… Ornamental grasses are fundamental to the four-season garden. In spring their emerging leaves arrive just in time to help conceal yellowing bulb foliage. As summer progresses, their clumping mounds, … at random angles and rustle in the winter wind. Little bluestem ( Schizachyrium scoparium ) is a four-season wonder. A true native of the tallgrass prairie, this rugged, warm-season grass …
Type: Plant Info
… moisture and can support a range of fauna including insects and frogs. Good quality light is necessary to develop and maintain leaf colors. Since this plant is epiphytic it is essential that it be grown in freely draining soil. This plant is not hardy in Chicago but can be successfully overwintered indoors. …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… Talk around the Garden is all about orchids this month, with the opening of our Orchid Show. Among the many interesting … them, you probably don't look closely at your orchids all that often when they're not in bloom. Spring is the time to examine each plant with a critical eye to assess the need for … re-potting? Orchids need both the nutrients from the chunky, loose bark mix they're planted in and the air space in between the pieces. As the mix breaks down to particle size, it compacts …
Type: Plant Info
… 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 … or at least choose plants that like their feet wet. Maybe that low place in the lawn is a good site for a river birch. Weeds that can indicate poorly draining soil, such as clay, include …
Type: Plant Info
… It takes a network of enlightened partners to make the kind of impact that Windy City Harvest is having on Chicago’s food hub and the farmers and entrepreneurs who are being trained to help … It takes a network of enlightened partners to make the kind of impact that Windy City Harvest is having on Chicago’s food hub and the farmers and entrepreneurs who are being trained to help …
Type: Page
… rich reddish brown 'eye' surrounded by yellow. All of the blooms face the same direction. Grow in bright windowsills in winter, outdoors on the patio during growing season. Grow in very well drained media and water … number of genera, each with its own unique characteristics. A common characteristic, however, is the basic form of the flower, which consists of three petals surrounded by three sepals -- …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… Hours Where do gardeners go to satisfy their plant cravings when the weather outside is less than perfect? Within minutes, a walk through the Garden’s Greenhouses can transport … to a semitropical, tropical, or desert environment, filled with specialty plants that flourish in these three different climes. For more than 40 years, the Greenhouses have displayed beautiful … of unusual plants—their healing and spiritual properties. The Semitropical Greenhouse In the Semitropical Greenhouse , where temperatures hover between 75 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit …
Type: Walks
… the Visitor Center to the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Plant Conservation Science Center While it is true that prime fall color occurs at the Garden during the first two weeks of October, it is … spans a much longer period of time, late summer to late autumn, achieving a crescendo of color in those peak weeks of October. Just as they understand the fickle weather in our town, gardeners know better than to try to predict the date the Japanese maples will light …
Type: Walks
… Clairette dwarf iris ( Iris 'Clairette') is a vibrant purple- and white-flowered cultivar of Iris reticulata , or netted iris. The species … on the dry bulbs. This award-winning variety is a low-growing, bulbous plant that blooms in early April at about the same time as snowdrops ( Galanthus ), glory-of- the-snow ( Chionodoxa … the plants go dormant. These dwarf herbaceous perennials are especially effective when planted in large masses in sunny or lightly shaded areas of rock gardens, in the fronts of borders, along …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… This plant is a BLOOMERANG™ Purple lilac because it comes back (like a boomerang) and flowers again in the summer after most lilacs finish in the springtime. BLOOMERANG™ Purple lilac is a dwarf shrub notable for its periodic …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
