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Thursday, April 3, 2014
Arbor Day Tree Planting Tips
National Arbor Day is always the last Friday in April, putting it on April 25 th this year. Are you ready to plant a tree? If not, Rhonda Ferree, Horticulture Educator with University of Illinois Extension, says that you can plant one soon or start planning for the next Arbor Day. "Recent research has shown that improperly planted trees can suffer in later years". "Therefore,...
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Purchasing Trees and Shrubs
Trees and shrubs are popping up at retail sales areas throughout Illinois. "Retailers sell a variety of plants in a variety of packages or market forms," says Rhonda Ferree, Horticulture Educator with University of Illinois Extension. "The purchasing of woody plants requires consumers to make choices." "The most important choice is what type of plant to buy." Consider many facto...
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Winter's Impact on Insects and Plants
Unfortunately, the winter has taken a toll on many plants. Evergreens are especially impacted, many showing significant winter desiccation or even death. The severe cold winter compounded plant stresses already inflicted by recent severe droughts and other weather extremes. Not only did trees likely not have enough internal reserves going into winter, they were also not able to take up more water...
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Espaliered Fruit Trees
Edible landscaping is becoming more and more popular. One way to use fruit trees to small gardens is by using the espalier technique of training fruit trees. I plan to espalier a couple fruit trees along my garage. The following information is from an article from Oregon State Extension. See the entire article at http://extension.oregonstat...
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Dress up Your Yard
April brings us our fourth gardening trend for 2014: Dress up Your Yard . I often talk about my various outdoor garden rooms. Outdoor spaces are truly an extension of your home. You might have a kitchen for barbeques, a dining room to entertain guests on the patio, a lawn for games, a firepit for socializing, and so on. Outdoor spaces are fashion statements that reflec...
