University of illinois Extension cook county

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1 University of illinois Extension cook county 1

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3 Horticulture is one of humans oldest practices, and involves more than growing fruits and vegetables in the garden. Horticulture also involves the intensive cultivation of ornamental and edible plants. Flowers for example, are plants grown for their ornamental value. Roses are grown for their distinct odors and fabulous looks. Trees are grown for their gracefulness, shade, and aesthetic qualities. Native prairie plants provide more than beauty; they provide a habitat for wildlife. Horticulture education is for people of all ages and backgrounds. Youth, particularly those in urban environments, stand to gain much from added exposure to plants and nature. In-school and after-school activities offered by University of Illinois Extension Horticulture Educators are a great way to engage youth in growing plants and the natural environment. Topics in this brochure include: school and community gardens plant propagation (starting plants from seeds, cuttings, etc.) water quality (watershed demonstration) entomology 101 (live insect petting zoo) gardening with few or no chemicals basic lawn care carnivorous plants (ex. venus fly trap and pitcher plants) 3

4 THE WORK OF THE YARD 4

5 Extension has programs in the work of the yard. For example: Audience: grade 4 adult Bare Branch Detectives Analyze twigs and other tree parts for clues about a tree s identity and its history. Examine slices of tree trunks to see how the tree grew and how it responded to problems in its life. Class duration one 1- to 4-hour session Audience: adults EASY LAWN CARE Learn how to take care of your grass the easy way, and with fewer chemicals and water usage. Topics include: starting a lawn from seed or sod, water-wise lawns, weed control, grub control, grass varieties, and turf. Class duration three or five 1-hour sessions Audience: Master Gardeners, landscape professionals and public Landscaping Tips for the Backyard Does your backyard need a make-over? Do you wish to create a backyard living space that is functional, intimate or active? This presentation gives you tips on how to overcome some common backyard challenges such as: lack of privacy, harsh microclimates, unsightly storage sheds and undersized living spaces. Class duration one 60- to 90-minute session Audience: grade 7 adult Pine Tree Detectives Not all evergreens are pine trees. Using a combination of plant material, photographs, and word descriptions, participants will identify the eleven most common needled evergreens in our area providing winter landscape interest. Class duration one 1- to 2-hour session 5

6 Youth & Horticulture Extension has programs in Youth & Horticulture. For example: Audience: youth and adults who work with youth Urban Youth Gardening Youth who are involved in gardening have a greater understanding of and appreciation for nature and the environment. They learn better nutritional habits while participating in community service and beautification. Tailored school gardening projects and summer gardening and community gardening projects are offered along with the Junior Master Gardener Curriculum (J.M.G). Class duration one 1-hour, 2-hour, 1/2-day, or 1-day session 6

7 Audience: grades pre-k 5 Great Plant Escape In these workshops students help Detective LePlant and his partners Bud and Sprout unlock the mysteries of plant life. Activities enhance student s math, science, language arts, social studies, music and art skills. Lessons include soils, photosynthesis, bulbs, what plants need to grow, plant reproduction and seeds. Hands-on activities can include growing lettuce in a bag, making a seed viewer, making a plant monster from different plant parts, after lunch gardening (growing plants from sweet potatoes, carrots, avocados etc.), creating a soil map, and worm composting. Check out the Great Plant Escape website at Class duration five to six 1-hour sessions Audience: grades pre-k 5 Worm Composting Students learn about worm anatomy and reproduction, while putting together a worm bin. Check out the Adventures of Herman the Worm website at Class duration one 45-minute to 1-hour session Audience: grades 3 8 or high school (advanced) LIVE INSECT PETTING ZOO / bug bash Insects / bugs are often seen as pests that have no positive role in our environment. More often than not, they are beneficial and harmless to humans. Learn about some of the more charismatic insects, such as the harmless (but hissing) Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, and a foot long millipede! Students learn about insects through a series of hands-on activities: Cockroach races, cricket spitting, and insect crafts. Class duration 1-day event or 1- to 3-hour session pending class size and activities Audience: grades 3 8 Growing Connection program Students learn how to grow nutritious vegetables in earthboxes and connect with Growing Connection school gardeners in other countries. To learn more, visit the website at Class duration six to eight 1-hour sessions 7

8 bringing nature indoors 8

9 Extension has programs to help you Bring Nature Indoors. For example: Audience: adults Winter Evergreen arrangements Make and take either a swag or evergreen arrangement to bring the aroma and sights of winter inside, and learn bow making. A materials fee includes container, greens, and accessories. *Participants need to have enough strength in their hands to use wire cutters. Maximum 20 students per class. Class duration one 3-hour session Audience: adults or high school students Houseplants You ll learn about tips on choosing the right plant for the right location within your home. Plant maintenance is also covered, including proper watering and fertilizing techniques, sunlight, common insects and diseases. Also learn about low-maintance house plants. Class duration one 1-hour session Audience: grades 3 8 or high school (advanced) CARNIVOROUS PLANTS Learn about the many different meat eating plants, including Venus Fly Trap, Pitcher Plant, Sun Dew Plant, and others that eat live insects. Class duration two or three 1-hour sessions 9

10 Gardening in communities Extension has Gardening programs in cook county Communities. For example: Audience: adults Plan a Landscape that Works Learn the elements of an efficient, low-maintenance garden plan. Optional Landscape Series: Create your own landscape design in four, 3-hour sessions spaced two weeks apart. Homework and materials fee. Maximum 16 students per class. Class duration one 90-minute session 10

11 Audience: refugees, immigrant populations and Cook County residents Careers in Horticulture & landscape maintenance This training provides refugees, immigrant populations and residents of Cook County with the job skills needed to secure jobs in the green industry. Topics covered include: landscape design and maintenance, lawn care management, trees, shrubs, ornamentals (flowers), turf soils, integrated pest management, and tools and equipment in the greens industry. Class duration 8 to10 weeks (2 days/week, 4 hours/day) Audience: adults and youth Community Gardening and Outreach Participants will learn how to choose a site and then plan, organize and manage a community garden. Participants will learn how to involve children and to deal with community issues. This is a series of programs aimed at individuals, communities and organizations interested in community beautification and greening, horticultural education and home gardening. Class duration six 1- to 2-hour sessions Audience: adults School & Community Garden Planning This two phase program helps you and your community to create a plan for your garden. Brainstorming Phase: establish goals for your garden plan that can save you time and money. Implementation Phase (optional): Extension assists your committee in creating a plan for a youth or special interest garden. Time depends on the project size and scope. Class duration one 60- to 90-minute session Audience: adults and youth Gardening with special needs audiences This program is designed for audiences with intellectual and developmental challenges to learn and gain gardening skills in a dignified, safe and nonthreatening environment. Participants learn various aspects of gardening including soil preparation, planting, and plant care (watering, weeding, fertilizing, mulching, weed control and harvesting) for horticultural crops. Class duration varies 8-10 weeks Changes to these courses can be made based on audience needs and content. 11

12 environmental horticulture Extension has programs in Environmental Horticulture. For example: Audience: grades 4 adult WATER QUALITY By using a watershed model, students can learn how activities on land affect the water downstream in streams, rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water. Students will learn how plants and people can minimize or maximize the impact on our environment. Maximum 24 students per class. Class duration one 1- to 2-hour session 12

13 Audience: municipal or greens industry employees Emerald Ash Borer: Why We Care and What We Can Do About one in five trees in Cook County is an ash tree. Emerald Ash Borer larva likely will kill them. Find out how you can be proactive in addressing this invasive species. Class duration one 1- to 2-hour session Audience: master gardeners, public and landscape professionals Sustainable Landscape Series Learn how to create landscapes that are sustainable (functional, maintainable, environmentally sound, monetarily viable and aesthetically pleasing). Participants will learn how to apply the principles of design in developing the landscape and plant selection. Series includes: landscaping the front and back yard, landscape design for small spaces, gardening with native plants, organic gardening techniques, rain-gardens, rooftop gardens and Xeroscaping. Class duration each session is 60- to 90-minutes, or mix and match as a series Audience: high school adult Rain Garden Principles Participate in an Enviroscape TM demonstration of how water carries pollutants of all kinds across the landscape, then learn how rain gardens can help reduce run-off. Go home with several rain garden plans. Maximum 24 students per class. Class duration one 2-hour session Audience: high school adult Integrated pest management (IPM) Gardening without chemicals is good for the environment. Digging deeper, and learning how to use nature instead of chemicals is an exciting and educational way to garden. IPM embraces alternative pest control methods including cultural practices, mechanical processes, and biological processes (natural predators) as an alternative to chemicals. Class duration three to five 60- to 80-minute sessions 13

14 Mastering Horticulture 14

15 Extension has programs in Mastering Horticulture. For example: Audience: age 18 and older Master Gardener Program Master Gardeners are volunteers trained in horticultural education by University of Illinois Extension educators and specialists. Topics covered include: herbaceous ornamentals (flowers), trees and shrubs, landscape design, construction and maintenance, soils, turf grass management, pests and diseases, fruit and vegetable production, and plant anatomy. Once trained, Master Gardeners share their knowledge through volunteer work in their communities (e.g. answering gardening questions, Extension s speakers bureau, and working with youth, seniors etc). Class duration ten or eleven 6-hour sessions Audience: high school adult Master School Gardener Program The Master School Gardener Program is a program Chicago Master Gardeners can join to assist schools with school gardens. This program allows trained and experienced Master Gardeners to apply their Master Gardener knowledge to assist school teachers in planning, developing and maintaining school gardens. School gardens have many benefits for student learning, especially youth in urban environments. This program is about helping teachers create and sustain productive gardens for maximum student learning. Class duration varies Audience: adults Master Composter Program Students will learn the art and science of urban home composting and worm composting. Check out the Master Composter Blog website at Class duration three 5-hour sessions More Mastering horticulture program offerings >> 15

16 Mastering Horticulture. Cont: Audience: adults Master Food Preserver Program Students will learn the basics of freezing, canning and drying foods. Students will then give back 30 hours of volunteer time to the Master Food Preserver program. Check out the Master Food Preserver Blog at Class duration five 6-hour sessions Audience: adults Master Naturalist Program (Pilot Program in Cook County) This program connects people with nature, and helps address the need for environmental sustainability and stewardship in Cook County. The program is for any adult who is committed to life-long learning and stewardship of local natural resources, with incentives for participants to become a Certified Master Naturalist. Class duration eight to ten 6-hour sessions Audience: adults Ask A Master Gardener Call one of our answer lines, a gardening question to the Electronic Plant Clinic or schedule an Ask a Master Gardener table for your community event by contacting one of our Volunteer Master Gardener offices: Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago Sat. & Sun. 11AM-4PM Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences Mon., Wed., & Fri. 9AM-1PM North Suburbs AM-12PM (Nov March) 9AM-3PM (April Oct) South Suburbs Mon.-Fri. 9AM-3PM (April 1 Nov 15) Electronic Plant Clinic rwolford@uiuc.edu 16

17 In Summary University of Illinois Extension s Horticulture team can assist your classroom, organization, or community in a variety of ways through both existing programs and those developed to meet your specific needs. Our programs will help provide the people of Cook County with the knowledge they need to succeed in the twenty-first century. From toddlers to adults, Extension has tailored programs that will: Provide community and economic development opportunities through gardening Increase knowledge of and opportunities for horticulture careers Expand opportunities for professional development for teachers in horticulture Enhance peoples awareness of environment and natural resources conservation Offer fun, interactive learning opportunities that bring people to nature 17

18 Contact US Contact an Extension Horticulture Educator for more information on these programs. Anne Gachuhi Matthew Kostelnick Nancy Pollard Ron Wolford Editor: AmySue Mertens Designer: Nancy Rockwood Photographer: Joan Hackett and various Soy based ink Paper: post-consumer content

19 University of Illinois Extension in Cook County University of Illinois Extension is the outreach program of the Urbana-Champaign campus. In Cook County we work holistically with and within communities to identify emerging issues, and provide long-term counsel and support toward positive change. We offer workshops and trainings on changes in such areas as the economy, community health, immigration, nutrition, horticulture, and education. Our Plan for the 21st Century identifies the county s limitations to global competitiveness, and connects groups and individuals to resources to tackle the issues one at a time. We take an umbrella approach to problems we assess a community s areas of deficiency to compete in a global economy, and present solutions to bring them up to speed. Extension is committed to inspiring confidence, and preparing people for a global Cook County. 19

20 For more information about University of Illinois Extension in Cook County, visit or 20 FSC_100_LNBW.eps