Following a series of windy days and storms with high winds in Central Illinois, we have received reports on large sections of trees lost, gashes left in the trunks of trees, and large splits in tree trunks. What do you do when a severe windstorm damages your landscape trees?
Obviously, during an...
With the warmer than normal weather I know that we've all been itching to get out into the garden. So now that April is almost upon us, what garden tasks should we be doing to get our hands in the garden? April is a great time to dig up and divide perennials. You'll want to make sure to plant them...
After an exceptionally mild winter, I noted my first robin sighting about three weeks ago, a sure sign of spring. Sipping on my coffee, I watched as wave after wave of robins hopped through the yard, stopping to cock their head, as if listening for worms in the soil below. Scratching and...
The other day I was teaching about Ornamental Grasses to a new group of Master Gardener's and some of the grasses I spoke about had been previously selected as the Perennial Plant of the Year. This of course got me to thinking that somehow I had failed to look into the 2017 Perennial Plant of the...
Spring has a way of surprising us year to year. Already my daffodils are up, and lilacs are beginning to leaf out. Crocus are in full bloom, and the forsythia are poised to start their show any day. My lawn mower hibernates in my garage, and it seems I may have to wake it early this year. Following...
Back in 2015 I put together a program called Busting Garden Myths as part of the statewide Four Seasons Gardening webinar series. I really enjoyed filtering through all the interesting garden myths that were out there and it still intrigues me and I still continue to do so. There are a lot of them...
I'm a foodie along with being a plant lover, I love to cook and bake and be in the kitchen. So of course there is a direct connection between the two. Gardening and cooking go hand in hand and usually that means our thoughts turn towards vegetables, but what would be a recipe without flavor from...
Insects are fantastic creatures. We marvel at their various shapes, sizes, colors, and behaviors. Well, maybe not everyone. While it is my hope we all have that inner entomologist, it is more likely many of us harbor an inner exterminator. One reason winters can be quite enjoyable is that we get a...
It's hard to believe that the first month of 2017 is nearly over. It means that the days are getting longer and that before we know it the 2017 gardening season will be here. Last time I wrote about gardening being fluid and always changing. Part of being able to adjust to the changing garden, to...
Each year I tell myself that I want to accomplish this or that in the garden. I want to try this new variety or try a new plant all together. No matter what, sometimes good intentions go awry and when the end of the year rolls around we might sigh and say darn, that didn't work, but you know what...
