Watch as the trains twist and turn through the Model Railroad Garden: Landmarks of America exhibition to the beat of an old rock n’ roll hit. Chief Engineer Dave Rodelius and his team of volunteers set up the trains each morning. Rodelius designed a train car and rig so that we could film from the train’s eye view. Thanks to him and his crew, we get to experience the sights of the garden as if we were passengers on the model trains! Visit the Model Railroad Garden before it closes for the season on Oct. 30. For more information on the railroad, visit http://www.chicagobotanic.org/railroad/index.php.
Yesterday, we unveiled our collaboration with Kraft Foods to build a corporate garden that provides fresh produce to area food banks. Angela Mason, Director of Community Gardening, tells us how the Kraft Foods Garden in Northfield, IL came to be in such a short period of time. Windy City Harvest and Cook County Boot Camp graduates will maintain the garden. 14,000 pounds of produce will be given away to area food banks. For additional information, visit http://chicagobotanic.org/windycityharvest.
Boyce Tankersley, Director of Plant Documentation, tells us about some of the flowers we saw blooming on the first meteorological day of summer at the Chicago Botanic Garden. We saw echium in the Heritage Garden, a very rare jade vine in the Tropical Greenhouse, allium in the West Flower Walk and poppies in the English Oak Meadow. Come see us soon or visit http://www.chicagobotanic.org/inbloom for updates on what’s in bloom.
What’s a spring ephemeral? Ecologist Jim Steffen tells us about a few of the spring blooming wildflowers you can see blooming in McDonald Woods right now. As Jim says, there is always something in bloom in the woods, but spring is one of the showiest in this area, so don’t miss it! Visit http://www.chicagobotanic.org/walk/mcdonald_woods.php for more information on the woods.
The Model Railroad Garden opens for its 12th season on May 7. We caught up with Brian Busse from Applied Imagination as they were finishing their setup. The horticulture staff are currently planting the miniature gardens around all of the American landmarks Busse and his team installed. See how the garden turns out at the opening on May 7! Visit www.chicagobotanic.org/railroad for more information.
Who isn’t ready to celebrate spring? The Antiques & Garden Fair is a great first stop to get inspiration for your own home and garden as well as purchase accents that bring them to life. David Drummond takes us on a tour of this year’s Fair to show us some items we could use to throw a spring garden party. We hope this gives you some ideas and inspires you to visit this weekend! See www.chicagobotanic.org for details.
Boyce Tankersley, Director of Plant Documentation, takes us on a tour of the earliest blooming plants in the display gardens. We began in the Sensory Garden where huge patches of Iris histrioides ‘George’ were blooming better than ever. Then we went to the Lakeside Gardens to see large patches of giant snowdrops blooming under deciduous trees. The witch hazel outside the English Walled Garden is very fragrant and quite showy right now. We also like the snowdrops in the English Walled Garden Galanthus nivalis ‘Flore Plenum’ because its petals look like a rose and it’s very fragrant. The Waterfall Garden has a nice display of snowdrops that is worth the climb to the top. The crocuses in the lawn near the Bulb Garden were also very showy. You’ll also find crocus in the lawn on Evening Island.
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).
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.
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.
