Four Seasons Gardening Program Offers Expanded “Special Edition” Free Spring Series webinars

The Spring series of the University of Illinois Extension’s Four Seasons Gardening Program, which focuses on environmental stewardship, home gardening, and backyard food production, gets underway the month of April. To meet the current demand for online horticultural programming, the State Horticulture Team has expanded the Spring Series to run weekly from April 7th until May 26th, in addition to the traditional three webinar options. These additional webinar offerings are focused on extending the beauty and productivity of this year's garden. Five new offerings to the Spring Series start at 1:30 p.m. each Tuesday beginning April 7th and are free to the public. The additional webinars being offered are as follows:

“Seed Starting” with Horticulture Educator Martha Smith on April 7th
“Gardening 101” with Horticulture Educator Ken Johnson on April 21st
“Colorful Vegetables” with Horticulture Educator Bruce Black on April 28th
“New Perennial Garden Theory” with Horticulture Educator Kelly Allsup on May 12th
“Creating a Pollinator Garden for Small Spaces” with Horticulture Educator Jennifer Fishburn on May 19th

Webinars are available for viewing from wherever you have internet access by

pre-registering at go.illinois.edu/fourseasons. Recorded videos of these sessions can be viewed following the program at go.illinois.edu/fourseasonsrecordings. Please note that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all local county offices are closed and are unable to offer viewing options at those locations.

The initial topics in the Spring series are also still available for viewing, and include “Slow Flowers: Grow Your Own Cut Flowers” set for Tuesday, April 14th at 1:30 p.m., “Landscape Design with Natives 101” set for Tuesday, May 5th at 1:30 p.m., and “Illinois Monarch Action Plan” set for Tuesday, May 26th at 1:30 p.m.

Each session is free to the public. Advance registration is needed. You may call the Bureau, LaSalle, Marshall and Putnam County University of Illinois Extension headquarters office for more details at 815-224-0889, or you may email Extension Program Coordinator Meg Overocker at meo@illinois.edu.

The Mission of University of Illinois Extension is to provide practical education you can trust to help people, businesses and communities solve problems, develop skills and build a better future. University of Illinois Extension provides equal opportunities in programs and employment. Visit our website at https://extension.illinois.edu/blmp

Date: 4/01/20