Here are some odds and ends to think about:

The woods are filled with spring wildflowers and the weather is finally good enough to go look at them. Do be careful in the woods. Today I spotted poison ivy leafing out. When it is just leafing out it is easily overlooked. The leaves are very small and very shiny and they are maroon!

Mother's Day is a traditional day for plant shopping and I am sure the local garden centers are ready for you to shop. Go ahead and do your shopping now for the best selection, but be watching the weather. If you plant annuals and a cold snap comes, you may need to cover them (and it is not unusual to have cold snaps in late May). Perennials should be fine. Remember that tomato plants really don't like any amount of cold, so think about delaying their planting time to closer to the end of May.

We often hear about applying grub control in spring, but this is not really the right time. Grub control is best used in late July or early August when new grubs are hatching out. At that time they are most vulnerable. If you have never had grubs, skip the grub control. For that matter, when you are selecting lawn care treatments, think carefully about what you really need. One application of time-release fertilizer in May can be all your lawn needs for the whole season. If crabgrass has never been a problem, skip the crabgrass treatment. Be a wise consumer and you will save money and help the environment.

Hi everyone. Sorry to be out of the blogosphere so long, but April and May are really busy months. We have a lot of things going on here that can help you gardeners out there.

The Master Gardeners are on their full time summer hours (Mon-Fri, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.), so when you have gardening questions, give them a call at (847) 223-8627.

Starting in May, the Master Gardeners will also be hosting Plant Clinics at local libraries. Go to http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/lake/mg/index.html (and scroll down) for full information about times, dates and locations. You can stop in at these Plant Clinics and ask questions or bring in samples to be identified.

Later this month we will be planning and planting our demonstration gardens around the office. If the weather cooperates, we hope to have everything planted by early June. Stop by our office and check out the gardens.

If you are looking to buy plants, out plant sale is coming up on May 15 at 10 a.m. here at our office. The sale will be held rain or shine. Entry numbers to the sale will be handed out at 9:30 a.m. Go to http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/lake/mg/index.html to check out the details.

Believe it or not, some snow may be coming our way Saturday night! I am sure some of you are worried about the few flowers that have popped up in your yard. The snow will most likely not do any damage to them. Snow is a good insulator, so it should protect them from the cold (and the flowers that pop up this early tend to be very cold tolerant on their own). The only problem will be if we get a lot of heavy snow that might smash the flowers.

A little update from the wild. I spent the morning in the Chicago Botanic Garden's MacDonald's Woods. While I did not see anything in bloom, there were a number of wildflowers showing their leaves at least. In their native garden, I also spotted some trillium in leaf. If we can get a few warm days, I think a lot of things will be popping. If you are a wildflower enthusiast be ready to get into the woods soon for a wildflower walk.

I went into the woods at Reed Turner Woodland down in Long Grove this morning looking for early spring wildflowers. (Reed Turner is a great place to look for spring wildflowers, so check it out this spring). Didn't find any wildflowers out yet, but there were some spring bulbs (snowdrops and winter aconite) blooming near the building. So spring is very close.

If you would like to learn about wildflowers for our area, I am offering three classes on wildflowers in April. Go back to the home page of this website and scroll down to find and event calendar on the right hand bar. There is a link to the full calendar there and you can find more information about registering for those classes.

You may have noticed that a few of the early spring bulbs are already starting to peek out a little bit. I have already noticed some winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) and netted iris (Iris reticulata) showing a hint of color when growing near buildings. This might be a good time to go out into the yard and hunt for these early treasures.

Early March is also a good time to start thinking ahead to another type of bulb, the summer bulbs. Summer bulbs include caladiums, gladiolus, elephant ears and many others. These are bulbs that are not winter hardy and which must be stored indoors every winter. We can't plant these outside until after the frost is over, but we can get then started indoors so they are more mature when we move them outside. These bulbs should be available soon in local stores so be looking for them. For more on summer bulbs go to http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/lake/downloads/8783.pdf

It's raining today and it is supposed to rain a lot. That rain can tell you something about your yard. Put up your umbrella and walk around the yard to see where the water puddles and stays for a while. These are the spots that are more prone to being wet on a regular basis. You can use this information when you plant this spring. If you are putting in plants that require good drainage, you now know where the wets spots are and you can avoid them. On the other hand, if you have plants that require more consistently moist soils, these are the spots to choose for those plants.

You may be ready for spring to come, but how about your tools? Did you put them away without cleaning them last fall? Do they need to be sharpened? Now is the time to get them ready. There is nothing worse than going out to work in the yard for the first time and finding that you have to stop and prepare your tools. So while winter is still here, head out to the tool shed and get those tools ready to go!

It seems like spring will never get here, but we know it will. You should be ready to cut back ornamental grasses. Usually late February into mid-March is a good time to do this. Cool season grasses will show growth first and will need attention first. With the good snow cover we have had this winter, many of the cool season grasses may emerge from the snow looking fairly good and may need relatively little cutting. Some of them however, may have been mashed down by the snow load and may need to be tidied up.

Warm season grasses will be slower to start growing, so you won't have to get cutting on them quite as early. When it is time cut them (just as new growth begins to peek out of the soil), cut them all the way to the ground and get rid of all the old growth.

If you need to know more about ornamental grasses, why not attend my class on that topic on February 25 from 7-9 p.m.? To register go to https://webs.extension.uiuc.edu/registration/?RegistrationID=2273. The cost is $7.00

With the recent warm spell, everyone is thinking about spring. Of course we know it is not here yet, but we have hope. The bad thing about the transition from winter to spring is the unpredictable weather. Were getting to the point in the season where thaws and unseasonably warm weather may start to "awaken" some of our plants.

This happens almost every year and gardeners start to worry if the tulips pop up a little earlier than expected. Try not to worry too much. Spring bulbs are tough. They normally bloom when the weather is iffy and they should not be harmed unless they actully flower and then a cold snap hits. If they come up and a layer of snow falls, the snow will just insulate them rather than harm them.