With the weather so cooperative this spring, we have been in and out of the garden regularly. It's wonderful, except for those sore muscles. I'm beginning to realize I need to think about stretching exercises and easing into garden chores, as opposed to just jumping right in for 8 hours straight.

As a member of our state Horticulture Team, I want to tell you about a new program that's being developed-Body Smart Gardening. This comprehensive workshop will include strategies for protecting ourselves from insect bites, worrisome weeds like poison ivy, sun and heat exposure, and other topics such as ergonomic tools to make chores easier on our joints, and of course, pre-garden stretching exercises. Along with our workshop, we'll have fact sheets, and probably a website devoted to this topic. Interest is already very high. We hope to launch the program this winter.

Budding Gardener's Day

We still need children, ages 8-12, to participate in our Budding Gardeners Day on Saturday May 21, 9:30-11:30 a.m. We're including a flyer -please help us publicize this fun event.

New Volunteer Opportunities

We have additional opportunities. Please read the following and call the office to sign up.

Hinsdale Library MG Help Desk

Another opportunity just came in---Hinsdale Library would like an MG Help Desk during the following times on Monday, July 18. We need two people for each of four shifts: 1 - 3 p.m., 3 - 5 p.m., 5 - 7 p.m., and 7 - 9 p.m. You may sign up for more than one shift if you'd like.

Garden Walk

We still have five spots remaining for volunteers at the Garden Walk for Bible League Volunteers, Oak Brook/Hinsdale area, on June 25. All slots are the afternoon shift, 1:30 - 4 p.m.

Addison Public Library

We have one opening for the Help Desk at the Addison Public Library, Tuesday, June 14 from 6 - 8 p.m.

MG Help Desks

Your response has been fantastic. Thank you for signing up for so many MG Help Desks this year. We try to stay ahead of the game, but we do get worthwhile requests with late notice. We will be in more towns than ever.

Speakers Bureau Team Sets a Record!

Our team of MG's has been in high demand this spring. One week in April really stands out-- they presented seven programs in five days! MG's were coming and going, picking up projectors and fact sheets. Several hundred people have attended many presentations during the past two months. Libraries have been requesting our programs and the evaluations are very high. Thank you to each Team Member for bringing our horticultural information and your expertise and enthusiasm to so many communities.

School Lessons

Since January, MG Teams have been visiting DuPage classrooms. Over 750 school children have been taught various horticultural lessons including our Squirmin' Herman the Worm program. Teacher response has been terrific, and we are already getting requests for MG's to return to their classrooms for next year's students. We will be offering a training session for MG Interns this summer, so they'll be ready to help us bring lessons to the classroom next fall and winter.

Volunteer Reports

Please remember to turn in your volunteer and training reports on a monthly basis. We need to have this information as up-to-date as possible in order to ensure that you will be scheduled properly for the last quarter. Thanks for your cooperation.

How about a shot? And, I'm not talking a shot of tequila! I'm talking a tetanus shot. Is your tetanus immunization up-to-date? Most people think the only way you can get tetanus is from a rusty nail. Not true my fellow gardener friends. The tetanus bacteria can be found literally right under your feet in all soils and composts. One small cut or scrape is all it takes for the tetanus bacteria to enter your system. Get my POINT! According to the National Gardening Association, 40 percent of gardeners do not have up to date tetanus shots, which are effective for ten years. So, which president was in office when you were shot? Bush (I or II)? Clinton? Reagan?... Definitely, A POINT to Ponder, then have a shot... for medicinal reasons, of course.

After School Garden Club at Ardmore Elementary School, Villa Park

If you've detected a whirlwind of activity in Villa Park, look closely: it's probably MG Lynn Bement and her team working with the children at Ardmore school.

This group of third, fourth, and fifth graders, who call themselves "The Dazzling Digger Maniacs," meet every Thursday after school for 45 minutes. In that short period of time, Lynn, accompanied by Barbara Kuminowski and Stuart Vogel, lead 22 children in a variety of activities very loosely based on the Junior Master Gardener program. This program is in its second year, and Lynn says she has learned as much as the kids have.

Last year, when the program started, the group's first activity was to draw a hamburger plant. From there, the children were shown how each element of a hamburger sandwich comes back to the plants and the earth that sustains them.

They moved on to seeds and how they get moved around, propagation by leaf cuttings and stem cuttings, and, of course, planting. Favorite activities are the hands-on variety.

A very ambitious project undertaken last year was to help the children design and install a planting for two gardens in front of the school. Divided into two groups, one set of children decided to design an "A" for Ardmore school, and another group made an American flag. It was quite a learning experience, as the children got the community involved by asking local merchants for donations. (They learned that you need an awful lot of plants to make an A look like an A, and that different shades of blue and red make for an interesting flag!)

Programs this year included creating a compost bin for the school (to dispose of last year's flag and "A" garden material), making a worm bin, and composing a letter to the school custodian asking him to use the compost bin! For Earth Week, they updated last year's recycle sculpture to give it a fresh look this year.

This year's plantings will have a little more MG input: one will be a traditionally designed garden with specific material bought by the PTA, planned to be low maintenance, and a wildflower garden. The PTA also underwrote the construction of four boxes to be used as raised beds and planted soon with vegetables. Ellen Phillips, the soil guru (our MG soils instructor), will be testing the soil for them. Ellen's children are students at Ardmore.

For anyone thinking of having a program like this at a school, Lynn has this advice: it is very helpful to have the support of the parents, administration andthe teachers who help them, as she has had.

- Debbi Heinze

"It makes you feel like such a good gardener," said Kelly Bryant. The day was long, the room was warm, but the words "feel" and "good" immediately got the attention of the other members of the '05 Master Gardener class. Her next words created a real buzz. "Outdoor winter sowing worked so well for me last year that I ended up with 175 recycled plastic containers sitting on my patio for the winter and got at least 90 percent germination." Having a huge excess of plants on her hands by spring, Kelly said she was forced to "ding-dong ditch" them on neighbors' doorsteps.

Kelly's seeding saga began one day, in the winter of '04, when she found the innovative web site of Trudi Davidoff at http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/wtrsow/ 20020050141031613.html, (an address to remember). Finally Kelly had the answer to the space question everyone had been asking, "Where will you keep 175 seed flats?" Keeping them out on the patio solved both the space dilemma and the lighting problem. With the sun working for her, there was no need to buy yards of lighting fixtures nor get walloped with a huge electricity bill. Kelly also appreciated the time and money savings of two more of Trudi's suggestions: using see-through recycled plastic containers and planting "hunks-o-seedlings" instead of picking apart multitudinous little seedlings.

Last year's wonderful success with vegetables, perennials, annuals, grasses, and herbs led Kelly to repeat the process this year even though her gardens, one in Clarendon Hills and one in Wisconsin, are understandably beginning to be just a bit crowded. This year she restrained herself and planted only 85 containers. Included among relatively common varieties such as cosmos, Spanish yellow onions, cleome, and heirloom tomatoes are the more adventurous selections of Bells of Ireland, black cumin, cypress vine, bunny tail grass, Verbena bonariensis, black hollyhocks, and cross pollinated daylilies just waiting to be registered. Do we have any naming suggestions for them? 'Milk Carton Cutie?' 'Patio Perfection?'

Below are the basic steps that Kelly emphasized, but for a more complete description of the process and benefits, check Trudi's web site.

1. Choose seeds that will thrive when sown early. Research their germination requirements on seed packets, in books, and in catalogs, but also try to recall which plants tend to self-sow, or to colonize.
2. Start saving gallon milk cartons, Kelly's first choice of possible containers. Using an indelible marker, write the plant name on freeze-proof tape and affix it to the bottom of the container where the writing will not have the chance to fade away. Poke out drainage holes on the four bottom corners and also slit the jug horizontally about four inches from the bottom but without severing the handle.
3. Fill the jug with thoroughly dampened commercial potting soil mix right up to the height of the slit and then sow according to directions. You can toss out the cap. The open mouth at the top of the jug takes care of transpiration and, until the temps warm to above freezing, watering, too. Unusually warm weather calls for making more holes in the top.
4. Tape up the slit, and set your container (now a mini greenhouse where the temps might reach as much as 20 degrees above the ambient temperature) out in the snow as early as New Year's Day. By the time your plants develop a few sets of true leaves, you can plant the wonderfully hardened-off seedlings directly into your garden.

Many thanks to Kelly for sharing this information. Are there any more inspiring stories out there waiting to be shared?

- Marti Travelli

Groundcovers become a hot topic among Illinois homeowners each and every spring as we await the greening of our lawns. When trouble spots refuse to comply with our feeding, weeding, and seeding regimens, many of us turn to a popular non-turf alternative: groundcover.

This is where the conundrum begins for the Master Gardener who will undoubtedly be asked, again and again "Which groundcover should I plant where my grass won't grow?" To be on the receiving end of this question is risky – it is like playing matchmaker to a single friend. Not only do you have to make sure that the groundcover is compatible with its site, but that its temperament is in sync with its owner's idea of how a plant should behave.

For every gardener that loves the old-fashioned charm and sweet spring scent of lily-of-the-valley, there is another who vows to never let it enter their beds. For every gardener who has spent three or four years training English Ivy to climb a trellis, there is another who has spent three years ripping it off a garden wall.

I love many of these fast-spreading, aggressive groundcovers. I have a sprawling, shady yard that I am filling with creepers, crawlers, and climbers. I've found places where many of the classic "thugs" behave just fine and look down-right civilized. Aegopodium variegata lights up a dark spot on the north side of the house – separated from others by hardscape. Euonymus fortunei climbs a fence bordering a busy street where the salt spray never stops. It's a lovely backdrop of lush green for more colorful perennials. Lysimachia nummularia doesn't mind foot traffic so it lives between stepping- stones on a shady path. And how could I forget the Vinca minor? Its lovely blue flowers are magnificent in spring and provide a backdrop for more colorful bulbs. Some of these plants, however, require control and I am willing to go after them with trowel, shovel or pruners from time to time.

In her book "Got Shade? A Take It Easy Approach for Today's Gardener," Carolyn Harstad advises readers never to plant any of the above-mentioned groundcovers due to their aggressive nature. Moreover, the Illinois Native Plant Society keeps a list of non-native "invasive" plants on its web site http://www.ill-inps.org that includes Euonymus fortunei, Hedera helix, and Polygonum cuspidatum -- plants widely used in DuPage county landscapes. The Plant Conservation Alliance, another organization devoted to plant conservation (http://www.nps.gov), adds Aegopodium and Pennisetum setaceum (fountain grass) to the list.

There is no legal definition, in Illinois, for an invasive plant or garden "thug." It is generally agreed that "invasives" are non-natives that move in and take over an ecosystem to the detriment of other species. But unless a plant is declared a "noxious weed" by federal or state law it is legal to plant.

So what's the bottom line? Are these plants friends or foes? Should Master Gardeners recommend aggressive fast-spreading groundcovers to Illinois homeowners?

The truth is, there is no simple answer. As gardeners who help others make decisions about potentially aggressive plants, it is our job to understand the nature of the plant, the needs if the site, and the homeowner's level of commitment to controlling it before recommending it.

For more information on groundcovers for our region, visit the Gardenweb Groundcovers Forum web page at www.gardenweb.com, Chicago Wilderness at www.chicagowilderness.org, and the Midwest Groundcovers plant search page at www.midwestgroundcovers.com. In addition, the University of Illinois Extension office has a very informative Telenet class titled " Low Input Landscaping with Groundcovers." (Editor's note: MG's can arrange to view the power point presentation and listen to the audio of the class by calling the office.)

- Sharon Cook

May

General:

• Houseplants can be moved outside when nights remain above 50 F.
• Start compost pile
• Plant semi-cold tolerant plants between May 5 and May 15 and all warm season plants after May 21. Remember starter fertilizer. Keep an eye on the local forecasts!!!

Flowers:

• Fertilize planting beds. Amend soil as needed.
• Divide perennials and remember starter fertilizer (high in phosphorus) on all transplants.
• Fertilize annuals and continue on 6-week intervals.
• Roses: Prune out dead canes
• Mums: Plant them in May for best results. This allows roots to establish before winter. Pinch back mums through the fourth of July.
• Continue to allow spring bulb foliage to yellow, wither then brown. Return those nutrients to the roots!!!

Veggies & Herbs:

• Put out tomato, pepper and sweet potato plants when all danger of frost is gone and weather has settled.
• Plant sweet corn, squash, snap beans, cucumber melon and pumpkin.
• Asparagus? Keep asparagus harvested for continued spear production.
• Watch for beetles (bean leaf, asparagus)
• Herbs planted in average soil do not require additional fertilizer. Too much fertilizer can reduce flavor and pungency at harvest.

Lawn:

• Plant grass seed as soon as possible.
• Fertilize (one pound actual N per 1000 sq ft) & apply broadleaf weed control if needed
• Sharpen mower blades
• Mow lawn (do not remove more than 1/3 of grass blade per mowing).

Trees & Shrubs:

• Watch crabapple, cherry and related trees for Eastern Tent Caterpillars and remove them when caterpillars are inside the tent (nighttime or cloudy day).
• DO NOT spray blooming fruit trees with insecticides while bloom is open. This will kill honeybees.
• Prune spring flowering shrubs immediately after blooming.
• Treat Euonymus and pines for scale (when bridalwreath spirea is in bloom).
• Common lilacs in bloom? Spray white barked birch, if necessary, to prevent borer. Keep an eye out and treat for elm leaf beetles, birch leaf miner and ants.
• Look for and control Pine Sawfly.

June

General:

• Keep garden well-weeded.
• Apply organic mulches.

Flowers:

• Iris: Move or thin within two weeks of flowering. Cut foliage back to six inches in height. Leave rhizome on surface of ground and water in well.
• Deadhead flowers from annuals and perennials.
• Check container plants as they may require daily watering.
• Roses: Spray susceptible roses with fungicide to prevent black spot disease. Apply balanced rose fertilizer after first bloom is past. Cut spent blooms just above the first five-leaflet leaf for fastest return bloom.
• Mums: Continue to pinch back until July 4.
• Peonies: After bloom time, remove withered, dead blossoms. Do not cut off foliage.
• Tropical water lilies can be planted when water temp is above 70 F.

Veggies & Herbs:

• As soon as cucumber, melon and squash vines start to "run," begin spray treatments to control cucumber beetles and squash vine borers. When fruits develop, watch for beetles and remove, dust or spray, in the evening, with approved insecticide.
• Replant beans and beets for successive harvests.
• Tomatoes: When fruit begins to set, side dress with balanced fertilizer.
• Late in month, start seedlings of broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower, for fall harvest.
• Broccoli: Pick florets before they open into blossoms. Side shoots will provide even greater yield throughout the summer.
• Control corn earworms using mineral oil or BT.
• Strawberries: Renovate after harvest; mow rows, weed and fertilize.

Lawn:

• Mow lawn as needed. Do not remove more than one-third of the leaf blade per mowing. Mowing height should be 2 ½ - 3 inches for summer.
• Watch for lawn insects, such as sod webworms, and control as needed.

Trees & Shrubs:

• Treat for Bronze Birch Borer on susceptible white barked birch trees.
• Apple trees: Thin apples so fruits are 7-9 inches apart.
• Cover cherry trees with netting before they begin to ripen. This will protect them from the birds.
• Control apple maggot flies. Spray trunks of peach trees and other stone fruits for peach tree borers.
• Water as needed in drought times.
• Watch for bagworms, especially on junipers and arborvitae.

After all this work, take a long rest in a good chair in your garden. Enjoy!

- Rosemary Sedlak

Parsley...Sage...Rosemary! Anyone surprised at the subject of this issue's column?? Rosemary is one of my favorite herbs, even though it is not reliably hardy in this climate. The cultivar called "Arp" is said to be the hardiest, to zone 6; if grown in a sheltered spot against a south-facing wall......nah. The best way to assure that you'll have fresh rosemary to cook with and otherwise enjoy year round is to sink it, pot (preferably terra cotta) and all, in a sunny, relatively dry corner of your herb patch. Be sure to leave plenty of space around it – the one disease rosemary is heir to is mildew, encouraged by damp, airless conditions. Then in September take it up, hose it off hard (though few critters like it) give it a haircut and gradually accustom it to life indoors. It will need LOTS of light –grow lights on a 16 hour timer through the dark days of winter.

I've mentioned in this space before, I think, that I have a big, woody specimen, several years old, that, so far, has done well under this regimen. Repot your plant in either fall or spring, whenever it needs a larger home. The trimmings from the "haircut" may be used fresh – roast lamb, anyone? – or dried; in the microwave, or, more traditionally, gathered together, tied with string inside a paper bag to keep them clean, and hung from an attic rafter or basement ceiling pipe for a few weeks. Once dry, the fragrant leaves may be stripped off the tough stem and stored in a tightly capped container. The leftover stems may be added to your outdoor grill fire or, if they are strong and woody enough, may be used as skewers for kabobs.

Rosmarinus ("dew of the sea" in Greek) officinalis has been used by apothecaries and cooks since earliest times. Its needle-like dark green leaves are almost resinous, retaining their flavor well. The squarish stems, identifying it as a member of the mint family, turn woody in the plant's second year. Native to dry, rocky Mediterranean hillsides, rosemary takes well to our alkaline soils, and needs no fertilizer. After your plant is established, water only in the driest conditions. Bees love its relatively inconspicuous flowers, pale to dark blue, pink, or white, borne in clusters along the branches. Keeping the plants trimmed provides a continuous source of this fragrant herb for the kitchen, as well as encouraging shapely, compact growth, though in their native climates these plants may become large shrubs.

In some Mediterranean villages, linen is spread over rosemary to dry in the sun and absorb its aroma, reputed to be a moth repellent. Rosemary branches were strewn on floors in medieval times to mask odors and purify the air. A charming tale told in Spain is that, during the Holy Family's flight into Egypt, when Mary spread her cloak over a sheltering rosemary shrub, its white flowers turned blue.

- Sandy Lentz

If you have an event you want everyone to know about, please contact Deb McCullough. I need the info one week before material is due in the office.

Many of these events require advance registration and/or fees. For more information or directions to these locations, please call them..

May 7: Oak Park Conservatory - Annual Herb and Scented Plant Sale. Over 200 types of herbs and annual plants will be sold during this three-day sale at the Conservatory. Most of the plants are cultivated in the greenhouses at the Conservatory. There is no admission charge, but it's doubtful that you'll leave without purchasing plants for your garden. The proceeds from the sale are used to support the educational programs at the Oak Park Conservatory. "This year's theme is 'All Stars'- All America Selections, Fleuroselect winners, winners of trial garden contests in the area and just plain winners in this area, because they are such tried and true performers," said Sue Kelly, FOPCON Board Member and Chair of this year's Herb Sale.

May 12: Cantigny Park- How to Choose the Right Plant to Buy. A garden skills workshop.
6:30 pm Greenhouse

May 13: Chicago Botanical Gardens -Arts and Crafts: Gardens and Landscapes of the Era.
Step back into the Arts and Crafts Movement (1870-1900) with keynote speaker Judith B. Tankard, acclaimed landscape historian and writer and Massachusetts Horticultural Society Gold Medal recipient. In this symposium, you will study the unique gardens and landscapes of this movement, look at the impact of local landscape architects during this period and celebrate garden ornaments that evolved from the Arts and Crafts Movement. Speakers also include Robert Mallet about his family's estate garden, Les Bois des Moutiers, the first and only Arts and Crafts period garden in France. The esteemed Patrick Chasse, ASLA, will discuss garden ornament of the era; Arthur Miller of Lake Forest College will cover Arts and Crafts gardens in the Chicagoland area; and Scott Mehaffey will talk about adapting Arts and Crafts principles to the Chicago region.

May 15: Morton Arboretum- Ready, Set, Let's Grow! What's Wrong with My Plant?
Learn how to diagnose plant problems caused by insects, diseases, and poor care.

May 15: Wolf Road Prairie-
2:00 - 4:00 pm at the 31st Street Kiosk
Algae + Fungus = Lichens
A talking walking tour in search of lichens of the Salt Creek Watershed focusing on those found at Wolf Road Prairie.

May 16: Morton Arboretum – Members' Library Lecture: A History of Maze Gardens. Peggy Pelkonen, Assistant Landscape Architect at the Arboretum and designer of the Arboretum's new Maze Garden, will give an overview of mazes from the past, examples of different kinds of mazes, and her design for the Arboretum's Maze.
Admin. & Research Center
7:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Beginning May 17: Morton Arboretum-Tuesdays - Saturdays
Library Exhibit: Mazes of the Ages
Cultish mazes appeared in ancient times. Christians transformed them into religious mazes. As pleasure gardens became more elaborate during the 17th and 18th centuries, mazes followed the same trajectory. This exhibit in the Sterling Morton Library displays plans and drawings of mazes from all these periods - both in books and in framed prints from the Suzette Morton Davidson Special Collections.

May 19: Cantigny Park- Herbs: From the Garden to the Kitchen (Part 1 of 6)
6:30 pm Greenhouse
A garden skills workshop.

May 26:Cantigny Park- Herbs: From the Garden to the Kitchen (Part 2 of 6)
6:30 pm Greenhouse

May 28-29: Morton Arboretum -
Northern Illinois Iris Society 46th Annual Iris Show. This beautiful show will feature tall, bearded irises, which bloom in local gardens from about May 15 to June 15. Some of the best varieties grown by members of the Society will be on display. Some plants will be available for purchase.
Visitor Center Events Room
11:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday
10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Sunday

June 2: Cantigny Park - Herbs: From the Garden to the Kitchen (Part 3 of 6)
6:30 pm Visitors Center

June 9:Cantigny Park - Herbs: From the Garden to the Kitchen (Part 4 of 6)
6:30 pm Idea Garden

June 16:Cantigny Park- Herbs: From the Garden to the Kitchen (Part 5 of 6)
6:30 pm Idea Garden

June 21: Morton Arboretum-
Summer Solstice Evening Walk
Bask in the sunlight on the longest day of the year with a special twilight Summer Solstice walk. This unique guided walk will focus on trees and other plants that have special summer interest, as well as customs and traditions surrounding the solstice

June 22: Cantigny Park- An Evening in the Rose Garden. 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Visitors Center
Three lectures on roses with a question and answer session afterwards. Light refreshments will be served. Parking fee applies.

June 23: Cantigny Park- Herbs: From the Garden to the Kitchen Part 6 of 6
6:30 pm Idea Garden

June 24: Chicago Botanical Gardens- Making the Connection: Plants and Hydrology
Planned in conjunction with members of the Chicago Wilderness Sustainability Team and sponsored by Chicago Wilderness magazine, this symposium has been designed for professionals in the green industry. In this symposium, the best practices for using plants in landscape water management will be addressed. Alterations of topography directly effect water distribution, which results in secondary and tertiary implications such as erosion, runoff and pollution.

June 25-26: Morton Arboretum-
Prairie Heritage Days: Songs of the Prairie

June 26: Wolf Road Prairie-
2:00 - 4:00 pm at the Prairie House
400 Year Saga of Foxglove and Dropsy
How this plant was discovered, developed and realized for its medical value.
Dr Edwin Liebner, Professor Emeritus, College of Medicine, UIC

July 16: Cantigny Park- Desert Succulents - Propagation and Care
9:30 am Greenhouse
A garden skills workshop

- Deb McCullough

Do you have a plant to share with your fellow Master Gardeners? How about a piece of equipment you would like to sell or trade (or donate)? Is there a plant you are looking for that one of us might already have? We'd like to put you in touch with each other. Contact Pat Kosmach at Pkosmach@aol.com or 630-279-1655. She will take the information and put all of it together for the next newsletter.

"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 24
• Issue #5 - August 26
• Issue #6 - October 28