… underground utility lines. Consider your space Home rain gardens generally are from 100 to 300 square feet (or about 10 x 10 to 15 x 20 feet). A small area can be transformed into a lush … 4 to 6 inches deep—a little deeper on the downslope side (think of a shallow bowl in your landscape, tilted slightly to one side). Use the soil from digging to create a ledge or … those that need more water at the deepest level, and situate plants preferring less moisture in the garden's shallow areas. Know your resources Great resources to learn more and help you …
Type: Plant Info
… At Windy City Harvest Youth Farm, our young workers are exposed to nutrition in ways that relate directly to their work. As the season progresses, new crops are harvested and … they have never eaten or seen before. They also are surprised at the nutritional benefits in some of these vegetables. Here are three vegetables we are harvesting at Windy City Harvest … It was the first time my mom cooked with scallions. We liked them so much that we went to buy more from the store. We had never had them before.” Shekinah Price Windy City Harvest Youth …
Type: Blog
… Compared to photographing flowers outside, photographing in the Greenhouses is much more challenging and darker than you think. With a limited depth of field, I chose to focus on the "face" I saw in this orchid. Photo ©Carol Freeman Note the distracting window in the background. Photo ©Carol … let you increase the ISO and still get clean images with little noise. I like to do an ISO test before going out to shoot to see just how far I can push the ISO and still get images I find …
Type: Blog
… against the odds, a single endangered flower has bloomed here. The only wild lakeside daisy in Illinois, blooming on Chicago’s Southeast Side under a protective wire cage. Photo by Casey … remains of molten steel, four decades after wild populations of the species were last seen in Illinois. The bloom this past spring is a small but striking sign of recovery. Its presence is thanks to the Chicago Botanic Garden and conservation partners who set out to test whether an industrial dumping ground could host plant life. “The conservation community is …
Type: Blog
… It’s official, sunshine lovers! While October in the Chicago area is usually one of the most pleasant seasons of the year, in recent years, … allowing for the full-body structure they are going to assume. An alternative would be to buy transplants and pop them in wherever you want them. Leaves from transplants can be harvested … family ( Brassicaceae ), along with many of the vegetables we didn’t care for as children, e.g., broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower. But we are not children any more, and …
Type: Plant Info
… research assistant and graduate student Alison Branz studies soil from the experimental plots in the soil lab at the Garden’s Plant Science Center. The buzz around sustainable lawn … is planted with a range of different grasses and sedges grown from both seeds and plugs to test implementation and maintenance of lawn alternatives. Plots at the Garden will grow for … determine how supportive each plot is to bees and other pollinator species. Soil samples will test for carbon storage; more carbon absorption means healthier soil, not to mention more carbon …
Type: Blog
… crop can be harvested after the first frost, and sometimes even as late as December. In fact, frost makes kale taste sweeter! Looks Good & Good for You Kale, the cabbage without a … From obscurity to obsession: kale’s gone from hard-to-find to not only a must-have in gardens, but also on menus. This powerhouse plant should be part of our go-to medicine cabinet … they grow, allowing for the full-body structure they are going to assume. An alternative is to buy transplants and pop them in wherever you want them. Leaves from transplants can be harvested …
Type: Plant Info
… some fresh, open mushrooms, paper, and a bowl. You can use mushrooms found growing outside or buy them from the market. When selecting mushrooms for spore prints, look for these things: The … were placed on black paper. They will be covered with a bowl and then left overnight. In the morning, carefully lift your bowl and the individual mushrooms and see what you get. If … gills are not as straight and rigid as portobello gills, so you’ll get less gill definition in the print and a more wavy, swirling print. If your mushrooms are too wet, or are starting to …
Type: Blog
… and scientists around the world. It is no surprise that orchids have a special place in our homes and hearts. At the Chicago Botanic Garden, we celebrate the world of orchids with our annual Orchid Show. We work to conserve native orchids. Our research team is involved in studying and preserving the endangered ghost orchid. We also have orchids on display throughout the year. Members and visitors often glimpse orchids in our Tropical Greenhouse, like the whimsical clamshell orchid. You do not need your own …
Type: Page
… What an amazing plant science moment occurred in the Semitropical Greenhouse this morning, as a fascinated crowd gathered to see what was … energy it needed to continue its bloom cycle. Spike is powered by energy from the sun, stored in its beach-ball-sized corm—a tuber-like underground structure. A tremendous amount of energy … IT EVERY DAY. EVERY 20 MINUTES OR SO.” First, Still assembled a working kit: scalpel, probes, test tubes, paintbrushes and a “scoopula” (to collect pollen). At 10 a.m. today, staff gathered …
Type: Blog
