Conversations with Garden Staff 

Chicago Botanic Garden staff members play roles as diverse as the plants that call our space home.

Think fall color disappears in October? Nope. The first week of November is still prime time for leaf peeping at the Chicago Botanic Garden.  

English | Spanish

I would like to honor a great figure in the world of plants. Her name was Ynes Enriquetta Julietta Mexia.

Ynes Enriquetta Julietta Mexia

Good Earth

An elder taught me that mshkeke is the Potawatomi word we use for medicine, but the literal translation is good Earth.

Looking for a meditative moment? Check out some of our favorite footage of summer at the Garden, featuring bright blooms swaying in the breeze, lush vistas, and unique perspectives of the green world around us.

Some of my earliest memories are of my grandmother setting big pots of collard greens on the stove to stew—and then taking in their earthy, vinegary, peppery fragrance. A nutritional powerhouse, collard greens are a staple in many African American households, including mine.

Soil has spilled all over my kitchen floor. It happened while I was dumping another withered plant—this time, a sad collard green—from its pot into the trash. The mess, and the funeral, is for a good cause though.

The Chicago Botanic Garden’s Regenstein Learning Campus is home to an incredible variety of experiences. The Nature Play Garden gives kids and kids-at-heart opportunities to explore: splashing in the runnel or running up and down the rolling hills.

Now that the leaves are turning and the days are growing shorter, if you’re tempted to pack away your gardening gloves…don’t!

At the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden, we’re as busy as ever. Our cool-weather crops include brussels sprouts, spinach, and toscano kale. Fall is a great time to grow vegetables—insects die off, weeds wither, and moisture is plentiful. If you don’t have much space, remember that you can grow vegetables in containers, window boxes, and hanging baskets.

Have you driven past a woodland or prairie lately? Many of these open spaces boast blankets of gold sunflowers, the native plants that for me signal the approach of autumn.