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  • … Salvia leucantha 'Midnight' is a Mexican bush sage featuring dark purple calyces (bracts that surround the flower) and purple flowers on a plant that can reach up to 5 feet in height and width. This cultivar is drought tolerant once established. Chemicals in the leaves repel deer and rabbits, while the … Mexican bush sage has been used in our autumn landscapes for several years. Although it is a shrubby perennial of coniferous forests in Mexico, the Chicago Botanic Garden uses it in …
    Type: Garden Guide Plant
  • … flowers in spherical umbels and attracts butterflies in July and August. While the usual color is pink, 'Ice Ballet' was selected for its glistening white flowers. The leaves are narrow, … silky tufted seeds airborne. It can be used as a specimen in a border or butterfly garden and is resistant to deer. Swamp milkweed is a native plant found growing through much of eastern and central North America. Like other …
    Type: Garden Guide Plant
  • … the favor of a free meal by making atmospheric nitrogen available to the plant. This plant is used regionally to make honey; acacia honey is a bit darker than clover honey, but it has a fragrance that is highly desirable. Archived Copy: This content was captured before February 2022, and is no …
    Type: Garden Guide Plant
  • … flowers. The samaras, or winged fruits, mature in fall and turn a rich red. Fall color is outstanding, ranging from yellow to red to purple. This lovely small tree, native to the Far East, can be grown only in very protected areas if you live in Zone 5. It is an exceptional small ornamental maple. The foliage is deeply lobed and elongated, forming overlapping tufts, creating little "canopies" on each …
    Type: Garden Guide Plant
  • … flowers. The samaras, or winged fruits, mature in fall and turn a rich red. Fall color is outstanding, ranging from yellow to red to purple. This lovely small tree, native to the Far East, can be grown only in very protected areas if you live in Zone 5. It is an exceptional small ornamental maple. This tree was discovered as a witches' broom mutation … ('Bloodgood'). Its non-dissected leaves are clumped into masses, forming tufts. Its foliage is dark maroon during the summer, changing to a brilliant red in the fall. Archived Copy: This …
    Type: Garden Guide Plant
  • … and central North America, the red maple can reach a mature height of 40 to 60 feet and is used as a shade tree. In early spring before the leaves emerge, tiny red flowers cover the … chlorotic, yellowing from an inability to uptake manganese from the soil. Their native habitat is moist woods and riverbanks, where soil is moist with pH usually below 6. Archived Copy: This content was captured before February 2022, …
    Type: Garden Guide Plant
  • … October Glory red maple is one of the most popular red maples in cultivation. It has strong branches that form a … clusters of tiny red flowers. Newly emerging leaves are red, but soon become green. Fall color is reliably a bright red-orange, and after turning color, the display can last for a month or … are native to rich, damp, acid soils, this cultivar has proven tolerant of poorer soils. There is a nice specimen of this maple located on the west side of the road north of the Visitors …
    Type: Garden Guide Plant
  • … This is the plant for which Chicago is named. In Illinois Indian language, its name was Chicagoua. This name probably was applied as … in 17th-century Jesuit linguistic manuscripts. The leaves emerge in April, and then the plant is edible; but when flowers emerge, the flavor turns very pungent, and most people would deem it …
    Type: Garden Guide Plant
  • … on this tree? In colonial times these fruits were called 'haws' and that's why this tree is called a hawthorn. (It has thorns too.) The Washington hawthorn is native to eastern north America where it would grow in open areas and on the margins of … have turned into berries that are loved by birds and other animals and the fall foliage is notable. It can grow to about thirty feet in height and width and while it prefers full sun it …
    Type: Garden Guide Plant
  • … and just plain Crocus  'Yellow'. It has been in cultivation for so long that its exact origin is unknown. The meadows won't be mowed until all crocus leaves have fully withered. The leaves … six weeks after flowering—to turn sunlight into the energy that each bulb will store until it is needed to power next spring's show. Crocus naturalizes easily, especially in well-drained soil that is kept on the dry side when bulbs are dormant. Archived Copy: This content was captured before …
    Type: Garden Guide Plant