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Master gardeners and horticulture specialists services

Recommendations
Care of trees, shrubs, annuals, perennials, vegetables, fruits, and houseplants
plant selections for northern Illinois

Diagnosis and treatment options
Control of insects, diseases, and cultural disorders

General gardening information 
Soils, composting, pruning, mulching, and more

Plant and insect identification

Assistance 
Locating purchasing sources for particular plants

Specimen collection and submission

Please be sure to read our guidelines for specimen collection and submission if you will be bringing in a sample for diagnosis. If you will be sending images through the online forms above, please send files in one of the requested formats.

Remember! Our diagnosis is only as good as your sample. Please follow our guidelines for collecting and submitting samples in order for us to provide you with accurate answers to your questions.

Prevention of boxwood blight

Plant information Service routinely asks visitors to submit plant samples for accurate diagnoses and identifications. However, we will no longer allow samples of boxwood (Buxus), pachysandra (Pachysandra), and sweet box (Sarcococca) to be brought to the Garden, in order to prevent the spread of boxwood blight, a devastating fungal disease that affects these plants. Please feel free to contact us with questions about boxwood blight without bringing plant samples to the Garden. You can also .

Plant Information Service Staff

Leora Siegel
Director, Lenhardt Library and Plant Information Service

Kathie Hayden
Manager, Plant Information Service

The Plant Information Service is also staffed by approximately one hundred University of Illinois Extension Master Gardeners.