Emily Swihart
MILAN, Ill. — It is official, winter is upon us. The holiday season has come and gone, the calendar has turned over to a new year and much of the Midwest is blanketed in snow. On these long winter days, one of my favorite activities to do is to dream about warm summer days. I…
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MILAN, Ill. — In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I want to share one of my great horticulture loves with you … pruning. I love the idea, the exercise, the science and the potential it has for significantly improving the health and longevity of woody plant material. Since trees are large, long-lived plants in our…
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MILAN, Ill. — The internet is a wild place full of an endless amount of information, ideas, opinions, advice, arguments and more. Tangled in this web, it will come as no surprise that my favorite spaces are those that relate to plants. I’ve been known to have many, many pages open in my browser window…
Read Full Article MILAN, Ill. — Two separate serendipitous events occurred recently that brought a plant back to the forefront of my attention. First, a few weeks ago a colleague asked me to confirm the species of a tree growing near a public garden. The garden was struggling to grow, and a cursory identification of the tree marked…
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MILAN, Ill. — On a recent family vacation, I revisited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As I return to places I was privileged to visit as a child, I prepare for the trip, in part, by trying to dig deep into my memory bank and recall as much as I can about the place…
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MILAN, Ill. — Nature is an incredible artist and evolution has produced an overabundance of diversity. Plants in every form from spreading to climbing, vase-shaped, columnar, leaves in various shapes, colors, and arrangements. The two species featured in this article are about as opposite as plants get. One likes moist sites, the other prefers dry…
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MILAN, Ill. — My family dedicates an entire weekend to a walkabout in our woodlands each spring. The timing of the retreat is not left to chance, we mark it on the calendar far in advance and decline all invitations and events for that weekend. We do this to celebrate spring’s arrival, disconnect from the…
Read Full Article March 28, 2025
MUDDY RIVER MORNINGS: MARCH 28
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