Good Growing – How does cold weather affect garden plants?
As cold weather sets in, we often find ourselves retreating indoors where it is warm. However, our landscape plants can’t do this, and during times of...
Ken Johnson
Good Growing – Bringing winter blooms to your home
During the holiday season, plants often play a central role in our decorations. While poinsettias, Amaryllis, holly, holiday cacti, and evergreens...
Good Growing – Overwintering potted plants
Perennial plants being overwintered in pots are subjected to much harsher conditions compared to those in the soil. Because of this, they can be damaged...
Good Growing – How to overwinter geraniums for next year’s garden
Annual geraniums (Pelargonium) are among the most popular flowering plants grown in gardens. These easy-to-grow, low-maintenance plants provide color to...
Good Growing – How to overwinter geraniums for next year’s garden
Annual geraniums (Pelargonium) are among the most popular flowering plants grown in gardens. These easy-to-grow, low-maintenance plants provide color to...
Good Growing – Teasel: An invasive species coming to a roadside near you?
If you’ve driven along any interstates or highways in Illinois, there’s a good chance you’ve seen tall plants with spiky flower heads. Teasels have...
Good Growing – What’s that white stuff on my magnolia tree? Magnolia scale
Magnolias are popular trees and shrubs in many landscapes. Their large, showy flowers can range from white to pink to yellow and provide a burst of color in the spring. While they are relatively pest-free, one of the biggest pests is the magnolia scale (Neolecanium cornuparvum)...
Good Growing – Periodical cicadas are here…now what?
The long wait is finally over! After spending 13 (or 17, depending on where you’re at) years underground feeding from roots, periodical cicadas have started to emerge (at least in central and southern Illinois). Soon, many places will be awash in cicadas. So, what can we expect now that they are beginning to emerge?
Enjoy the silence, Cicadas are coming
If you haven’t heard the buzz, you will soon. Billions of periodical cicadas are coming, and University of Illinois Extension is sharing information to help track their moves before emergence.
“Historically speaking, 2024 is a big year for periodical cicadas in Illinois,” says Ken Johnson, Extension horticulture educator serving Calhoun, Cass, Greene, Morgan, and Scott counties.
Periodical cicada broods XIII and XIX will be emerging throughout much of the state at the same time. Although exact times and locations will be varied, there will be cicadas.
Good Growing – A plant of many colors: Virginia bluebell
Extension With the arrival of warmer weather in the spring, we start to see signs of new life in our landscapes. Birds begin singing, our landscapes start turning green again, and spring ephemeral plants start to emerge. Among the spring ephemerals in Illinois, one of the most captivating and commonly encountered are Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica).