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How to plant flower bulbs for a colorful spring display. Different types of spring-blooming bulbs

How to plant flower bulbs for a colorful spring display

The days are getting shorter, and the temperatures are finally getting cooler, meaning fall has arrived. While many of our gardening activities are starting to wind down, it’s time to start thinking about planting our spring-blooming bulbs. Bulbs such as crocus, tulips, daffodils, as well as a host...
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lady beetle on window sill

Where did all these insects come from?

As the crisp cool air of fall approaches, you might enjoy warming up with a sweatshirt or cuddling up with an additional blanket, and you are not alone! Many insects and other pests are making plans to move somewhere warm to survive the winter, and often that place is your home. The multicolored...
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Celebrate the colors of fall with autumn flowers

It has begun. The corn has turned. Transforming much of the Illinois landscape into a sea of tan. The soybeans are following with their yellow hues. Combines churn away, as the heavy scent of plant debris permeates the truck cab. Bright seas of goldenrod sway in the wind, as if a welcome mat laid...
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Fall armyworm feeding on ear of corn

Fall armyworm numbers highest in 30 years in Illinois

Fall armyworms are here, and can you say destructive? Some entomologists have even said it is the worst they have seen in 30 years! Damage done by fall armyworms this year has been seen in lawns, hayfields, pastures, soybeans, corn, and gardens. With a large appetite and their habit of “marching”...
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How to divide and plant bearded iris. person digging a bearded iris clump

How to divide and plant bearded iris

Irises are easy to grow, long-lived, and relatively carefree perennials, making them some of the most popular flowers in gardens. They can also be found in a variety of colors, ranging from pink, purple, yellow, peach, green, white, tan, bronze, to almost black, and bi-color. The American...
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Peaches on tree

Celebrate National Peach Month

August is National Peach month, and who doesn’t love fresh peaches! Not only is the whole month dedicated to celebrating peaches, but we also have Eat a Peach Day on August 22nd and National Peach Pie Day on August 24th. If President Reagan was really thinking, he would have also named August...
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diseased lilac leaves

What's wrong with my lilac? Summer foliar diseases on lilac

This year has been good for many plants, but not all. In late spring Central Illinois went through almost three weeks where it rained at least once per day. Many of our plants responded to this favorably. Standing in a pollinator garden a few days ago, the goldenrod towered over me. Our vegetable...
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