Conservation Topics
• Bees
• Composting
• Fungi
• Habitats
• Lawn Care
• Planting and Mulching
• Rose Care
• Saving Seeds
• Rain Garden
• Common Reed
• Green Roof Garden
• Seven Ways to Go Green
in Your Garden
• Herbarium
• Prairie
Your Garden — conservation
Plant Information: Conservation Topics
Find helpful conservation tips and techniques from the list below:
| What You Can Do – Conservation in the Home |
| Bees ABCs of our native bees Humans play an important role in protecting one of nature’s premier pollinators. Learn about bees and discover how you can help these hardworking, beneficial insects. |
| Composting Easy, even for beginners! A healthy compost pile is easy to maintain, has no offensive odor, and does not attract animals. Best of all, composting provides an elegant earth-to-earth closed system. |
| Fungi Nature’s most effective recyclers The Chicago area is host to more than a thousand species of mushrooms and mushroomlike fungi—beneficial, symbiotic organisms, critical to the survival of our forests and grasslands. Why should we care? |
| Green Garden Tips Simple and sustainable Save money while you help save the planet. Follow these seven easy steps to create and maintain an earth-friendly garden. |
| Habitats Native or invasive plants In urban environments like Chicagoland, landscaping with invasive plants has caused natural processes to break down. Active restoration and land management can protect biodiversity and help conserve and restore the health of natural habitats. Learn what you can do. |
| Lawn Care, Ecofriendly Tips from Garden experts Some of the best tips for lawn care actually reduce our carbon footprint. Discover how to address soil problems and create a healthy growing environment for your turf as you solve the mysteries of watering, seeding, and feeding. |
| Planting and Mulching, Proper More tips from Garden experts Planting and mulching seem like basic gardening skills, but some of the worst gardening mishaps occur when gardeners overthink or overspend. Avoid the trauma by heeding our advice. |
| Rose Care Healthy and ecofriendly techniques Rose care requires work, but it is straightforward, the rewards are rich, and many "green" tips make the work easier, are less expensive than traditional techniques, and are healthier for your garden. |
| Saving Seeds Conservation in banking heirloom seeds Environmental threats have caused many plants to become rare or endangered. By banking seeds of these plants in safe storage, the Garden is working to safeguard their long-term survival. You can bank seeds, too. |
| Rain Gardens What they are, and why you may need one Enhance your landscape’s aesthetic while absorbing and cleaning rainwater. Visiting the Garden's Rainwater Glen is a good way to see how the process works and to gather ideas for your own rain garden. |
| What We Are Doing – Conservation at the Garden |
| Common Reed Distinguishing the native from the invader Ever wonder what that tall plant with a feathery-tufted top is that you see growing along our roadside ditches? It’s called common reed, and in recent years this highly invasive plant has spread through the Chicago region at an alarming rate. We're doing something about it. |
| Green Roof Garden Visit ours—then plan your own! Green Roof Gardens conserve water, reduce noise, stem stormwater runoff, minimize urban heat island effect, and provide necessary habitat for native birds and insects. Ours is a working wonder! |
| Herbarium A unique resource at the Garden The Garden’s Nancy Poole Rich Herbarium is home to 12,000 specimens of plants—from our own Cook County backyard and the Upper Midwest to Russia, Korea, and China. Why is the herbarium important? |
| Prairie Plant reproduction in the wild Garden scientists have taken two different approaches to try to solve the problem of diminishing prairie plant populations. |