Wow, what a wonderful day for the garden walk. Thank you to all who gave time to help with the walk and, most of all, thank you the Garden Walk Committee and Chairpersons Carolyn Purcell and Heather Miller. This event takes many hours of planning and a lot of organization, so we are thankful for another stellar walk!

Again, it was great to have two of our Master Gardeners on the 2006 walk. Thank you Gerri and Sarah! If you would like to be considered for the walk, please don't be bashful. Call the 2007 Garden Walk chairs Heather Miller and Shelly Suits. I understand they love to have lists of gardens to choose from and you might be able to pick a future year so that you could plan ahead. Let's showcase our gardens!

What did you think about our new format for the Garden Walk ticket? We would like to hear your comments. Personally, I thought it pushed our walk to another level.

On July 15 a happy group got down and dirty making leaf castings. What a creative group! Thank you, Ann and committee, for nurturing our creative talent.

A neat outing is being planned for August 15. Please read the article Tavern to Turf for more information.

Do you ever wonder how the park district manages all those beautiful mini-gardens that we see all over town? Join us September 19 as Greg Sanchen lets us in on the work involved in growing these gardens every year.

Don't forget to sign up for conference to be held September 7-9. Registration forms are in the latest Imagine newsletter. The conference is always enlightening and a great place to share ideas with many Master Gardeners.

- Jan Fisher, President

Are you ready for a real cool evening? Join us for dinner (on your own) at the Philo Tavern on August 15 at 5:30 p.m. After dinner garden hosts will talk briefly about their gardens and then we will supply maps to visit these super gardens. At the end of the evening (probably 7:30-8:00 p.m.) we will gather at Barb Shocha's garden for cookies and lemonade. Can't make it for dinner? Then meet at the Philo Tavern and collect a map for the mini-garden walk. Please call the office at 333-7672 by August 11 to let us know if you plan to join us for dinner so that we may have adequate tables reserved.

- Jan Fisher

Congratulations to the newly certified Champaign County Master Gardeners. Darlene Woods and Susan Spitz have completed their MG internships! Happy volunteering!

- Christine Martinez

Sometimes in the early morning, the nursery only has one or two kids and staff take this opportunity to give one on one attention to the children. One such day, we had a three year old boy named Ben with us who loves to play outside. By request, we went outside and started to look at the blooming flowers and the bugs underneath the rocks. I asked him if he wanted to plant some flowers or vegetables himself and his eyes grew with excitement. He chose the cucumber and carrot seeds to plant inside the small fenced garden next to the shed. We got out gardening gloves and a magnifying glass and even a pad to kneel on meanwhile we gardened. We were having a blast! I explained to him that the seeds were going to grow with some sunshine and water and that he could visit his seeds anytime he came to the nursery. I even took pictures of him gardening. Once we were done, we went inside and washed up. I was waiting at the doorway talking to him through the mirror as he rinsed his hands. He then looked at me in the mirror and with a big smile said, "I like you Raqo." He turned to face me and added, "I love you." My heart just pounded and I was filled with so many wonderful emotions that I really had to fight back tears. I replied, "I love you too Ben."

I often look back at that day and how special he made me feel that day. Never would I have imagined that digging in the dirt and planting seeds would amount to my own personal growth that very morning. After that I realized that you don't have to be a parent to touch a child's life. Our time together was so special that we had a bond like no other. I could only hope that I planted my own seed in his memory of our time here at the nursery and he'd never forget me. Because of him I will never look at a garden the same.

- July 2006 Garden Testimonial by a Staff member

"August is the month to divide perennials such as day lilies, iris, and the spring flowering bulbs, like tulips, daffodils and crocuses. These plants tend to become overgrown after a number of years and flowering is reduced," states David Robson, University of Illinois Extension Horticulture Educator.

Carefully dig the plants from the ground. Shake off as much soil as you can. Gently wash off the remaining soil so that the root structure may be examined. Spread the plants out to dry. Be sure to label them so you know what is what. A Sharpie™ pen can be used to write on the leaves without any serious effects to the plant.

Iris and daylilies have interesting root systems. Iris technically have a rhizome, which is a fleshy underground horizontal stem. New shoots and roots arise from the rhizome. The above ground fans will bloom just once in their life, but can live for years while producing new fans and roots.

Daylilies have a fleshy root system with swollen roots storing the plants reserve. You won't find buds or growing points on the roots like you would find with rhizomes.

Examine the iris and daylily roots. With a sharp knife, cut out all injured or diseased parts and discard them. Then divide the plants into clumps, each having a large piece of rhizome or roots and at least two fans of leaves. Large divisions will flower next year. Small divisions may take an extra year. Throw away the oldest rhizomes of the iris. They won't bloom again.

Bulbs are harder to divide simply because it's hard to remember where they are located since the foliage has died down. If you have a general idea, carefully work the soil with a spade or spading fork, trying not to pierce the bulbs.

Lift the bulbs carefully and divide. Many of the bulbs can be separated and dried on old screens in the garage. Bulbs that were damaged in the digging process are best separated from others; they may start rotting and should be composted. Sort the plants by size, discarding the diseased or insect-ridden ones.

Since perennials will occupy the same spot in the garden for several years, work the soil carefully, adding bone meal and organic matter to improve fertility and drainage.

- David Robson, UI Extension Horticulture Educator

May 2-5, 2007 • Little Rock, Arkansas

The 2007 International Master Gardener Conference (IMGC) will be in Little Rock, Arkansas. The host committee has been working hard to make sure that this will be a great conference with plenty to offer their fellow Master Gardeners from around the country and Canada.

The conference will be hosted at the Peabody Hotel/Statehouse Convention Center in downtown Little Rock from May 2 to 5, 2007. Please save those dates, and think about coming early and staying late. There is so much to see and do in the Natural State. The committee encourages you to take advantage of this opportunity to see Little Rock and other areas of Arkansas. More information about the pre-/and post-conference tours will be available in the near future, with suggestions of things to do and places to see while there. Get ready for some real Southern hospitality!
Statehouse Convention Center website: http://www.littlerockmeetings.com/conv-centers/Statehouse/

Hotel Reservations

The Peabody hotel is now accepting conference reservations. The IMG conference rate at the Peabody is $130/night for double or king accommodations with double occupancy. There are also some club level rooms blocked off at the rate of $160/night. ("Club level" includes: continental breakfast, hot hors d'oeuvres, evening cordials and petit fours, complete honor bar, complimentary use of the athletic club, valet parking, private concierge, express check out, and VIP nightly turndown services.) These rates are good from April 30 to May 6, 2007. Be sure to mention that you are attending the International Master Gardener Conference May 2 to 5, 2007 to receive the special rate.
Peabody Hotel website: http://www.peabodylittlerock.com/

Registration and Accommodations

Registration packets will available in October. Rates and details about other area hotels will be provided in future newsletters. Official website of the 2007 International Master Gardener Conference: http://mg2007.uaex.edu/

About the Peabody Hotel

The Peabody is located in downtown Little Rock on the banks of the Arkansas River approximately 10 miles from Little Rock National Airport. This glass-fronted hotel is situated above the Statehouse Convention Center, the official site of the 2007 IMGC, and linked to the University Conference Center where some of our IMGC seminars and programs will be presented. It is also within easy walking distance of shopping and dining in the Little Rock River Market District. Our Old Statehouse Museum, The Arkansas Arts Center, and a thriving local repertory theater are within blocks of the hotel.

Why is The Peabody known as Arkansas Only 5-Duck Meeting Hotel? To learn: visit the Peabody Hotel site, click on "The Peabody Hotels" and then on "The Peabody Ducks" for more details and the "Legend of the Peabody Ducks". It might just "quack you up." Peabody Hotel website: http://www.peabodylittlerock.com/

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask the hosting committee:

University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service
P.O. Box 391
Little Rock,AR 72203
(501) 671-2174
fax (501)671-2303

All around us this time of year we see crops of corn and soybeans. But how early is corn, and what did people grow in Illinois before corn?

The first corn was really maize (Zea mays L.), a plant that has been in North America for at least three thousand years. Originally it came into the southwestern U.S. from Central America. Native forms of corn had smaller ears and kernels and a variety of colors.

Even earlier were squash, especially the small ones shaped like ping-pong balls (Cucurbita pepo). These little squashes were cultivated not just for their edible seeds, but also for tools. The hard rinds became containers, floats for fishing nets, and rattles. Bottle gourds, with likely ancestors in Asia, were also used as containers.

Early inhabitants of our state were omnivores and obtained their food by hunting and gathering. They hunted deer, rabbit, raccoon, and muskrat; fished and collected mussels from the rivers; gathered nuts and fruits such as persimmon and paw-paw. To this varied diet, they added wild plants for both greens and seeds.

The first gardens in Illinois were small plots of weedy, native plants that produced calorie-rich, starchy or oily seeds. These included goosefoot (Chenopodium berlandieri), little barley, maygrass, erect knotweed, sumpweed (also called marsh elder), and sunflower. Sumpweed is extinct today, but quinoa is the tasty modern relative of goosefoot. Many of us still grow sunflowers for their nutritious seeds as well as their cheerful yellow flowers.

What did ancient gardening tools look like? The blades for shovels, axes, and hoes were fashioned from stone such as limestone or chert. Hunters recycled everything, so the scapula from a bison kill was saved and given a wooden handle to make a large hoe. Smaller cultivating tools were created out of sturdy mussel shells, also with wooden handles. Most tools were multi-purpose, used not only for planting and harvesting but also digging wall trenches, storage pits, and burial mounds. Bison scapula used to make a hoe

Land was cleared simply, by slash and burn techniques (girdling trees or chopping them down with stone axes, slashing vegetation, then burning what was left). At first, the plants were wild and people collected the seeds in simple containers of natural materials: baskets, gourds, wooden dishes, and skin bags. They kept some seeds to winter over, and broadcast them the next spring. Gradually the seeds adapted to this practice, thinning their seed coats and changing size and shape. Cultivated seeds can now be recognized in the archaeological record.

Full-scale farming didn't start in Illinois until about AD 800, when corn became a dominant crop. As people adapted to producing grains in large quantities, they developed new cooking methods to boil seeds and kernels that were unpalatable when eaten raw. Potters made durable cooking pots of fired ceramic. Like modern people, early Illinois cooks used different shapes for different types of foods. Recent experiments at the University of Illinois have demonstrated that smaller pots with incurving rims are easier to heat than larger pots, especially if you cover the tops with discarded pieces of pottery to prevent evaporation (we used quinoa and flavored it with maple syrup!). These ancestors of the modern saucepan for boiling grains made it possible to wean children earlier–once the babies were eating thin gruels instead of milk, then their mothers could go back to the fields and help farm.

Other food preparation included cracking nuts between pairs of stones and grinding nutmeats and tubers in stone grinders called metates. Later, when huge amounts of corn had to be processed, farmers made large "mills" (giant mortars and pestles) from hollowed-out trees.

Many of the artifacts described here are stored on campus at the Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program (ITARP). This unit has collaborated with the Illinois Department of Transportation for many years to excavate archaeological sites and preserve their contents.

Special thanks to ITARP for providing much of the background information for this article. Master gardener Sarah Wisseman is an archaeologist at the University of Illinois.

- Sarah Wisseman

August

1 Tuesday, 1:00pm – Garden Walk meeting. Conference room.

1 Tuesday, 1:00pm – Telenet: Perennials for Special Uses will focus your attention to what else the plant has to offer beyond good looks. Knowing the uses of perennials can help each gardener select the right plants. Join Sharon Yiesla, Horticulture Educator, for a new way to look at some of our perennial favorites. Please call the Extension office (333-7672) to reserve handouts. Open to public. Counts towards education hours.

1 Tuesday, 7:00pm - Macon County Master Gardeners would like to invite you to their monthly meeting featuring guest speaker Mac Condill of the Great Pumpkin Patch in Arthur. Mac has visited several botanical gardens throughout the world and will highlight some of his favorites. He will also discuss the GPP's feature in Martha Stewart'smagazine, "Living". The Great Pumpkin Patch is known for their extensive cucurbit collection, with cucurbits from 30 different countries and approximately 200 different varieties of squash. Meeting will be at the Macon County Extension. Call the Macon county Extension office at (217) 877-6042 or emailtraum@uiuc.edu to sign-up for the event. Counts towards education hours.

3 Thursday, 11:00am – Program Committee mtg.

3 Thursday, 1:00pm – Advisory Committee mtg.

3 Thursday, 7:00pm – Telenet: Perennials for Special Uses repeated. Please call the Extension office (333-7672) to reserve handouts. Open to public. Counts towards education hours.

15 Tuesday, 1:00pm – Telenet: Incredible Edible Flowers will introduce you to a different menu choice. Edible flowers add color, taste and fragrance to even the most common of foods. Let Sandy Mason, Horticulture Educator, show you which flowers are edible, which ones to leave in the garden and even a few recipes to get you started in the incredible edible world of flowers. Please call the Extension office (333-7672) to reserve handouts. Open to public. Counts towards education hours.

15 Tuesday, 5:30pm – MG Monthly program "From Tavern to Turf: Three Philo Open Gardens." Meet at the Philo Tavern at 5:30pm for dinner and then stroll over to the first open garden at 6:30pm. Those not joining the group for dinner should be at the tavern by 6:30pm to begin the tour with the group. Dinner will be own your own. Please call the Extension office (333-7672) to register by August 11. Guests welcome. See details in this issue.

17 Thursday, 1:00pm – Idea Garden meeting.

17 Thursday, 7:00pm – Telenet: Incredible Edible Flowers repeated. Please call the Extension office (333-7672) to reserve handouts. Open to public. Counts towards education hours.

19 Saturday, 9:00am – Idea Garden Workday: "Save the Garden Day". It's that time of the year when the garden could really use lots of TLC.

24 Thursday– Happy Birthday MG Ann Tice!!

September

4 Monday – Holiday, Labor Day. Extension office closed.

5 Tuesday, 1:00pm – Garden Walk meeting. Conference room. All interns and active MGs are welcome to attend.

7 Thursday, 11:00am – Program Committee meeting. All interns and active MGs are welcome to attend.

7 Thursday, 1:00pm – Advisory Committee meeting. All interns and active MGs are welcome to attend.

7-9 Thursday, Friday, Saturday – 2006 Illinois MG Conference "The Mark of the Quad Cities, Moline, IL. Hosted by the Master Gardeners from the Northwest Region. Conference enrollment is open to Master Gardeners and one adult guest. Each attendee must complete their own registration form. Early bird registration deadline is Aug. 11, 2006. Registration fee of $115 includes all classes, handouts, two lunches and the Friday night banquet. No registrations will be accepted after Aug. 23, 2006. For more information visit: http://www.extension.uiuc.edu/mg/2006%20conference%20brochure.pdf

12 Tuesday, 1:00pm – Telenet: Minor Spring Blooming Bulbs. Please call the Extension office (333-7672) to reserve handouts. Open to public. Counts towards education hours.

15 Friday, 10:00am – 3:00pm – MG Advance Training: first Tree ID class.

19 Thursday, 7:00pm – MG Monthly meeting: "Champaign Park District Gardens". Ever wonder how the plants in the Champaign Park District gardens do so well? Greg Sanken of the Champaign Park district will discuss plant selection and the successes of the beautiful on the mini gardens found throughout the city. Registration open to the public. Bring a friend. Counts towards education hours.

21 Thursday, 1:00pm – Idea Garden meeting. Conference room. All interns and active MGs are welcome to attend.

22 Friday, 10:00am – 3:00pm – MG Advance Training: second Tree ID class.

26 Tuesday, 1:00pm – Telenet: The Midas Touch. Please call the Extension office (333-7672) to reserve handouts. Open to public. Counts towards education hours.

29 Friday, 10:00am–3:00pm – MG Advance Training: third Tree ID class.

October

5, Thursday, 11:00am – Program Committee meeting. All interns and active MGs are welcome to attend.

6, Friday, 10:00am – 3:00pm – MG Advance Training: 4th Tree ID class.

5, Thursday, 1:00pm – Advisory Committee meeting. All interns and active MGs are welcome to attend.

13, Friday, 10:00am – 3:00pm – MG Advance Training: 5th Tree ID class.

15, Sunday – MG Annual Fall Harvest party: Reindeer Ranch, Rantoul, IL. Mark your calendars for this annual get MG celebration. Details to follow.

16, Monday – Happy Birthday MG Jim Simon!

18, Wednesday - Happy Birthday MG Phyllis Brussel!

20, Friday, 10:00am – 3:00pm – MG Advance Training: 6th Tree ID class.

21, Saturday – Organic Gardening Day. Holiday Inn, Urbana.

24, Tuesday, 1:00pm – Telenet: How Insecticides & Miticides Work. What is the difference you ask? Well sign up for this program and learn about the effective use of both. Please call the Extension office (333-7672) to reserve handouts. Open to public. Counts towards education hours.

27, Friday, 10:00am – 3:00pm – MG Advance Training: Final Tree ID class.

28, Saturday, 9:00am – IG Workday: "Put the Garden to Bed." This is the last Idea Garden workday of the year. Join fellow MGs and help close out another successful gardening season for fall cleanup at the IG. Refreshments will be provided.