The Victory Garden movement in World War II encouraged a nation of gardens. The results were impressive: 20 million gardens were established, and 40 percent of fruits and vegetables were homegrown. In Chicago, the Chicago Horticultural Society, the parent organization of the Chicago Botanic Garden, had a leading role, helping to create the largest acreage of urban land under cultivation in the country.
Gardening is all about embracing change. You plant seeds and wait to see which ones will sprout. You monitor emerging spring buds to mark the time until leaf-out and see which ones were affected by Chicago’s harsh winter. And you watch as the bulbs you planted last fall emerge strongly but are not quite the color you were expecting.
We all remember first learning about haiku in grade school with the familiar pattern of three phrases written in five, seven, and five syllables. As I developed this year’s Words in Bloom: A Year of Haiku program, I learned that the world of haiku is an expansive one with many forms. Designed to be “one breath” poems with a focus on nature, haiku has the power to strike an emotional chord.
The first full moon of spring is lovely enough, but the upcoming one is a gift from nature—and the perfect time to take a night walk. On Tuesday, April 7, head outside to see the biggest and brightest supermoon of the year. Whether you prefer to walk in solitude or with family members, don’t miss peak illumination at 9:35 p.m. Central Standard Time.
How best to highlight the color of 10,000 blooming orchids? For Brilliance: The Orchid Show, which runs February 8 to March 22 at the Chicago Botanic Garden, the creative team started by squinting at squares of color in the slant of the afternoon sun.
Garden Gems from Faraway Places Do you have hostas, daylilies, a Japanese maple, or a star magnolia in your garden? How about marigolds, coleus, a gingko, or a panicle hydrangea? If so, this is a testimony to the many plant explorers who, in the past four centuries, traveled far and wide, for years at a time, in search of new plants.
For the past week, the big forklifts and trucks with their whimsical cargo have been rolling in to set up for the U.S. debut of Lightscape on November 22. Popular time slots are selling fast for the new holiday event at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
U.S. Navy veteran Anna Andersen is quick to tell you how the Chicago Botanic Garden’s impact on her life goes beyond the beauty of the plants to the nurturing she found in its Veteran Internship Program (VIP).
The handmade boxes hint at the spirit of America’s first botanist and the oldest surviving botanic garden in the country. Nestled inside each box are thought-provoking items, including pieces of a tulip poplar and honey locust trees from the beloved garden of eighteenth-century explorer and botanist John Bartram (1699-1777).
The plant collections of the Chicago Botanic Garden have a new place to show off in a “theater” designed just for them in the Helen and Richard Thomas English Walled Garden.