Are you ready to clear your house of unwanted small appliances that you no longer use or no longer work? Just in time for Spring cleaning, the Jo-Carroll Solid Waste Agency cooperating with the Carroll County Health Department, the Natural Area Guardians and the University of Illinois Extension are holding an Electronics/Small Appliance collection from 9 am to 1 pm on Saturday, April 28. This collection is open to all Carroll and Jo Daviess County Residents.

The free collection includes electronics and small appliances such as cell phones, power drills, food blenders, small window air conditioners, etc.

There will be a $5.00 fee charged for each computer monitor and portable television. A higher fee will be imposed on console TVs and console radios.

Large appliances such as refrigerators, washers and dryers will be accepted for a $10.00 fee.

The collection site is in Mt Carroll at the University of Illinois Extension parking lot located at the northwest corner of Hwys. 52/64 and 78.

University of Illinois Extension is once again presenting the Four Seasons Gardening program. Three seminars for each of the four seasons are offered. Each seminar features a color slide presentation accompanied by the voice of the instructor as people from all over the state participate. The topics and dates for the May Series are:

Culinary Herbs in the Landscape presented by Jennifer Fishburn, U of I Extension horticulture educator. Many herbs used for flavoring food can be grown in your garden. Those attending will learn the basics of growing herbs and how to put together plant combinations to add color, fragrance and interest to the garden throughout the growing season. The program will be presented at 1 pm on Tuesday, May 1 and repeated at 7 pm on Thursday, May 3.

Using Tropical Plants to Add WOW to Your Garden presented by Greg Stack, U of I Extension horticulture educator. Tropical plants are becoming common in gardens throughout the Midwest just as they were in Victorian times. What was once a "fad", has now become part of the summer landscape. Participants will learn about the many tropical plants that can be grown in both gardens and containers. It will be presented at 1 pm on Tuesday May 15 and repeated at 7 pm on Thursday, May 17.

All seminars will be presented at each County Office. There is a fee of $3 per session and pre-registration is required.

The Summer Series includes "Landscape Maintenance", "Rain Gardens: A Wise Way to Use Runoff" and "Controlling Garden Weeds".

Master Gardeners in both Carroll and Jo Daviess Counties will begin the 2007 Help Desk Season the week of April 30. Master Gardeners will be on hand to answer your questions at posted hours. You can call you local extension office for specific hours or check the Jo-Carroll Unit website at: http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/jdc. This is part of our Mission to "help others learn to grow" and is offered annually throughout the growing season.

The old saying goes "Everything is better when it's fried". Some may believe that with food, but it's certainly not true with landscapes. Fried is the best description of plant leaves right now. Is it just the cold weather as many have said? Or was it really a conspiracy with several "perps"? In true CSI form, let's look at the evidence.

First the victims were vulnerable. We had very warm temperatures in March, so plants had plenty of opportunity to start growing weeks ahead of schedule. According the Jim Angel, state climatologist, the average temperature in March was 48° F which is 7.6° above normal. When leaves first emerge they are succulent and have not "hardened" to environmental conditions. The recent cold weather is the obvious suspect to the leaves demise. It is common to get cold temperatures and freezing in April, but not to the extreme that occurred. According to Angel, the odds are once in every ten years for such cold temperatures to occur so late.

In my mind the wind is as much to blame as the cold for our burnt landscapes. We experienced extremely windy weather before the cold. April 1 was probably the windiest, according to Angel, with an average speed of 18 mph and a peak gust of 53 mph. March 31 and April 3-5 were also windy. Most of those winds were out of the west so victims were found leaning to the east. Tender new leaves succumb to extreme winds. In addition plants that normally emerge early such as columbine and bleeding heart naturally have delicate leaves. They didn't have a chance against the wind either.

There is no way to punish the "perps" so what do we do now? Like a bad perm the top few inches of many of my perennials are fried. Give these a quick haircut with shears to remove the damaged portion. Some plants benefit from this technique as they will develop more branches and grow more compact. This will delay bloom a couple weeks. My plan is to shear sedum, catmint, beebalm, aster, and tall phlox. Pretty much anything that sends up many stems. I would not do this to peonies since you will cut the flower bud off. I'm doing a wait-and-see with columbine and old fashioned bleeding heart and only removing the obviously fried stems and leaves. In Sandy's world these

With trees and shrubs the chant is "re-leaf or die". Healthy woody plants have enough food reserves to develop another set of leaves. The plants may look a bit ugly for a couple weeks with brown leaves until the growth appears. I'm guessing we will see a crabapple flower show in our area, since they were still in tight bud before the cold. Same is true for lilacs. The leaves on my plants look horrible but the flowers have not turned brown so I think we will see a lilac show.

The bottom line is: be patient and don't give up on your plants. They are amazingly resilient. It is, however, a stress for the plants to use food reserves to send out new leaves. This is a good time to remind ourselves of proper plant care. Water during drought periods. Generally an inch of water a week through rain or irrigation is a good goal. Mulch with organic materials such as wood chips.

- Excerpted from an article by Sandy Mason, UE, Champaign County

Give your foliage houseplants a bath. Dust can reduce light penetration. Let them sit under a shower for a few seconds to remove dust.

The more information Master Gardeners have when seeking an answer to a problem, the quicker they'll be able to provide you with a solution. Please provide, to the best of your ability, the following:

· Exact name of plant

· Its growing conditions, sun/shade

· Please provide the entire plant, roots and all, for Plant Identification

· Please provide the full, intact, insect for ID.

· The names of any pesticides you've used and how and when you applied them.

· The age of the plant.

· A twig of a plant that has discoloration or holes and a twig that is healthy.