Over the last week and more, we have experienced frost and even freezing temperatures, kind of offsetting the warmer than normal temperatures earlier. About now, the outdoor fire pit and indoor fireplaces are looking pretty good. Whether you cut, split and dry your own firewood or buy it for the...
Oak trees are proving to be more important to ecological balance than previously thought. Of the 60-plus native oaks in the United States, 22 of them are right here in Illinois. Homeowners know them for their majestic size and shape, and this time of year, for their colors of red, yellow and gold...
There are still lots of things going on in the home landscape as fall settles in. Woody plants are well on the way to dormancy; leaves are turning fall colors and coming down slowly right now. Most of our flowering perennials have lost that luster that we have enjoyed all summer. In fact, by now,...
Let's start with a few confusing sentences this week. You plant spring flowering bulbs in the fall and summer flowering bulbs in the spring. You dig up summer bulbs in the fall. You divide spring bulbs in late summer.
Your favorite spring bulbs are winter hardy and for them to bloom in the spring...
Late summer and fall are great times to plant ornamental and shade trees in the home landscape. The weather is comfortable for us and the trees can begin to establish themselves in yard before the cold weather sets in for the winter.
If you are planting a flowering ornamental like a crabapple or...
Mums and pumpkins have become a staple for fall holiday home decorations, along with straw bales, Indian corn and an array of hard rind fall gourds.
Mums and pumpkins already are available at local garden centers, farmers markets and the big box stores. Here are a few tips and tricks to keep your...
Now that we have gotten a lot of rain, plants are responding and that has been driving questions to Master Gardener Help Desks in all the counties I get to work in.
Q: My lawn finally has begun to green up after the drought, what should I be doing to get it back in shape?...
Powdery mildew can be seen every year on perennials, lawns or landscape plants at some point in the growing season. As a fungal disease, it is not limited to just ornamental plants. Vegetables like pumpkins, squash, melons and grain crops, and even houseplants, can be added to the list too.
The...
A lot of things happen towards the end of August – school has begun or is about to, the last family outing of summer, haircuts all around, and then there is the family vegetable garden. End of summer activities seem to signal the end of our time in the garden, yet the vegetable garden is not done...
An unofficial windshield survey shows an alarming level wilting foliage on ornamental and shade trees planted in the last two to three years, along with trees planted this spring. It takes an extended dry period to have tree foliage wilting. It is obvious when flowers, vegetables and our lawns need...
