… This is the quiet time of year, when we put our gardens to bed. All the hustle of summer planting, weeding, and watering is just a memory now. But our gardens aren’t really sleeping. Look closely and you’ll discover … they’re busy singing, looking for a mate, and building nests—in winter, a bird’s main activity is to find and eat enough food to keep warm. They’re searching for something to eat and for …
Type: Plant Info
… 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
… 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
… on this hardy perennial that thrives in moist but not wet soil in sunny locations. This series is well- branched and makes great cut flowers. All parts of the plant are poisonous and so …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… above silver foliage on this uncommon selection of the traditional foxglove. This biennial is unusual in the ability to flower the first year from seed without having to experience a cold …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… petals show off the bright yellow center of the flower on this West Coast native that is thriving in the Rock Garden. Full sun and moist soils during winter and spring are keys to …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… effective at attracting hummingbirds. The chocolate maroon foliage with bright white spines is particularly eye-catching. Grow in full sun in well drained soils and add supplemental water …
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
