This past Friday was Arbor Day and I was working with a local community to help celebrate by planting a tree. Of course one of the important parts of planting a tree is making sure to mulch the tree after planting. I've spoken before on the benefits of mulch but with the gardening season really...
Last week, (April 20, 2017) a client brought in a sample to the Knox County Extension office. The sample was an unknown plant needing identification. Upon initial inspection, the plant was undoubtedly milkweed, likely common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). However, this couldn't be. My...
Next Friday, April 28th is Arbor Day. The day to celebrate trees and to plant trees. Of course in my mind I don't need a specific day to plant trees, but Arbor Day is a great way to bring awareness to the importance of trees in the environment and communities. In past articles, I've written about...
"Dad, come look at all the bees!" exclaimed my two young boys last weekend. We were in Quincy visiting my mother-in-law. The kids were playing outside, and they had made a tremendous discovery. Dandelions covered in bees. Dandelions (Taraxacum officianle) are often regarded as the bane of...
I feel like I blinked and April came flying around the corner. The good thing is that the days are getting longer and gardening season has begun! I have so many things that I want to do in my garden right now but it's been so rainy that I'm still waiting for things to dry out a bit, so it does give...
A question often asked when giving presentations on landscaping and sustainability "Are native plants better than non-natives?" In my garden, I avoid holding myself to an exclusive natives-only approach, and other gardeners do not have to either. My process for choosing plant material and ruling...
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...
