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Shrubs

holly

Holly: A native holiday decoration

Hollies are common landscape plants and even more common holiday decorations that belong to the incredibly diverse genus Ilex which contains over 400 species, both evergreen and deciduous, that hail from all corners of the globe.  A locally adapted holly species or cultivar is relatively easy...
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Prairie dropseed is shorter native grass that nicely accentuates the edge of garden beds or walkways.

Native Perennials with Winter Interest

As fall progresses and most plants lose their leaves or retreat to their winter dormancy, portions of the landscape can appear bare and boring for winter.  Evergreens and woody plants are commonly considered the best specimens for winter interested, providing structure throughout the seasons...
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False Indigo - A Native Shrub for the Home Landscape

Native plants are ever gaining popularity as gardeners seek specimens with high ecological value in support of declining insect pollinator populations.  Among the almost 2,300 plant species known to be native in Illinois, our native shrubs are often overlooked and underappreciated in the...
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Sick tree

Using Phenology for Ornamental Pest Control

The timing of spring can vary each year based on weather, but there are always ques in nature that line up in similar fashion year after year.  While climatic conditions on exact calendar dates my vary, the sequence of emerging biota is consistent and based a long evolutionary history which...
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Trees in our communities enhance learning

The benefits of green space in urban areas has long been documented to improve our lives in a wide variety of ways.  However, recent research has Illuminated the special role that trees and larger woody plants serve in our communities.  Beyond ecological and environment benefits, these...
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Smooth sumac is a commonly occurring native plant that boasts a spectacular fall display of fiery red leaves.

Native Shrubs for Fall

Shrubs are often overlooked in autumn, typically playing second fiddle to overtopping shade trees that steal the fall display.  However, quite a few deciduous shrubs have spectacular fall color to offer in the landscape.  In many settings these smaller woody plants can help provide eye-...
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As the summer heat intensifies and rainfall dwindles, watering newly planted trees and shrubs becomes incredibly important.

Watering Trees and Shrubs

Although rainfall has been significant so far this summer, newly planted trees and shrubs need watering as daily high temperatures creep up and rain dwindles during the drier part of our summer.  The next few months can be critical for woody plants struggling to become established in their...
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Redbud is a fantastic spring-flowering tree offering the best floral display of any Illinois native tree.

The top four spring-flowering trees to plant

Spring is a time of abundant blooms as well as one of the best times of year to establish new woody plants in your landscape. This year, consider adding one, or all, of my favorite Illinois native spring-flowering trees to your landscape, and you’ll enjoy spring floral displays for years to...
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Forsythia is currently blooming across central Illinois with clusters of bright yellow flowers creating a dramatic display.

Forsythia in Spring

Every spring, the awakening plant world has those hard-to-miss harbingers which alert us that winter is over and help to welcome spring.  In native plant communities, I think of spring ephemeral wildflowers as the primary signal and watch intently for their blooms each year.  However, in...
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Hydrangea Care

Hydrangeas are one of the most popular landscape shrubs in the US.  They are known for their exquisite flowering display, with many offering a season of beautiful blooms that remain attractive into winter.  Beyond flowers, these amazing shrubs offer additional ornamental beauty from neat...
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Ice accumulation yesterday resulted in damage to many trees and shrubs in our area.

Ice Accumulation on Trees and Shrubs

Freezing rain is a regular part of winter weather patterns in central Illinois, resulting in occasional ice storms that can damage property, take out utilities and wreak havoc on tree canopies.  By meteorological definition, an ice storm occurs when ice accumulation is greater than 0.25 inches...
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Trees and other woody plants grow from buds at tip of each limb which release hormones to suppress growth of other buds lower down the stem.

How Woody Plants Grow

Woody plants are some of the largest and most long-lived plants in the landscape, forming the majestic and expansive canopy of our urban and natural forests.  With all of this wonderful woody growth, have you ever stopped to think about why woody plants attain greater height than their smaller...
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 Metal hardware cloth is a great material to protect young trees and shrubs from winter browsing wildlife.

Winter Protection for Newly Planted Trees and Shrubs

Fall is an excellent time to add new trees or shrubs to the landscape and many of us have already taken advantage of mild weather and sunny days to get new plants in the ground.  With the lion’s share of work complete after digging, planting and mulching are finished, we often overlook some of...
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Burning bush (red leaves) and bush honeysuckle (green leaves with red berries) are very easily identifiable in fall as leaves change.  Changes in plant processes this time of year make control of these exotic, invasive species more effective in fall as well.

Fall Color and Phenology

Fall color is upon us with so many plants entering their annual push toward winter dormancy and putting on a great display in the meantime.  As deciduous plants show their true colors this time of year, it offers the observer an opportunity to quickly identify many species by the color and...
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Newly planted urban trees are at risk of mortality if proper after-planting care, such as mulching and watering, is not carefully tended.

Urban Tree Planting

Spring is a time of an awakening plant world full of blooms and endless possibilities for the coming growing season.  It’s a time that many of us think about updating our landscaping, making it the most popular time of year to plant trees and shrubs.  When you combine the mild...
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Chinese witch hazel blooms during the late winter to early spring with a flowering display that often lasts over a month.

Witch Hazel

The late winter is often a time of anticipation for spring flowering, when many gardeners watch for the first signs of early blooming bulbs.  However, one unique woody plant is currently in full bloom putting on the first flower display of spring in the Illinois landscape.  Witch hazel...
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Hollies are symbolic of the holiday season, providing beauty in the landscape as well as abundant berries for native birds. Photo Credit: Diane Plewa, Illinois Extension Plant Clinic

Holly for the Holidays

Broad-leafed and evergreen holly species have long been a symbol of Christmas and other winter holidays and traditions.  The dark green, prickly foliage combined with contrasting bright red berries can really be a show stopper in the winter landscape providing both ornamental beauty and food...
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This young swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor) has retained its leaves while the maples on either side have already dropped theirs.  Many of our native oaks keep their leaves all winter as young trees.

Why do some trees retain leaves over winter?

Not all trees shed their leaves in coordination during fall. You may have noticed that some trees are still holding their leaves this week, and many of those will likely hold them until spring. Each winter, I get a number of questions on this topic as folks ponder the “not-so-deciduous” deciduous...
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burning bush

Burning Bush

This past week, the vivid red leaves of our native maples have really stolen the show, reaching near peak fall color for the year.  I have always loved the brilliant red colors of autumn leaves, making burning bush (Euyonomous alata) an old favorite of mine. However, in recent...
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Poisonous Plants

How many times have you been kept up at night worrying about a poisonous plant?  Hopefully, for most of us the answer to that question will be ‘not many’.  For better or worse, humankind has not always had a well-defined separation from the plant world as we often see today.  With...
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The green foliage in this picture is bush honeysuckle, which is an invasive species that dominates forest understories in Illinois. If not weeded out...

Weeding out Invasives

The management of Illinois’ forests has become an increasingly difficult task for landowners focused on maintaining and enhancing native plant diversity. I have often thought of it as a similar process to weeding a vegetable garden, with a diverse mix of our native forest trees as the vegetable...
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This rhododendron shoot is infected with the pathogen Phytopthora ramorum, displaying the typical symptoms of ramorum blight. PC UI Plant Clinic

Rapid Response to Ramorum Blight

In early July, the Illinois Department of Agriculture submitted a press release detailing the detection of a new pathogen in Illinois that threatens our native oaks. This non-native pathogen is the causal agent for a very serious disease known as sudden oak death. However, there may be some good...
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Butterfly milkweed is the only Illinois milkweed with orange flowers, which provide a showy display each summer, often blooming a second time around early

Illinois has an Abundance of Milkweeds

In recent years, milkweeds have gained attention from the public due to their exclusive relationship with the imperiled monarch butterfly. I think many of us are familiar with common milkweed (Asclepius syriaca), which reminds me of childhood leaf picking experiments to see the characteristic sap...
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The ‘Annabelle’ hydrangea is a cultivar that was originally collected from a wild specimen in southern Illinois and remains one of the most popular in production today.

The 'Annabelle' Hydrangea

The ‘Annabelle’ hydrangea has been a mainstay of the ornamental shrub world since its release in the 1960’s.  This showy shrub is filled with beautiful snowball-like flowers that adorn its spindly branches each summer.  The blooms begin as pretty green puffs that turn white at maturity,...
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Boxwoods

Boxwood shrubs are perhaps one of the most planted evergreen shrubs in landscapes around the Midwest.  Although they are typically fairly hardy in our area, many suffer from winter injury.  In addition, there are a number of other ailments for this shrub that gardeners should be aware of...
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2019 Gardening Goals

Winter is an excellent time for reflection on the past year’s growing season and any gardening successes or failures to account for next year.  In this season of multitudes of seed catalog mailings, I have found it to be an ideal time to set gardening goals for the coming year during the down...
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Bird Migration and Native Shrubs

Autumn is not only a time of brilliant fall colors, but also a time to observe the annual bird migration that spans our continent.  Many of our feathered friends travel amazingly great distances to reach warmer climates with abundant food for winter.  This lengthy journey spans thousands...
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Fall Color in Native Grasses and Their Ornamental Uses

Most of us think of tree leaves when we think about beautiful fall foliage, but many ornamental grasses provide wonderful fall color that often extends well into the winter season.  Right now is an excellent time to observe these grasses in the landscape and consider how we might integrate...
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Blueberries offer attractive fall color as well as beauty in all other seasons.

Landscaping with Blueberries

Landscaping with edible plants is my second favorite gardening themes, next to ‘Going Native’.  Today, there are a wide variety of plants available that will, not only provide your family food, but also offer many other desirable attributes.  In addition, it reduces your carbon footprint...
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Saucer magnolia is currently in full bloom in our area with an abundance of white to pinkish, showy flowers

Magnolia Pollination

Although spring was late coming this year, it has finally sprung, and with it both star magnolia (Magnolia stellata) and saucer magnolia (Magnolia x soulangeana) are in bloom. These beautiful ornamental trees, native to Asia, provide about a...
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Elderberry

The American elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) is a native shrub to Illinois and much of eastern North America.  Despite its weedy habit, often growing in natural areas and unmowed ditches, this plant has some remarkable features.  It offers both natural beauty and utility as well...
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