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Golden maple leaves backlit by autumn sun, close-up of fall foliage on tree branches

What is the best maple tree?

September 11, 2026

“Which maple should I plant?” is a question I routinely encounter. My response: “None!” Maples (Acer spp.) aren’t bad trees. In fact, they are great trees. Drive down most streets, and you will see a maple in everyone’s yard. When speaking with landscapers about their inventory and...

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Nature by design: Naturalistic landscapes

August 15, 2025

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In recent years, landscape design trends have migrated toward naturalistic aesthetics- a style that equally prioritizes ecological function, native plant selection, and beauty. For some, this may seem like an abrupt turn from the more familiar formal landscape design often employed in home...

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Planting in tight spaces: trees for confined spaces

May 2, 2025

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Trees are an essential element of a healthy, vibrant community. Trees, large and small, help clean our air, shade our landscapes, provide wildlife habitat, and improve our mental and physical well-being. Planting trees throughout our community, in parks, along streets and trails, at civic buildings...

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Wild ginger: A native groundcover for shady gardens

April 18, 2025

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Shaded areas can be difficult areas to landscape, especially when it comes to groundcovers. Turfgrass often struggles, and many commonly used groundcovers, like lily of the valley, wintercreeper, periwinkle, and English ivy, can become problematic because of their aggressive spreading and potential...

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a cedar waxwing bird sitting on a tree branch with a red berry in its mouth

Berry Succession: Creating a continuous food source for birds

March 14, 2025

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One of the most favored hobbies of outdoor enthusiasts, gardeners, and wildlife lovers is feeding the birds. Setting out a bird feeder with seed or suet cakes is a popular way many people use to feed the birds, but there are other ways to feed birds. Birds scavenge seed from plants, they will get...

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Cultivating knowledge: get ready for spring with Illinois Extension garden events

January 31, 2025

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It’s the beginning of February, and yet I can feel the excitement of the approaching growing season. As the weather teases us with thoughts of the warmth to come with temperatures creeping into the 50s it is important to note we still have more winter ahead.Even though we still have time before...

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Ten Tips for Incorporating Habitat into Your Home Landscape

September 27, 2024

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Habitat was once thought of as something outside of town in the countryside. Today incorporating habitat into home landscaping in and around towns and cities has become a top trend across the United States. However, a naturalistic landscape design style does not always fit our HOA...

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Chromatic cohesion: the power of analogous colors

April 19, 2024

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A few weeks ago, we began a discussion about color. We started with complementary colors, those that are opposite of each other on the color wheel. This week we explore analogous colors. Throughout this color exploration, we might be tempted to think only of floral color but many plants offer...

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From theory to practice: Applying complementary colors in the landscape

March 29, 2024

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Although we have been taught colors since before we began attending school, colors can be challenging. Colors are complicated and there is so much variety it may seem overwhelming. Think of the wall of paint color swatches at the hardware store, and you may recall entire sections are devoted to...

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Garden trends for the new year

January 26, 2024

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The internet is a wild place full of an endless amount of information, ideas, opinions, advice, arguments, and more. Tangled in this web, it will come as no surprise that my favorite spaces are those that relate to plants. I’ve been known to have many, many pages open in my browser window that...

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