… Garden Graham Bulb Garden, Aquatic Garden Viburnum Walk Liz Rex is the horticulturist for the Crescent, which welcomes visitors entering the Garden from the Visitor Center; and the … area where music events such as Dancin' Sprouts and Hot Summer Nights are held. Rex also cares for the Native Plant Garden, which showcases plants native to Illinois, and the Landscape Garden, … a designed at a smaller scale to be relevant to the typical homeowner. She is also responsible for overseeing and coordinating the maintenance of the Graham Bulb Garden, Aquatic Garden, and …
Type: Staff bio
… Simone Gore is an assistant grower for outdoor floriculture in the Plant Production department. Her job includes producing high-quality plants for the Garden's seasonal displays, working with many of the annuals and tender perennials that are used in the annual displays, and caring for most of the vegetables that are planted at the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden. Gore has …
Type: Staff bio
… story got me wondering if we could replicate Martian soil with local ingredients and use it for plant experiments. So I contacted the Garden’s soil scientist, Louise Egerton-Warburton, and … kill microbes Experiment away! You know you work in a great place when you can ask a colleague for directions for making Martian soil and you get an immediate, enthusiastic response with suggestions for how …
Type: Blog
… a walk around your neighborhood—or at the Chicago Botanic Garden and other green space—to look for animal tracks, either with your children or for your own benefit. Fresh air, exercise, and exposure to nature deliver many benefits for your health and well-being. As an additional benefit for little ones, searching for animal …
Type: Blog
… It happens every year—like Groundhog Day—and I have the same déjà vu annually! Each winter for the past more than 20 years, I have supervised and worked on the pruning of the apple orchard … before the buds begin to plump and open, as this is the optimal window to prune apple trees for plant health. Over the years, I have been in every tree many, many times. Some are easier to … enjoy this late-winter pruning project, as it has become an annual rite of passage into spring for me. Our current style of pruning strikes a balance between ornamental pruning and …
Type: Blog
… remaining until germination. When the seed sprouts, the new soft tissue offers a welcome home for the fungus to grow. Bacterial pathogens sometimes will infect the embryo of the seed itself, … These plants are rarely—if ever—infected from within the seed coat. Use heat treatment for seeds of the tomato family, (tomato, eggplant, pepper), carrot family (carrot, celery, parsley, cilantro), cabbage family ( see here for a long list of those vegetables ), spinach, and lettuce. A few common household supplies …
Type: Blog
… I just returned from two weeks in Mongolia searching for fossil flowers. Why go halfway around the world to look for fossils of flowering plants when there are plenty of fossil flowers closer to home? … lives in one large, sprawling city, the capital, Ulaanbaatar (also spelled Ulan Bator, or “UB” for short). Most of the country is rural with very few people; it ranges from mountains and …
Type: Blog
… How best to highlight the color of 10,000 blooming orchids? For Brilliance: The Orchid Show , which runs February 8 to March 22 at the Chicago Botanic … at squares of color in the slant of the afternoon sun. The colors had to pop in daylight and for Orchids After Hours , an evening look at the Show with cocktails and light bites for purchase. We tried out color combinations one by one. The comments were brutal. No, too …
Type: Blog
… For the past week, the big forklifts and trucks with their whimsical cargo have been rolling in to set up for the U.S. debut of Lightscape on November 22. Popular time slots are selling fast for the new holiday event at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Lightscape is a festive, immersive trail …
Type: Blog
… It’s a big week for cooking, for getting out the china, crystal, and silver, and for setting a holiday-worthy table…but have you thought about a centerpiece yet? A cornucopia, or …
Type: Blog
