Wood County Master Gardener Association

09/30/2026

🌷 Spring blooms begin with fall planting!
A little work this fall can bring welcome color after a long winter. Planning to plant spring-flowering bulbs? Keep these tips in mind:

❄️ Cold is part of the process. Most spring-blooming bulbs need 12–16 weeks of chilling to flower well—one reason fall planting matters!

☀️ Choose your location carefully. Good drainage is essential. Aim for a spot with 4–6 hours of sunlight, while checking the light requirements of your particular bulbs.

🌱 Plant at the right depth. Follow the planting instructions for each bulb type; planting depth isn’t the same for every variety.

🐿️ Protect your planting. Rodents, rabbits, and other wildlife can damage bulbs and new growth. Consider protection as part of your planting plan.

🍃 Let leaves finish their work. After flowers fade next spring, allow foliage to die back naturally. Those leaves help replenish the bulb’s energy for the following year.

Learn more in UW–Madison Extension’s Fall Bulb Planting webinar. https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/fall-bulb-planting/

What spring blooms are you planting for this fall? 🌷

Fall is a great time to plant bulbs for spring beauty. In this webinar, you’ll learn essential tips on how to select the perfect bulbs, correctly plant them, and protect new plantings.

09/09/2026

You've been thinking about adding that tree to your landscape and the nurseries are selling their stock of trees with nice discounts. Is this a good time to plant? Maybe.

Over the past few weeks, your trees, shrubs , and perennials have started making big internal changes to prepare for the long winter. Called "hardening off", it is much more than just losing leaves. Sugar and fat metabolism changes to provide resistance to cell walls freezing and being damaged. Yeah. Big stuff and we didn't have to do anything. So, pruning this time of year is bad as it suggests to your plants that they should grow when they should be getting ready to not grow. But that's another post.

Back to planting. You have about another month, to early October, to plant and give your tree a good start. Remember that the soil doesn't freeze until November or December, so keep watering your trees and shrubs until it does if our fall is dry. This is especially important for evergreen shrubs because cold winter winds and sun scald will dry out the needles, so send them into the winter hydrated.

Check out this list for trees and shrubs you can plant now and some that you might better wait until spring. Be sure to click on the link to remind you how to properly plant a tree.
https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/tree-species-for-fall-planting/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=article
Then in the spring, you'll smile when those beautiful buds pop out!

This article contains a compilation of tree species recommended for fall planting vs. waiting until spring.

09/09/2026

You may notice a few Japanese beetles hanging around yet, but the pressure is reducing as they go about their life cycle. Often perennials and shrubs will try to correct the damage by putting on new leaves to replace the ones that have been eaten. But, some of the heaviest damage is something you have to fix yourself.

If you notice patches of dead grass in a sunny part of your lawn near where the beetles feed, it is not necessarily because you didn't water your turf well enough. Beetles lay their eggs in your sunny grass areas and the resulting grubs eat the roots of the grass, which destroys the turf.

Prevention and treatment are really important here and can be a season long endeavor. Check out this link to help plan your strategy for next year.

https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/grub-control-home-lawn/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=article

In the meantime, fall is a great time to clear out dead grass and reseed with cooler, wetter weather the norm while the ground is still warm enough for seed germination. Good luck!

Several species of white grubs are considered turfgrass pests in the Midwest due to their feeding on grass roots. Learn about management and control techniques in this factsheet.

09/08/2026

Make plans to visit our plant sale at Maple Fall Fest in Marshfield on September 19 and 20. We're pleased to have a devoted following of people who come for our Dried Autumn arrangements for their Fall decorating. We have a wide variety of dried blooms, grasses, seed heads and more to make a bouquet just for you. Choose from bouquets already made, or work with a Master Gardener to create one of the size, color scheme, and variety you love.

Find our booth between the food truck parking lot and the path to the Zoo, We'll be open 8-5 on Saturday and 9-4 on Sunday.

08/24/2026

Not trying to push summer away.....but we love Autumn too! It's a great time to put those ideas you had for your garden into reality by dividing, transplanting, and introducing new plants. Planting in early fall gives perennials time to set awesome roots as they shift growth away from leaves and flowers. Our plant sale is just in time! We'll have a big supply of native plants we've grown ourselves, plus other perennials, bulbs, houseplants, succulents, and more! Plus, we'll make you a dried flower arrangement for your fall decorating. Come and enjoy a great Wisconsin Fall Festival and stop by to see us. WCMGA Master Gardeners around to answer your gardening questions

08/24/2026

We're enjoying some cooler weather now than we were a month ago, but the weather man still highlights the drought conditions continuing to prevail across the state. It's easy to see how your flower and vegetable gardens still need your support in keeping hydrated. Remember, perennials, trees, and shrubs, especially newly planted ones, still need weekly watering until the ground freezes to enhance their health and vigor as they continue to develop their root systems, even as leaf and flower production shuts down in preparation for winter.

Check out this article about watering in late summer/early fall.
https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/determining-plant-watering-priorities/

08/24/2026

Do you grow tomatoes in your garden? 🪏

The UW-Extension vegetable research team has confirmed a number of cases of Tomato Bacterial Canker recently. 🍅

Where did it come from ⁉️
Contaminated seed, but most likely infected greenhouse transplants planted into the garden (that were not showing signs at planting time, but harboring the bacterial disease).

Symptoms:
🍅 General wilting and death to portions of the plant
🍅 Upward curling of leaves on individual stems
🍅 Raised, corky ashy-gray to brown-black lesions on fruit
🍅 Small, raised lesions may develop with a light-colored center surrounded by a dark halo - the classic “bird’s-eye spot”

How can this pathogen be managed ❓
✔️Prune tomatoes with a sanitized/clean pruning shears
✔️Do your best to prevent other open wounds on your plants
✔️Water from the bottom of the plant, do not overhead irrigate

Check out the latest Vegetable Crop Update Newsletter from Dr. Gevens at UW:

Get the latest information about disease management in vegetable crop production in Wisconsin. To be added to the email listserv and receive this newsletter in your inbox, please contact Amanda Gevens. A printable PDF version is available as a link at the end of each article.

08/23/2026

Come and see us at the Fair! Look for our booth in the Lang Building. (that’s between the round barn and the master gardener gazebo garden… But right by the pig and duck races! ) Starting Tuesday, August 25, we'll be ready to answer your gardening questions and share information about all kinds of gardening, invasive plants and insects, incorporating native plants into your landscape, and more. Spin the wheel, answer a gardening question and win a prize!

08/01/2026

Early Bird Registration continues through August 9 for the Master Gardener training class "Foundations in Gardening"
+Were you inspired by something you saw at a Garden Walk this summer and want to step up your gardening game?
+Do you see all the beautiful and different plants at the greenhouses and want to know which ones to buy for your garden spaces?
+Do you wonder what is wrong with that patch of lawn or that plant and how to fix it?
+ Would you like to learn while working with like minded gardeners and serve & enhance your community at the same time?

Then check out what's involved in becoming a Wisconsin Extension Master Gardener and joining Wood County Master Gardeners.
The first step is to take the Foundations class which runs from September 6, 2026 -December 12. It's online and work at your own pace. The text for the class is awesome and includes instruction on these subjects:

*General Gardening practices
*Soils
*Botany
*Insects
*Plant Diseases
*Wildlife
*Weeds
*Fruits
*Vegetables
*Lawns
*Houseplants and container gardening
*Woody & Herbaceous Ornamentals
*Integrated Pest Management

Contact us at [email protected] for registration information and questions.

Early bird registrations includes a $50 discount on tuition. Registration continues at the regular price from August 10-24 as long a spaces in the course are still available.

07/31/2026

Queen Anne’s Lace in Door County: Understanding a Beautiful but Invasive Bloom Daucus carota

Queen Anne’s Lace is easy to love at first glance with its delicate white umbels drifting along Door County roadsides looking like summer lacework. But when committed to protecting native Wisconsin prairies, it is important to look past the charm and understand what this plant really does in the native landscape.

Botanically known as Daucus carota (wild carrot), Queen Anne’s Lace is an Eurasian species that has naturalized across North America. In Door County, it thrives in disturbed soils, sunny roadsides, and open meadows. It isn’t the most aggressive of plants, it is persistent and capable of spreading quickly. This is important to understand because it can outcompete native wildflowers, altering the delicate balance of prairie ecosystems.

Why Queen Anne’s Lace Is a Problem in Native Bloom Habitats

Rapid spread — Each plant produces hundreds of seeds that disperse easily, allowing it to colonize open ground faster than many native species.

Soil takeover — It thrives in poor or disturbed soils, often becoming the first plant to move in and the last to leave.

Competition with natives — Its height and density can shade out native blooms like black‑eyed Susan, butterfly w**d, and prairie clover.

Pollinator confusion — While pollinators do visit Queen Anne’s Lace, it can draw them away from native species that offer richer ecological benefits.

The Door County Alternative: Native Blooms That Belong Here
If you love the airy, delicate look of Queen Anne’s Lace, Door County offers native plants that provide similar beauty and support local ecosystems:

Yarrow — Soft white clusters, drought‑tolerant, and excellent for pollinators.

Sweet cicely — Fern‑like foliage with subtle white blooms.

Wild quinine — A structural, long‑blooming native with bright white flower heads.

Anise hyssop — Purple spikes that attract hummingbirds and bees.

Prairie dropseed — Graceful grasses that pair beautifully with native flowers.

These plants do not just look good, but they are beneficial and evolved with Wisconsin’s soils, weather, and wildlife. They help rebuild the biodiversity that invasive species quietly erode.

Approach to Stewardship:

Queen Anne’s Lace doesn’t require panic, but it does require awareness. In Door County’s prairies, meadows, and roadside restoration projects, removing it before seed set and replacing it with native species is one of the simplest ways to support long‑term ecological health.

Julie Sausen
Master Gardener ‘25
PC: Julie Sausen