The delicate act of arranging fresh flowers is a joyful art. Each bloom and sprig of foliage receives special consideration when creating an arrangement as beautiful and unique as the recipient. Local florists are already hastily preparing arrangements for the upcoming Valentine’s Day rush. Aside from Mother’s Day, this is the most popular day for gifting fresh flowers. Completed arrangements sold in a vase are attractive and convenient, but sometimes over budget. Invest a little less money...

Keep your thumb green this winter by caring for beloved garden plants indoors. The chill of winter may seem far off, but the threat of frost is nearly here. On average, the first frost in Central Illinois is mid-October, but it can occur sooner. Act now - move your favorite garden plants indoors before a damaging frost. And with a little time and care, overwintering a selection of your best garden performers indoors will save money and fill your garden next spring.   1. Choose the Right...

Your garden's floral showcase may be ending but the flowers need not disappear. Extend the life of floral garden favorites by preserving them for indoor decor. The art of preserving flowers and plant materials has been practiced for hundreds of years; colonial Americans harvested and dried flowers to decorate their homes for the long winter season. In similar fashion to early American homes, dried flowers and foliage can be used to create wreaths, potpourri, vase arrangements, or other gifts....

With over 400,000 species of plants in the world, one might wonder which ones are the best to grow in your garden or landscape. Many plant associations select a “Plant of the Year” using rigorous criteria to highlight plants they feel are deserving of the title. Consider these plants when planning your garden or looking for something new to grow this year. In 2022, Viola has earned the top spot as Herb of the Year as recognized by the International Herb Association. Members of the genus Viola...

Cultivating a love and knowledge of gardening in youth can be a rewarding experience for all. A garden offers a place to learn, play, and grow through hands-on experience in the freedom of their own backyard. Kids LOVE to dig in the soil and get their hands & feet (or even head to toes!) dirty. Many of the gardeners today share memories of gardening at a young age with a parent or grandparent.  Through gardening, youth can practice and learn many new and important skills that will last a...

Growing plants indoors can add a soft green touch, create a focal piece, or incorporate nature inside, transforming any room. Houseplants vary greatly in color, texture, size, and shape—there is a plant perfect for any spot. Research has also shown plants to improve air quality, lower stress levels, and increase productivity when they are grown in indoor spaces and homes. The most important thing to consider when growing houseplants is the placement in favorable conditions: light, temperature...

With a new year comes new gardening trends we can all get excited about. Each year, predictions are made about types of plants, colors, containers and how we utilize them. Experts use last year’s gardening purchases to make these predictions. Yet, in a world full of constant stress, this gardening columnist can make a prediction without using any data or spending trends: gardening will continue to grow as a therapeutic practice to ease the mind and soothe the body for people of all ages....

For those of us who are lucky enough to have access to fruit trees, fruit bushes, bramble fruits, or cane fruits during the year, we have a chore that needs doing this winter: pruning. Pruning out dead, dying or diseased wood from all those wonderful plants and trees is an absolutely essential part of their management if good quality and quantity of fruit harvest is desired. Pruning is done in the dormant season, which for this part of Illinois is roughly January 1st until mid-March...

Here we are, knee-deep in the holidays, and our gardens have finally been tucked in for the long winter nap. It’s a time of year many growers look forward to, a time to finally put up their aching feet, assess how the growing season went, reflect on successes, failures and what to do better next year. Some of the decisions many folks reflect on, including myself, are: did I grow the right garden plants this year? The right variety? The right amount? The good news is that we have a nice chunk of...

Celebrating the year’s crops with a Thanksgiving feast has been a tradition for over 400 years. Likely in 1621, individuals fed their families and communities by growing vegetables in the field. This past summer, Illinois residents went to farmer's markets despite pandemic conditions as America continues to demand locally sourced vegetables and increased access to healthy food.   “Locally grown food isn’t shipped thousands of miles, which reduces the carbon footprint, supports our local...

The glow of the intense bright red color, corky ridges on the branches, and bright orange or red berries  of your neighborhood burning bushes may entice you, but remember planting and growing them will lead to further degradation of the Illinois wildscape. The ornamental berries of this common landscape plant spread aggressively by birds and other wildlife in the understory of our forests and outcompete native plants. Most who love this plant for its adaptability, prunabilty, and impressive...

Are you ready to toss in the towel on your overgrown, drab-looking container gardens for the year? Unfortunately, our gorgeous summer containers are now fading due to the stress of the summer heat, possible insects or diseases, and the changing temperatures and sunlight in fall. Don’t give up! Now is the perfect time to give them a fall makeover and create a beautiful display of autumnal colors amongst the pumpkins on your front porch for a couple of months. Keep healthy plants If some of...

Growing up, a summer meal at grandma and grandpa’s house wasn’t complete without a giant, juicy tomato and fried squash blossoms. Squash blossoms are one example of edible flowers that are already growing in our gardens and just waiting for us to enjoy. Edible flowers can be added as the main ingredient in a new recipe, offer a little spice to a dish, or even used as a garnish to add some color and texture to a plate. Proper identification is important when eating any flower or plant. Even if...

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The state insect, the monarch butterfly, is facing a crisis. Each May, Illinoisans celebrate the monarch butterfly, but University of Illinois Extension Horticulture Educator Kelly Allsup says that Illinois residents should be worried. The yearly count of monarchs decreased by 53% in 2019 from the following year, says Allsup. "This most recent drop may not be directly correlated to our reduced milkweed numbers; drought and other environmental factors are also contributing...

Some trees may be showing damage from the late frost much of Illinois had in May for several months to come as well as diseases that pop up during the rainy, cool spring weather. Watering during the hot dry months of summer will help these trees back to being a beautiful specimen. Frost stress in trees Large dark black sections are showing up on oak and other tree leaves in the backyards across Illinois. The frost hit at a vulnerable time when leaves were just beginning to emerge, rupturing...

If you have a vigorous perennial that has been in the garden bed for more than a few years, or it is starting to choke out some other plants and no longer looking healthy, then it may be time to divide. Plants that need to be divided cannot support healthy foliage and flowers. Some perennials like to be divided yearly (chrysanthemum); some can go three to five years without division; some can go much longer. Some do not require division at all, like butterfly weed with the taproot, or baby’s...

Originally published by Kelly Allsup on April 16, 2020. Most homes have insufficient light, inconsistent temperatures and tap water containing fluoride — all of which make it nearly impossible have lush foliage during the winter months. However, most tropical houseplants can be sustained and even thrive in these conditions. Houseplants such as devil’s ivy, dieffenbachia, and peace lily do very well with low light and temperatures that are not the ideal 75 to 80 degrees. However,...

The Perennial Plant Association is proud to announce the 2020 Perennial Plant of the Year®! Aralia ‘Sun King’ is a fabulous high-impact perennial that brings a bold pop of glowing color and texture to the shade or part shade garden. It's a secret that just Perennial Plant Association (PPA) members know! PPA members can annually nominate 2 perennials for consideration. The top 5 nominees are put on the ballot. PPA members vote for the Perennial Plant of the Year® each summer. Aralia ‘Sun King’...

In the world of landscaping, trees are the backbones of the landscape. They are permanent structures that have stately features, shade our homes, provide spring floral displays, and some amazing fall color. There are, however, some trees that just behave badly. You’re likely familiar with maples that drop their helicopter seeds (known as samaras) all over the neighborhood, sprouting up scattered shoots in our lawns and flowerbeds—hard to call this a bad tree with the fun they bring to children...

Have you ever heard a horticulturists encourage the use of plants having “multiple seasons of interest”? This might be said in response to someone’s complaints about forsythia, for example. Forsythia blooms in spring, an explosion of lemon-yellow blossoms covering the plant. But the rest of the year, it is drab and unruly. The unruliness causes many gardeners to shear the shrub into boxes (completely unnecessarily) and then when spring comes again the flower display is subpar and sparse—one...