Pastry chef Kathy Skutecki shows you how to decorate gingerbread houses like the ones she made for the entrance to the Wonderland Express exhibition. Visit http://www.chicagobotanic.org/wonderland for more information.

View the video on YouTube here.

Nancy Clifton, horticultural program specialist, shows us some of the wreaths she made for the Wonderland Express exhibition. She also shows you how to make a simple mixed pine cone wreath on a grapevine base. You can take classes with Nancy through the Joseph Regenstein, Jr. School of the Chicago Botanic Garden or get ideas at Wonderland Express, Nov. 25, 2011 through Jan. 1, 2012. Visit http://www.chicagobotanic.org/wonderland for more information.

View the video on YouTube here.

The horticulturists at the Garden created a new winter display in the Heritage Garden this year. As part of the Wonderland Express exhibition, they arranged willow branches and evergreens to great effect. See how it was done with this video, then come see it for yourself! http://www.chicagobotanic.org/wonderland.

View the video on YouTube here.

Native bees are critically important in pollinating our plants. This video provides easy-to-follow instructions on how to build a home for bees in your garden so they can continue to pollinate your plants all season long. This is just one of the many environmentally-friendly gardening practices that you can learn during World Environment Day at the Garden on Saturday, June 4. Visit www.chicagobotanic.org/wed2011 for more information.

View the video on YouTube here.

Blayne Greiner, Instructor for the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Windy City Harvest urban agriculture program, gives us some tips from his recent class on seed starting. A lot of information was covered in this 3-hour workshop, so if this video still leaves you with questions, consider taking these courses. Visit chicagobotanic.org/windycityharvest/courses to sign up for the next one.

In case you missed it, here’s the recipe for blocking mix: 30 quarts brown peat, 20 quarts compost, 1/2 cup lime, 20 quarts coarse sand or perlite, 10 quarts soil, 3 cups organic fertilizer mix (blood meal, colloidal phosphate and greensand mixed together in equal parts).

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Joan Hopkins gives you a taste of what you’ll learn in the Windy City Harvest short courses. These classes are designed to teach you about how to grow vegetables in an urban setting and they take place at the Arturo Velasquez Institute at 2800 S. Western Avenue in Chicago.

Visit chicagobotanic.org/windycityharvest/courses to register for the next short course and grow a better garden this year.

View the video on YouTube here.

We put together these tips for anyone who is relatively new to entering horticulture competitions. These should help if you are planning to enter the competition at the Chicago Flower & Garden Show March 5-13, 2011. Visit to download a complete entry brochure.

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The Chicago Botanic Garden’s plant breeder, Jim Ault, shows you how he hybridizes lilies in his backyard. You can learn more about lilies at the Wisconsin-Illinois Lily Society Show on July 10 and 11 at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Visit www.chicagobotanic.org/plantshows for more information.

View the video on YouTube here.

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.

View the video on YouTube here.