Praying mantids have long been subjects of intrigue in the garden. Their discrete lurking and ability to blend into their surroundings, along with their huge eyes and turret head… By Robert Weaver [This article was first published in the September 2019 issue of The Gateway Gardener.] Praying mantids have long been subjects of intrigue in the garden. Their discrete lurking
» Read moreby Ginny Burkhart, University of Illinois Master Gardener Intern, 2011 Zucchini is my children’s favorite vegetable, and if it grows in abundance in my summer garden, they will eat it every day! This season, I harvested only a few zucchini before my plants were destroyed by the squash vine borer (Melittia Cucurbitae). I decided to research this bug and wanted
» Read moreOn May 18th, my son Chris sent me a photo by phone of a bunch of pencil- or finger-sized holes that had appeared overnight in the soil in his Crestwood backyard. “What’s going on?” he asked in a mild panic. I knew from calls we’d received at the Missouri Botanical Garden Horticulture Answer Desk and from reports in the news
» Read moreBy Robert Weaver If the lawn beneath your sycamore tree looks like this this spring, you might be understandably concerned about the sycamore tree towering above it. Leaves shriveling and dropping by the basketful can certainly be disturbing, but in this case, it’s nothing to get too concerned about. In cool, wet springs, sycamores are susceptible to a fungus disease
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By Steven Cline, Ph.D. (This article was first published in the March 2007 issue of The Gateway Gardener.) Regardless of the theory explaining our mild winters, the trend is pretty clear – it’s warming up on average. The data are now shown in the new plant hardiness map issued by the Arbor Day Foundation challenging the old USDA map with
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