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...
Last Tuesday marked the 210th birthday of the famous botanist and naturalist, Charles Darwin, who is most well-known for his groundbreaking work on the science of evolution. In 1859, Darwin published his most noteworthy book, titled “On The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or...
The emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) is an insect from Asia that has plagued our native ash trees in Illinois since 2006. This pest was first introduced in 2002 around the Detroit area and has rapidly spread across Michigan and Indiana to infect most of Illinois today. ...
In our increasingly globalized society, invasive species have become somewhat of a way of life as we continuously intermix the world’s biota. Plants and animals from other continents tend to find their way to our landscapes and often are here for good. As a gardener, it’s difficult to keep up...
Winter time is somewhat of a downtime for deciduous trees. After a growing season’s worth of beautiful foliage, culminating in the wonderful fall display of color, woody plants enter the long, cold season of dormancy that is part of their annual life. For many of us, this is not a time...
It’s hard to imagine a foodscape without blueberries. My family grows them, picks them, eats them fresh, and freezes a good supply for the rest of the year. Throughout winter, we regularly eat them in smoothies, pancakes, and other baked goods. The fruits freeze well and keep for...
