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.
An old friend is back in front of the Visitor Center. The Bloom Cart shows you a curated selection of what’s in bloom across the Chicago Botanic Garden—and more.
A striking century plant is putting on a show in the final stages of its life—it’s blooming for the first and only time in 27 years. The succulent sends up a tall stalk of blossoms right before it dies.
When we decided on the theme for this year’s Orchid Show, In the Tropics, what popped into the designer’s head was this: (wait for it; we’ll show you): Tiny islands. Tall palm trees. Splashes of color.
This is the story of a road trip I took with some corpse flowers, the rock stars of the plant world. One of the hallmarks of the Chicago Botanic Garden’s plant collection is the more than 70 species of Amorphophallus. In particular, Amorphophallus titanum, also called the titan arum or corpse flower, has gained attention because of its very large flower and pungent fragrance at bloom time—a hybrid of week-old gym socks and a rotting mouse that you just can’t seem to find in your kitchen.
You might have noticed a group of hard-working high-schoolers wearing hard hats and toting shovels at the Chicago Botanic Garden this summer. The aspiring conservationists—part of the Conservation Corps—are doing important restoration work throughout the Forest Preserves of Cook County, including a stint at the Garden.