Beth Botts fills in for Mike. Guests: Jean Bragdon from Lurvey's gives advice on winter houseplant care. Shawn Kingzette from The Care of Trees weighs in on the advantages and drawbacks of live holiday trees; Steve Sullivan , curator of urban ecology at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Lincoln Park runs Project Squirrel--do the squirrels know about this? And Beth tries to teach her listeners how to be citizen scientists through programs like Project BudBurst , Monarch Watch and CoCoRaH.

In the second hour of November 28, 2010 edition of The Mike Nowak Show, the holiday caroling group The Frozen Robins (of which Mike is a member, in the interest of full disclosure) get loose and funny.The highlight is their holiday "tribute" to Chicago mayoral candidate and former Obama Administration Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

Guests: Maria Anna Rafac and Jeanne Phelan from Joliet Community College talk about sustainability efforts at that institution, The Frozen Robins threaten Mike's radio career and skewer Chicago mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel at the same time, and Mr. Brown Thumb tries valiantly to get serious about gardening events and news. Nice try, MBT.

Guests: Thom Kraak and Shawn Kingzette from The Care of Trees explain how to decorate your outdoor trees and shrubs without harming them; Mariani Landscape's Marni Wilson offers some tips for great holiday containers; Tom Spaulding of the Illinois Local Food, Farms & Jobs Council talks about the importance of keeping food dollars in Illinois; Mike and producer Heather Frey start a firestorm by suggesting that there is only one way to pronounce the word "Poinsettia."

Guests: Arborist Guy Sternberg, who created Starhill Forest Arboretum in Petersburg, Illinois, talks about his class, "Cemetery Botany," which he taught at The Morton Arboretum on Halloween Day; Jack Darin from the Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club and Max Muller from Environment Illinois discuss their respective organizations' endorsements of Illinois candidates in this Tuesday's election; Mike introduces the first installment of "Good Growing," with correspondent Mr. Brown Thumb.

Guests: Benjamin Cox, Executive Director of Friends of the Forest Preserves (Cook County) talks about how the November 2 elections will change the direction of forest preserve management; Julie Rizzo explains how her company, Recycled Granite, saves thousands of pounds of the material from ending up in landfills; Scott Kuntz of Old House Gardens gives some advice on planting bulbs and discusses how he is transforming vacant urban lots to colorful bulb bed for his business.

Guests: CMAP Executive Director Randy Blankenhorn talks about the launch of Go To 2040; Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D. discusses the release of the film Living Downstream, based on her book of the same name, with director Chanda Chevannes; the creation of the Chicago area national wildlife refuge Hackmatack is the mission of Cindy Skrukrud, a member of Friends of Hackmatack.

Guests: Rianna and John Caravette from Earth Wind And Solar Energy, LLC recap Saturday's Illinois Solar Energy Tour; Jennifer Brennan from The Chalet in Wilmette answers gardening questions with Mike; a5's John Harris previews next week's GreenTown Chicago conference at Columbia College.

Guests: Lisa Albrecht of Solar Service, Inc. and Illinois Solar Energy Association (ISEA) board member promotes next Saturday's Illinois Solar Energy Tour; Mike Repkin, Dave Hampton and Molly Meyer talk about their work with Urban Habitat Chicago and the evolution of roof top gardens; chicken aficionado Michelle Thoma previews next Sunday's Hen-apalooza Chicagoland Chicken Coop Tour.

Guests: MELA Executive Director Carol Becker talks about teaming up with O'Keefe Elementary School to renovate the memorial garden honoring a slain student--she is joined by science teacher Emily Kenny and neighborhood resident Thresa Conley; new chief horticulturist Jennifer Davit for Millennium Park's Lurie Garden, and Sue Markgraf from GreenMark PR talk about managing the garden; Natural Resource Defense Council's Josh Mogerman discusses last weeks oil spill in Romeoville and the wisdom of continuing U.S. dependence on tar sands oil.