Horticulture

Ask Your Gardening Question Here!

Ask Your Gardening Question: LIVE with UW-Madison plant health experts

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension invites home gardeners and plant enthusiasts to join the Horticulture Program’s monthly webinar series, Ask Your Gardening Question: LIVE, throughout 2025. These online Q&A sessions, held Mondays at 1:30 p.m., offer a unique opportunity to connect with plant health experts and get answers to all your plant-related questions.

Each hour-long session provides participants with expert advice on a wide range of topics, including tree and shrub care, flowers, homegrown fruits and vegetables, indoor plants, lawns, pests, and more. Whether you need guidance on plant diseases, managing pesky insects, or general plant care, Extension’s team of experienced specialists is here to help.

The sessions are free and open to the public. During a session, participants submit questions to a team of moderators who then ask the panel of experts. However, you don’t need a question to participate! Whether you are a seasoned gardener or just getting started, you are welcome to join and enhance your understanding of plants.

The next session will take place Monday, April 21, from 1:30-2:30 p.m. Register for free at go.wisc.edu/AYGQLive. The series will continue monthly on Mondays, May 19, June 23, July 21, Aug. 18, Sept. 22, Oct. 20, Nov. 17, and December 15, 2025.

These online programs are hosted by the UW-Madison Extension Horticulture Program. To find more upcoming events and learning opportunities, visit hort.extension.wisc.edu/events.

Wisconsin Celebrates Pollinator Week, June 17 – 23, 2024, is dedicated to raising awareness through statewide and local activities and events to support National Pollinator Week. By increasing knowledge and adopting pollinator friendly practices, we can improve pollinator health and habitats. National Pollinator Week is an annual event managed by he Pollinator Partnership to help spread the word about what we can do to protect pollinators.

A pollinator is any animal that visits flowering plants and moved pollen from flower to flower, which helps plants reproduce, making fruits and seeds. In North America, pollinators include bees, butterflies, moths, flower flies, beetles, wasps, hummingbirds, and in some parts of the southwestern U.S. and Mexico, nectar feeding bats. Some animals, like butterflies, move pollen while they are feeding on plant nectar. Bees are the most efficient pollinators because they also collect pollen as a protein source for their offspring, so they move the pollen around as they visit flowering plants. There are approximately 20,000 bee species in the world, 3,600 in the United States and over 400 in Wisconsin (DATCP Wisconsin Pollinator Protection Plan).

Learn More about Pollinators!

Pollinator Fact Sheet

The Pollination of Native Plants

Date: June 18th, 2024

Time: 6:30 to 8:00 PM

Presented by Heather Holm, The Pollination of Native Plants is a fascinating journey that showcases the development of different flower types and the presentation of floral resources to pollinators. Exploring the types of insect pollinators, their foraging behavior, and the floral features that attract pollinators, Holm provides many specific examples of how native plants are pollinated, what pollinator is most effective, and why.

This program is free, but registration is required.

Registration: https://uwmadison.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_v-39QW4RT_CRRXBD-MdoCg#/registration

Balancing Act in the Home Garden: Protecting Pollinators while Managing Pests

Date: June 19th

Time: 12:00 pm

Join us for an overview of integrating pollinator protection with pest management in your home landscape. We’ll cover the fundamentals of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), pesticide labels, and differences between systemic and contact pesticides, and discuss the toxicity of common products or ingredients to pollinators. By the end of this program, you’ll be prepared with strategies for simultaneously prioritizing pollinator protection and pest control in your own backyard.

Registration: https://uwmadison.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_PuwTTH59QrW4syfJVM4sXQ#/registration

The Role of Moths in Our Ecosystem

Wednesday, July 24, Noon–1 p.m.

It’s National Moth Week!

What exactly are moths, and how do they fit into the landscape? Join us in learning about the general life history of moths and the evolutionary and ecological relationships between moths and plants using several native Midwest moth species. This presentation hopes to shatter an ecological conundrum: Moths are neither good nor bad. Moths just are.

The Pollination of Native Plants

Balancing Act in the Home Garden: Protecting Pollinators while Managing Pests

The Role of Moths in Our Ecosystem

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