… consider when choosing shrubs for our home landscape A: The saying “right plant…right place” is essential to keep in mind when selecting shrubs. Many shrub problems can be traced back to choices made years before. Moreover, early planning is especially desirable now, due to high demand and supply disruptions arising from the COVID-19 … considerations involve matching a shrub’s specific physical needs to its intended site. Among these are the available space, soil type, soil chemistry, soil moisture, hours of …
Type: Plant Info
… and bat-like, with the lip and column held apart from the petals and sepals. The coloring is white dotted with red and a yellow throat. Several flower spikes with up to six blooms per … 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 -- … -- though the absolute temperature range (cool, intermediate or warm) varies by genus and is consistent with their natural habitat. While requiring adequate sunlight for a stunning bloom …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… New Guinea, southern China and northern Australia. The Vanda orchid ‘Miss Joaquim’ is the national flower of Singapore. In the home, vandas require warm growing conditions with … 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 -- … -- though the absolute temperature range (cool, intermediate or warm) varies by genus and is consistent with their natural habitat. While requiring adequate sunlight for a stunning bloom …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… O’Hare International Airport. Sometimes called the living rock cactus, Ariocarpus fissuratus is prized by collectors who either don’t know or don’t care that the plant is critically endangered. To meet that demand, unscrupulous plant dealers pay local people to … try to slip them past U.S. Customs to feed an international black market. This illegal trade is so lucrative that nearly a third of the world’s cactus species are now endangered . Contraband …
Type: Blog
… spaces where people and plants mix comfortably. An integral feature of successful garden rooms is lighting. Garden lighting is both a technical subject, concerned with volts, watts, conduits, and infrastructure, and an … in a garden from one area to another. Lighting can say "welcome" if the front entrance is lit or "not welcome" if the entrance is dark, even if the garden beds are lit. It can pull us …
Type: Plant Info
… the horticultural and the culinary. Of the few orchids that are used as edibles worldwide, one is world-famous and probably already in your kitchen cabinet: Vanilla planifolia . One of the 110 species in the orchid genus Vanilla, V. planifolia is a vining orchid that's indigenous to Mexico. Its flower, a lovely greenish-white orchid … with yellow, produces a fruit/seedpod (technically a capsule) that, when cured and dried, is familiarly called a vanilla bean. Once upon a time in a land far away... Vanilla was …
Type: Plant Info
… in the depths of winter? With just a few adjustments to the basics. Today's temperature is… Did you know that cold outdoor weather can even affect indoor orchids? You may need to move … or add a light-filtering curtain if orchids that prefer shade are getting too much sun. There is an upside to the short days and lower light of winter: it triggers the flowering process for … Nonetheless, your orchid may not need too much extra water. In any season, overwatering is the number one indoor orchid threat! Since every orchid has its own water preference, it pays …
Type: Plant Info
… Viva Vita Pride Month is a time to honor the history and voices of the LGBTQIA+ community—which makes me, a plant … time. Vita Sackville-West (Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons ) Sackville-West (1892-1962) is well-known for her close relationship with writer Virginia Woolf; she was also a dedicated … self-assurance, she retreated to her garden and built herself a library within a tower on the site. This space was her private refuge, where she would lock herself away for hours to write …
Type: Blog
… Thomas English Walled Garden’s six distinct rooms, all of which demonstrate unique styles, is a walk through the history of English gardening. It is also an ideal opportunity for visitors to fill their own gardening dreams with beautifully … The garden can be accessed through any number of entrances or doorways, but the most popular is the doorway beside the long border lining the western wall of the garden, where a delightfully …
Type: Walks
… Description: This is a rare gull species most often seen on Garden lakes during spring melt periods. …
Type: Birding
