… Why Pumpkins Are Fruits and Other Cool Botany Think you know what a fruit is? Most people think of fruit as being sweet … juicy or crunchy, or peel-able like a banana—but none of that matters, botanically speaking (and that’s what we speak here at the Chicago Botanic Garden). The way botanists see it, fruits are made by flowering plants and contain seeds. So pumpkins are fruits. What about tomatoes? Yep. Feeling groovy on the …
Type: Blog
… spring just doesn’t want to arrive. Sometimes it can’t wait to burst forth with flowers and foliage and make everything look fresh and new. A delayed spring, while frustrating to some, can give us time to appreciate some things …
Type: Blog
… Many of our specimens are native to tropical environments, so they prefer hot temperatures and high humidity. Still, these days can be great for taking pictures. Butterflies tend to stay … of their ventral side. After the rain passes, humid conditions are ideal for the butterflies, and you can find them roosting or drying their wings in the post-rain sun—another excellent … to take pictures of their ventral wings. You are also likely to find them flying around and basking in the heavy, humid air. Malachite ( Siproeta stelenes ) drying its wings after a …
Type: Blog
… of western Sumatra, Indonesia, the titan arum is distinguished by its large size, odd shape, and terrible stench (hence its common name, corpse flower). Plants bloom for a single day every seven to ten years, and it is nearly impossible to predict the day it will be at the peak of bloom. When those … plants behind the scenes in the production greenhouses, watching them grow foliage each year, and guessing what a flower might look like as it emerges. Today we are so excited to be moving …
Type: Blog
… Along with goldenseal, other quality woodland plants such as bellwort ( Uvularia grandiflora ) and baneberry ( Actaea sp.) were also present. This native woodland perennial produces two … flowers are produced at the base of one of the leaves in spring when the leaves are expanding, and they mature into a cluster of bright red fruits by midsummer. The knotty, bright yellow root … have time to explore the woodland further that day, so I made a note of where it was located and planned on returning to the site soon to explore it further. However, I had one question that …
Type: Blog
… during bloom with pollen shared by our friends from The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, and Denver Botanic Gardens. Prairie, your experiment with scent would make a great science … question on YouTube. Watch Shannon's response on YouTube. ©2015 Chicago Botanic Garden and my.chicagobotanic.org …
Type: Blog
… I am a postdoctoral researcher working on conservation genomics of Amsonia tharpii and reconstructing the evolutionary tree for Amsonia . My graduate school work focused on the systematics, taxonomy, and biogeography of several genera from the Loasaceae. …
Type: Staff bio
… false indigo—just patented via the Chicagoland Grows, Inc. plant introduction program and on sale for the first time. Look for them at Chicago-area garden centers, said Jim Ault, … Chicago Botanic Garden. He’s proud of all of them, but two are special, said Ault, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Director of Ornamental Plant Research: Baptisia ‘Lunar Eclipse’, for its flowers that change from creamy white to deep violet as the plant ages, and Baptisia ‘Sunny Morning’, for its profusion of yellow flowers on dark charcoal stems. Blue …
Type: Blog
… ), surprised horticulturists at the Chicago Botanic Garden with a burst of promising male and female cones in 2017. In Glencoe, the sole tree spends its winters in the carefully … part of a genus dating back 65 million years. The Garden’s specimen is a youthful 8 years old, and is just beginning to show off its unusual characteristics. “In this case, there is such little information in the literature,” noted Tankersley, who was amazed to see both male and female cones emerging from the tree’s branches earlier this year. “We don’t know enough about …
Type: Blog
… help of Garden volunteers, garlic mustard growth in the Woods has finally been curtailed, and each year we are now able to remove all flowering garlic mustard in the Woods’ entire 100 … (located at the south end of the Garden near Dundee Road), the area was highly degraded and choked with buckthorn shrubs ( Rhamnus cathartica ). After the buckthorn was removed, the … is having a significant negative effect on garlic mustard (see woodsandprairie.blogspot.com ). Observers have reported an almost complete absence of garlic mustard in areas that are …
Type: Blog
