Calendar: Attracting pollinators to your garden

Join Extension Horticulture Educator Ken Johnson and Piatt County master gardeners for a virtual event on attracting pollinators to your garden at noon May 18.

The program will include:

What insects play a role in pollination.
Why pollinators are important.
What steps you can take to make your landscape more attractive to pollinators.

Following the presentation, Piatt County master gardeners will share information about pollinator pockets.

Creating bottle terrariums

Join Horticulture Educator Bruce Black to explore terrariums, their needs, and how to create a bottle version of a terrarium at 5:30 p.m. May 19.

Hybrid rainscaping education series

Rain gardens are an effective landscape feature designed to capture excess stormwater runoff from buildings, roads and driveways. Understanding how rain gardens function, as well as how to design, install, and maintain rain gardens will be the focus of a hybrid rainscaping education program, hosted by the Greater Egypt Regional Planning & Development Commission and University of Illinois Extension in partnership with Purdue Extension and Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant.

This hybrid course will include four online sessions and one in-person plant day at the Jackson County Extension office:

May 18 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. online.
May 20 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. online.
May 22 from 9 a.m. to noon, plant day at Jackson County Extension office, 402 Ava Road, Murphysboro.
May 25 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. online.
May 27 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. online.

For the in-person session, participants are invited to bring garden tools and gloves, and to dress for gardening. Participants bringing a garden tool should wash the tool before using in the rain garden to avoid spreading the recently identified invasive jumping worm. The $5 registration fee includes light snacks during the in-person session, a rain garden manual, and other educational materials.

This program is limited to 20 participants. Register at go.illinois.edu/raingardenseries.

Landscaping with native plants

Native plants offer a variety of ecological benefits for birds and insects. Join Andrew Holsinger, University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator, on how to incorporate native plants into your home landscape to add color, texture and interest at 2 p.m. May 20.

Container gardening workshop

STERLING, Ill. — Looking to spruce up your landscape with some containers, but not sure where to start? Join the Whiteside County master gardeners as they explore the possibilities and discover how to make different and unusual displays for the home garden. The presentation will include a hands-on demonstration that will be used as a door prize for participants.

The workshop will be from 10 a.m. to noon May 22 at the Whiteside County Extension office, 12923 Lawrence Road, Sterling. The program is free to attend but registration is limited to 25 participants. Social distancing and mask guidelines will be followed.