… consequences of these shifted flowering times, especially whether there are consequences for population persistence. Plants that initiate life-cycle events earlier could be tracking … occur earlier, because different aspects of the climate are changing at different rates (for example, temperature and precipitation). We are experimentally causing plant life-cycle …
Type: Research
… David Murray is the horticulturist for the Shida Evaluation Garden. Our new Shida Evaluation Garden allows us to expand our … landscape plan by Wirtz International Landscape Architects includes specialty evaluation areas for perennials, roses, and vines. This new garden features crabapple tunnels, deciduous hedges, …
Type: Staff bio
… and violets of the dominant fall asters, many of them blooming throughout October. Look for bottle and cream gentians in the Garden’s Dixon Prairie or elsewhere. Buried beneath the riot … to locate. Another, more common gentian of wet prairie is also worth a mention. Not so much for its brilliant color, although it is blue and fairly showy, but for the fact that its flower petals remain closed. This is the closed or bottle gentian …
Type: Blog
… juice from the stem of jewelweed and applied it to poison ivy rashes and other skin ailments for a very soothing treatment. It is ironic that “touch-me-not” is a cure for “leaves of three—let it be,” don’t you think? Folklore tells us that wherever you find a … ivy growing near jewelweed, so use caution and be careful not to touch when you are searching for this plant. …
Type: Blog
… to make use of advanced DNA sequencing technologies in biodiversity research. “We have known for quite some time that all plants on land share a common ancestor with green algae, but there … fine level of detail, looking deeply at each plant’s transcriptome (the type of data generated for this study), which represents those pieces of DNA that are responsible for essential biological functions at the cellular level. In all, they selected 852 genes to …
Type: Blog
… Insectivores are critters that depend, to a large extent, on invertebrates, mostly insects, for their survival. I wasn’t sure which shrew this was, but more than likely, it was one of the … spot shrews believe they are seeing mice, voles, or moles. In fact, some of the common names for these critters include mole shrew or shrewmouse. Mice and voles are rodents, which have incisors—those chisel-like teeth for consuming plants and seeds. Moles, like the shrews, are insectivores. The shrews, being …
Type: Blog
… be rejuvenating and take you away from the stresses of everyday life. We started a bucket list for you, focusing on some of the natural wonders in the plant world. We know, oh, just a few … are not your garden-variety plant lovers. These are people who gravitate to plants not just for their beauty or scent but for their resilience, their hunting prowess, their enchantment (even you, Venus flytrap). We …
Type: Blog
… Although slow-growing, this boxwood ( Buxus microphylla ) should make a full recovery. The bad news is that more plant damage is likely to appear once the weather is consistently warm, though … the specimen. Unfortunately, some evergreens will be a total loss. This is especially true for plants grown at the edge of the hardiness zone. To determine whether a bush is going to make it, look for new buds or lightly scratch a branch to look for signs of green wood. Patience is often a …
Type: Blog
… about right this year, but the quality of the experience is a little ‘off,’” Tankersley said. “For instance, the cherry [tree] outside my office—in a good year—is a mass of light yellow … the Chicago area is hard to predict.” Part of the mission of the Garden’s Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science and Action is to fight climate change through scientific research … a topic of conversation among the horticulture staff for the last couple of weeks and in the news,” said Tankersley. “The diminished [fall] displays are caused, in part, by the drought and …
Type: Blog
… leaves, buds, and flowers. How does scent play a role in attracting hawkmoths? Do moths use it for pollination? Or do they use it to find host plants to lay their eggs? Or maybe both? Hawkmoth … prior research, we know that floral scent can vary within and between plant populations. For instance, within the species O. harringtonii , some populations produce a scent compound … collaborator, Rob Raguso at Cornell University, sent us hawkmoth pupae and we patiently waited for them to emerge. Victoria Luizzi (left) and Andrea Gruver (right) dissect a female moth to …
Type: Blog
