Richard Hawke, plant evaluation manager, gives us an update on the Green Roof Garden one year after the opening of the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Plant Conservation Science Center. The Ellis Goodman Family Foundation Green Roof Garden South features regional and national native plants, many of which are not currently used as rooftop plants; the Josephine P. & John J. Louis Foundation Green Roof Garden North features a mix of plants known as good green roof plants, plus native and exotic plants that have potential for green roof use. Visit for more information. View the video on YouTube here.
Jennifer Schwarz Ballard explains how anyone can help scientists track climate change by getting out and observing plants. We want people all around the United States to periodically observe the plants around you and contribute data to Project BudBurst. For more information on Project BudBurst, visit www.BudBurst.org. View the video on YouTube here.
Dr. Jim Ault, plant breeder at the Chicago Botanic Garden, explains how he created four new Baptisia hybrids. Dr. Ault selects the most interesting plants from his breeding program and introduces them to the trade through Chicagoland Grows. Visit www.chicagolandgrows.org for more information on these hybrids and other plants Dr. Ault has created.
Tell us what you do at home to save energy, reduce waste and chemicals and save the natural resources we need for our survival. We’ll post your comments here to give others ideas for what they can do at home for the environment. Then celebrate World Environment Day with us on June 5 for free demonstrations on a variety of topics as well as plant giveaways and plant pot recycling. For more ideas for what you can do at home, visit http://www.chicagobotanic.org/wed/sustainable_home.php.
Joan O’Shaughnessy, ecologist at the Chicago Botanic Garden, shows us how to identify garlic mustard and explains the importance of removing it and other invasive plants to protect our native habitats. You can learn about this and so much more at World Environment Day at the Chicago Botanic Garden on June 5, 2010. Visit www.chicagobotanic.org/wed for more information.
The Orchid Album, written by Robert Warner and illustrated by John Nugent Fitch, set the standard for orchid description and illustration in the nineteenth century. Containing more than 500 stunning chromolithographic plates in 11 volumes, this work captured orchid varieties in their wild states before hybridization. The exhibition is on display in the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Lenhardt Library through May 9, 2010.
Ecologist, Joan O’Shaughnessy explains how she and her team conducted a controlled burn along the Skokie River Corridor in early December. For more information on plant ecology at the Chicago Botanic Garden, visit http://www.chicagobotanic.org/research/ecology.php
This fall a group of local first graders toured the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Plant Conservation Science Center. Associate scientist, Pati Vitt, gave them a tour of the seed bank and answered their questions about plant science.
Kay Havens talks about how being a gardener at age 9 grew her desire to become a Botanist and Plant Conservationist. This video is part of our video series highlighting the scientists working at the Garden. View more of our scientists working — and on video — at the new Rice Plant Conservation Science Center.
