"Just Desserts" - On Thursday, Dec. 6th, 110 MGs and guests attended our 16th annual MG Recognition and Graduation event - "Just Desserts". Along with celebrating the accomplishments of the MG program and the graduation of 20 MG interns, Susan Grupp updated everyone on the new direction of her career and how everyone can make a difference in the environment. Awards were handed out to MGs with the largest amount of volunteer hours within several program areas.
Desserts were enjoyed in the new lounge area of University of Illinois Extension BIS (across the hall) well into the evening. Congratulations to the class of 2007 and thanks to all MGs for their commitment!
Recertification: It looks like we will have 109 active MGs for 2008. Congratulations to all MGs for volunteering over 7,000 hours this past year. Also, the MGs did a great job in attending the necessary continuing education classes. Good job!
Classes...Classes...Classes: Start out the new year by attending some of the upcoming telenets and receive continuing education hours early in the year. Please find a list of telenets at the end of this newsletter. You can register online at www.extension.uiuc.edu/dupage.
Non-"Credit" Classes: We have some Master Gardener presentations scheduled and you are welcome to attend. Unfortunately, we cannot give continuing education hours for classes taught by non-educators, but on the upside...there is NO charge.
We would like to fill the telenets and these presentations...so come and bring a friend. Spread the word to your garden clubs, at work and through other organizations. If you would like some brochures, please give Joan a call at the office so that we have enough advance notice to print/fold.
- Mary Horek
Fifth Annual DuPage Environmental Summit "Clean Water: We Can't Live Without It"
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
11:30 am – 5:00 pm
Benedictine University, Krasa Center, Lisle
FREE of charge, BUT courtesy of pre-registration is required
For more information or to register, call Carrie Thompson at (630)428-4599 or email her at:cthompson@theconservationfoundation.org
University of Illinois Extension is one of the sponsors, so come support our efforts. This will qualify for CE hours.
2008 Herb Day – University of Illinois, Urbana
Saturday, January 19, 2008
8:00 am to 4:30 pm
Holiday Inn Hotel and Conference Center, Urbana, IL
Special room rate ($70/single; $80/double) available only until Jan. 1st.
Call hotel directly for room reservations at 217-328-7900
Herb Day registrations are due by January 11, 2008. Conference fee is only $49.
Those interested in attending should mail checks, payable to University of Illinois, to:
Herb Day 2008, Attn: Carol Preston, S-406 Turner Hall, 1102 S Goodwin AV, Urbana, IL 61801.
The Old House New House Home Show – February 8, 9, and 10, 2008
Create the Home and Garden of Your Dreams
This is not a free event ($7/adult; $4/seniors; children free).
University of Illinois Extension DuPage will have an exhibit titled: "Wild About Worms" as part of the expansion of this event to include garden and landscape ideas. Some of the special guests will be: Roger Cook of This Old House and Brice Cooper from HGTV giving a presentation on "Guide to Going Green".
2008 Master Gardener Conference
September 11 – 13, 2008!!
Plans are underway for the 2008 IL State MG Conference to be held at the Westin in Lombard. The program and tours committees are working on checking out locations and speakers. If you want to volunteer but haven't been contacted yet, please give us a reminder...there will be lots for all to do in the near future.
2008, Here We Come!
Remember that we try to schedule volunteers 3 months in advance so if you know of an event or organization that will want a help desk during the spring/summer months, please get us the information as soon as possible so we can get it into our schedule.
Sometimes an event will come across our desks after the quarterly sign-ups have gone out, so we might periodically ask for volunteers via email. Please respond and volunteer for these "last minute" programs if you can. Thanks in advance!
Brown Bag Lunches
Please join us for our remaining Brown Bag Lunches.
Naperville Office Conference Room
Noon – 1:00 p.m.
January 10th
February 12th
March 12th
April 8th
If you register for the telenets, Carnivorous Plants (February 12th, 1:00 p.m.) and Orchids 101 (April 8th, 1:00 p.m.), you can come for lunch and stay for a class!
Time Reporting in MG Database
Both volunteer time and continuing education hours should be reported in the Master Gardener Reporting Database in tenths of hours. Please refer to the conversion chart below and use it as you report your hours. Using this chart will help us to get an accurate accounting and should clear up any confusion on how to report those "extra few minutes". Thanks!
1-2 minutes – .0
3-8 minutes - .1
9-14 minutes - .2
15-20 minutes - .3
21-26 minutes - .4
27-32 minutes - .5
33 – 38 minutes - .6
39 – 44 minutes - .7
45 – 50 minutes - .8
51 – 56 minutes - .9
57-60 minutes – 1.0
On behalf of the Extension Advisory Council, I would like to thank you for your support over the past year. All of your calls and letters have made a difference and convinced the County Board of our worth to the citizens of DuPage County.
Most of our funding in the past has come from the DuPage County Board. Previous years contributions are as follows:
FY2004 $138,000
FY2005 $120,000
FY2006 $100,000
FY2007 $65,000
Other sources of funds are the 4-H Foundation, Extension Council, and HCE (Home and Community Education Assn.). These funds, as well as the County Board contribution, are matched by the State. Other sources of funding such as the grant for the Healthy Marriage Initiative are program-specific and are not matchable. As you can see, our county funding has dropped drastically over the past several years. Extension has responded to this loss of funding by cutting costs as much as possible. And the University of Illinois has graciously allowed us to cut expenses by sharing space in this new location.
Extension funding is a partnership between federal, state, and local governments. Without a source of local government funds, we will have no choice but to close our doors. County Board Chairman Schillerstrom has publicly said that there will not be funding for Extension in the County Budget for FY2008 in its current form. We are very hopeful that we will receive at least a small amount of money from them. While that would keep the doors open, money to keep Extension functioning at the current level will have to come from somewhere.
The DuPage 4-H Foundation and DEECA are discussing combining to form a new fundraising group to benefit all Extension programs here in DuPage County. DEECA was formed to raise money for a new building, which is no longer necessary. The next meeting of this group will be January 14, 2008, at 7 PM at the Extension office. All are welcome to attend.
Master Gardeners are a very resourceful group of people. Your thoughts and suggestions are always appreciated.
- Pat Kosmach
Chives – one of the most commonly used of all our herbs, yet never a topic for this column. And what a wonderful plant it is! Perennial, it is one of the earliest to show bright green shoots in spring. Its hollow, grassy leaves are a beautiful vertical element in the herb patch. It is essentially immune to pests and diseases. Its purple flowerheads look like little round lollipops, creating a garnish that is edible, too.
Chives prefer a sunny, well-drained site, but will tolerate poor soil and some shade, growing in round clumps to about 8" tall. Nearly carefree, all chives need is the occasional shearing (after flowering, and if the plant looks floppy later on in the summer) to encourage a new flush of leaves and, sometimes, the odd flower or two. My neighbor has edged a path with chives, to charming effect.
One of the oniony alliums, culinary chives (Allium schoenoprasum) were recorded 4,000 years ago in China. Marco Polo is said to have brought them to the West from his travels. Chives can be used by the cook whenever a mild onion flavor is wanted; in salads, sandwich fillings, egg dishes and herb butters.
Another chive-y relative in the allium family is A. tuberosum, or garlic chives, sometimes also called Chinese chives, and a very different breed of cat it is! Its leaves are flat, not hollow. It tastes of garlic, not onion. The plant itself is substantially taller than common chives. Its flowerheads are white, not purple, composed of starry, sweetly fragrant flowers which bloom later, in late summer. Sounds nice? All of the foregoing is...but there is a major drawback. Garlic chives self-seed like mad! Its prairie plant relative, A. cernuum (purple nodding onion) does, too. So much so that I finally banished garlic chives from my herb patch: Garlic itself is easy to find (and grow, for that matter), and the starry flowers aren't worth it!
- Sandy Lentz
Books for Fall Interest Plants
In October, I was looking around my garden and noticed how drab everything looked now that the perennial flowers were at an end. Sure, I had some nice seed heads but there were many areas that lacked any real interest. For some great ideas, I have found two books that explore how to add to more color to your fall landscape and beyond.
Foliage
Nancy J Ondra (Storey 2007)
ISBN# 978-1580176545 $35.00
The subtitle of Ondra's book, "Astonishing Color and Texture Beyond Flowers" is the perfect description of what you will find in these pages. The book is an interesting read based on chapters developed by color covering gold, red to black, silver, grays & blues and multicolored and variegated. Then within each chapter, Ondra groups the plants by type of foliage from spiky, bold, medium, fine to lacy. Each plant listing has a great photograph and lots of practical information including aspect, size, growth, growing tips and alternatives of closely related plants.
Two things make this book definitely worth taking a look at. The first is the stunning photos of ideas for combining of colors and textures of plants throughout the book. But the second is the more important. Ondra does an excellent job in the plant descriptions of pointing out the little details of the plant's habit, site considerations and visual considerations like the intensity of the light affecting the color of the foliage.
Fall Scaping
Nancy J. Ondra & Stephanie Cohen (Storey 2007)
ISBN# 978-1580176804 $22.95
Nancy Ondra has had a busy year with another book, this time co-authored with Stephanie Cohen, to help you add late season appeal. They cover flowers, vines, bulbs, tropicals and shrubs to maximize your garden potential with fabulous foliage, beautiful blooms and showy seed heads that will thrive in autumn's mild temperatures to contribute color and texture when most perennials are past their summer's peak.
The book provides a wide range of ideas for combining these with multi-season plants and tips on color combinations, container plantings, and ways to attract birds. There is an entire chapter giving you 10 garden plans with great shopping lists that describe everything you need to know about the plants from fall attributes, zones, height and growing specifics. Practical information is not overlooked with a chapter on fall garden care as well as helpful sidebars throughout the book on topics such as potentially invasive species and plants for winter interest.
- Debbye Simpson
Master Gardener, Art Feid, received a citation from the Village of Glen Ellyn in recognition of his generous donations to the Grace Lutheran Food Pantry. Art participates in Plant a Row and grew and donated almost 350 lbs. of fresh fruits and vegetables from his garden. With the warm fall weather, he was even able to donate green tomatoes and peppers in November.
Winter Sowing
Date: Tuesday, January 22, 7:00-8:30pm
Presenter: Kelly Bryant, Master Gardener
Fee: No Charge
Healthy Soil = Healthy Plants*
Dates: Tuesday, Jan. 29, 1:00–2:30 p.m. or Thursday, Jan. 31, 7:00–8:30 p.m.
Instructor: Tony Bratsch, Extension Educator, Horticulture
Fee: $10
Carnivorous Plants*
Date: Tuesday, February 12, 1:00–2:30 p.m.
Instructor: Matthew Kostelnick, Extension Educator, Horticulture
Fee: $10
Climbers and Twiners: Vines for the Home Garden*
Date: Thursday, February 28, 7:00–8:30 p.m.
Instructor: Greg Stack, Extension Educator, Horticulture
Fee: $10
Perennials: Workhorses in the Garden
Date: Tuesday, March 18, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Presenter: Beth Corrigan, Master Gardener
Fee: No Charge
Orchids 101*
Dates: Tuesday, April 8, 1:00-2:30 p.m. or Thursday, April 10, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Instructor: Jennifer Schultz Nelson, Unit Educator, Horticulture
Fee: $10
Containers with Pizzazz*
Dates: Tuesday, April 22, 1:00–2:30 p.m. or Thursday, April 24, 7:00–8:30 p.m.
Instructor: Jennifer Fishburn, Horticulture Educator
Fee: $10
Composting: Building Your Garden From the Ground Up
Date: Tuesday, April 29, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Presenter: Susan Renwick, Master Gardener
Fee: No Charge
A Palette of Annuals: A to Z*
Dates: Tuesday, May 6, 1:00–2:30 p.m. or Thursday, May 8, 7:00–8:30 p.m.
Instructor: Jim Schmidt, Extension Specialist Home Horticulture/4-H
Fee: $10
*Telenet Class
Classes begin promptly at time stated.
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