… and extended spring bloom. With 'Wings of Fire', even though the lavender-pink spring bloom is lovely, the flowers are just a prelude to the foliage. Once flowering is over, the leaves begin to turn bronze, and over the summer deep reddish tints emerge. Come …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… place that supports bees, butterflies, birds, and other wildlife. In some ways, meadowscaping is like a dreamy, modernistic interpretation of a prairie on steroids. These designed landscapes … works of living art that mimic or take inspiration from nature. The hand of man (and woman) is evident. Unlike a cottage garden filled with “onesies,” a meadowscape includes great drifts of … England to Chicago in the late 1950s, she’d never heard of a prairie. In England, a grassland is called a meadow. But every kid in our Chicago neighborhood called the empty, overgrown lots …
Type: Plant Info
… says Tom Tiddens, supervisor of the Garden’s Plant Health Care department. “Companion planting is an interesting technique and organic growers swear by it, but you need to have all-around good … Aphids Katja Schulz from Washington, D. C., USA , CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons Tiddens is big on having plant and environmental diversity in the home landscape. “Rather than using … dry, wet, low-growing plants, taller plants.” Attracting a multitude of different insects is not a bad thing. Beneficial insects come when there’s something for them to eat. “We want to …
Type: Plant Info
… winds howl and the temperatures plummet. Any day could bring a thick layer of snow. This is the season when our gardens sleep and gardeners dream of spring. Perusing seed catalogs in … tomatoes, giant colorful zinnias, or a rainbow of Swiss chard leaves. Growing plants from seed is fun and saves money—where else can you get dozens of plants for a few dollars? Many plants can … placed outdoors until after the last frost-free date. In the Chicago area, that date generally is May 15. If you start your seeds too early, you could end up with spindly plants on your …
Type: Plant Info
… cold to shed her bloom. —Elizabeth Gordon What can give us more hope that the end of winter is near than to see the young shoots of snowdrops (Galanthus spp . ) emerging from the frost-covered ground? We can be well assured that spring is just around the corner by the very sight of their blooms standing out against the melting snow … plant bulbs as soon as they are available in the fall. Place in a sunny or semi-shady site, in moist soil with a large proportion of humus. The site should be well drained, with a …
Type: Plant Info
… Description: A colorful duck, the wood duck is commonly visible in lakes with its tail end sticking up, perched in trees, or using nesting …
Type: Birding
… moisture conditions. It has pink blooms that attract butterflies in July and August and is resistant to deer. …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… with showy yellow stamens . It may need to be staked, especially in the first year. This is the hardiest white Anemone. …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… partial shade and moderate moisture conditions. It has red blooms from May through August and is a specimen in a border. …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… Sawara false cypress is a large evergreen tree growing to between 50 and 70 feet in height. The many cultivated …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
