University of Illinois McHenry County Extension notes
For more information, call the Extension at (815) 338-3737 or stop in at 1102 McConnell Road, Woodstock.
A new Web site that allows home gardeners and professional horticulturists to gain information about plant pests, diseases, and performance in the USDA's hardiness zones 4, 5 and 6 has been launched by University of Illinois Extension.
"Hortanswers" at www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/hortanswers/ is designed to provide basic information about the disease and pest problems of plants plus determine the right plant for the right place in the garden, said Greg Stack, U of I Extension horticulture educator and one of the designers of the Web site.
Originally conceived by former U of I Extension specialist Bruce Pallsrud, the Web site was developed by Jane Scherer, U of I Extension urban program/web coordination specialist, along with Stack and fellow Extension horticulture educators James Schuster, Maurice Ogutu, and Sharon Yiesla.
"Because of its complexity, it took several years to develop," Stack said. "The result is an extremely valuable site."
Users can access the information they seek by a variety of routes.
One approach is to search plant and the categories include annuals, groundcover, ornamental grass, perennials, roses, shrubs, small fruits, trees, tree fruits, turf, vegetables, and vines.
If a particular problem is affecting your garden, try the search by problem feature and initiate a search by the problem or pest or by the plant affected, with categories for common and scientific names. Searching by perennials, for example, produces a page that gives criteria for these plants in hardiness zones 4, 5 and 6.
Pictures of the plants are included along with information on the various plants plus problems they may encounter. And, there also are photos of the problems that affect the particular plant.
"The Web site allows users to proceed through as much information as they desire and gain insights and tips about how various plants will look and perform in their garden," Stack said.
He also noted that the new Web site is unique. "There are hundreds of Web sites that have bits and pieces of information on home horticulture," he said. "Sometimes these are geared toward selling a particular plant or product and the information is biased. Others are educational to the point of not providing practical information that the home gardener or horticulture professional can easily use. There is simply no single resource for reliable, unbiased information.
"While the site is not all-inclusive or exhaustive, it provides good, basic information to guide home gardeners in selecting plant material and alerting them to some of the problems they may encounter."