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Master Gardeners Blogs

This purple coneflower is infected with aster yellows, which produces odd and deformed flowers that can actually be interestingly attractive at times.

Aster yellows in central Illinois

The Garden Scoop
It is always interesting to observe plant diseases, unravel the mystery of how a particular plant became infected, and look toward solutions.  So many of these ailments have an incredibly fascinating path to infection, often including multiple species when you consider the pathogen, host and...
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A group of pinecones hanging from a branch

A look at Illinois’ native conifers

The Garden Scoop
I have always marveled at pinecones and the seeds of other conifers. Whether I was picking them up for a “collection” as a kid or watching them dangle in the treetops more recently, these exotic-looking, seed-housing structures are often a point of interest for native Illinoisians like me. ...
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Garden Scoop logo with Meserve hybrid hollies (Ilex x meserveae).

Holly for the holidays

The Garden Scoop
Evergreen holly species have long been a symbol of Christmas and other winter holidays and traditions. The dark green, prickly foliage, combined with contrasting bright red berries, can really be a showstopper in the winter landscape, providing both ornamental beauty and food for wildlife as...
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Garden Scoop logo with purple asters

Late season standouts

The Garden Scoop
With colder weather approaching, especially at nighttime, the garden's transition to winter has sped up in the last week or so. Earlier this week, I was out in the garden taking in the fall colors and looking at what plants still have something going on. Here’s a short list of some of the standouts...
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Walnut Caterpillars

Walnut Caterpillars

A few weeks ago, I was exploring a woodland near Springfield and ran across a fuzzy cluster of feeding insects. It was slightly out of reach, congregated in a lower limb of a young black walnut tree (Juglans nigra).While grabbing a nearby stick and attempting to pull the limb down and get a closer...
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Champaign County Master Gardener's Plant Trial Program

Like clockwork, the Champaign County Master Gardeners (CCMG) moved hundreds of plants from the greenhouse out to the Idea Garden on University of Illinois Campus in early May. This annual tradition has been ongoing for over two decades now as part of a plant trial program the gardeners participate...
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Preserve soil health with microorganisms

Soil microorganisms are an integral part of all ecosystems worldwide, but they often go unnoticed. These tiny pillars of the soil environment perform a variety of incredibly important ecosystem functions, such as carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling. In addition, they also help to build...
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Hand pollination of last year’s hosta flowers produced the seeds used to grow this tray of hosta seedlings. However, it will take a few more years for these plants to mature and truly express the traits gained from hybridization. Photo credit: Barb and Rick Schroeder

Hostas

Plants in the genus Hosta, collectively referred to as hostas, are one of the premier plants for ornamental gardens that lack full sun.  These resilient perennials are a mainstay of Midwestern shade gardens and remain popular in temperate regions worldwide. However, that wasn’t...
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