… 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
… How to add Pantone’s ‘Peach Fuzz’ to your plantings Think about a sweet, fuzzy summer peach, a hue between pink and orange—that’s “Peach Fuzz,” Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2024. As curator of plant collections at the Chicago Botanic Garden, I immediately began …
Type: Blog
… Season after season, our horticulturists come up with amazing plant combos for the beds, borders, and containers in their gardens. And season after season, we see visitors pulling out smartphones and cameras to photograph and document those gorgeous combinations. In this month's Smart Gardener , we bring … of sun on the smallest balcony of the smallest apartment, distill the idea of a trio all the way down to a single plant. Rosa 'Savalife' is better known as RAINBOW'S END ™ for a good reason: …
Type: Plant Info
… ( Tulipa ), and many perennials, annuals, and vegetables. Timing & Life Cycle Deer browse for food year-round. They more feed heavily in the fall as they prepare for winter and as females … soft and growing. Bucks shed their antlers every winter. Damage can occur from ground level up to 6 feet. Treatment & Solutions Choose plants that deer do not prefer. Generally, deer avoid … protection but need to be reapplied after a substantial amount of rain or watering. It is best to rotate different repellents so that deer do not become accustomed to any one product. For …
Type: Plant Info
… day this past May that 15 veterans from the Thresholds Veterans Project began a journey to be well in the Buehler Enabling Garden. Inspirations: “Keep Going” planter, with a side of … the season. I witnessed veterans—some participating in in-patient psychology programs—get a pass from the hospital to come to the Garden and learn to rake a dry garden in the … so did the veterans, each of them growing stronger and more healthy in their special way, each of them changing and striving to be well. Our group started to call the Enabling Garden …
Type: Blog
… The Spiraea japonica species includes the greatest range of cultivars available to the home gardener within the Spiraea genus. They all have a compact mounding habit in sizes ranging from 18" to 5' that makes them useful in borders and smaller spaces. The cultivars also offer foliage … are quite small, they occur in clusters of inflorescence that can be very showy. Spireas are best used in groupings in a shrub or mixed border, where they are valued as tough, reliable and …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… The Spiraea japonica species includes the greatest range of cultivars available to the home gardener within the Spiraea genus. They all have a compact mounding habit in sizes ranging from 18" to 5' that makes them useful in borders and smaller spaces. The cultivars also offer foliage … are quite small, they occur in clusters of inflorescence that can be very showy. Spireas are best used in groupings in a shrub or mixed border, where they are valued as tough, reliable and …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… The Spiraea japonica species includes the greatest range of cultivars available to the home gardener within the Spiraea genus. They all have a compact mounding habit in sizes ranging from 18" to 5' that makes them useful in borders and smaller spaces. The cultivars also offer foliage … are quite small, they occur in clusters of inflorescence that can be very showy. Spireas are best used in groupings in a shrub or mixed border, where they are valued as tough, reliable and …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… While few of us who garden in the Midwest look forward to cold weather, we do welcome the autumn palette, especially when it announces itself gradually, … prom dresses in the garden, there are some fall-blooming plants we will always find room for, even though they sport colors more akin to April than October. Their springlike colors … and dark autumn. A thorough reading of the Plant Evaluation Notes will help you select the best plant for your needs — and isn’t that what we gardeners all want? Greek anemone ‘Blue …
Type: Plant Info
… A biting February morning in Chicago can be a challenging experience for anyone, but for a lover of trees, it can also turn into an exhilarating moment of truth. With … the chalky white or cinnamon bark, often peeling, or "shingling," and calls attention to the dangling male flowers known as catkins. Spring is signaled by the limey-green new foliage, … for all seasons. Betula nigra is the most southerly of all birches but still is one of the best choices as a landscape tree for our area. Able to withstand variations in soil moisture and …
Type: Plant Info
