Now that the flowers of the Easter Lily have withered, many people are wondering what to do with the remaining plant. The lily doesn't survive as a houseplant, but it can be planted outdoors where it should bloom again. Until it is safe to plant outdoors, keep the plant in a sunny window and water thoroughly when slightly dry.

Select a bright sunny spot in the garden to plant the bulb. Remove the plant from the container and loosen the root system. There will be some torn roots, but it is better for the plant than the compacted root system it has in the container. Plant the bulb a few inches deeper than it was in the container and cover with soil. Water thoroughly and fertilize with an all-purpose garden fertilizer. For the remainder of the season, water and fertilize as you would other garden plantings. Soon after planting the old top will wither and die. This is no cause for alarm because new shoots will soon emerge that may flower in July or August. If the plant doesn't flower later that summer, they will flower the next summer in June.

Some gardeners have good results when over-wintering lilies although they are not reliably hardy. To improve your chances for over-wintering success, mulch the plants with at least four inches of straw in the fall. Another option is to dig the bulb in the fall and store indoors the same way we do other tender bulbs such as canna.

- Prepared by Sherry Rindels, Department of Horticulture, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa

Lauren Springer and Rob Proctor, authors of Passionate Gardening: Good Advice for Challenging Climates, have been long time friends and long time gardeners. Through this collaboration, they share their passion for plants and the art of gardening. They invite you into their gardening world through a series of witty, personal, yet practical essays concerning many of the things we encounter when gardening in a challenging climate. You will not find many cookie-cutter observations or solutions – their approach is truly refreshing. While they are writing from their gardening experiences in Colorado (zone 5), you will be surprised to find how similar our gardening experiences are here in Chicago (also zone 5). Throughout the book you will encounter beautiful photos of their garden beds and close-ups of many lovely plant combinations. There are sections on handling various aspects of difficult growing conditions along with sections devoted to exploring and managing the challenges and rewards of gardening throughout the four seasons.

The book begins with general garden challenges and observations from an uncommon perspective. There are tips and suggestions for dealing with less than optimum growing conditions: clay soils, summer droughts, weed control. One of my favorite essays deals with what Lauren calls "Hellstrips," which she describes as " One of the most thankless places to grow plants is that strip between the sidewalk and the street . . . Pounded to the consistency of baked brick by decades of errant foot traffic, graced by a fine mesh of weeds intertwined with cast-off cigarette butts, and often only appreciated by dogs with a mission . . ." She believes with the right plants and a little planning, it can greatly add to your home's curb appeal. Since reading this and viewing her appropriate lists of plants, along with a great photo of the three-year-old site, I have been inspired to plot a strategy for making my hellstrip into a beautiful island-type bed.

"Through The Seasons" comprises much of the remaining pages of the book. The spring section gives you ideas on building a basement greenhouse, enjoying the first snowdrops, surviving the "waiting game" and an essay on "Dirt Days." The information on specific spring flowering plants is brief but useful. I love the way Rob describes "The Waiting Game:" "Most seasoned gardeners in this part of the country know to keep their guards up, but neophytes invariably get caught by the cold snap that nearly always seems to follow a balmy week . . . My friends call, (not really the serious gardener types) begging for permission to set out their tender purchases . . . For my friends that want advice but rarely take it, its back to the drawing board – or the nursery." Rob's description in his "Dirt Days" essay struck very close to home for me. He explains how the rest of his life comes to a screeching halt come late April through May, where he is no longer up on current events and doesn't notice his lack of social life. He also describes the incredible experience of digging and how the loss of a plant gives him the ability to meet one of his most basic needs: the urge to dig in the dirt.

The Summer Section is useful also and again comes from the authors' unique perspectives. There are some outstanding photos of plant combinations, an essay on seed collecting, and several essays on specific plants such as Canadian Roses, Penstemons, bush fruits, night fragrance gardens and one on hummingbirds. There is information on tropical plants, and tomatoes. There is something here for just about any gardener.

The Autumn essays offer ideas on late season perennials and annuals, the planning and planting of next year's spring display, choosing perennials, shrubs and trees for fall foliage and some interesting chores for the ending growing season. In one of the essays, Lauren shares her ritual for encouraging reseeding of some of her favorite annuals and biennials. "I choose a wind-still day when the sun feels warm on the face and the soil is moist. I gather the brown paper sack I filled with collected seeds over the past couple of months . . . Then, like an elf sprinkling fairy dust, I throw seeds over the sleeping plants."

As the reader, I enjoyed picturing Lauren performing this ritual and am now excitedly anticipating what surprises await in my own garden this year.

The last Season section of essays, Winter, offers plant and shrub ideas for attracting a bird population and creating structural interest during the cold gray days of winter. Lauren lists various viburnums and other shrubs that are best suited for providing food and shelter for birds. Rob contributes an essay titled "Winter Madness." It starts out "These are the 'fat and blue' days for many people. The holidays are over and there's still not a crocus in sight. My skin has that lovely Dracula-like pallor to it. I'm cranky. No amount of chocolate can cheer me." He does give the reader hope: this is the time to sort through all those to-do lists compiled from last year's growing season and get organized. The section also includes an essay on Holiday Flowers and Christmas tree shopping and garden resolutions.

This book is a unique treasure of garden stories, horticultural adventures, and good sound garden and plant advice. It is truly one of my favorite books that I take out again and again to ignite my own passion for gardening and to put the most recent gardening frustration in its proper and benign perspective. This book would be a great addition to any gardener's library.

- by Lauren Springer & Rob Proctor, Review by Nancy Braasch

From the Instructional Materials Center of the University of Missouri-Kansas City
School of Education

Traditional May Day celebrations were pre-Christian agricultural festivals. Eventually the significance was lost and the practices survived merely as popular festivities.

In Italy: The people of ancient Rome honored Flora, the goddess of flowers and springtime with a festival called Florialia. All varieties of flowers are placed in and around places of worship.

In Switzerland: A May pine tree is often placed under a girl's window.

In Germany: German boys often secretly plant May trees in front of the windows of their sweethearts.

In Czechoslovakia: At night, boys place maypoles before their sweethearts' windows.

In England: Villagers awakened at daybreak to gather blossoming flowers and branches and erected a towering maypole (usually made from the trunk of a tall birch tree), which was then decorated with bright field flowers. The villagers then danced and sang around the maypole, accompanied by a piper.

In France: Because the month of May is considered to be sacred to the Virgin Mary, they enshrined young girls as May queens and they led the processions in honor of the Virgin. Cows were draped with bunches of flowers and led in the parades and everyone wanted to touch them for luck. On May Day morning, everyone drinks the milk, still warm from the milking, to assure good luck during the year.

In Greece: Children look early in the morning for the first swallow of spring. When they find the bird, they go from door to door singing songs of spring. They are rewarded with special treats of fruit, nuts, and cakes.

In the United States: Puritans frowned on May Day and brought that attitude along to the New World from England. Therefore, it has not received the same enthusiasm here as it has in Great Britain. But, there is some celebration, at parks and schools, with dancing around the maypole, some selecting a May queen, or gathering spring flowers, placing them in handmade paper baskets and hanging them on the doorknobs of relatives and friends – they ring the doorbells and run away, leaving the flowers as a surprise.

In Hawaii: May Day is Lei Day. Everyone gives a lei to another, putting it around the receiver's neck and accompanying the gift with the traditional kiss.

It was advertised as a Horticulture and Container Gardening Presentation to be given at the Bellwood Community Center on April 17, 2004. Karen Reid and I volunteered to be the presenters, bringing many handouts and seed packets. Both men and women showed up for the program, which started at 10:00 AM. Most were novices. It was very rewarding to know that the presentation on the basics of good soil, watering, composting, mulching, fertilizing and other related topics was well received.

After the Q & A session the participants helped themselves to seed packets and handouts and thanked Karen and I. It was refreshing to know that we had "spread the word," that we enlightened the interested audience, and that they went home knowing what to do with their next gardening venture. Of course, we did tell them to call the Help Desk if they had any problems.

- by Joan Jeske

from Garden, Deck & Landscaping Magazine

Build new beds. Every gardener needs more beds. This year, put in a flowering shrub bed supplemented with perennials and annuals.

• Stop feeding the birds. Take down and clean feeders, put them away until fall.
• Enjoy the spring show. Resolve to plant more spring-flowering bulbs next fall.
• Plant hardy annuals. Sow seeds outdoors or transplant seedlings.
• Apply mulch and more mulch. If you mulch now, you'll have next to no weeding come summer.

We were delighted to meet some more of our newest Master Gardeners at our April 7 luncheon at The Egg Factory. We hope we will see more of them in the months to come.

Our next Unclub luncheon is on Wednesday, May 5 at 12 noon at the Egg Factory and will be a very special meeting. We all plan to divide our perennials and bring them along with any extra seedlings we have grown. After lunch we will have a trunk plant swap in the parking lot. Everyone will go home with some different plants to enjoy in their gardens. If you dig the plants up now, they will have some time to grow in the pots a bit and will be a lot healthier.

Please remember to e-mail Carol Bean at cjbean1@comcast.net or telephone Eileen at 847-818-2901 at least several days before May 5 so we can reserve the room at The Egg Factory.

Hope to see lots of you dirt diggers there!!

- by Carol Bean

Are you a person with a "bug" to write? Do you have expertise in a given area that you could share with your fellow Cook County/North Suburban Master Gardeners? Is sharing your knowledge in written form a better match for your talents that participating in Speaker's Bureau? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then we have a volunteer opportunity for you!

We would like to include more articles written by Master Gardeners in future issues of Hort Happenings. Please give some thought to what areas you would like to write about, and/or what columns or articles you would like to see. Then call Eileen at 847-818-2901 to discuss your ideas and to learn more. Articles are due to Eileen via e-mail (ejwitt@extension.uiuc.edu) by the 20th of each month (or earlier!), for inclusion in the issue being distributed by the first of the following month.

We are looking forward to welcoming some new authors!