… A few years ago, my Daisy and Brownie Girl Scout troop was working on their Household Elf badge. We needed a fun way to … let’s face it, after a full day of school, 6- to 9-year-old girls would will not sit still and listen to another lesson. I decided to make a board game for them. The main message of this game was a really important one: in Chicago, all of our water for drinking, cleaning, and recreation comes from Lake Michigan. If we waste water, then we waste the lake. It is that …
Type: Blog
… Chris Baker has been studying and working on bonsai for more than 16 years. Like so many, he started out as an enthusiast with a true love of horticulture, nature, and natural trees. Baker was an active member of the Baltimore Bonsai Society when a chance … at an open house event with bonsai curator Jack Sustic at the U.S. National Arboretum, Bonsai and Penjing Museum (U.S. National Arboretum) happened in 2010. In that meeting, Baker inquired …
Type: Staff bio
… 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 … That legacy continues today. The Garden’s Windy City Harvest program has extensive training and growing opportunities in underserved neighborhoods of Chicago and in Lake County. The …
Type: Blog
… We’ve officially reached planting season, and it is now safe to put in warm-season flowering annuals, vines, herbs, and vegetables. Horticulturists at the Chicago Botanic Garden do recommend waiting until Memorial … Get the best performance from your plants with these tips from the Garden’s Plant Information Service: Pinch back one-third of new growth to encourage stocky habit (except vines). Be sure …
Type: Blog
… Winter is a great time to celebrate the beauty of the natural world and wildlife around you. After a big snow, I encourage you to take a walk around your neighborhood—or at the Chicago Botanic Garden and other green space—to look for animal tracks, either with your children or for your own benefit. Fresh air, exercise, and exposure to nature deliver many benefits for your health and well-being. As an additional …
Type: Blog
… Amorphophallus remains a unique occupant in the world of plants, and visitors to the Chicago Botanic Garden recently experienced the fascinating bloom cycle with … there is an additional denizen of the Araceae (a.k.a. Aroid, a.k.a. Arum) family with rare and exceptional attributes, which also bloomed at the Garden. Japanese cobra lily (Arisaema ringens ) has an uncanny, serpent-shaped, flower and possesses a remarkable ability to do something that few other plants can do: change its …
Type: Blog
… Add a little brightness to your family's day—play with food, make rainbow dough—and get in some nature play, too. Ready to turn ☹️ into☺? Nature Rainbow Scavenger Hunt Lace up your hiking boots, grab a camera, and a buddy. Spend the afternoon exploring the city, a suburban neighborhood, your local wildlife … that was not made by a human in every shade of the rainbow, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. It's extra challenging, but totally possible, even on the rainiest, grayest, most …
Type: Blog
… , Ph.D., of the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science and Action, together with lead author Monica Carvalho and Carlos Jaramillo —researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute—among others, … now Colombia. This research took almost two decades, discovering more than 6,000 fossil leaves and examining approximately 50,000 fossil pollen grains. This catastrophic event reshaped and …
Type: Research
… predominantly herbaceous perennials, to determine the best garden plants for the Upper Midwest and areas with similar climatic conditions. The herbaceous plants under evaluation are grown outdoors in side-by-side trials for a minimum of four years; vines and shrubs are evaluated for a minimum of six years. Plants are monitored regularly to assess their ornamental traits; cultural adaptability to the soil and environmental conditions of the test site; disease and pest problems; and winter injury. …
Type: Staff bio
… Butterflies have unique features they use for socializing, mating, warding off predators, and more! Scarlet Mormon (Papilio rumanzovia) Photo by Bill Bishoff Consider the butterfly’s ability to see ultraviolet light. UV light is a spectrum of light between 10 and 400 nanometers that humans and most other animals cannot sense. Butterflies have complex mechanisms for both receiving and …
Type: Blog
