… 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
… 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! Chocolate is the most popular flavor in baked goods. Featured baking techniques include tempering chocolate …
Type: Item Detail
… to abstract portraits. A digital camera with aperture priority and shutter speed priority is required. Intermediate level. FPC fundamental course, fine art track Dianne Kittle, fine art …
Type: Item Detail
… of all things, impermanence and a feeling of melancholy that fits with the fall season. It is both a mood and an important Japanese aesthetic concept. …
Type: Item Detail
… “I love the winter interest of the bark of this small ornamental tree, which is very smooth, but peels to reveal a pattern of brownish-pink patches,” said Jill Selinger, …
Type: Plant Info
