… A. Determining when tomatoes are ripe can be tricky, especially when we are anxiously waiting to sample the first tomatoes of the season. As a practical matter, the best guides to tomato ripeness, particularly for the heirloom varieties and those hybrids bred for the home gardener, are color and touch. …
Type: Plant Info
… It’s time for a visit to the Dixon Prairie to savor late spring flowers and the pollinators visiting these plants. A standout plant, looking …
Type: Blog
… When gardening in the Midwest, it is truly a delight to discover plants that have saved their showier sides for the last months of the year. At this time especially, we welcome the graceful conifers, the … at home in moist sites, with some even tolerating wetter conditions. Full sun to part shade is best, with a soil pH on the acid side. Chicago gardeners can amend their alkaline soil with equal …
Type: Plant Info
… decorative-shaped blooms appear on a smallish plant (2.5 feet in height) from midsummer up to the first hard frost. This nonhardy bulb flowers best in moderately moist, fertile, well-drained soils in full sun. …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… This tall (70’) tree is found only in central and west China. Its needles are blue-green. Due to its rarity, it is seldom seen in private gardens. It will do best in a sunny location with well-drained soil. …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… near the end of tulip season (historically near the end of May in the Chicago area). Tulips, for annual displays, can be planted just about anywhere; however, for naturalizing, a position in full sun with well-drained soils that tend to the dry side after mid-June is best. The Dutch, consummate tulip growers, leave the green flowering stalk on the plant until it …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… Trail is a clump-forming shrub that produces white flowers in the spring that are attractive to butterflies. It reaches a maximum height of 4 feet under full sun to partial shade with moderate moisture conditions. It is best used as a specimen or in a hedge. …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… Honey Crisp apple was developed by the University of Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station for its cold hardiness and released for cultivation in 1991. It is a popular eating apple … and in quantity as a crop, they can also be grown in the home garden. Special attention to pollination, disease/pest vigilance, and pruning may be required for the trees to thrive and … tree for the home garden that is smaller than its commercial counterpart. Apple trees produce best fruiting when they are between 10 and 30 years of age. …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… landscapes. (While slow growing, it can reach more than 20 feet in height — something to keep in mind if planting Boulevard outdoors.) This false cypress can tolerate some shade when it is young, but it typically grows best in full sun with moderately fertile, well-drained soil. This species comes to us from Japan and is noted for producing a number of cultivars distinguished by differently colored needles and a varying …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… survive very cold temperatures (minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit). The arching branches will grow to 10 feet in height and 8 feet across. Tolerant of a variety of soils, this shrub should be grown in full sun for the best flower production. Renewal pruning is recommended to maintain high-quality flower displays …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
