Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator
Start next year's flower display this fall. Now is the time to set out the spring flowering bulbs. It seems like a lot of work now, but after the long winter, you will enjoy those blooms. In addition to the standards such as tulips...
Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator
Boxelder bugs are common almost every year, but can be particularly prevalent in hot, dry years.
Boxelder bugs are 1/2-inch long dark brown or black insects with conspicuous red markings on their wings. Boxelder bugs have two...
Many of the plants in the autumn garden can be used to make decorations, said Martha Smith, a University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator. Making them can be fun for the whole family. "Autumn brings its own personality," she said. "Plant colors change in response to shorter days and...
Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator
I remember going on the Spoon River Drive each fall with my Grandma and Grandpa Simmons. I loved visiting the old school house in London Mills and eating ham-n-beans scooped from a large cast-iron pot. Each year my Grandpa purchased...
New Release by Kelly Estes, Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey Coordinator for Illinois It is not uncommon to find stink bugs during the summer near tree fruits such as apples or peaches or in the garden. During the fall months, stink bugs are looking for places to hide in order to survive...
Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator
It's fall festival time again. Time for spiced apples, beautiful fall colors, arts and crafts, and locally grown produce. I've never been to a fall festival when those items didn't include gourds either for sale individually or...
Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator
My son Derek just moved to Monterey California to attend graduate school at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies. California has been in a drought for a very long time, and so water conservation is a real concern there...
Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator
We've all heard wives'-tales that predict the weather. I can still hear my grandma saying, "Red sky at night, sailors delight; Red sky in morning, sailors warning." There are legends of people using groundhogs, hornets, woolly bear...
Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator
As a plant geek I am often fascinated by how plants work. Take vining and climbing plants and the methods that they use to grow vertically.
In broad terms, climbing plants are either clinging or non-clinging. As the name implies,...
Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator
I have been battling some difficult and very invasive weeds this summer in my yard.
A new weed in my gardens this summer is prickly sida (Sida spinosa), also called prickly mallow. This summer annual has a yellow flower and...
