June 25, 2008

Check out our demonstration gardens

Next time you are visiting the Lake County office of University of Illinois Extension, check out our demonstration gardens. They can give you great ideas about things you can do in your own garden. This year, the gardens include a garden to feed the birds and a tropical garden.

What is really unique about our gardens is that they are just like yours. We suffer the same weather problems and set backs that the average gardener experiences. We don't have a full time staff of horticulturists maintaining the gardens in pristine form.

Our gardens are real. The cool weather held us back and we planted later than usual, so things are getting a slow start. The heavy rains made it hard to get into the garden on one of our planting days. The strong winds have tattered the leaves on one of our banana plants. You will even find a weed or two in our gardens.

Stop by anytime. We keep a map and list of the plants in a mailbox at the corner of the building, so you can take a self-guided tour. If you need more information, stop in and talk to the Master Gardeners. Please don't pick plants to bring in to the Master Gardeners. They will be happy to step outside and look at the plant with you.

Posted by Sharon Yiesla at 3:15 PM |