Stay indoors and out of the cold with new webinars from the University of Illinois Extension’s Four Seasons Gardening series.

The series returns Tuesday, Feb. 10, with two new sessions offering ways to use creativity with nature-inspired art made from fresh willow branches and helpful tips for spring pruning of young shade trees.

Extension horticulture experts will present tips, how-tos and answer questions about each monthly topic, which focuses on home gardening, environmental stewardship and backyard food production. Sessions are free and presented live online beginning at 1:30 p.m. on select Tuesdays, Feb 10 and March 3. Registration is required.

To find more information and to sign up for each session, visit go.illinois.edu/FourSeasons.

Winter Webinar Session Schedule

Creating Simply Lovely Nature Art | Feb. 10, 1:30 pm to 2:30

Willow be my valentine? Create a nature-inspired living heart craft with freshly cut willow branches. Learn how to add a touch of rustic romance to bouquets that showcase flowers in the sweetest way possible.

Pruning Young Shade Trees | March 3, 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm

Young shade trees face a variety of challenges in the landscape, resulting in surprisingly low survival rates for many of these plants. While planting practices and follow-up care are major factors in the mortality of younger trees, canopy failure from poor branch structure is a bigger risk for trees that make it beyond establishment. Proper pruning early in a tree’s life can drastically reduce the risk of canopy failure or hazard development from structurally unsound limbs later in life.

Extension educators Chris Lueking and Ryan Pankau will lead the winter series sessions.

Can’t make a session? Every program is recorded and available on the Illinois Extension Horticulture YouTube channel. Videos are available about two weeks after the live program.