… Originating in Northern China, eastern Mongolia, and eastern Siberia, downy clematis is an especially hardy plant. It will tolerate cold and wind and can be sited on north or northeast facing walls. It grows 6 to 10 feet and blooms in …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… Hydrangea macrophylla is a deciduous shrub that grows 3-6’ tall and wide. It features dark green leaves and large clusters of flowers which are either lace cap or mophead in structure. ‘Lemon Wave’, a … Hardy to Zone 6 – will struggle in the Chicago winters and should be planted in a protected site. …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… Narcissus ‘Amor’ is in Division 3. It stands 12 -16 inches tall and blooms in mid season with flowers that are 5 inch across. It has white petals and a small yellow corona that has a band of bright orange at the rim. Narcissus bulbs are toxic …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… Plant 'Blue Paradise' in full sun and in fertile, moist soil, where it will grow to 40 inches and produce elegant panicles of flowers from July to August. Dutch landscape designer Piet Oudolf … in the evening. They attract butterflies and hummingbirds. The paniculata species of phlox is the most magnificent, and there is a huge selection to choose from. …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… If you are here in the warm months this catmint will probably be covered with butterflies and bees enjoying the masses of blue flowers covering it. Joanna Reed catmint is a prolific catmint, flowering heavily from May until September with purplish-blue flowers. It grows to about three feet tall and wide and tolerates a wide range of soils and conditions requiring only plenty of sunshine to …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… DAYDREAM® is a virtually failsafe shrub rose, what's sometimes called a landscape rose. It's remarkably healthy and vigorous, highly disease resistant, and hardy into Canada so you know it'll survive our Chicago winters. The clusters of single roses …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… grows 5 feet in height with a 4 foot spread. Use the Japanese maple as a specimen plant. May and June bring small reddish-purple 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 …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… This is the plant for which Chicago is named. In Illinois Indian language, its name was Chicagoua. … information appears 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 inedible. If eaten at this flowering stage or later in its life …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… weeks beginning in late summer. Found growing throughout much of Illinois, tall boneset, which is in the same genus as Joe Pye weed, grows 4 to 5 feet tall. Each plant has a long single stem … The flowers attract long-tongued bees, short-tongued bees, wasps, flies, small butterflies, and beetles. Typically found in dry prairies, tall boneset is easy to grow in full sun and dry soil. Tall boneset would be suitable for planting in native garden, at the back of a …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… Description: Spotted on Evening Island, the barn owl is rarely seen in this region now. Historically, however, they were more common. That's when Illinois was covered with pasture land. This nocturnal owl is known for its heart-shaped face, and its acute listening skills come in handy for hunting small mammals on the ground. …
Type: Birding
