… Description: This is an unusual sight on the lakes or flying overhead. …
Type: Birding
… April is a joyful month, when we plant new trees, transplant or divide late-blooming perennials, cast … onion-like, garlicky smell when crushed (an excellent aid in identification), but this exotic is not a welcome kitchen herb similar to the ornamental onions ( Allium ). What's all the fuss? Garlic mustard is an invasive plant, capable of choking out native eco-systems as it carpets woodland floors, …
Type: Plant Info
… Q. Is there anything that I can do to prepare my trees and shrubs for winter? A. The best thing that can be done to prepare your plants for winter is to make sure they enter the cold winter months with plenty of moisture. It is easy and quite common to forget about woody plant maintenance as we clean up spent annuals and …
Type: Plant Info
… The popularity of agave-based drinks like tequila and mezcal is at an all-time high in the United States. And that is bad news for agaves. As Hector Ortiz, Ph.D., plant conservation scientist at the Negaunee … the recent popularity of these drinks has fueled the expansion of agave monoculture—where land is cleared to grow a single species of agave, destroying the habitats of wild agaves and reducing …
Type: Blog
… they may be present if your turf begins to brown and lifts easily off the ground. Minor damage is usually not cause for treatment. Pull back turf and check for white, C-shaped larvae with black heads. If more than 10 to 12 grubs are present in a square foot of soil, treatment is advised. Chemical controls vary in their timing. Homeowners can spot-treat small areas … at regular intervals over entire lawn. Plugs are left on lawns to decompose. Core-aeration is recommended to help rectify compacted soil, heavy thatch accumulation, and poor drainage. …
Type: Plant Info
… the new species Clivia gardenii in honor of the collector when it flowered in 1856. Clivia is a genus in the Amaryllidaceae family from South Africa that produces lustrous, chunky, green, … tubular flowers have yellowish inner trumpets tipped with green and exerted stamens; the fruit is a bright red, fleshy berry. Major Garden’s clivia can grow 2 feet tall and 20 inches wide and is usually found thriving in deep shade in forested areas, on steeply sloping cliffs, and …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… or gold); they are often featured as specimen trees where space permits. The smooth gray bark is an attractive feature of the species. The genus Fagus includes 10-13 species of the beech … regions of Asia, Europe and North America. Only Fagus grandifolia , the American beech, is native to the U.S. and Illinois. A single species, Fagus sylvatica or the European beech, … oaks, beech trees are long-lived and slow growing hardwood trees. The fruit produced annually is commonly called a beech nut and is beloved by wildlife. Beech trees are majestic shade trees …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… branches. Forsythia × intermedia ‘Courdijau’, marketed as Golden Peep™ Forsythia, is a newer cultivar from France that is very low-growing, at about 2 feet tall and spreading to 3 feet or more. It has better flowering than ‘Arnold Dwarf’. In France, it is marketed as Casque D’or. Forsythias are very adaptable to poor soil and varying moisture, but …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… Atkinsii snowdrop ( Galanthus nivalis 'Atkinsii') is a very showy, large-flowered snowdrop, among the first bulbs to bloom in early spring. The … by Carl Linnaeus in 1735. Native to large areas of Europe, from Spain to the Ukraine, the name is derived from the Greek gala (milk) and anthos (flower). The epithet "nivalis" means "of the … as "second to none in size, form, quality, and freedom of growth." The 'Atkinsii' cultivar is a vigorous, tall variety that grows to 9 inches. This dwarf, bulbous perennial has linear or …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… Green Mile sweetbay magnolia is a hybrid selected for its deep dark green foliage and its narrow upright habit. In the more southern parts of its range, sweetbay magnolia is evergreen but it may lose all or most of its leaves during the winters in the Chicagoland area. It is one of the few magnolias that will tolerate swampy conditions. Members of the genus Magnolia …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
