… of the department. Since then, the department has significantly reduced its use of pesticides and fertilizers. His primary duties involve protecting the Garden's plant collections from diseases, pests, and weeds in an environmentally sensitive manner. Tiddens is a certified arborist through the International Society of Arboriculture and serves as the Garden's lead arborist in managing tree care and risk assessment. He is also …
Type: Staff bio
… Commons Those feelings returned after I saw Beatrix Potter: Beloved Children’s Author and Naturalist , on display through February 7 at the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Lenhardt Library. The exhibition gives wonderful insight into Potter’s early life and career, along with her love of nature and preservation. Here are ten things from the exhibition and beyond that you might not know …
Type: Blog
… Plant, water, and grow! Whether you are a parent, teacher, or caregiver, teaching children to plant seeds is a simple and authentic way to help them engage with nature. It’s an activity that the littlest of sprouts … the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden Planting seeds leads to discussions about what seeds and plants need to grow and how food gets to our tables. Watering is a simple chore young …
Type: Blog
… the CaraDonna Lab investigates the interplay among species interactions, population dynamics, and community patterns. We use the mutualistic interactions among plants and pollinators as a model system to ask fundamental ecological questions about the importance of species interactions and to understand the ecological consequences of global change (e.g., climate change, …
Type: Staff bio
… the world of fashion has stumbled on one of our great loves—fungi. Lately, Vogue magazine and other media have picked on the trend of fungi-inspired fashion and design. Since the global pandemic began, designers have been turning to the earthy aesthetics and healing powers of mushrooms and other kinds of fungi. In particular, the underground part of …
Type: Blog
… the problem may be solved through soil science. The health of a forest is rooted in soil and the diverse fungi living within it, according to researchers at the Chicago Botanic Garden, Northwestern University, and collaborators at China’s Central South University of Forestry and Technology. In densely populated places such as the Chicago area and Changsha, the capitol of …
Type: Blog
… Teaching Children and Grandchildren Valuable Lessons, One Seed at a Time Parents and grandparents are often children’s first and most important teachers. For 15 years, I have had the pleasure of teaching families with …
Type: Blog
… ‘Enchantment’, which looks like a mini-snapdragon. Whatever it takes to get you to stop and feel spring in the Buehler Enabling Garden. People sometimes walk right by the brick pillars of the Enabling Garden, thinking it’s not for them, said Alicia Green, who maintains and designs the horticulture therapy garden. She likes to surprise them. “The Buehler Enabling … Garden in spring is all about happiness!” she said. “I plant flowers that are colorful and scented, even a bit whimsical.” More than one million spring blooms have started to unfurl at …
Type: Blog
… when you saw Spike, the titan arum? I sure did. With Spike’s frilly spathe removed, Tim Pollak and Dr. Shannon Still had a rare opportunity to show the crowd the titan arum’s beautiful and astonishing inner plant parts. At my not-really-science-minded high school, botany (the study … (the study of all life) class. During the botany rotation, we learned a bit about plant names and plant parts, sprouted a few seeds, and dissected a plant. That was about it for my formal …
Type: Blog
… Can’t make the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle? Visit the Helen and Richard Thomas English Walled Garden instead. If you’re in Chicago this weekend, that means—like most of us—you didn’t get an invite to the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, a graduate of Northwestern University. Get in the spirit of the occasion …
Type: Blog
