… Fast and graceful, hummingbirds flit from flower to flower—but which ones and why? A Chicago Botanic Garden scientist and his … hummingbirds. A hummingbird’s long bill appears perfectly matched for the extraction of nectar from the long, tubular flowers. But don’t be fooled—while it’s satisfying to organize flowers and … Yet the hummingbird’s signature hovering flight burns massive amounts of calories. From the hummingbird's perspective, it would therefore be much more efficient to drink from …
Type: Blog
… in Kankakee, just south of Chicago. He received an associate's degree in agricultural business from Kankakee Community College and an associate's degree in turf management from Joliet Junior College. After graduation, he interned at the Olympia Fields Country Club in Olympia Fields, Illinois. From there, he continued to grow his love for the turf industry at numerous golf courses …
Type: Staff bio
… by going to the source: the seed catalogs that nurserymen, farmers, and gardeners ordered from and depended on. In the Rare Book Collection of our Lenhardt Library, she pored over an 1891 Storr’s & Harrison catalog, a Burpee’s from 1901, and numerous Vaughan’s Seed Store catalogs. (Vaughan’s started on the East Coast, then became one of the leading Chicago seed houses.) Recognizing that some varieties from the turn of the twentieth century were still available today (‘Bull Nose’ pepper, …
Type: Blog
… on the Earth that serves as an ideal medium for growing plants. It contains inorganic minerals from weathered and broken rocks combined with organic material from the decomposed remains of dead plants and animals. Real soil hosts microscopic bacteria and … would find on the surface of Mars is called regolith , which is mineral particles that result from weathering of rocks. Since my mixture is an approximation of what might be found on Mars, …
Type: Blog
… L. After locating a group of trees in Delhaas Woods, he and his team took cuttings from new growth and packed them into their bags. The murky waters that now stood between them and a successful exit from the overgrown site were deep and dangerous, and wading out was not an option. They had no … magnolia tree stands out in Delhaas Woods, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. By taking plant samples from the field, he and his team hope to grow new generations of sweetbay magnolia plants that can …
Type: Blog
… Join me in contemplating the sweetness of plants. All sugar comes from plants. All of it. Plants are the only thing on earth that can make sugar, and plants are … cell walls are composed of a substance called cellulose , which is a compound sugar. Sugars from plants are the basis of our food chain. Our favorite dietary sugar, sucrose, comes from the juices of sugar cane or sugar beets, which are boiled until the water evaporates, …
Type: Blog
… Of the many Spike-related questions asked by visitors this week, our favorite came from 8-year-old Prairie! In the video below, Prairie wants to know, in essence, if she can transport Spike’s malodorous odor from the Chicago Botanic Garden to her classroom. Good question, Prairie! Conservation … Still will attempt to pollinate Spike’s flowers during bloom with pollen shared by our friends from The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, and Denver Botanic Gardens. …
Type: Blog
… more environmentally friendly holiday season: Decorate with natural materials: Collect things from your yard to use as holiday decorations. Dried flowers, evergreen boughs, and acorns can become a table centerpiece. Choose a tree you can see from your window to decorate for the birds, and hang it with pinecone bird feeders and strings of … Try out some of these ideas and get inspiration for more on December 15 at our free Gifts from the Garden drop-in. It is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Burnstein Hall of the Regenstein Center. …
Type: Blog
… orchid roots. A traditional winter drink in the cafés and restaurants of Turkey, salep is made from the tuberous roots of orchids—specifically, terrestrial orchids in the genus Orchis . Dried … steamed or boiling milk. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Serve in small cups. Our lesson in salep came from the one person who had not only tasted salep before but had grown up drinking it—horticulturist Ayse Pogue, who hails from Istanbul. Salep is not readily available in America; it arrived here courtesy of Ayse’s …
Type: Blog
… Science Foundation and Natural Science Foundation of China, the workshop brought systemicists from both countries together to explore research techniques and opportunities. (Systematics is … diversity of life and relationships among different groups of organisms, and spans subjects from plants and fungi to primates and viruses.) Patrick Herendeen leads a discussion among systemisists from various fields. “People bring different expertise to a research project, and people with …
Type: Blog
