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...

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...

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...

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...

With the arrival of color temperatures and shorter days, plants have begun the process of preparing themselves for the coming winter. One of the most notable ways this happens is the ...

Invite nature into your backyard A parent fed up with their child’s persistent use of technology (internet, video games, tablet, you name it!) has decided to pull the plug on their sedentary habits. They strip the devices from their child’s hands and throw them outside and say “Go play!” The child...

A local problem with widespread implications What is a watershed? No matter where you live, you are in a watershed. All of Illinois, minus that sliver of land bordering Lake Michigan, is in the Mississippi River Watershed. But we can break down this massive watershed into more local streams and...

Hold on to your hats! It is windy here in Illinois. Wind can be destructive to our homes and landscapes, plus it can make being outside miserable. This is why many Illinoisians plant windbreaks around their homes to keep that biting wind from causing a drafty house, prevent drifting snow, and make...

Our landscapes are more than flowers and trees. Within a natural landscape, you will find multiple layers starting at the ground level and moving all the way up into the canopy of the trees. Wildlife utilizes these layers depending on their needs, like nesting and breeding or gathering food. Plants...

In all walks of life there are do’s and don’ts, but in my world of teaching horticulture a very rare word to use is “should.” I don’t like to use the word should. The word “should” tends to turn people off when receiving advice. When people call the Extension office, I make a conscious effort not...

From a horticultural perspective, the term “habit” is not what you think. Though there are certainly some bad habits in gardening like not cleaning soil off tools or buying plants with no feasible location to plant them. When you hear a horticulturist say the term “habit” what we are referring to...

Landscape fabric. It’s what goes under the mulch. Right? I’ve had several conversations with home gardeners looking for a permanent solution to keeping the weeds down and each time I warn them about the use of landscape fabric. If you’re thinking, “Hang on! Landscape fabric doesn’t work?” Of...