Garden – Jennifer Fishburn

Tucked away on the east side of the Illinois State Fairgrounds you will find the Hobbies, Arts, and Crafts building. During the fair, some of Illinois’ finest baked goods, textiles, hobby collections, fruits, vegetables, and agricultural crops are on display. These items are exhibited by residents from all over Illinois. Of course, near and dear […]

Fresh blackberries and raspberries, from plants often referred to as brambles, are currently available at local produce stands. Because blackberries and raspberries belong to the same genus, Rubus, the plants and fruits are easily confused. To confuse matters further, fruits are not always true to their names — for example, there are red blackberries and […]

Recently a fellow gardener proudly showed me her six-pound zucchini. Though impressive, this mammoth green monster is better suited to the compost pile than to the kitchen. “Big and green” are words best used to describe a watermelon, not a zucchini. Unfortunately, many gardeners wait too long to harvest summer squash. For the best quality […]

They’re back! The latest invasion of leaf-devouring Japanese beetles has begun. These half-inch-long eating machines have been found helping themselves to roses in the Springfield area, but you can expect them to turn to other favorites such as linden, grapes, birch, apples, peaches, and raspberries. In fact, this glutton’s grocery list comprises the leaves, flowers, […]

William Shakespeare, the greatest writer in the English language, lived during the Elizabethan period (1533-1603), a relatively peaceful political time that gave birth to enormous developments in landscape design and an avid search for new and exotic plants, seeds, and bulbs. Although much about his life is unknown, Shakespeare certainly had a love and knowledge […]

I can’t think of a more beautiful, colorful, sweet fruit than blueberries. The highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum, is a woody perennial plant that is native to North America. The fruit was a staple for early settlers who used the berries in various food dishes and medicines. Because of the star-shaped calyx on top of the […]

Summertime brings joy to most gardeners Ñ blooming flowers, fresh vegetables, green grass. However, summer-feeding insects can wreak havoc on some of our favorite plants. Bagworms (Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis) are actively feeding on evergreens in our area at this time. Bagworm larvae hatched at the end of May, a little earlier than in most years. Bagworms […]

When we aren’t in our own gardens, we gardeners love to share ideas and frustrations and get new ideas for our own back yards. University of Illinois Extension master gardeners and other groups have created unique experiences across central Illinois by hosting tours of area gardens. Macon County Master Gardeners will host “An Array of […]

This summer, many vegetable gardeners will have buckets full of tomatoes, cucumbers by the armload, and zucchini coming out their ears. Many successful gardeners take for granted their ability to grow vegetables, forgetting that many people do not have access to fresh vegetables and fruits. Enter Plant a Row for the Hungry, a national program […]

When I was a child, my grandmother would take the family to pick strawberries every Memorial Day weekend. We would pick at least 20 quarts of berries, enough for dessert and jelly. Grandma always somehow managed to pick more berries than the rest of us combined. She would serve sliced, sweetened berries over shortcake with […]