Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Summertime brings family cookouts, swim parities, little league baseball, and the ever dreaded mosquito. Rhonda Ferree, Horticulture Educator with University of Illinois Extension, reminds us that the first step to fighting...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Landscape edging plays an important role in pulling the landscape together. Edging function is simply, says Rhonda Ferree, Horticulture Educator with University of Illinois Extension. "It forms a clean, neat line between planting...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Are plants around your house foundation old, overgrown and in need of a change? Rhonda Ferree, Horticulture Educator with University of Illinois Extension, provides the following tips for updating your homes foundation plantings. "...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator This year's New Year's Day Rose Parade once again featured many beautiful floats decorated entirely of organic material. I always watch the parade carefully and try to figure out what organic materials are being used. Amaranth is...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Fall is a fun, exciting, and busy time for gardeners. Many gardening activities are done in fall and some can only be done now. Rhonda Ferree, Horticulture Educator with University of Illinois Extension, says, "Think of fall as the...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Although typically very easy to grow, tomatoes are prone to some problems. According to Rhonda Ferree, extension educator in horticulture, University of Illinois Extension offices are receiving many questions right now concerning the...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator I spend a fair amount of time helping people sort through the many garden myths. Today's social media rage spreads information very quickly. Unfortunately it isn't always good information. For example, recipes for homemade weed...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Are you enjoying the "fruits of your labor" from your vegetable garden this summer? With proper care, vegetable gardens provide fresh produce well into the fall. Although we had record rainfall amounts in June, July might be...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Signs of spring are slowly emerging all around us. The grass is getting greener, bulbs are starting to emerge, early flowering plants are blooming, and tree buds are swelling. Even some of the winter annual weeds are starting to grow...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Do your pets eat nibble on your houseplants. If so, Rhonda Ferree, Horticulture Educator with University of Illinois Extension, suggests that you should take a good look at your houseplants to assure poisonous ones are not within...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator The National Garden Bureau has named 2015 as the Year of the Sweet Pepper. Each year the National Garden Bureau selects one annual, one perennial and one edible as their "Year of the" crops. Each is chosen because they are popular,...

Below is news from yesterday's Emerald Ash Borer Open House event in Peoria. Peoria Journal Star http://www.pjstar.com/article/20150810/NEWS/150819941 Channel 31 news...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Do you want to "spice" up your meals? Sometimes I'll add flowers to a dull looking salad to add color. Or, sometimes I just eat flowers right out in the garden. But one very important thing that you need to remember is that not...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Are your summer outings followed by days of itching discomfort? Knowing more about poison ivy and how it grows might help you avoid rash problems later. Remember the old adage, Leaves of Three, Let It Be! Poison ivy grows in various...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator If you look at ferns, mosses, lichens, and club moss closely, they look like something right out of a fairytale. In fact, these non-flowering plants do have their very own kingdom in the plant world. Instead of reproducing by flowers...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Last week I drove my son Tyler back to college for his fall semester at University of Illinois in Champaign. Along the way, he asked me what the blue flowers were along the roadside. Have you noticed the beautiful flowers blooming...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Do you compost? Composting is the ancient art of mixing by-products from your yard with water, air, and time. What better way to dispose of leaves in the fall, grass clippings throughout the summer, and kitchen vegetable scraps than...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Many of us have vegetable gardens that provide us with delicious, fresh produce all summer long, but do you also grow food indoors in the winter? Gardening is not limited to outside in the summer. I'll teach you how in my upcoming...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator The dreaded Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) continues to cause havoc across Central Illinois. All four of the counties that I cover as a Horticulture Educator with University of Illinois Extension are included in the quarantine area, which...

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator If you are an allergy sufferer, spring often brings sniffling, sneezing, and watery eyes. One culprit is pollen from flowers of trees, shrubs, grasses, and weeds. Though most of these bloom for just a short period each year,...