… Using peonies as a cut flower for floral design is easy, with a few tricks to preserve the health of your plants and flowers. Peonies are the … plant can continue to thrive. You can select flowers that are as open as you like, but for the best vase life, select buds that have just begun to open and feel similar to a marshmallow. Cut …
Type: Blog
… For many bonsai tree species, early spring is the best time for repotting. As the days get longer and the temperatures slowly increase, the … During this time, the energy of the tree that was stored in the roots over the winter begins to move back up into the tree branches. As this happens, the dormant buds begin to swell. This …
Type: Blog
… designer Bunny Williams of Bunny Williams Interior Design at Get Growing Weekend. We spoke to her about her potted paradise design. Q: Describe your process for designing your container. … a good container? A: One of the things I’m always thinking about when I’m doing a container is height. When you first plant a container, all of the plants are very small. But a month later … Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’ Origanum ‘Kent Beauty’; photo by Paul S. Drobot Q: What’s the best thing about planting containers? A: What’s interesting and fun about containers is you have …
Type: Blog
… 2014 Participants Jesus Cuezzi Grower Fifth season Jesus started out as a crew leader and is now a grower. Along with being a master salesperson at market, Jesus is a great guitar player, … First season Audrey is an intern who recently graduated from Indiana University. She came to Chicago to combine her love of and experience with farming with youth development work. Her enthusiastic …
Type: Page
… February is such an exciting month for gardeners—time for the first seeds to get started indoors, and time … old, or questionably stored seeds can test a gardener’s patience and sanity, as even the best-tended pots and plots can’t make nonviable seeds sprout. Seeds don’t live forever (at Seed …
Type: Plant Info
… gathered stories about the most famous orchid of them all: the genus Vanilla. (Yes, vanilla is an orchid.) One unusual story comes from Ph.D. student Lynnaun Johnson, whose work in our doctoral program in Plant Biology and Conservation took him to Mexico, the native land of edible vanilla. Last April, I ventured to Mexico as part of an … said he knew what his plants needed and thought growing his vanilla on concrete blocks was the best method. At another farm, the farmer brought decaying wood from a neighboring forest and used …
Type: Blog
… tomatoes, or as romantic as an antique urn laced with roses and baby's breath. Choose a style to make your own! Versatile and Beautiful On decks and rooftops, container plantings bring life, … perennials. A four-season container Rotate seasonal plants into containers to reflect the best of the garden and to extend the growing season. Begin your flowering display the second week … are also very heavy and expensive and should be used only as permanent containers. Terra cotta is a popular, medium-priced material, available in all sizes and therefore a good choice for …
Type: Plant Info
… Although originally native to southern France and the Canary Islands, lavender proved quite hardy and happy growing in … of the mint family (Lamiaceae), with its silvery foliage and tall lavender flowers, this herb is an attractive addition to any perennial bed. Add lavender's characteristic scent that is … many species of lavender, from L. angustifolia , the common lavender that reputedly has the best oils in the industry, to the tender lavenders, L. dentata (French lavender) and L. …
Type: Plant Info
… The plant collections of the Chicago Botanic Garden have a new place to show off in a “theater” designed just for them in the Helen and Richard Thomas English Walled Garden . Plant theater is a traditional English presentation of exceptional plants, such as snowdrops and primroses, … “We have a fantastic production department,” Sherwood said, and they will coordinate the best times for the plants to be replaced with new ones, four times a year. The potting soils will …
Type: Blog
… of books about the subject, including many entitled The Language of Flowers , was donated to the Lenhardt Library. The gift of James Moretz, the retired director of the American Floral … His donation gives the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Lenhardt Library one of the Midwest’s best collections of literature on the language of flowers. As even these few photos show, there … paused for a very long moment before responding. Clearly, her answer would have weight. “It is the single most outstanding donation in my tenure as director,” she replied. …
Type: Blog
