Speaker's Bureau

Master Gardeners are trained volunteers who enjoy helping people put horticultural knowledge to work. Several experienced Master Gardeners present programs about gardening to groups and organizations of ten or more people. All Garden programs are PowerPoint slide presentation format developed by professional University of Illinois Extension Horticulture Educators. To schedule a speaker, call Nancy Pollard at 708-720-7500.

Bring Butterflies to Your Garden
Find out the basic needs of common Illinois butterflies so you can, design butterfly friendly gardens. We'll also show you what plants will attract these "flowers of the air."

Designing and Growing Beautiful Container Gardens
Whether you live in an apartment, condo, town home or single family home, you probably have the space for the color and interest of container gardens, one of the hottest trends in gardening. Includes container selection, plant selection, simple design considerations, the proper planting and maintenance to help ensure success.

Fall Gardening Calendar
September and October is a great time to over seed your lawn, kill out lawn weeds, cleanup your vegetable garden, cover tender plants and roses, and plant spring blooming bulbs? Do you know how to avoid winter damage to evergreens and other garden plants? Join our Master Gardener, and learn what you should be doing in the fall . (Best before Sept 15)

Fantastic Foliage If you usually think only of flowers for summer garden color, think again. Find out how and when to use a whole palette of leaf colors in the garden for season-long interest. You'll leave knowing which show stopping plants to use in your garden and how to place them for maximum impact.

Fooling Mother Nature
Would you like to serve homegrown lettuce for Thanksgiving, have tulips blooming in midwinter, and successfully grow tomatoes in your basement? Tips and techniques to modify temperature, soil, light, or season to change plant growth just like professional horticulturists will be discussed.

Healthy Houseplants
We really appreciate the lush, green accents that houseplants add to our homes. To have success growing houseplants, you need to provide the right growing conditions and give the plants basic care. You also need to know which plants will work the best in your home.

Herb Gardening
Throughout human history, herbs have been used as flavorings, medicines, decorations, scents, and protective garden plants. Herbs delight the senses whether you choose to cook and craft with them or just enjoy them as fine fragrant flora.

Home Composting
Gardeners rake leaves, prune landscape plants, and clean out landscape beds and mow their lawns. They all have the potential of creating yard waste. What do we do with it? Compost it! Learn the facts about how to successfully create sweet smelling compost to enrich your garden soil.

Kid's Gardening
Need ideas for creating a children's garden in your community, neighborhood, school or day care center? We'll share tips on developing a team of dedicated Kid's Garden volunteers, how to develop community support, and how to find financial assistance as well as great educational ideas for our future gardeners to enjoy while learning about gardening.

Landscape Maintenance
Not sure when to fertilize the lawn or how to prune the forsythias? Proper landscape maintenance is a key element in maintaining and enhancing the value of our homes. Whether you are a new homeowner or been gardening for years, tips on keeping your landscape as low maintenance as possible include timing of flower maintenance, lawn fertilizing and seeding, and tree and shrub planting and pruning.

Lawn Care for Early Fall
Early Fall is the ideal time for lawn care. Aerating and fertilizing can increase the vigor of the root system and shoots. De-thatching may be necessary. Fall is ideal for broadleaf weed control. A perfect time to seed and sod the yard, whether starting from scratch, repairing small areas, or over seed to encourage the vigor of the turf.

Ornamental Grasses
A look at the basics of ornamental grasses for the Midwest landscape: their growth habits, ornamental features and their life cycles. Some commonly available grasses will be featured along with a discussion of how to incorporate these graceful plants into your garden.

Pests of Perennials
What is causing spots on my peony foliage? What is that white powdery fuzz on my Phlox? Learn about leaf spots, white fuzz and more! Twenty-two diseases found in the home landscape and nine insects that attack popular perennials will be discussed.

Pruning Trees
Correctly train young trees when they are still small with a handsaw to prevent the need for more expensive, dangerous pruning on older and larger trees. Learn how to prune a tree away from your home or other obstructions without harming the tree. Even if you are planning on hiring someone to prune a large tree, you need to understand the basics of pruning to make sure you hire someone who knows what they are doing.

Roses
Have you dreamed about beautiful roses and never been able to make that dream a reality? The Roses program will look at the many types of roses available today, how to select the right one, the proper way to plant and care for roses, and some of the pests that may be encountered in the rose garden.

Seed Starting
You love the joy of watching seeds sprout and plants growing indoors, but don't know where to begin? What materials? What equipment? Our Master Gardener will walk you through the entire process from seed selection to setting your young plants outdoors. We'll discuss timing, germination methods, seedling transplanting, growing media, lighting, problems and much more. If you ever wanted to start seeds indoors this program is for you.

Small Fruits for the Home Garden
Grow strawberries and brambles at home for superior quality. They can be grown successfully in small spaces and are popular even in city lots where they fit in shrub borders or ornamental gardens. This program will look at recommended varieties, planting, maintenance, and pest control of strawberries and brambles for home gardeners.

Spring Bulbs For The Home Landscape
Spring bulbs are an important addition to any landscape or garden. Because of the wide variation in flowering time among different bulbs, they will add color to the landscape from January until June and beyond.

Trees and Shrubs in the Landscape
Trees and shrubs are the backbone of a well-landscaped garden. Their shapes, colors, flowers and fruits change with the seasons and years. Learn about 37 unusual or under planted species that are well adapted to Illinois.

Trees and Shrubs
Native to Illinois Would you like to bring rich fall colors, spring fragrance and the summer coolness of a natural glade to your backyard? Native trees and shrubs can provide low maintenance; easy care beauty with a true midwestern ambience to your home. Learn to match individual plant qualities with your expectations and the conditions of your site. Native plants can fit the bill whether for blooms, texture, pest free plants or those that attract wildlife.

Underused Annuals
Are you stuck in a rut using the same type of annuals year after year in your garden? While petunias and geraniums are staples, there is a wealth of new plant material that add zip. Learn about lesser-known annuals for your landscape.

Vegetable Gardening Basics
What better gardening satisfaction can you achieve than growing your own vegetables for your family to eat. You can select what you like and you know how it was grown and cared for. What do you need to consider when starting a vegetable garden? What size garden? How much should you plant? What equipment do you need and how do you care for your vegetables?

Wildlife Management in the Garden
Does the sight of a cottontail rabbit scampering through your lawn give you a calming, in-touch-with-nature feeling? Or does it make your blood pressure go up as you wonder what will they be munching on next in your garden? Living with nature often means dealing with both sides of this dilemma. If you are looking for options on how to manage wildlife in your yard our Master Gardener will guide you through the decision- making process and talk about what nuisance wildlife control options are available.

While there is no charge for these programs, your generous donations are welcome and used to support University of Illinois Extension programs including volunteer Master Gardener training.