University of Illinois Extension

Events (2)

Master Gardener In-Person Training Registration Closes

Mon, 09/06/2021 - 12:00

Macon County Extension Office
3351 North President Howard Brown Blvd
Decatur, IL 62521

Black and white photo with cabbage, flower, 2 groups of people.

Master Gardener Fall 2021 Self-Paced Online Training Registration Closes

Mon, 09/06/2021 - 12:00

Online

Black and white photo with cabbage, flower, 2 groups of people.

Blog Posts (114)

Watering Trees and Shrubs

As the summer heat intensifies and rainfall dwindles, watering newly planted trees and shrubs becomes incredibly important.

Purple Foliage in Shade Trees

‘Forest Pansy’ is a cultivar of our native redbud that offers unique purple foliage.

Get to know plant galls

Help stressed trees by watering during heat of summer

Leaves and frost damage

17-Year Cicadas of Brood X

This year, periodical cicadas in Brood X will emerge across Indiana and a small, 4-county area of central Illinois.

Surveying winter damage as spring emerges

Two invasive landscape trees you didn’t know about: Tree of Heaven and Amur Corktree

The impact of emerald ash borer

The impact of emerald ash borer. Dying ash trees with thinning canopies.

Top Four Spring-Flowering Trees to Plant

Redbud is a fantastic spring-flowering tree offering the best floral display of any Illinois native tree.

Three planting tips to increase your tree’s life

bareroot tree planting

The harsh reality of the Bradford Pear

A certain air around Callery Pear

Callery Pear on forest edge - Photo by Chris Evans, University of Illinois Extension

Dealing with storm damaged trees and preparing for the next disaster

Storm Damaged Tree

Time to do all kinds of pruning

How to create butterfly habitat in your garden

Gray hairstreak butterfly (Strymon melinus) feeding on a Coreopsis flower. Flower has bright yellow petals with a dark red center

River Birch

River birch is a native tree with excellent winter appeal from its beautiful, exfoliating bark.

Shade Tree Pruning

This young red maple could benefit from corrective pruning to establish a central leader that is free of competition from adjacent limbs.

Tree pruning tips for 2021

diagram of branch bark ridge and branch bark collar

Proper Pruning of Trees

loppers cutting a tree branch

Angiosperms vs Gymnosperms

Gymnosperms, like this Colorado blue spruce, are a group of nonflowering plants that emerged several hundred million years before flowering plants (angiosperms) entered the evolutionary history of the plant kingdom.

Fruit trees have a place, even in a small yard

Ice Accumulation on Trees and Shrubs

Ice accumulation yesterday resulted in damage to many trees and shrubs in our area.

Winter Salt Damage to Landscape Plants

The frosty accumulation of ice crystals on these spruce needles resulted from the wafting spray of an adjacent (untreated) roadway and serves to illustrate how salt spray can accumulate on plant parts.

How to measure and handle firewood

Many ways to recycle the Christmas tree

How Woody Plants Grow

Trees and other woody plants grow from buds at tip of each limb which release hormones to suppress growth of other buds lower down the stem.

Kissing under the mistletoe – A holiday favorite with a dark side

European mistletoe with green leaves and white berries on a wooden table

History and helpful hints for Christmas trees

evergreen tree with red ornaments

Harvesting evergreens for holiday decorations

holiday decor harvested from backyard

Christmas Tree Selection

Christmas trees

Selecting a Christmas Tree for the Holidays

Fresh cut trees provide some wonderful indoor greenery for the Holiday Season.

Fall evokes the five basic senses - November, 2020

Winter Protection for Newly Planted Trees and Shrubs

Metal hardware cloth is a great material to protect young trees and shrubs from winter browsing wildlife.

Overwintering potted plants

pots with dormant plants covered in snow clustered together on a porch

How to winterize your young and fruit trees

Top Four Spookiest Native Trees

Honey locust can have large and terrifying thorns making it one of our spookiest native trees.

Species Profile: White Oak

Upper branches of white oak tree

Dealing with Fall Drought: Get your plants ready for winter

dry soil in the fall

Evergreens losing needles: Fall needle drop

pine with fall displaying fall needle drop, older needles are turning yellow while newer needles remain green

Contemplation of trees

looking up from the ground into the sky between tall trees with green leaves

Fall Color in Oaks

Benefits of Urban Trees

Fall Tree Planting

Poisonous Plants

Forest Management, HIPP and RCPP

Hackberry Gall

Ice Storms and Tree Damage

Maple Seed Production

Garden Storm Damage

Osage Orange

2019 Gardening Goals

Emerald Ash Borer and Other Species Eliminating Pests or Pathogens

Tree Bark

Christmas Tree Selection

Fall Color

Larch

Black Walnut

Sycamores

Flowering Crabapples

Winter Damage to Evergreens

Pawpaw

Making Maple Syrup

Local Tropical Getaway

2018 Gardening Goals

The Norfolk Island Pine

Fall Color in Conifers

Reaping the Apple Harvest

Dawn Redwood: A Living Fossil

Early Fall Color

Weather influences foliar disease

How Native is Native?

Bald cypress is an Illinois native plant only know to occur in extreme southern Illinois. While it does wonderfully when planted here is central Illinois, should it be considered native?

Should we paint tree wounds?

wound sealer painted on a tree wound

Bacterial Leaf Scorch in Oaks

This pin oak tree tested positive for bacterial leaf scorch and displays the most distinctive symptoms characterized by brown leaf margins, a colorful band and green tissue along leaf veins.

How plants and pests begin preparing for fall

Late summer questions to the Master Gardeners

Understanding storm damage to trees

photo of downed tree

The gall of insects (tree bumps and lumps)

Plant Pathogen Spread

The alien-looking fingers protruding from these crabapples release spores that can infect trees in the juniper family to perpetuate cedar-apple rust disease.

Watering tips for hot weather

Tree troubles usually start at the base of the trunk

Tree troubles usually start at the base of the trunk

Early History of Pollinators and Plants

This two-spotted bumble bee forages pollen on the flower of a spirea shrub

Top 5 early summer topics for gardeners

How much water does your garden need?

Too Much Moisture, More Tree Problems

Maple anthracnose, via U of I plant clinic

Sycamores and Anthracnose

Sycamores across central Illinois are late to leaf out this year due to a commonly occurring fungal infection.

Get Out on the Trails

Hedge Apple Woods, Bloomington, by Rick Tindall

Trees deserve to be mulched the right way

Recommended Replacements for Problem Trees

Native hawthorn trees are in full bloom this week with a canopy filled with tiny white flowers.

Two Trees You Should Never Plant in Illinois

Colorado blue spruce is a non-native, commonly planted landscape tree that suffers from many issues here in Illinois.

Fruit Trees and Winter Injury

Apple trees in our area are in full bloom this week. Unlike peach trees which suffered cold damage, many apple trees in central Illinois seem to have endured.

Magnolias and Pollination

Saucer magnolia is currently in full bloom in our area with an abundance of white to pinkish, showy flowers

How to Plant a Fruit Tree

Planting a fruit tree requires digging a hole the size of the roots.

Spring Pruning Can Hurt Your Tree’s Bank Account

Spring Pruning Can Hurt Your Tree’s Bank Account

Tree Identification

Ash trees have a distinctive, opposite branch arrangement observable by twigs that occur directly across from each other on each stem.

Urban Tree Planting

Newly planted urban trees are at risk of mortality if proper after-planting care, such as mulching and watering, is not carefully tended.

Rapid Response to Ramorum Blight

This rhododendron shoot is infected with the pathogen Phytopthora ramorum, displaying the typical symptoms of ramorum blight. PC UI Plant Clinic

Weeding out Invasives

The green foliage in this picture is bush honeysuckle, which is an invasive species that dominates forest understories in Illinois. If not weeded out...

Old Trees

Old Trees

Bringing Spring Indoors - Forcing Branches

branches from cherry tree blooming indoors

Recycle or Repurpose your Christmas Tree

New Year, New Yard: Making plans for your landscape in 2020

New Year New Yard

Christmas Trees After the Holidays

Christmas trees leaning against wooden pallets in a snow covered field

Pick the Christmas Tree Right for You - Artificial vs. Real

Selecting Your Christmas Tree

evergreen trees

Winter Dormancy in the Landscape

Winter Dormancy

Fall's Frequent Topic Review

Not All Trees Are Good Trees

Bronze leaves of Tree of Heaven

Using Fallen Leaves

fallen leaves on turfgrass

Why do tree leaves change color in autumn?

orange and yellow fall leaves

Enjoying the final hurrahs of a staple landscape tree

sunshine through ash tree leaves

Fall is for More than Tree Planting

Preparing Black Walnuts for Eating

Galls Abound All Around

What to do When Trees are Damaged in a Wind Storm

News Releases (35)

Hire tree care professional with confidence

Livingston County Master Gardener Help Desk Open

Missing Arbor Day doesn't mean you can't plant a tree

New directory connects Illinois woodland owners with professional foresters

Extension is here to share in your gardening triumphs and woes

Healthy forests start with single tree, hands-on landowners

Spruce, Callery pear have no home in Illinois landscapes

Learn to identify trees in winter with bark, twigs, buds

Landowners need to know timber's worth before selling

Become a U of I Extension Master Gardener

Preventing fruit tree diseases starts in the dormant season

Picking the perfect Christmas tree starts at home

Grow a living Christmas tree with Norfolk Island Pine

How to care for a living Christmas tree

Extend the life of urban forests with Urban Tree Conference

Learn from home with Good Growing Winter Webinars

When to worry about needle drop on white pine trees

Unsightly black spots on maple leaves won’t harm trees

Planting trees boosts curb appeal and benefits the urban environment

Exfoliating bark trees add great appeal

Fall is a great time for planting trees

Fall flowering witch hazel charms home gardens

Select the right tree for fall planting in Illinois

Research drone photos spot invasive species

Prevent oak wilt from damaging your trees

Nature adapts when heat waves hit

Illinois’ big trees are on the map

Too much of a good thing, mulch volcanoes slowly kill trees

Grow apple trees in your urban garden

Increase life span of urban trees

Familiar tale: Victims of emerald ash borer and other exotic pests

Christmas tree hitchhikers

Oak Pests and Diseases Workshop

Learn how to identify trees correctly

University of Illinois Extension to Host Tree Selection and Care Workshop

Staff (5)

Travis Cleveland

Travis Cleveland

Extension Specialist, Plant Pathology

Christopher Enroth

Christopher Enroth

Horticulture Extension Educator

Doug Gucker staff photo

Douglas B. Gucker

Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator

Richard Hentschel

Richard Hentschel

Horticulture Educator

Sarah Vogel staff photo

Sarah Vogel

Horticulture and Natural Resources Educator