… when introduced to a new location, can spread prolifically, competing with native species for resources and eventually dominating the landscape. Some invasive species were popular … plants and reestablish a diverse, open-canopied woodland with improved ecosystem functioning. For understory vegetation, targets included high native-species diversity. Management actions … G. Morrison, an ecologist, landscape designer, and author, created the restoration scheme for the Reserve. After the restoration, the open canopy allowed vegetation in the understory to …
Type: Research
… a shoe box, cardboard dividers, seeds, a pot with soil medium, and of course scissors and tape for constructing the maze. Stand the box on its side. Then cut two pieces of cardboard to fit in … in place as shown in the picture. Pardon the crude appearance of this maze. I wasn’t going for style points. Plant the seeds in the soil and put the container on the side opposite of the hole you cut. Just for fun, I used several different seeds from a bean soup mix to see if one kind would get through …
Type: Blog
… Valentine’s Day has special meaning for us at the Chicago Botanic Garden. With that in mind, we’ve gathered a few stories about how … scientists think that the orchid attracts a wasp that hunts the spider as potential food for its own larvae. Thus the wasp is fooled into landing on the flower—and picking up its … (Check out more on orchids fooling mating bees with this famous video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h8I3cqpgnA .) Oncidium Sharry Baby ‘Sweet Fragrance’ has dancing skirts and …
Type: Blog
… question, located by the big Edens Expressway (northbound lanes) sign. Originally, the design for the perennial border—which you can see trailing up and down the hill behind the big Chicago … Manual removal of the asters was only part of the solution; we needed to find a replacement for these bad boys. In the process, we revisited the vision for this border, and decided to mix drifts of purple coneflower ( Echinacea ), blazing star ( …
Type: Blog
… says about putting my plants outside: Be careful about sunburn. Sunburn isn’t a concern just for us humans. Plants can get scorched, too. Don’t put them in blazing sunlight. Porches with shade are prime locations for orchids and birds of paradise plants. The outdoors makes your plants happy. A lot of plants … swing in temperature that only the outdoors can provide, said Sherwood. If you have the space for it, and moderate sunlight, your indoor houseplants would love to feel the extended daylight. …
Type: Blog
… attract their mates to their strategically chosen nesting location in the spring. In order for a nest to be successful, it must be located near water (their diet consists exclusively of … the nest pole and attacking the young. FOCR and the FPCC sought out the Garden as a partner for an installation site, in large part owing to the Garden’s strong conservation messaging and … few years, a migrating male will select the site and pair with a female. Osprey generally mate for life, though they’re together only during the breeding and rearing seasons. L earn more …
Type: Blog
… flower was all the rage. A language of flowers emerged. Books appeared that set the standard for flower meanings and guided the sender and the recipient in their floral dialogue. Victorians … volumes from his extensive personal library on floral design. Moretz taught the floral arts for 45 years, traveled the world in pursuit of the history and knowledge of flowers, and authored … rare—those are part of the library’s Rare Book Collection. Librarians aren’t often at a loss for words, yet when I asked Lenhardt Library director Leora Siegel about the importance of the …
Type: Blog
… and bring focus to your pictures. The most important thing to keep in mind when photographing for Instagram is that your photo will be viewed at a relatively small scale. Your composition … that has very small details in a context. A close-up of these penstemon flowers alone makes for a very chaotic image, but when the surrounding landscape is included, the flowers form a … take pictures during the morning and evening when the light is softer. Choose a point of view for your subject where light falls on the subject but not the background. This will emphasize the …
Type: Blog
… when you consider how many different species of turtles there are. There is a turtle species for just about every kind of wetland environment that exists, from sea turtles to bog turtles to … the mucus membranes and tiny capillaries of their throat and cloaca (the common opening for defecation and egg laying). They also use some fascinating chemistry, part of which involves … first real breath of air since descending to the bottom of the lakes in fall. Hoop trap for aquatic turtles Several years ago, I initiated a turtle project with one of the summer …
Type: Blog
… to be sure. But just how does one transport a thriving plant collection? As I prepared for my own move (only a few blocks away), I sat down with Weaver to learn how to make the transition happy and healthy for my green, leafy friends. Research state restrictions for plants “First you have to consider—if you’re moving across state lines—whether you can even …
Type: Blog
