… A Cool Crop Brassica oleracea 'Lacinato' Along with October's beautiful fall color and flowering perennials and grasses, consider planting intriguing late-season vegetables that masquerade as ornamentals. This cool-weather crop can be harvested after the first frost, and sometimes even as late as December. In fact, frost makes kale taste sweeter! Looks Good & …
Type: Plant Info
… is a perfect example of a plant that remained unrecognized years after its introduction and is only now being rediscovered. Although it was first collected in 1907 by E. H. Wilson … Alfred Rehder, actually attached a name to the collected specimens. Hepta- means "seven," and -codium refers to the flower head. Then for nearly 65 years, Heptacodium was forgotten. But … expedition to China resulted in the collection of viable seeds of this rare genus. Seeds and cuttings were then distributed by the Arnold Arboretum and the U.S. National Aboretum to …
Type: Plant Info
… known as “the prairie state,” but this moniker no longer truly reflects the landscape. Urban and agricultural development has left us with less than one-tenth of one percent of prairieland. … to horizon. Today, it can be found only in small patches. Since several species of plants and animals rely on the prairie for survival, as this ecosystem disappears, so will they. Chicago … landscapes themselves, determining which environmental factors help or harm plant reproduction and vitality. The scientists evaluate how fire (or the lack of it) impacts prairie reproduction, …
Type: Plant Info
… At dawn, the harvest begins at the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden where pounds of fruit and vegetables are picked and nudged from the soil, then loaded into volunteers’ cars. Soon after, the boxes arrive at the … to help feed the neediest families. “Many of our families are living paycheck to paycheck and fresh foods, fruits, and vegetables isn’t something they can afford or that is regularly …
Type: Blog
… often it pours. Our urban stormwater systems were originally designed to prevent flooding and to quickly move water off the streets. However, as stormwater rushes through driveways and gutters, it picks up an array of contaminants en route to the river or lake: oil, fertilizers, pesticides, and other chemicals. When this dirty water reaches its final destination, pollutants poison the …
Type: Plant Info
… known as Arthur Simmonds bluebeard, is the result of a cross between Caryopteris incana and Caryopteris mongholica . The original hybrid was raised in plantsman Arthur Simmonds' garden in Surrey, England, in 1933, and belongs to that group of plants known as dieback shrubs. These are soft-wooded shrubs or … inches from their tips all the way down to the base of the plant. But the roots remain hardy; and when pruned hard in early spring, Caryopteris will produce bright blue flowers on all new …
Type: Plant Info
… group of insects referred to as armored scale. Armored scales live under a protective covering and feed on plant juices. Euonymus scale appears on the stems and leaves of infested plants as tiny white lines 1/16 inch long or as slightly larger, swollen … lumps. Heavily infested plants may be coated with tiny white lines, particularly on stems and leaf veins. This coating of white lines is the most easily identifiable symptom. White or …
Type: Plant Info
… 'Bloodgood' (London planetree) is a hybrid cross between American sycamore ( P. occidentalis ) and Oriental planetree ( P. orientalis ). The original cross may have occurred as early as the 1640s, after which this tree became widely planted in London and other major European cities because of its perceived tolerance for urban pollution. City … to America where this hybrid today is common in such distant locations as Brooklyn, New York and San Francisco, California. This hybrid can be very difficult to distinguish from its American …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… observe the conifers at the Chicago Botanic Garden, there are a few that turn golden in fall and drop their needles each winter. It’s not because they are sick or diseased; it’s simply what … they do. Larches belong to a special group of plants called deciduous conifers. Like maples and oaks, they produce fall color, shed their foliage, and go into dormancy during the winter months. During summer, larches offer a soft, sleepy sort …
Type: Plant Info
… causes lawn damage in Illinois. The large C-shaped, creamy white grub with three pairs of legs and a dark head is the larval stage of the masked chafer beetle. Unlike the Japanese beetle, … which has a similar lawn-damaging larva, the adult chafer beetle does not feed on plants and causes no damage. Its larvae, however, cause extensive damage to lawns. Timing & Life Cycle … to vigorously growing turf with damp soil, where they lay their eggs in July. The grubs hatch and feed on decaying organic matter and sod roots until October. When temperatures begin to drop, …
Type: Plant Info
