Look, up in the sky...it's a bird...it's a plane...you know what comes next. For us, it's a green beetle that everyone is afraid is Emerald Ash Borer. The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) has triggered a 50 percent increase in our daily calls to our garden help line, and many more people are bringing in samples of their ash tree and other insects they want identified.

In late June I participated in the EAB Readiness Team meeting with approximately 40 other groups and organizations, including Illinois Dept of Agriculture, APHIS Illinois, APHIS U.S., The U.S. Forest Service, Cook, DuPage, and Kane County Forest Preserve Districts, the Morton Arboretum, the Chicago Botanic Garden and several municipalities, arborists and landscapers. Following the meeting, several of us traveled out to the Kane county infestation site and saw first hand the dead and dying trees. This meeting and site visit was extremely helpful and also fascinating.

Fortunately, we have many resources available to help our clients. The new EAB identification kit contains the preserved larvae and adult beetle, and also a sample of bark with feeding galleries just beneath it and the D-shaped exit holes. This has been especially helpful to show clients when they ask or bring in a specimen for identification. The questionnaire we are using to screen the hundreds of calls is proving very useful too. Also, we have the EAB Pest Alert fact sheets and the credit card sized ID cards for distribution.

We now have an EAB DVD video to help you learn more about this pest and the potential consequences of infestation. This professionally done video lasts about 30 minutes. If you would to borrow it, please contact the office to reserve your copy.

All of you have done a terrific job handling this increase in phone calls and office visitors. I know we are providing a valuable service to our residents, and I am very proud of all the help you are giving to our clientele.

On another note, I want to thank those of you who came to training for the new MG database reporting program. We had 19 eager MGs learn how to log on and do their volunteer hours report and continuing education reports on-line. I appreciate your interest and willingness to pilot this program. It is a big project that has been launched in all 9 counties in our region. I have a meeting with the other regional MG coodinators coming up, and I am anxious to see how this is playing out.

I will be scheduling a repeat of the training in fall, so more of you can learn how to do this. Eventually I hope that everyone who has a computer and access to the web will be trained and able to report their hours via the web. For those MGs who do not wish to do this, you will be able to continue as you have in the past, using the paper forms to record and turn in your hours.

- Susan Grupp

National MG Coordinators Conference:
On June 28^th – 30th, the National MG Coordinator's Conference was held at the Lisle Hilton. Over 100 local and state MG coordinators attended including Extension staff from all across the country, including California, Texas, Florida, and even Alaska. The educational sessions and key note speakers were very informative.

Special thanks to the "centerpiece committe" for designing and making the beautiful flower centerpieces and décor. The flowers and colors were outstanding-the theme was A Taste of the Tropics and the orchids, bird-of- paradise, gardenias and exotic foliage were appreciated by all!

Also thanks to all of the other Master Gardeners that helped at the conference. It takes a lot of manpower to host a conference and DuPage MGs certainly supported the effort.

Garden Conservancy's Open Days Program at Ball Seed:
On Wednesday July 12^th, 9 DuPage MGs received training by Susan Schmitz, Trials Coordinator at Ball Horticultural, so they can serve as official hosts at the Ball Seed Trial Gardens for the Garden Conservancy's Open Days Program on July 30^th. Special thanks to the Master Gardeners who volunteered and for their willingness to help with such short notice.

Garden Classes: We have included our Garden Class brochure with this newsletter. Please help us promote these classes...share with family, friends and acquaintances!

New Website: Composting for the Homeowner is a new website developed by Martha Smith, Extension Educator, Horticulture and Duane Friend, Extension Educator, Natural Resources Management. This site is ideal for the home gardener. It gives an excellent in-depth discussion of the science of composting, why it is important to compost, how to build a compost pile, and materials needed for composting.
Please visit the site at: http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/homecompost/

Volunteer Opportunities:

Two MGs needed for a Help Desk at Indian Prairie Library in Darien on Wednesday,
Sept. 13th, 6 - 8 PM.

Help is still needed for the MG Help Desk at Prairie Days in Lombard on Sunday, Sept. 24. We need 1 more MG for 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. and 1 more for 12:30 - 2:30 p.m.

We also need 1 more MG to work at Kline Creek Farm on Wednesday, August 30,
from 1 - 3 p.m.

Please call the office if you can help with the above. Thanks!

It's almost time again for the annual Master Gardener Conference. This year's festivities will be held September 7-9 in Moline. There will be tours of local garden sites including the Dubuque Arboretum and the Quad Cities Botanical Center. There will be 6 separate class sessions with subjects ranging from building a birdhouse to plant diagnostics. All classes, handouts, and 3 meals are included in the price of $115. This year the tours are separately (and reasonably) priced including transportation. There is also a dinner cruise on the Mississippi River on Thursday night. Single day registration is also available. Conferences in the past have been a great way to earn educational credits and meet other Master Gardeners. Hope to see you there!

- Pat Kosmach

There is a new MG project this year led by Bill Sheahan. Fermi Lab is auditing their restored prairie and could use your help. This is an outdoor project. You are given a 1 meter square area of restored prairie and asked to identify the plants and the amount of area covered by them in the square. You do not have to know anything about prairie plants to participate. References are given and an expert guide accompanies you to an area of the grounds that have not been touched in years. Many dates are still open. For more information contact Bill at wsheahan@wowway.com or check out http://ed.fnal.gov/data/life_sci/citizen.

- Pat Kosmach

The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County got lucky when they recruited Chrissie Howorth, the daughter of a couple well-practiced in the restoration of historic English estates, to be the supervisor of the Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oak Brook. Even more fortunate for all of us garden lovers, besides being a font of information about estate architecture and operations, Chrissie is imbued with a passion for both cottage and formal English gardening learned in the company of her knowledgeable grandmother.

Together the two would visit many stately gardens including Sissinghurst. There they would meet up with the master gardener, who, because she was her grandmother's cousin, always made time for them. Chrissie once even had the privilege of spending an afternoon weeding and chatting with Christopher Lloyd, the restorer of spectacular beds and borders of roses, herbs, and perennials at the Great Dixter Estate in East Sussex.

Mayslake Hall, the main structure at Mayslake Peabody Estate, is a 39-room Tudor Revival mansion built by the coal baron, F.S. Peabody, and completed in 1922. Because he died a mere seven months after moving in, he left behind a few architectural renderings of the grounds but no plant list. Being the Anglophile that he was, he no doubt intended to install flowers and shrubs that would have graced a true English manor. To help her arrive at Peabody's intended plan, Chrissie had two good sources worth studying to learn what the gardens should look like if they were to resemble authentically maintained beds in England. Chrissie's grandmother's gardening books provided the plant lists. Photos of Compton Wynyates, a still-existing l5th century manor house in Warwickshire, England, believed to be the model for the Mayslake Hall, provided the general appearance. But, which of the plant materials would actually have been available in the year 1922 and able to grow in the Midwest's harsh climate?

Fueled with gardening expertise and enthusiasm, Chrissie stepped into the dilemma of trying to create a replica (the new garden) of a replica (the Tudor Revival garden) that never even existed! By wonderful coincidence, a volunteer docent at Mayslake had donated to the Oak Brook library hundreds of his wife's gardening books on the subject of English-style perennial gardens in America. There, in "Muriel's Corner," with the help of a couple of dedicated volunteer gardeners, plans for Mayslake's new "old" gardens began to sprout.

Weeks of rigorous weeding by a team of eight volunteer gardeners, along with occasional help from available docents, relatives, and friends resulted in the planting of many dozens of species and genera that predate 1922. Some predictable choices included Polemonium, Convalleria, Digitalis, and Paeonia but you will also find Tellima grandiflora 'Forest Frost,' Osmunda daytonia, Stachys byzantina 'Big Ears," and Polystichum arcostichoides. After four seasons of tender care from the team, lush plantings now encircle Mayslake Hall in beds ten feet deep.

Future landscaping plans for the area around the house will bring to completion Peabody's originally planned development of a formal garden. Creating quite a view from the dining and breakfast rooms, this garden will include boxwood hedges and rose bushes, and satisfy the objective of historical accuracy.

Restoration always involves trying to discover the original features of the subject but does not necessarily require their precise implementation. For instance, a slightly different goal is called for in reinstating the circular flowerbed in front of the main entrance. The original pea gravel driveway surrounding the flowerbed must be made more durable than the original and so the pea gravel this time around will be embedded in cement. Practicality trumps duplication.

If you have not yet seen the 89-acre estate, it will come as a surprise to learn of the scope of landscaping challenges and decisions that Chrissie faces in the areas beyond the house. Facing the front of the mansion is a perfect replica of the chapel of St. Francis in Assisi, Italy. (How that got there is quite interesting but not the point in this article: bi-weekly tours are available for the curious.) Because the chapel is frequently rented out for weddings and other ceremonies, achieving the longest bloom possible is the number one objective of its landscaping and that often requires the use of the newest varieties of perennials rather than those from the 1920's.

Providing nature education for the public, another Forest Preserve goal, will be accomplished by planting the large square flower bed located behind the chapel full of flowers attractive to birds and butterflies. For the recreational pleasure of local fishermen, the two lakes, originally designed with a lock between them so that Peabody could move his boat from one to the other, is now stocked with game fish. Another departure from the general goal of restoring the landscape to Peabody's time, is keeping the lovely little apple and pear orchard that remains from the days when it was all farm land. And, going back furthest in time, there are the acres of wetlands, the restored prairie, and the two small oak savannas all of which are landscapes in need of preservation, if not restoration.

If you are interested in attending any of the fall lectures to be held at Mayslake Hall on September 26, October 10, and October 24, on subjects including gardens of Great Britain and garden grasses, keep in mind that the spring lectures at $3 per person sold out quickly. The lecturers will include Shirley Remes of Better Homes and Gardens and Roy Diblek. There is still time to make reservations by calling Elissa at 630-850-2363, extension 3.

- Marti Travelli

A water garden is a beautiful addition to any landscape, but there are some special safety considerations to take into account.

If your pond is going to be 24 inches or less deep, most towns will consider it a landscaping project and no permit is usually required. However, if it is deeper than 24 inches it could be considered a pool and you may need a permit. When in doubt, call your village's building department for guidance. If you are part of a Homeowners Association there may also be special regulations as to what you can put into your yard and where.

Before you start to dig, make sure you know what is under the soil. Various utilities have lines and pipes that are buried in our yards. J.U.L.I.E. (Joint Utility Locating Information for Excavators) is a free service from the utility companies. They can be reached at 1-800-892-0123. They will send someone to your home to mark underground lines in your yard. If you have a septic system, know where this is. Water is heavy. 1 gallon of water weighs 8.5 pounds. A small water garden of 100 gallons will have 850 pounds of water to start. Add to that the weight of the underlayment, liner, soil, plants, containers, etc., and you can go well over 1000 pounds.

As we all know, mosquitoes need still water to propagate. Therefore, you will need a pump to circulate your water, and this means you will have to power the pump. Since almost all of them are powered by electricity, a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) is a must (and required by village codes). When a GFCI senses current leakage in an electrical circuit, it assumes a ground fault has occurred. It then interrupts power fast enough to help prevent serious injury from electrical shock. If you choose to use plants for filtration without circulating the water, remember to add Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis to the water at recommended intervals.

If your yard is not already fenced in, this is also something to think about. A water garden will attract various forms of local wildlife. These can include everything from raccoons to neighborhood children, and none of them will necessarily wait for you to be home to give a tour. So please consider some sort of barrier for the area.

A water garden can bring a whole new world to your garden. With some planning and forethought, it can be safe one.

- Pat Kosmach

The Truth About Garden Remedies
by Jeff Gillman

Timber Press (2006)
ISBN 13:978-0-88192-748-1

In addition to the myriad homemade fertilizers, pesticides and soil amendments recommended by TV garden gurus and vintage books on gardening, there is a steady stream of new products being touted as cutting edge ways to make us better gardeners.

Jeff Gillman wondered like the rest of us which of those practices and products actually lived up to their promises. Unlike most of us, the author has the expertise and resources to research the topics. Gillman is an associate professor at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Horticultural Science. His intent in writing his book was to provide a useful guide to the gardener using research already available, if possible, or his own research, if necessary. The author's writing style is plainspoken and easy to comprehend for even the least scientifically inclined among us. Over a hundred topics are covered using a format that explains the theory behind the recipe or product, an examination of available research, and a rating of the value of the practice or product to the home gardener.

I have chosen two items to illustrate the author's format: the first is a "guru" recommendation (vinegar as a soil acidifier) and the second is a relatively new product (hydrogels for container plants).

Vinegar is commonly recommended as an easy and inexpensive way to acidify soil around acid loving plants such as azaleas and blueberries. The recipe usually involves adding two tablespoons of vinegar to a quart of water and then pouring on the soil or media for container plants. Since vinegar is an acidic substance, the theory seems to be grounded in common sense.

The author conducted a research project using the recommended amount and choosing apple cider vinegar because it is both commonly available and inexpensive. The exact procedures followed were too detailed to be recounted here.

The conclusions were interesting. Compared to the control plants, there were no differences observed using the vinegar drench. Tests of pH indicated that any effect on the acidity level of the media was very short-lived since the water easily mixed with and diluted the vinegar. The author acknowledged that the use of a different type of vinegar might yield different results but the dilution factor would still be present. Gillman also discussed the use of vinegar as a fungicide and herbicide in another chapter.

The second experiment I will detail involved the use of hydrogels to increase the time plants can go between waterings without suffering ill effects or interruption of their growth cycle. Hydrogels are polymers that possess the ability to absorb up to 600 times their own weight in water. The key question, of course, is whether that retained water is available for plant use in a timely fashion.

The author's experiment involved the testing of five different brands of hydrogels on containerized geraniums and three kinds on ninebarks in containers. All were compared with similar control plants. Equipment which evaluated the amount of water in leaf tissue was employed as well as observations of the health and growth rate of the plants. The results indicated that for all but one brand of hydrogel, there were no differences in length of time the plants could go between waterings or in growth rate. The one exception involved Hydrosorb which actually stunted the growth of the ninebark. The author also cited similar research on tropical plants that indicated that the hydrogels at best extended the time a plant could go before wilting by 12 percent.

Using the format outlined above, the author examined claims for such products as hydrogen peroxide (control of foliar diseases), beer traps (slug control), and beneficial nematodes for control of grubs. There were also evaluations of deer and rodent repellents (homemade and commercial), corn gluten as a pre-emergent herbicide and the uses of several types of organic mulches.

Last but not least, the author devoted one chapter to practices that proved harmful enough in some way or another to cause him to recommend avoiding them altogether. There were also some useful charts (which can be found elsewhere) listing the pH preferences of many ornamental species as well as a conversion charts useful for those who want to try some of the recipes discussed.

All in all, I found the book interesting and enlightening. The Truth About Garden Remedies will make a good reference book for novice gardeners as well as the experienced plantsman.

Editor's note: only University of Illinois pest control recommendations should be used when volunteering as a Master Gardener.

- Lou Horton

Many of us are familiar with the concepts of microsites and microclimates. It generally means that we can locate or can modify those areas in our gardens to better match the environmental needs of particular plants. I have seen references to microclimates in English garden books where we are advised to site our tender palm tree in the sheltered alcove of our south-facing garden wall where it will collect and hold the warmth from the sun. Well, most of us do not have a sheltered south-facing brick wall, and none of us can grow palms as outdoor perennials. However, the concept of microsites/microclimates has merit.

We can think of micrositing/microclimates as best matching a plant's ideal growing conditions in our garden by modifying the site. The concept is well known, but perhaps not fully appreciated. We are all aware of sun/shade and wet/dry requirements, but a plant's ideal environmental needs are much broader than that. Among the conditions that influence our success can be soil pH, cold tolerance, light levels, moisture levels, and drainage. We frequently see reference to "well-drained" soil, but, for some plants, do not fully appreciate the need for improved winter drainage.

I remember a discussion at my garden club some years ago when members were discussing plant losses after a particularly tough winter with heavy rains followed by deep temperature drops. Among their non-surviving plants were Shasta daisies. I found it odd since my Shastas came through the winter while practically all of the club's membership lost theirs. Shasta daisy at that time was originally developed in California's warmer climate and had the reputation of being somewhat tender. I did two things to help my plants come through the unusual winter conditions – I grew a more cold tolerant variety, 'Alaska', in mounded perennial beds. Many plants that are said to be cold intolerant are really intolerant of winter moisture around their roots. Since my beds were raised/mounded about 4 inches, they had improved drainage which enabled winter survival.

A broad category of plants that benefit from this sort of micrositing are plants native to the Mediterranean area. Since Mediterranean winters are dry ones, the plants are not well adapted to moisture around their roots when dormant. If we supply improved winter drainage by mounding or raising our plantings and by incorporating significant amounts of aggregate in the soil mix, the plants should have a better success rate over plants planted in unraised, regular garden soil. Aggregate in a soil mix can be coarse sand, gravel, perlite or bark.

In an earlier article, I reported on growing Pussy Toes, Prairie Violet, and Blue-Eyed Grass in a gravelly crack in my asphalt driveway, facing the full sun from the south and having reflected heat from an adjacent raised bed. The plants were all collected from sites that naturally are well-drained and they grew well in my garden and survived many years. I still use a slide of this planting as a good example of micrositing.

Another example of drainage is the Perennial Plant of the Year for 2006, Dianthus 'Firewitch'. The P.P.A. stresses that this Mediterranean native will deteriorate over time in poorly-drained soil. Since Dianthus can be unreliable in our area, mounding the planting area and incorporating aggregate will help you succeed with this desirable perennial.

One environmental condition that many of us have tried to adjust is to lower the soil's pH to accommodate plants that grow in acidic conditions. Lowering soil pH in our naturally alkaline soils is difficult. Water infiltrating our plantings will tend to neutralize our efforts. If you think that using peat moss and fertilizing with MirAcid soluble fertilizer will allow you to successfully grow Wintergreen, you are mistaken. However, some techniques to lower pH will allow for some success.

So, thinking about a plant's environmental needs and its native habitat can enable us to better match our horticultural practices to those needs. Besides, our south-facing brick wall will only encourage early bud-break which will get frosted off anyway!

- Don Obuch

Instant Gardens
Miracle Gro (Meredith Press)
ISBN# 0-69622-220-5 $19.99

Looking for some quick ways to spruce up your garden for a wedding, family reunion or garden walk? Instant Gardens has some creative ideas to add high impact temporarily or one season pizzazz to transform your space using plants in unusual containers, fabric in new ways and fun concepts like making a bottle tree (an updated version, based on an old folktale that the bottles keep spirits away).

The plant and landscape sections are on the simplistic side and lack some information like hardiness zones for recommended plants. And of course there are the obvious plugs for Miracle Gro products. But the innovative decorating ideas more than make up for this. Think of it as theatrical set decoration for your yard.

Incredible Vegetables from Self Watering Containers
Edward C. Smith (Storey Publications)
ISBN# 1-58017-556-2 $19.99

This year I gave up on growing vegetables. The few sunny areas of my yard are in my garden beds or the patio area. I had tried vegetables in containers but always ran into a problem. My schedule does not always allow enough time for consistent daily watering, so plants spent a lot of time looking wilted and not producing much of a crop.

But Smith's book has inspired me to give vegetable gardening another try next year. I like his organic, low maintenance approach and his suggestions for vegetable/herb combinations have lots of visual appeal. The use of self-watering containers may solve my watering challenges. As I have not had much success with vegetables, his growing tips and plant suggestions look helpful. If you are an experienced vegetable gardener, this book may not contain too much that you do not already know.

Small Garden
John Brookes (Gallery Books)
ISBN# 0-75661-723-5 $19.99

Most of us have some area in our yards that just is not part of the larger whole, like a patio or small plot of earth off to the side of the house. Brookes, a noted English garden designer, shows how to turn these small spaces into the perfect oasis for leisure and entertaining using plants and structural elements.

Good diagrams and instructions along with plant directories provide detailed examples for maximizing your small spaces. I found several ideas enticing for my own patio area.

- Debbye B. Simpson

"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. Please note the change in issue numbers to reflect our program year.

ˇ Issue #5- August 31

ˇ Issue #1 (for the next program year) - October 27

IMPORTANT MG DATES

July 26-30
"DuPage County Fair"

August 6
"Garden Stroll"

August 17
"Home Lawn Care", Class 1

August 24
"Home Lawn Care", Class 2

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

September 12
"Minor Bulbs for Major Impact"
Telenet class

October 26
"How Miticides and Insecticides Work"
Telenet class