For many gardeners, an entire season of continuously blooming plants is a primary goal. Not only do these fantastic flowers deliver ornate beauty throughout the year, but they are also greatly beneficial to pollinators by providing a continuous food source of pollen and nectar. Since...
The term native often means different things to different people. Most definitions draw a line between geography and time scale which typically is demarcated by the point of human intervention or influence on the landscape. I really like this definition from the Forest Service in 2012, “A...
This past week was National Pollinator Week, a time set aside to celebrate the amazing and monumental task that pollinators perform each and every growing season. Worldwide, animals pollinate about seventy-five percent of all plant species, and about ninety percent of all flowering plants....
Nothing beats the light and airy look of tall, distinctive grasses in a landscape arrangement. The fluffy seedheads and slender, and attractive stems practically dance in the wind on breezy days, adding texture as well as a structural element to any landscape bed.
For many years...
It has been another difficult spring for sycamore trees across central Illinois as near bare canopies of this tree stick out among the fully developed leaves of neighboring trees. However, this doesn’t necessarily spell doom for your sickly looking sycamore. It’s all caused by naturally...
A properly planted and well located tree can last longer than a human lifetime, so tree selection is an important decision. Last week I talked about a few commonly available trees to...
Invasive species can be characterized as any non-native species that is introduced to a new location, has the ability to spread and causes some kind of harm. Across Illinois and around the globe, invasive species cause significant ecological and economic damage each year. In the...
We all have our favorite spring wildflowers for one reason or another. Maybe they are part of a native plant community we visit often, such as a close-by natural area or favorite park trail? Perhaps our preference comes from the plants we are able to cultivate at home, in our own gardens?...
Trees represent some of the most long-lived vegetation in the landscape. As such, these perennial, woody plants are also some of the highest valued plant material in our yards, parks, and urban areas. Tree identification is an important first step in understanding the care of these...
Warming spring weather is often enough motivation to get many of us out looking for the first blooms of the growing season. In my home garden, snow crocus (Crocus sieberi) is about the only plant that has started to show life over recent days, reaching full bloom sometime earlier this week....
