… When my mother first moved from England to Chicago in the late 1950s, she’d never heard of a prairie. In England, a grassland is called a meadow. But every kid in the neighborhood near … prairie and river senior ecologist. It’s challenging for her to suggest the “best” time to visit the prairie because it’s constantly changing—every week, every month, there’s something …
Type: Blog
… about guiding students away from their electronic devices and into the plant world. It is a pretty spring day. The sun shines through my office window, illuminating the old and worn photo … are institutions like the Chicago Botanic Garden in cities around the world where people can visit, learn about, and come to love real plants. Botanic gardens are thus critical players in …
Type: Blog
… to their work. As the season progresses, new crops are harvested and introduced to our staff. A lot of these are vegetables they have never eaten or seen before. They also are surprised at … in trying scallions, purple potatoes, or red peppers while meeting our bright youth, come visit Windy City Harvest at our community markets. Thank you to Conagra Brands Foundation for … http://www.agriculturejournals.cz/publicFiles/48446.pdf http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/tc/antioxidants-topic-overview http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f1378 …
Type: Blog
… is affected by weather, water, nutrients, etc. But the plant-environment relationship is a two-way street, and plants can have a strong influence on the habitats they live in. We might … we can also experience negative engineering effects of plants on their environments when we visit natural areas throughout the Chicago region and beyond that have been heavily invaded by …
Type: Blog
… This is a Caribbean cultivar, Kashee, highly valued in Saint Vincent for cooking. Through genetic, … to the Tahitian cultivar, Puero, which has the same distinct spiky skin. Breadfruit If you visit almost any island in the Caribbean, you will likely come across a tree with big, glossy dark-green dissected leaves and large, greenish-yellow fruit the size of …
Type: Blog
… canadensis) width="1400" height="787"> Eastern redbud ( Cercis canadensis ) Eastern redbud is a small-scale tree with big impact. A Midwestern native plant growing 15 to 25 feet tall, eastern … year, but plants are shown in the typical sequence. To experience these plants in full bloom, visit What’s in Bloom . …
Type: Plant Info
… humid, summers. Plants that grew in this area before settlers arrived were the cornerstone in a sustainable web of life. They support native insects, birds, mammals and infinitesimally tiny … which only lays its eggs on milkweed ( Asclepias ) species. The caterpillars are among a handful of insects that can ingest chemicals from the plant, which makes them distasteful to …
Type: Plant Info
… summer blooms such as echinacea and milkweed, there is an overabundance of blooms, making it a joyful month to visit our gardens. It would be easy to draw parallels between the rainbow of summer colors and …
Type: Blog
… kind of gardening—whether you want to grow houseplants or herbs, flowers or vegetables—can be a fun, relaxing hobby. And, gardening engages the senses and helps create a sense of well being. … the existing garden or creating another one. We’re here to help. Take a class. Read a book. Visit the greenhouse. Watch a video. Nina Koziol is a garden writer and horticulturist who lives …
Type: Plant Info
… Bee pollinates coneflower (Echinacea) , a hardy native plant selection for your garden. Just off the beaten path at the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden (out back beyond the nut grove), there's a "secret" bed with a big mission: it's a pollinator strip, meant to attract bees and other busy …
Type: Plant Info
