is absent in the Danville Area Community College (DACC) greenhouses right now, making them a wonderful oasis of green plants and horticulture in action. The 6,125 square foot facility, located in the heart of the Danville College’s campus is operated by various students and...
Historically, our part of Illinois has been more prone to ice storms than the northern or southern part of the state. Based on over 50 years of weather data from the Illinois State Water Survey, our area of Illinois (including Springfield, Bloomington and Champaign) is likely to have an...
