What is a weed? Essentially, it’s a plant that’s growing where you don’t want it to be. Weeds are opportunistic, springing up where there’s a void in the landscape, where the soil has been disturbed, or where birds and mammals have eliminated the seeds of the fruits they’ve eaten. Weed ruthlessly in spring and early summer, rather than waiting for weeds to grow—they’ll be easier to remove, less …
Type: Plant Info
Can a plant come back from extinction in the wild? Chicago Botanic Garden scientists think so. Their belief is reflected in the rows of rare alula ( Brighamia insignis ) growing discreetly in a Garden production greenhouse. Alula ( Brighamia insignis ) growing at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Photo by Jeremie Fant. While last seen in the wild a decade ago, with just one plant clinging to a …
Type: Blog
Ask any of our horticulturists to name the most important job in their gardens right now and they’ll all answer the same way: "Weeding." In this month's Smart Gardener , we take on the topic that gardeners love to hate, focusing on the top ten weeds most commonly found in gardens in the Chicago area. What is a weed? Essentially, it’s a plant that’s growing where you don’t want it to be. Weeds are …
Type: Plant Info
Welcome to high summer at the Chicago Botanic Garden, where color, scent, and the play of light on water await you at nearly every turn. A perfect way to experience the lush abundance of the season is with a walk around the Garden’s 2.6-mile perimeter. Whether enjoying panoramic scenes or individual blooms, visitors find themselves captivated by nature as they take this walk. It’s an excellent …
Type: Walks
… talk to their plants, one in five say they do so every day, according to the survey by Trees.com. The plant talkers mostly chat with their houseplants, but 62 percent also talk to their …
Type: Blog
Rory Klick, former manager of Community Gardening at the Chicago Botanic Garden, shares her expertise about gardening with children. A powerful pull Through my work with community and school gardening, I have gardened with thousands of kids from varied backgrounds, from the preK crowd through teenagers (not to mention my own children). They all seem to love the same thing — creating a place of …
Type: Plant Info
Weather extremes have long been part of midwestern weather. But growing awareness that climate change could cause normal variations to become more extreme has many gardeners exploring ways to create weather-tolerant landscapes that can adapt to both drought and occasional flooding. Start with the Soil While Illinois rainfall ranges from 30 to 50 inches a year, it rarely falls evenly during the …
Type: Plant Info
With growing awareness of the impact of climate change, many gardeners are reconsidering the important roles that native plants can play in home landscapes. But just because a plant has been growing somewhere for as long as anyone can remember doesn't mean it's a native plant! Important to the ecosystem Native plants are those found in a specific region that began growing there naturally, without …
Type: Plant Info
We’ve all heard what people say about Chicago winters. Sure, they really are long, cold, and sometimes snowy. But inclement weather shouldn’t stop homeowners from being able to enjoy views of their garden from inside their homes. With careful attention to selecting plants that provide visually arresting textures, colors, and movement, it’s possible to make winter a season of natural beauty. Take …
Type: Plant Info
Each Lunar New Year brings new fortunes, each lunar year is associated with a zodiac animal, and this year is the Year of the Rabbit. The Rabbit is associated with the Earthly Branch , and the hours 5 to 7 in the morning. In Asian cultures, rabbits represent the moon. Some believe it is because the shadows of the moon resemble a rabbit; others believe it is due to the rabbit’s pure …
Type: Blog
