… en el Día de los Muertos I grew up in the city seeing the Day of the Dead holiday come to life with ornamented school patios, plazas, and cultural centers. I loved sitting around the … altar honoring the dead. My dad was so skillful with paper. He was an accountant, so this is where I would see his artistic side. But to be completely honest, it was a festivity that I … face of mortality, joy and laughter endure. Now, I see this celebration as a loud and majestic way of expressing ourselves. I experience it as a symbol of community, a unifying, conciliatory …
Type: Blog
… Something amazing is about to happen in the Bernice E. Lavin Plant Evaluation Garden: dozens and dozens of witch … the witch hazel trial. Their question: which of the myriad witch hazel cultivars perform best in Chicago's less-than-perfect soils? The Witch Hazel Trial The trial features 22 …
Type: Plant Info
… soil have a relationship just as much as the tree and the pot have a relationship. The tree-to-pot relationship is aesthetic and functional too,” said Chris Baker, curator of bonsai at the … round container allows your eye to follow the tree trunk without the container getting in the way as a rectangle might. ” In bonsai terms, trees come in feminine and masculine forms and … It’s more of an art. “The purpose of the pot is to enhance the look and make the tree look its best or to tell the story right, so the artist is telling a story about a tree,” Baker said. A …
Type: Blog
… as a gift, tell you where you can get quality trees, and give a little information on what to do if you receive one of these wonderful trees as a gift yourself. Juniper bonsai for sale at … increase the humidity and prevent leaf loss. Providing an evaporation tray is another good way to provide supplimental humidity. Avoid putting trees where forced air heat will blow on … experienced. Bougainvillea bonsai Bouganvillea are another popular bonsai species. They are best known for their paper-like flowers in a variety of colors. Though a tropical plant, they …
Type: Blog
… Shakespeare is the following: “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” You would have to read Hamlet to get the backstory, but one thing I know as an ecologist, is that we would be in … ground, and the new fungi orient in a different direction after the tree falls. (This is one way that you can discover if a tree was dead before it fell to the ground.) Just like most of the … and unpalatable, the chicken of the woods ( Laetiporus sulfureus ), is considered one of the best fungi for eating. There are also several species of shelf fungi thought to have medicinal …
Type: Blog
… “There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the … Rachel Carson, “The Sense of Wonder” Across the country millions of birds are winging their way north, searching for nesting grounds and food along the way. It’s the Great Spring Migration. Whether in your garden, in a park or while on a walk, you’re likely to spot some of the colorful migrants on the ground, in the bushes, and in the tree tops as they …
Type: Plant Info
… What’s not to love about big, beefy Boston ferns or tall parlor palms? They serve as lush, green focal … even miniature Sansevieria (mother-in-law’s tongue/snake plant). They’re finding their way into apartments, dorm rooms, along kitchen and bathroom counters, and dangling from macrame … to hold your plants. The only caveat is that if the container has no drainage holes, it’s best to keep the plant in its original plastic or terra cotta pot (with drainage holes) and set …
Type: Plant Info
… structure in winter. Common names for amelanchier include juneberry and serviceberry and refer to the blueberry-like fruit edible by humans and much beloved by birds. The species range from small trees to large shrubs, usually multi-stemmed. Found at woodland's edge in the their native habitats, amelanchiers are best used in a naturalistic setting in the home landscape. Amelanchiers are native to temperate …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… two years since I co-founded Plant Love Stories, people have told me their stories. I love to hear them—and not just because I’m a plant conservation scientist. Maybe you remember your … Welch Director of Plant Science and Conservation, shared her Plant Love Story, “Grandma Knows Best.” Dr. Havens’s grandma “was the first to say...I should be a botanist (when I was about 6 … of us who love plants, we may find it hard to believe that most people don’t feel the same way. I think perhaps it might be because no one tapped their shoulders when they were young and …
Type: Blog
… In a discussion of ivy, it is important to distinguish between English ivy, the trailing or vining plant form belonging to … away from the wall and keep 1 to 2 feet between individual plants. Autumn and spring are the best planting times. Water well during the first year and mulch to keep down competitive weeds. …
Type: Plant Info
