YAY! With the "Wearin' O' the Green" soon comes the "Seein' O' the Green" of spring arriving-at last! Wonderful things will be sprouting for the Master Gardeners this spring including:

• Updated handbook/ directory. This year it will be expanded to include a photo section of our new trainees along with photos of our active members (like last year). If you wish a new photo taken, contact Christine Martinez. AND, it will also include the operating calendar (committee meetings, trainings, etc.), committee names and chairs, by-laws, and an overview of how the Idea Garden works-i.e. the ordering, planning, and timing of all we do at the IG over the year. All this extra information is to help everyone be informed of "the dirt" of what we do & when all year long.
• 2005 Trainees: The last training date is April 11. If you can, volunteer to be an office mentor (training session for mentors is April 7 at 7 p.m.). Please contact Jan Fisher. It's so important that we orient our new mentors to this most valuable service to the public AND it is a great learning experience, too. Those of you that have volunteered to be Garden Buddies to the new trainees, keep up the good work! The more we can help them feel welcome, the better it is for our group. Contact Mary Morris to volunteer.
• Idea Garden: There is an urgent need of help being chair or co-chair of the Borders section- please consider volunteering. It is such an important part of our garden. Many have helped here before and as past chair, Laura Hartman, can give advice as all the plants have been planned and plotted out. She has done a lovely job but needs some people to take over for her. She has already ordered seeds and the EuroAm plants for this year.
• The greenhouse committee has started on our seeds. We have placed a request from EuroAmerican for 1,386 plugs for the IG and the community gardens. Please contact Dorothy Fritchie or Ann Marlow to help with the greenhouse seeding, transplanting, and potting up of plugs from EuroAm (coming late March).
• Save the Dates: Program committee has been busy. April 27 buying trip Bloomington/Peoria areas and May 21 trip to Indianapolis by bus- see details in the calendar. The Garden Walk is June 25th this year (Saturday). Contact Carolyn Purcell or Bill McDonald to volunteer to help run our main income source for the year. State MG Conference in Collinsville from September 22-24.
• Nifty courses in planning stages: Heather Miller with the Office of Academic Outreach at the U. of I. is working with Sandy to "cook" up some advanced training sessions for next year. They hope to offer a "face to face" course next winter with a possible overnight at Allerton Park on plant disease training. Also, they are planning two possible advanced online courses–one on conifers and another on woody ornamentals–that will allow participants to follow plant life cycles over a period of one year. "Stay tuned" for further info.
• Nifty course this May: Sun Loving Perennials an online program developed with Alan Armitage (shade loving perennials can be included) is now available. The kick-off meeting is at the Extension office on May 6. Get further info in the brochure, available at the office. Scholarships for the course fee are available, too.
• Award Nomination: Heather Miller is nominating Sandy Mason, with our full support, for the Campus Award for Excellence in Public Engagement. This is a highly competitive award for U of I staff that deal with societal issues and engage the community. We certainly hope that our admired leader is in the finalist and hopefully a winner!

Come join in to any of our meetings (Advisory, Program, Garden Walk, etc.), programs, trips, and Idea or community gardens. Share the passion of gardening with others. Dig in and go for the GREEN!

- Ann Tice, President

Our every-other-year Garden Day seemed spectacular to me this year. For two days we were amazed, inspired, and informed quite delightfully with humor and great photos by 5 nationally known speakers. "Thank-you" to all who helped make this so enjoyable. We had about 150 in attendance the first day and 300 the second day, complete with great vendors.

Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery (specializing in unusual mail order plants) spoke both days. He admonished us that "gardening is magical as long as you are willing to break some rules." We really can plant in "drifts of one," try new plants ("if you are not killing plants–you're not growing as a gardener"), and that the purchase of an expensive special plant CAN be rationalized! He said an expensive dinner is enjoyed for a few hours but for the same price, a special plant can be grown, enjoyed for years, and even divided and shared with friends! "The beauty of the garden is things get better with age" as opposed to other material objects. What a lovely thought. The second day he amazed us with spectacular plants that can be used here in Zone 5.

Greg Speichert widened our scope of plants we can use with information on starting papaya seeds from the grocery store, and supercharged us with details of growing, propagation, and over-wintering tropicals such as cannas, ginger, caladiums and even pineapples.

Ken Druse inspired us with the passion of gardening (also the title of his new book). People underestimate the value of gardening and gardeners and how much our efforts contribute to life. Even road workers can be stopped by a beautiful roadside planting. He mentioned gardening with a partner contributes to the enjoyment–even if the partner is Mother Nature, although she can make a challenging partner at times (floods, bad weather, etc)! He even gave a "pearl" of starting Arisaema (Jack-in-the-Pulpit) seeds (which need to be soaked for 2 weeks with water changed daily) He places them in a nylon bag and attaches them inside the toilet tank! The water is faithfully changed daily! :-)

Carol Reese had fabulous photos and generated room shaking laughter with her theme of rethinking planting your landscape especially in the front yard to give yourself privacy and special views from inside your house. She encouraged us to consider creating separate garden "rooms" for function, color, or fun much as you would when designing rooms for a new house. And, lastly, enjoy your time spent working in or viewing the outdoors. Alongside the wonders of wildlife it attracts–from froggies "screaming" for a mate to special flowers that depend upon a bumble bee to pitch a fit and buzz at a certain exact vibration that then releases the flower's pollen, to "petting" a bumblebee's back (not sure I'm brave enough for this yet!) Enjoy it!

Erica Glasener of HGTV's "A Gardener's Diary" finished up with a charming breath of fresh air in showing beautiful inspiring slides of great plants for zone 5. From Bletilla striata (from Brent and Beckys bulbs) as a lovely ground orchid in fushia, Spirea 'Candelight' with chartreuse foliage, to Iris tectorum 'Alba' with great white flowers and even better, great foliage the rest of the summer. She suggested a great reference book by Pamela Harper, Time Tested Plants: Thirty Years in a Four Season Garden.

ALSO, two speakers mentioned that the most popular shows on HGTV are gardening shows, but, still producers are considering cutting them! Consider writing or emailing HGTV in support of gardening shows!

To me, the days did make gardening magical and it's nice to know that we, like gardening, can all improve with age!!

- Ann Tice

Do you grow pumpkins, squashes or gourds? Do you buy them at the store or the farmers' market? Do you like to look at beautiful pictures of Cucurbitas and enjoy contemporary recipes using them? If so, this beautiful book will knock your socks right out of your gardening clogs!

The Compleat Squash: A Passionate Grower's Guide to Pumpkins, Squashes, and Gourds by Amy Goldman is a coffee table book that is useful, beautiful and fun. Besides a full color picture of 129 varieties it includes The botanical name, size, weight, rind color, flesh color, color rating, fiber, date of introduction, uses, synonyms, seed sources and general information about each of the varieties. It also includes many pages of useful information on topics such as how to grow pumpkins and squashes, harvesting them, hand polination, and seed saving.

It is nicely indexed, has a useful bibliography, many pages of seed sources, and lots of recipes with color photographs. The book is a little pricey at $40.00, but it is well worth it. If it is beyond your budget or you want to look it over before buying it you may check it out from the Champaign Public Library. The ISBN is 1-57965-251-4 should you want to order it from a local book store or on line. It is listed for as low as $26.37 at Amazon.com.

Amy Goldman's first book, Melons for the Passionate Grower, is available to check out at Urbana Free Library and is also for sale on Amazon.com.

- Ann Marlow

Last year, in May, when planning a trip to the British Isles, and The Chelsea Flower Show specifically, I quickly put in some early vegetable plants and some seeds for the summer veggie garden. I thought, "What do I have to lose? A few seeds? So, give it a try." Well, was I in for a surprise? When I returned, I could not believe how beautiful the garden was; this being in mid-June. Once I tamed the grape vines and got down to basics in the vegetable garden, I realized that plants did as good or better than if I had been here all the while. And to top it off, my seeds not only germinated but every one had come up and the plants were flourishing.

One plant in particular surpassed my wildest hopes. This plant was Summer Squash "Patty Pan" (Cucurbitaceae, Cucurbita moschata or pepo). What a trooper! All summer long this plant kept producing multiple squash continuously. One by one other squash and cucumber plants succumb to cucumber beetles and the bacterial wilt they spread. One day you'll exclaim, "how beautiful are these plants" only to notice the next day that they are wilted beyond repair. Actually there are instances when these plants can be saved but we'll go into more detail about this at another time. The object here is to highly recommend this species for your vegetable gardens.

Most people think only of Zucchini when thinking of summer squash but I find the other varieties to be equally delicious and as easily used in the same recipes or just fresh in salads. Once lettuce varieties have bolted beyond fresh use we tend to look for other ways to prepare salads. I can only sing praises for this squash. There is another variety "Green Tint" that is as delicious but I have not given it the same test. I think I will consider trying other varieties now that this one has done so well for me. I have also found the squash 'Cocozelle', a lightly striped zucchini type, I believe from Italy, to be less attractive to the cucumber beetle.

So, gardeners, consider giving these plants a try in your gardens! Happy Spring!!

- Bette Hughes

Indianapolis Museum of Art: Oldfields Lilly House & Gardens

The Program Committee has put together another fine educational and social bus trip this year. The Program Committee has planned a day packed with art and horticulture to the Indianapolis Museum of Art: Oldfields – Lilly House & Gardens on Saturday, May 21. We will depart from the Extension office at 7:00 a.m. for Indianapolis (morning refreshments provided).

The day includes a private guided tour of Oldfields Estate Gardens by a member of the horticultural staff. The Estate Gardens include a ravine, a formal, and an allee/border garden. After the guided tour, MGs are welcome to tour the Lilly House, the Madeline Elder Greenhouse, the Museum of Art and the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park.

The Lilly House features furnished historic rooms reflecting the 1930s; historical and interactive exhibits of the interior and landscape design, history or Oldfields and the American Country Place Era; and samples of Mr. Lilly's world renowned collection of books, gold coins, military miniatures and a nautical items. The Lilly House also offers a panoramic view of the estate gardens.

The Museum of Art has several galleries and exhibits for viewing including but not limited to the New American Gallery, Native Art of the America's Gallery (pre-Columbian exhibition), Raphael's La Fornarina and other pieces by Raphael, etc.

The Madeline Elder Greenhouse features the Greenhouse Shop which is considered to be a "haven for gardeners looking for unusual perennials and houseplants" and also houses a fine orchid collection and other displays. The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park offers one hundred acres of established woods, meadow, and a lake complex for exploration.

Still looking for more? Then walk on over to the "Garden for Everyone" for a multi-sensory garden experience.

Lunch on your own: onsite Wolfgang Puck café and restaurant. The café features Wolfgang's signature casual California fare: pizzas, pastas, sandwiches, and more, while the restaurant features gourmet fare.

Registration deadline: May 13. Cost: $30/MG and $40/guest. Call 333-7672 to register.

Plant hunting in the wilds of central Illinois? Well, you might have to use your imagination to conjure up the Amazon rain forest or a cool Himalayan mountain pass, but there are still plenty of plants to find in unexplored and out of the way nurseries nearby. Please join us on our annual "Shop Plants 'til you Drop" buying trip on Wednesday, April 27. We will be going to four nurseries in Bloomington and Peoria.

Growing Grounds in Bloomington is a wonderful all-around nursery with perennials, shrubs, trees and annuals. It also has an interesting selection of tools, plus a gift/interiors shop. Conner Nursery and Gardens just outside of Peoria is a specialty hosta nursery. It is located in a peaceful country setting with display gardens and a gift shop with a nice selection of stone sculptures. They also carry a limited range of shade plants. Hoerr's in Peoria is another all around general garden center with a wide selection of plants and decorative items. We went there two years ago and had a great time. Finally, we'll stop at the home base of Greenview Nursery, which is just down the road from Hoerr's. I understand they have a gift department that is 3 times the one in Champaign.

Lunch will be on your own. We are planning on going to Johnnie's Steakhouse which is just down the road from Hoerr's. In spite of it's name, it is really a Biaggi's style restaurant.

Please call the office by Friday, April 22nd to sign up. Indicate whether or not you need a ride or will be driving. Also, indicate whether you are willing to have one or two people ride with you. This will help us plan how many vehicles we need. We will leave the Extension office at 8:00 a.m. on the 27th. Maps will be provided.

(What did you say?)

Some years ago in Vancouver, while visiting the University of British Columbia botanic garden, I was told that I had come at just the right time to observe the "Cardiocrinums". Who? What? I didn't have the faintest idea what a Cardiocrinum was, but I followed directions ... under the overpass and through some woods. I wondered how, in all this space, I would find a plant I didn't know anything about. I needn't have wondered.

One could have just followed the scent of sweet perfume to its source. But failing a good sense of smell, I was nearly struck down by the sight, at the bottom of a pine tree covered slope, of a crowd of 7 foot tall flower stalks dressed in large, glossy, heart shaped, green leaves and topped by numerous pure white lilies, arranged symmetrically around the stalk. They seemed to point to one another and I felt as though I had intruded on a privateconversation! I will never forget this first sight of a grove of Cardiocrinum giganteum lilies in bloom.

I told this story to a friend who later presented me with a small, walnut sized bulb of Cardiocrinum giganteum that he had found while visiting some far flung nursery. Good luck, he said with a laugh.

I have pine trees and I have compost, so I tried to make this bulb a home away from home, snuggling it into a rich mixture of compost, soil, and sand, under the pine and spruce trees in my back yard. I covered it with pine needles and pine bark mulch and never expected to see it again. But - Surprise! It came up the next Spring and grew a beautiful big leaf, maybe two that first year. And each succeeding year it was bigger and better. A friend and Hosta devotee who was visiting my garden once, was drawn to these large glossy green leaves. He couldn't identify them. It drove him crazy. Reason enough to grow a Cardiocrinum.

In it's 5th Spring, in early June, my Cardiocrinum bloomed. Ten beautiful pure white lilies, arranged around a single, thick, 6 1/2 foot tall stalk. It was the biggest horticultural thrill of my life. I called garden friends and bought some champagne. We gathered round the lily at dusk, and marveled over it's achievement and it's whiteness and sweet perfume. It is especially fragrant at night. It bloomed that year during the week of the full moon, and I remember going out at night to drink in the fragrance and the sight of these white lilies glistening in the moonlight. It was enchanting. I just needed a hammock or something comfy and I could have stayed there all night. Who knows what winged visitors I might have seen.

You can't be impatient if you want to grow these bulbs. From a walnut sized bulb, I waited 4 years. You can buy such bulbs, and I have, but I have yet to get one to grow. (Maybe you have to have a friend give you one.) The downer is that after they bloom, the bulb dies! But with luck, off-sets continue the family line. Off-sets from my original bulb grew heartily and bloomed last year. And I could see more life coming, so, barring some freak of nature, I expect another flowering in 2008.

Icut the flower stalk just before a frost in November. There were 11 seed pods. According to Norman Deno in his book "Seed Germination Theory and Practice," Cardiocrinum seeds have a high rate of failure. Here is his recipe for germinating these seeds. The first catch is that the seed must be "fresh." How fresh is "fresh" I want to ask him. Spread fresh seeds on damp paper towels and place these in plastic baggies. Then give them 3 months at 40 degrees F, then 3 months at 70 degrees, another 3 months at 40 and another 3 months at 70. After all this, in a week's time you might get 2% germination. Another 3 months at 40 degrees and you might expect 97% germination in 5 to 11 weeks.

This requires patience and persistence, to say the least - not to mention a year of reserved space in your refrigerator. And germination is only the beginning. Then you have to pot these babies up and get them growing. And when they look strong and able, you have to put them in the garden and protect them from frantic squirrels digging holes, and gnawing voles, and all the vagaries of nature, for approximately 7 years (that's 7 years from seedling size)...it could be longer.

But it isn't all dullsville, this wait for flowers. The plant is very attractive in the garden with it's large glossy bright green leaves. It is a stickler for shade –those leaves burn quickly in the sun in our climate. In the shade of Pine and Spruce trees, my plant grows a thick, sturdy stalk, straight as an arrow and at no time does it lean toward the sun.

I still have 3 pods of seeds. Let me know if you want to give them a try.

- Phyllis Brussel

April

2, Saturday, 8:00am– 12:00pm– Potpourri of Gardening 2005. Presented by Macon County MGs. Call 877-6042 for more info.
5, Tuesday, 9:00am – Garden Walk mtg.
7, Thursday, 11:00am – Program Committee mtg.
7, Thursday, 1:00pm – Advisory Committee mtg.
7, Thursday, 10:30am – 3:00pm – Gear up for Gardening. Edgar County MGs host their 4th annual spring garden seminar. Call 465-8585 to register. Cost is $7.
7, Thursday, 7:00pm – Office Mentor Training. Office Mentors review office procedures. Extension office. Call Jan Fisher if you have questions.
11, Monday – Last day of in-class MG training.
16 & 17, Saturday (8am-5pm) & Sunday (8am-3pm) –
U of I Hort Club Flower Show. Stock Pavillion, 1402 W. Pennsylvania Ave, Urbana.
19, Tuesday, 7:00pm– MG Monthly Program: Flower Arranging with Dianne Nolan. Create a spring floral topiary. Fee: $10 to cover flower costs. Bring a 4" clay pot without a drainage hole or a container of similar properties. Registration deadline: April 13. Call 333-7672 to register.
21, Tuesday, 7:00pm – Telenet: Spring Wildflowers. Learn how to identify common Illinois spring wildflowers. Instructor Jennifer Fishburn, Horticulture Educator. Please call 333-7672 to reserve handouts.
21, Thursday, 1:00pm – Idea Garden mtg.
23, Saturday, 9:00am – MG Trainee Graduation Party at the Idea Garden. Trainees, meet other MGs and become familiar with the Idea Garden. Refreshments will be provided.
27, Wednesday– MG Road Buying Trip. Carpool to various nurseries within the Bloomington/Peoria area and do some major plant shopping. Bring out the wallets and get ready to do some damage! Registration deadline: April 22. Call 333-7672 to register.
30, Saturday, 11:00am – IG Gardeners' Chat: Tool and Equipment Safety Workshop presented by Mark Mammen of Safeworks Illinois.
30, Saturday, 10:00am – 4:00pm – Allerton Plant Sale. Allerton Park Visitor Center, Monticello, Illinois.

May

3, Tuesday, 9:00am – Garden Walk mtg.
3, Tuesday, 1:00pm – Telenet: Ornamental Vines for the Home Landscape. Give a lift to your garden by planting vines. Instructor Greg Stack, Horticulture Educator. Please call 333-7672 to reserve handouts.
5, Thursday, 11:00am – Program Committee mtg.
5, Thursday, 1:00pm – Advisory Committee mtg.
5, Thursday, 7:00pm – Telenet repeat: Ornamental Vines for the Home Landscape. Please call 333-7672 to reserve handouts.
6, Friday, 9:00am-12:00pm – Sun Loving Perennials online course kickoff event. Features in-depth information for more than 100 outstanding herbaceous perennials. Offered in conjunction with the American Horticulture Society. Counts towards Master Gardener Continued Education hours. Registration open to all plant lovers. Registration deadline: April 27. Registration brochure available online or in the Extension office.
7, Saturday, 9:00am – 3:00pm – CU Herb Society Plant Sale. Lincoln Square Mall, Urbana. Held in conjunction with the plant sale by Friends of the Grand Prairie.
14, Saturday, 11 a.m., IG Greenhouse Plant Sale. Contact Dorothy Fritchie or Ann Marolow if you can help.
17, Tuesday, 1:00pm – Telenet: Vegetable Garden Design – Beyond the Straight and Narrow. Who says vegetable gardens have to be all straight rows? Attractive vegetable garden design possibilities will be discussed. Instructor Jim Schmidt, Horticulture State Specialist. Please call 333-7672 to reserve handouts.
19, Thursday, 1:00pm - Idea Garden mtg.
19, Thursday, 7:00pm – Telenet repeat: Vegetable Garden Design – Beyond the Straight and Narrow. Please call 333-7672 to reserve handouts.
21, Saturday, 7:00am – MG Bus Trip to Indianapolis Museum of Art and Oldfields: Lilly House & Gardens. We will depart from the Extension office at 7:00 a.m. and depart from the museum at 4:00 p.m. Cost: $30/MG and $40 for guests. Registration deadline: May 13. Call 333-7672 to register.
28, Saturday, 11:00am – IG Gardeners' Chat – Gardener's IPM presented by Extension Specialist Raymond Cloyd.

June

2, Thursday, 11:00am – Program Committee mtg.
2, Thursday, 1:00pm – Advisory Committee mtg.
16, Thursday, 1:00pm – Idea Garden mtg.
21, Tuesday, 6:30pm – MG Monthly Program: Preview Garden Walk & Ice Cream Social.
25, Saturday, 10:00am – 5:00pm – Garden Walk. Yes, the Garden Walk is on a Saturday this year. Mark your calendar! Contact Carolyn Purcell or Bill MacDonald if you would like to help out.