The right plants not only add beauty to a landscape but can also provide birds with year-round shelter, safe nesting sites, and a ready food supply. To choose wisely, we need to understand both plant and bird characteristics.

For example, the cardinal, which is popular with many birdwatchers, prefers areas with shrubs and a few trees, especially smaller and more open ones such as Paperbark maple (Acer griseum). Viburnums, from the American and European cranberries to many of the leatherleaf-types such as Mohican and Alleghany, produce great-tasting berries ranging from red to purple to blue to black, and they provide shelter for many songbirds. Not all viburnums produce berries, so be selective when choosing them.

Spruce, red and white cedar, pines and other conifers also provide excellent nesting cover, winter shelter and wind protection for songbirds. In addition, conifers provide "green" in a winter landscape and privacy all year.

The American elder, or elderberry, has large, flat, white flower clusters in the spring and purple to black fruit in late summer. This shrub attracts alder flycatchers, yellow warblers, goldfinches and approximately 50 other species. It grows best in moist soil, but it may be too coarse for some landscape designs. New varieties produce yellow or dark-red foliage, which contrasts well with most green-leafed plants.

Because of their small size, hawthorns or thornapples (Crataegus) can be excellent trees for landscaping around one-story homes. The cockspur and spike hawthorns, which have fruit that remains on the branches all winter, provide nesting cover and food for many songbirds. Other useful species include Cornelian cherry, Kousa and Flowering dogwood (Cornus), mountain ash (Sorbus), and crabapple (Malus).

Consider birds' habitat preferences when selecting plants. For example, the flicker, oriole, and chipping sparrow like areas with only a few large trees. Others birds such as the red-eyed vireo, wood thrush, and wood peewee prefer locations with many large trees, while catbirds require only shrubs.

Also decide how a plant fits into your landscape design. Consider fall color and whether the plant bears attractive flowers as well as fruit. Use low-branching shrubs near the lawn to provide a transition from grass to the shrub border and to protect ground-nesting birds.

Add a center of interest, such as a birdbath, against a shrub background in line with a window. Place it in a recessed area easily observed from the window but far enough away from shrubs to prevent cats from stalking the birds. Change the water regularly to prevent algae growth.

Many fruit- and nut-bearing plant species are beneficial to birds. Choosing the right plants can make your backyard or garden attractive for people and inviting to wildlife.

The word is out.... 2007 is the year of the periodical cicadas! But not every area of the state will be inundated with these noisy insects.

There are two types of cicadas commonly found in large numbers in Illinois.

Dogday or annual cicadas emerge every year from the soil during the heat of the summer. Dogday cicadas are green and approximately 1½ inches long. The male "sings" to attract females, usually in late afternoon and early evening. Females do not have sound-producing membranes like the males.

Periodical cicadas are different. In the northern half of Illinois, they emerge every 17 years. In the southern half of the state, they emerge every 13 years.

This spring, the Northern Illinois Brood XIII of the 17-year periodical cicada is expected to emerge north of a line from northern Iroquois County on the east, dipping southward to northern Sangamon County in the center of the state, and then rising northward to Moline and other Quad Cities on the west. These guys haven't been seen since 1990. This brood has a reputation for the largest emergence of cicadas known anywhere. On average, the emergence numbers could total more than 133,000 cicadas per acre. In the past, some emergences have had as many as 1.5 million cicadas per acre. The south will be spared until the Great Southern Brood XIX emerges in 2011.

The timing of emergence is determined by soil temperatures. The northern emergence should begin late May.

The periodical cicada adult is 1½ inches long and dark brown/black with red/orange eyes. Males will "sing" to attract females. The trilling is very loud and occurs during the sunny part of the day. The mating period lasts for two weeks; then the males die, and the singing ends.

The female lays eggs using her ovipositor to make a slit in small twigs of trees. Branches between 3/16 of an inch up to 1½ inches are preferred. The eggs hatch, and nymphs fall to the ground and tunnel down through the soil to feed on sap in a root until they emerge 13 or 17 years later. Dogday cicadas emerge on a faster lifecycle, anywhere between two to five years.

The root-feeding damage impacts growth but does not cause enough damage to justify control. The egg-laying slit made in the twig may cause the twig to dry and break off. This damage, too, is not harmful enough on an established tree to warrant trying to control these insects. The danger for young trees is when their trunk diameters are small enough that slits made in the trunk may result in the trunk breaking.

Research has shown that insecticide applications will kill cicadas; but when analyzing overall egg-slit trunk/twig damage, there is little difference between treated and untreated test plots. The only way to protect small trees from serious damage is to protect the trunk with screening or other material. Trunks larger than 2½ inches in diameter tolerate the egg laying.

Birds and other predators feed on dogday cicadas. One predator is the cicada killer. This large wasp catches the cicada, stings the insect to paralyze it, and then buries it in an underground chamber where it lays eggs in the paralyzed cicada. When the eggs hatch, the wasp larvae feed on the paralyzed cicada.

If historical records are true, Southern Illinois will only have the usual dogday cicadas this summer. Northern Illinoisans will once again need snow shovels to scoop up dead cicadas, and they'll need earplugs to block out the cacophony of male cicadas. Residents along the boundary will have to wait and see what emerges. For some, the mass emergence of cicadas is one of nature's many wonders. For others, it is a nuisance that leaves streets and sidewalks slick and smelly with rotting carcasses.

For more information on cicadas in Illinois, log on to http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/cicadas/13or17year.html

Elm leaves may be dropping as the result of feeding by elm leaf beetles. A serious defoliator of elms throughout the United States, elm leaf beetles have a preference for Siberian elms, which are often incorrectly called Chinese elm. Elm leaf beetles are strictly leaf feeders and do not carry the fungus responsible for Dutch elm disease.

Elm leaf beetles make their first big appearance in early summer. Like boxelder bugs, they over-winter as adults and seek shelter in places such as outbuildings, homes, or under loose tree bark. Sometimes, they become an indoor nuisance during the fall "moving in phase" or in the spring when they migrate outdoors.

The adult beetle is yellowish to dull-green, about 1/4 inch long, with a black stripe along each side of the body. Adult beetles left over-wintering sites in early spring and migrated to area elms. Once in trees, the adults began to feed on foliage, mate, and lay eggs on the leaves.

The lemon-colored eggs are laid in groups of 30 to 50 on the underside of the foliage. After egg hatch, the tiny larvae begin to feed on the leaves. The larvae feed on the underside of leaves and actually skeletonize the foliage, leaving only the upper surface in tact. Infested elm trees often have a brown or yellow appearance. If feeding is heavy, defoliation can be extensive. The larvae feed for about three weeks and then migrate down the trunk of infested trees. Gathering in large masses, they pupate or turn into adult beetles. This process takes about one to two weeks.

At this stage, the larvae are resistant to insecticide applications. When the adult beetles emerge, they will fly up into elm trees to mate and lay eggs for a second generation.

Normally, older, well-established trees can survive heavy feeding. But, young trees or trees already under stress may be sufficiently weakened, leaving them vulnerable to attack by secondary insects and disease.

If control is needed, foliar insecticide sprays shuld be applied soon after the larvae hatch from eggs. Treatment before this time will not be effective. Keep trees healthy by watering regularly and fertilizing either this fall or early next spring.

Contact the Extension office for current chemical recommendations. Be sure to read and follow all label directions

Every spring it seems that local Extension offices get questions about mushrooms . . . what kind is it? can I eat these mushrooms?

If you get these questions from clients, remember that the University of Illinois does not make positive identification of mushrooms without determining the spore pattern/print . . . which means letting the mushroom mature to the point where spores are released.

Only at this point, can we safely determine whether the mushroom is edible.

This maturing may take several days to a week or more, which means the mushroom will no longer be edible.

There are too many mushrooms that look alike.Some are edible while others are poisonous. As a Master Gardener, you are urged not to get drawn in by a client who wants "you" to actually put "their" life on the line. You can see the words "lawsuit" and "liability" all over misidentification.

If clients want to send in their mushrooms to the U of I plant pathologists or take their mushrooms to a mycologist at a university or college, that is their choice. This policy protects U of I Extension and you as a volunteer Master Gardener.

So when asked to identify mushrooms, explain the University's policy and simply say,"I'm sorry...we can't safely make that determination."