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The Garden Scoop

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These young prairie dropseed plants will mature into a nice sidewalk border of thin, feathery vegetation.

Landscaping with native grasses

Nothing beats the light and airy look of tall, distinctive grasses in a landscape arrangement. The fluffy seedheads and slender, and attractive stems practically dance in the wind on breezy days, adding texture as well as a structural element to any landscape bed.    For many years, there was a...
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Sycamores across central Illinois are late to leaf out this year due to a commonly occurring fungal infection.

Sycamores and Anthracnose

It has been another difficult spring for sycamore trees across central Illinois as near bare canopies of this tree stick out among the fully developed leaves of neighboring trees.  However, this doesn’t necessarily spell doom for your sickly looking sycamore.  It’s all caused by naturally occurring...
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Garlic mustard is in full bloom right now with clusters of tiny white flowers and distinctive leaves that have a garlic-like aroma when crushed.

Invasive Species

Invasive species can be characterized as any non-native species that is introduced to a new location, has the ability to spread and causes some kind of harm.   Across Illinois and around the globe, invasive species cause significant ecological and economic damage each year.  In the ever globalizing...
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Bluebells are a beautiful native wildflower that adds a splash of blueish-purple to both woodlands and landscape gardens in spring.

Virginia Bluebells

We all have our favorite spring wildflowers for one reason or another. Maybe they are part of a native plant community we visit often, such as a close-by natural area or favorite park trail?  Perhaps our preference comes from the plants we are able to cultivate at home, in our own gardens?  For me...
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New Vegetable Garden Maintenance

New Vegetable Garden Maintenance – Weed and Watering

Vegetable gardening takes some forethought and planning to ensure your garden space is ready, select the best crops, and get everything planted while working around spring rains.  Our enthusiasm and planning in early spring typically culminates in the planted garden and often wanes as the work and...
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Beets are a cool-season vegetable that can be direct seeded into the garden now.

Selecting Plants for the Vegetable Garden

Although this past week’s weather trended toward more winter-like conditions, we all know that warmer spring weather is just right around the corner and next week looks quite promising.  One of the key factors in knowing when to plant your vegetable garden relates back to weather since some plants...
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Raised garden beds are a great solution to a variety of common soil issues.

Analyzing Soils for New Vegetable Gardens

In last week’s blog, I covered the basics of site selection for a new vegetable garden.  Finding the best location in your yard, or understanding that containers may be the winning option is a really important part of setting up your growing space for success.  I would like to continue the...
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Wild Ramps

As the local food movement has grown in popularity, an interesting subset of “foodies” have emerged that forage in nature for their dinner.  Many native, wild plants are edible and these folks seek them out in our forests, prairies, and sometimes even our yards.  One plant that is often a target...
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