I am very happy to announce we will be having another Master Gardener picnic this year! We had such a good time last year and so many of you have mentioned you were hoping we would have another picnic this year. A few years ago, MG Pat Pieper offered to host this and she has graciously agreed to do it this year. Thanks Pat!
Please call the office to RSVP.

Just a reminder. In light of personal privacy issues, that I am sure all of you are aware of, in giving out your personal information, the Master Gardener Directory, i.e.: email address, home phone number, etc, was compiled for the sole purpose of #1. distributing information from this office, #2, as an emergency contact list between Master Gardeners and #3. to communicate and coordinate approved MG projects and activities. Unfortunately any use of this directory in its entirety to do mass contacts may violate some privacy issues. This list should never be shared with anyone outside the DuPage MG program. Also, if you want to contact all the MGs in a mass mailing, please do it through this office. Thank you for your cooperation.

University of Illinois Extension and Purdue Extension are hosting the Int'l MG Coordinators Conference this year, June 28-July 1, at the Hilton in Lisle, Illinois. Since this is in our county, and I am on the planning committee, I hope I can appeal to some of you to help us with this conference. Please see Notes from the Office for our volunteer needs. I appreciate your interest and willingness to help.

MG Volunteer Opportunities:
As much as we try to plan months in advance, sometimes volunteer opportunities come after the quarterly sign-up is completed. If you can volunteer for any of the following, please contact the office at (630)653-4114. Thank you!

International Master Gardener Coordinators Conference, Lisle Hilton
Wednesday, June 28,7:30 am - 9am.
2 MGs are needed for the registration desk at the hotel, to meet and greet and direct conference attendees to the tour bus shuttles.

Wednesday, June 28, 5pm-6:30pm
2MGs are needed at the hotel registration desk to direct attendees to the shuttle bus location. The shuttle bus will take attendees to the Welcome Reception that will be held at the Danada House in Wheaton.

Thursday, June 29th, 7:30am-10am
2 MGs are needed to greet and register attendees at the hotel on the first day of conference.

A team of MGs are needed to create a beautiful buffet centerpiece (similar to the one at our MG Fall Wrap-up) and 16 coordinating centerpieces for the dinner tables. The theme is "Taste of the Tropics"; these centerpieces can include fruits, flowers, plants, etc.; the budget is $300.00.

Off-site Help Desks:
Several more requests have come in!

Hinsdale Public Library, Monday, July 17
1 p.m. – 3 p.m. 3 p.m. – 5 p.m.
5 p.m. – 7 p.m. 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.


Willowbrook Wildlife Center Butterfly Garden
Saturday, June 3
11 a.m. – 1 p.m. 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.


The Growing Place Gardener's Art Festival
25 W. 471 Plank Rd., Naperville, IL
Saturday, June 17
Three shifts with two MGs per shift:
9 a.m.-11 a.m. 11 a.m.-1 p.m. 1 p.m.-3 p.m.

DuPage County Fair, Saturday, July 29
2 shifts with two MGs per shift
6 p.m. – 8 p.m. 8 p.m. – 10 p.m.


Therapeutic Horticulture
Volunteers are needed at the Terrace in West Chicago on the following dates:
May 16 (1 volunteer needed)
May 30 (1 volunteer needed)

We also need volunteers at Kline Creek on July 5 (4 volunteers needed) and July 26 (3 volunteers needed).


DuPage MGs "Just a Peek" Garden Stroll Series:
MG Loraine Miranda has been busy organizing the Garden Strolls for summer 2006. You should have received an invitation via email. Email Buddies keep yours eyes open-here's our chance to make sure our Email Buddy program works!

MGs have been busy with general garden cleanup at the butterfly garden at Willowbrook Wildlife Haven in Glen Ellen. For 3 weekends in April, MGs worked very hard getting things ready in the main flower bed, pond garden, shade garden, raised beds and even the immediate area around the butterfly blind and the trellised entrance, reports Pam Kowalczyk Team Leader. Look for newly planted Dill and Calendulas in the herb garden. The ongoing fight against garlic mustard continues.

The crops are planted! The weather cooperated this year and on April 10th, MGs planted corn, broom corn, oats, rye, wheat, flax, buckwheat, etc. at the Mill. Team Co-leader Cathie Leszinske got the soil well prepped – a winter cover crop was planted last fall and she tilled it in a few weeks prior to planting - so we hope to have a great demonstration this year. However, Cathie reports "something" is munching on the corn...so we will see how we do with this new challenge. Last year the wildlife was not a problem...

Children's Lessons at Graue Mill
Each month we will be teaching a group of home-schooled children basic horticulture, grain crops and farming techniques of the 1850's and present day. Susan Grupp, Sarah Navrotski, Ellen Phillips and a team of MGs are team teaching this pilot program.
We presented our 1st lesson on April 12th, and judging from the children and parents, it was a great success. We are looking forward to our monthly sessions.

Check out the great "Hort Links" that can be found on the University of Illinois Extension Master Gardener website. Go to the following web address to see what is available.
http://www.extension.uiuc.edu/mg/

Many categories are listed on the left side of this page. Here are just a few of the categories and topics to explore.
U of I Hort Sites

• Plant ID and Management
• Insects, Weed and Disease Management
• University Departments
• Local IL Master Gardener Websites

Hort Hotlinks

• Hotline Helpers
• Plant Databases
• Educational
• Good Green Fun for Kids
• Botanical Gardens
• Other State Master Gardener Sites
• Other Extension Sites

Imagine Newsletter
Find all the issues back to 2002!

MG Resources
Includes all kinds of good info, includingthe index forthe MG Manual.Just click on Manual Index to view or print.

This site is available on the MG Help Line computer. Click on "Favorites" and scroll down to select "U of I Master Gardener". Ask Sarah if you need help.

The Abundant Garden
By Barbara J. Denk and Debra Prinzing

Cool Springs Press (2005)
ISBN# 1-591861-62-4 $29.99

The subtitle of this book "a Celebration of Color, Texture and Blooms" delivers what is promised. The 210 plus photos are filled with glorious combinations of forms, textures and compelling color groupings using perennials, shrubs and trees in the landscape. There is something to inspire seasoned gardeners as well as assist beginners with ideas to create very magical landscapes.

Nine of Barbara Denk's favorite gardens are featured with the owners sharing their personal garden style, what they were trying to accomplish and design concepts that you will find useful in a large or small space. These gardens have been refined over years of work and include some great ideas for "art objects" to add interest to your landscape. Yes, there are some one of a kind works created by artisans, but you will also find clever ideas to try, like a lustrous bowling ball perched on a Chinese ceramic pedestal.

Do not be put off by the fact that the gardens in this book are all from Washington. Some of the plants cannot be successfully grown in our area. But this is where the design becomes your own. You can take inspiration from these photos and then find plant substitutions for our zone that have the same color, form and texture.

This book is definitely worth taking a look at. I know there are so many new garden books and our budgets are limited. Each book I review should be available through your library system, so you can read the book before deciding to add it to your collection. For those of you not familiar with interlibrary loan, it is a great service your local library provides and it is free. It means that even if your library does not have this book as part of their collection, you can request to borrow it from another library. Just check with your library's reference desk.

- Debbye Simpson

Oregano. Think of this herb, and tomato dishes immediately come to mind. Pasta sauces, chili, pizza. Like the basils I wrote about last issue, however, there is more than one oregano. Another member of the mint family, Origanum is a genus with several, surprisingly different, species, which are in general drought tolerant and resistant to insects and diseases.

The oregano we grow to cook with is O. vulgare, common oregano. It is perennial here in zone 5. Small, oval, pungent leaves grace a shrubby plant that grows to two feet in height, which may be pinched back in spring to encourage fullness. It prefers full sun and alkaline soil of average to poor fertility. In late summer oregano bears the two-lipped blooms typical of the mint family, rose-purple to white, in terminal spikes. The resulting seedpods and bracts remain attractive into fall. This plant is very sensitive to frost – thaw cycles in winter, so it should be cut back to six inches or so and mulched heavily, especially where open, snowless winters are common. Cultivars of O. vulgare include "Aureum" which has bright yellow-green foliage in spring, and "Hot and Spicy" with a spreading habit and strong spicy flavor.

A subspecies of O. vulgare, O.vulgare subsp.hirtum, is known as Greek oregano. It has a tendency to spread, and while it is said to have a stronger fragrance, it is less hardy and not as flavorful for cooking purposes.

O. vulgare is sometimes called "Wild Marjoram" a hint of the complications in nomenclature of these plants. What we usually call "marjoram" or "sweet marjoram", however, is O. majorana. This is a slow growing, lanky annual (like the chamomiles, some oreganos are perennial, some annual) summer-blooming and about twelve inches tall. Unlike many herbs, marjoram has more flavor when grown in richer soils and watered more often. This herb is not as sharp as oregano; marjoram adds a darker, "green" note to fish, egg dishes and meat stews.

You might also find in the garden centers O. rotundifolium "Kent's Beauty", a cultivar with round, grey-green leaves and large, long-lasting pink bracts with small pink blossoms.

All these oreganos are edible. Another member of the family is strictly ornamental, and not even called "oregano". Its hardiness is iffy here, but this plant is a beautiful addition to your herb patch. This is O. dictamnus, Dittany of Crete, whose leaves are small, oval, and wooly. Its stems grow to about six inches then arch and trail – ideal for the edges of pots or hanging baskets. At the ends of the stems are large pink-lavender to purple bracts which are considered the flowers: the tiny pink flowers inside are barely noticeable.

- Sandy Lentz

Garden Mentor Program at Cass Middle School, Darien

About twoyears ago, Marianne Tamosaitis, the science teacher at Cass Middle School in Darien, contacted Susan Grupp andasked for help in developing a garden with the seventh grade science classes. Marianne teaches about 100 students (5 classes) of seventh graders. She wanted the garden located near the science lab so that eventually the gardens could be used to assist with some of her science ecosystems classes.

A team of Master Gardeners, led by Larry States and Laura Michicich, started the gardens, "from the ground up", as you might say. Ellen Phillips, Extension Educator soil specialist, presented a soil program to the students; the Superintendent of Schools just happened to attend that session that day, and stayed to listen forthe full class. The Master Gardeners, working withvolunteers from the science classes, helped instruct them in amending the soil, preparing the garden beds and planting. The art classes also got involved in planning one of the gardens.

There are three gardens in all: The Artist's Garden, designed for the art students with the help of art teacher Gail Diedrichsen; a Winged Visitor Garden, a garden to attract birds and butterflies, and an Herb Garden.The gardens were planted with seeds and plants that were contributions from teacher's, like Sharon Vandenbroucke, parent's or Master Gardener's gardens. Also, a grant has been obtained by the teachers to assist with the purchase of supplies and plants. Larry says the support from the parents and the school has been amazing, thanks to Marianne Tamosaitis' enthusiasm for the project. Everyone from the janitors to the teachers, parents and secretaries is excited about the outcome of the gardens.

But none more so than the students themselves. Last May, the seventh graders planted the herb garden with herbs, tomatoes and peppers. Then last fall, the new incoming seventh graders harvested the herbs and vegetables and created a pizza lunch for the eighth graders that had done the original planting the previous May.

The current Master Gardeners working on this project with Larryare Pat Miller, Dortha Ogborn, Lisa Olmstead, Tsue Ostermann, Debbye Simpson, Stu Vogel and Bill Woulfe. Giving assists in the past have been Kelly Bryant, Margi Kaminski, Warren Senneke and Elaine Weil. Susan Grupp took time out of her busy schedule to spend a complete day with the students and Master Gardeners for the soil class presentations. If you ask Larrywhat the best thing about this project is, he'll tell you that would be working with the kids and seeing their enthusiasm unfold. Seeing how open and eager they are just increases Larry and his teams own enthusiasm as well. It sounds as if the Master Gardeners here aren't simply planting a garden, but the seeds for a whole new generation of gardeners!

- Debbi Heinze

"The Garden Thymes" is the official newsletter for DuPage area MG's. If you misplace your copy, it can be found at our DuPage County Extension website. From time to time, you may have something you would like to share with fellow MG's or perhaps include an article of your own. We would love to hear from you!! As always, your comments and suggestions are most welcome.

· Issue #4- June 30
· Issue #5- August 31
· Issue #6- October 2

May 16
"Shade Gardening"
12:45-2:30 p.m. $10 Fee

May 18
"Shade Gardening"
6:45-8:30 p.m. $10 Fee

May 28; June 25; July 9; August 6
"Garden Strolls"

June 23
"MG Potluck Picnic"
11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

July 26-30
"DuPage County Fair"

September 7-9
"Master Gardener State Conference"
Moline, IL