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Local gardeners find useful guidance at Green Thumb Saturdays

Keeping lawns and gardens green and growing is full of challenges, from how to keep the soil healthy to how to effectively combat pests in an environmentally responsible way.  The village of Homewood provides help. Green Thumb Saturday is a monthly series of presentations on practical topics for developing and maintaining growing things.

Keeping lawns and gardens green and growing is full of challenges, from how to keep the soil healthy to how to effectively combat pests in an environmentally responsible way. 
The village of Homewood provides help. Green Thumb Saturday is a monthly series of presentations on practical topics for developing and maintaining growing things.

The series is in its seventh year. It was started by long-time Homewood Tree Committee Chairwoman Maureen Guger. She stepped down last year, but her successor, Jason Baldauf, is keeping the program going. He said the topics this year, as always, will cover a lot of ground.

“There’s a lot of gardening topics, and sustainability,” Baldauf said. “If you love to garden and you love the environment and you want to just learn” Green Thumb Saturday is the place to be, he added.

Green Thumb Saturdays is sponsored by the University of Illinois Extension and the Homewood Tree Committee. Sessions take place from 9:30 to 10:15 a.m. in the board room of Homewood village hall, 2020 Chestnut Road.

Upcoming topics include:

April 13: Monarch butterflies, presented by Lorey Ford, master gardener with the University of llinois Extension

May 11: Homewood flower containers, presented by Homewood arborist Bryon Doerr

June 8: Roses, presented by Frank DeVries of the Sauk Trail Rose Society

July 13: Plant propagation, presented by Nancy Kreith, horticulture educator with the University of Illinois Extension

Aug. 10: Environmentally friendly lawn care, presented by Dave Ward, superintendent of Golf at Coyote Run Golf Course

Sept. 14: Garden pests, presented by Donna Kocim, master gardener with the University of llinois Extension

The first program this year was on March 9 and was led by Homewood arborist Bryon Doerr, who described the current challenges facing the local tree population and how the village of Homewood is managing the precipitous decline of some species, especially maples.
 

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