The fall foliage show of reds, yellows, gold have begun to subside and soon enough a night of below freezing temperatures will bring that to a close and all those leaves will end up in the landscape.
If you are out there in the country with natural woodlands, leaves play a part in preserving the...
Our ornamental landscape beds are really going through the process of getting ready for winter in a big way now. The weather pattern with warm days and cooler to cold nights has triggered the plants physiology from one of active growth to that of preparing for dormancy. Once that begins, there are...
We should have been expecting it, but no one is really ever ready for the first really cold weather we get. Our hardy trees, shrubs and evergreens or perennials weren't really impacted by low 30's and upper 30's that areas in the Fox Valley received. Gardeners do plant lots of tender flowers for...
Squirrels clearly know fall is approaching based on the calls coming into the Master Gardeners help desk telephone line and homeowners bringing in handfuls of small oak twigs. Squirrels will, on an annual basis collect, hide, and eat a great many acorns in anticipation of winter, it is what...
All this cooler weather especially at night is having an effect on all our plants in the landscape. The temperatures we have been having at night especially have caused changes in how the plants have switched from actively growing to getting ready for dormancy. The plants used as annuals or as...
All the rain and cooler weather has really started a change in the home landscape and vegetable garden.
The fall and cooler season vegetables really like this weather and have been growing well. Those warm season vegetables like tomatoes and peppers begin to shut down as night time temperatures...
Home lawns have come alive again as their fall pattern of increased growth has returned. Gardeners need to mow more frequently for the next few weeks to keep up and follow the 1/3 rule of not removing more than 1/3 of the grass blade at any one mowing. A sharp mower blade will also keep the lawn...
Gardeners would normally see damage from grubs or sod webworms this time of year. With our rainfall this summer, grub damage if they are even out there will be minimal. The winter weather took out a large percentage of the Japanese beetle grubs, so we have not seen that big population we have in...
Landscapes flower and vegetable beds sure needed some moisture; just getting it all at once is not ideal. Couple the high humidity, temperatures together, and we have great opportunities for disease outbreaks in the yard.
Some general precautions would be NOT to work in the beds at all while the...
We are lucky here in the Midwest to be able to enjoy spring and summer bulbs alike. We plant spring bulbs in the fall and summer bulbs in the spring. We let spring bulbs overwinter in our garden beds and dig up summer bulbs to overwinter indoors.
Our spring bulbs need a cold treatment to trigger...
