Use the dead of winter to make plans for bringing your landscape back to life.
Illinois has eight native conifer species, though several are quite rare.
A fascinating publication from 1915 titled 'The Prairie Spirit in Landscape Gardening' provides an interesting view of landscape design from the past.
The use of native plants in landscape design is a growing trend as gardeners and landscapers learn more about sustainability and the important ecological role native plants provide in the environment. But though the concept may finally be gaining momentum, it is not new to landscaping.
There is a growing body of research supporting the use of native plants in landscaping to preserve local biodiversity and sustain native wildlife populations. Currently, much of our urban plant composition is not composed of native species, based on a historical preference for non-native, ex…
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The colorful winter plant has been associated with holiday traditions since Pagan times.
With the right care, they’re the gift that keeps on giving.
The UI Extension's next round of Master Gardener classes starts at the end of January.
The tubers that are a staple on Thanksgiving tables are also a critical food-security crop worldwide with a history dating back 10,000 years.
As temperatures dip outside, it's important to monitor conditions inside as well.
Those trees that wait until spring to drop their leaves have their reasons.
Although leaf raking can really spruce up the landscape, consider leaving some fallen leaves as winter habitat for many insects, arachnids (spiders), small mammals, amphibians and birds.
Most can persist beyond a first frost to be harvestable a little later than other, more tender garden crops.
Burning bush (Euyonomous alata) has developed a bad reputation, but there are many alternatives.
Staff writer Paul Wood chats with the retired UI Geography Department staff cartographer and lecturer and latest winner of the Illinois Arts Legacy Award. He's had a long relationship with Japan House, whose gardens he designed, donated, and constructed and continues to maintain.
Fall color is beginning to paint canopies around central Illinois, making the next few weeks prime time for taking in the beauty.
Ornamental cabbage, kale and red mustard allow you to beautify your garden and put food on the table at the same time.
Partridge pea, an annual native plant that frequents prairies, has special nectar glands outside its flowers that attract ants, which defend it against leaf herbivores and seed predators through aggressive, defensive behavior or by removing herbivore eggs directly from the plant.
In recent years, a body of research has emerged showing even greater benefits than previously understood to both the environment and our existence as humans.
Fall weather can create ideal planting conditions, with temperatures cooling off and roots requiring less moisture. In addition, we typically get a good amount of rain to help ensure adequate soil moisture going into winter.
Gardeners now can pick from thousands and thousands of varieties.
Each spring, my colleagues and I in the Earth, Society, and Environmental Sustainability major at the University of Illinois, in cooperation with the program director for Allen Hall, offer a class for undergraduate students on sustainability and environment in Costa Rica. The class combines …
On a beautiful fall-like morning last week, a group of East Central Illinois Master Naturalists helped Urbana Park District Natural Areas Coordinator Matt Balk clip Canada goldenrod stems to stop its spread and collecting seeds from prairie sunflower to spread elsewhere in the park.
It’s Ron Bailey’s favorite day of work, even if it means longer hours. Starting at 7 a.m. today until supplies last, he’ll help hand out 4,000 free roses at his Blossom Basket shops in Champaign, 2522 Village Green Place, and Urbana, 1002 N. Cunningham Ave.
This summer, I finished a project begun when my family moved into our current house in the spring of 2012 — replacing the massive privet hedge along our back fence with native shrubs.
What is your connection to monarch butterflies? To many people, butterflies symbolize the common human experience of transformation and new beginnings.
The ancient plant continues to add a unique look to landscapes.
The township board still needs to approve the transaction early next month, but a closing is tentatively set for Sept. 9, township Supervisor Andy Quarnstrom told News-Gazette Media on Monday. Those tending it would be homeless participants in the CU@Work program, which pays $10 an hour and gives workers a meal, he said.
For better or worse, humankind has not always had a well-defined separation from the plant world as we often see today.
It takes a conscious effort on the part of forest landowners to maintain a diverse woodland ecosystem on their property.
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