… Lenhardt Library, the Nursery Catalog Database—and its companion, a physical file of catalogs—is a gardener's dream: an already-edited and constantly updated list of hundreds (currently 784) … Have an unusual interest? So do the mushroom folks at Garden City Fungi ( gardencityfungi.com ), the banana experts at Going Bananas ( going-bananas.com ), and the Kitazawa Seed Company ( kitazawaseed.com ), which has been selling Asian vegetable …
Type: Plant Info
… Why Care about Fungi? The Chicago area is host to more than a thousand species of mushrooms and mushroom like fungi—beneficial, … pathogens . In large forests that extend miles, older trees die to make way for new trees—it is a natural part of the life cycle. Forest fungi help this regeneration to take place. Finally, … the forest. If you do collect in the wild, be aware of and follow rules for collecting at that site, e.g., collecting fungi is not allowed on any forest preserve property in the greater …
Type: Plant Info
… love to watch spring unfold in gardens everywhere—but at the Chicago Botanic Garden, my heart is in the water. As the Woman’s Board Curator of Aquatics, I like to point out the signs of … a short, curious-looking purple flower. The Budburst plant app would tell you that the plant is a prairie wildflower known as prairie smoke (Geum triflorum) —the flower really does look like … farther downslope, you might see another short flower, this one vibrant yellow. This plant is marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) and should not be confused with the insidious invader lesser …
Type: Blog
… back from extinction in the wild? Chicago Botanic Garden scientists think so. Their belief is reflected in the rows of rare alula ( Brighamia insignis ) growing discreetly in a Garden … decade ago, with just one plant clinging to a wind-swept sea cliff on a Hawaiian island, alula is still seen today by visitors at botanic gardens around the world. These living collections of … chance of preventing extinctions and reintroducing plants, like alula, into the wild. “Alula is an amazing species that deserves a future on this planet,” said Kayri Havens, Ph.D., chief …
Type: Blog
… level. They play an important role in small landscapes, especially in urban sites where this is no room for a large tree. The individual flowers may be exceptionally small —like those of the … Eastern redbud—but so plentiful and eye-popping that you just can’t miss them when the tree is in full bloom. Magnolias are also spectacular, but they have large, primitive-looking … (Cornus alternifolia) Pagoda dogwood, also called alternate-leaved dogwood, is an uncommon native tree occasionally found in the northern half of Illinois. The common name …
Type: Plant Info
… New! The “moon illusion” makes the moon look larger at the horizon than when it is higher in the sky. Why does this happen and why are our eyes so easily fooled? You will learn …
Type: Item Detail
… This maple is native to China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia and far eastern Russia. It can grow to a height of 40 …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… a couple of years. It flowers in late summer with small globes of fragrant lilac florets and is known for its twisting blue-green leaves that are also fragrant. It prefers average, …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… light and soil conditions. At maturity, it can reach a height and width of 6 feet. It is differentiated from the species by having a better form, bigger berries, and superior fall …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… from tropical America. Silky Scarlet bloodflower ( Asclepias curassavica 'Silky Scarlet') is a great plant for color in the landscape from mid-summer through fall. Butterflies attracted …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
