… For one December session of our Plant Explorers after school program at Chicago International Charter School—Irving Park, the students made living ornaments for the holidays. This tiny terrarium project can have a calming influence on a potentially … more relaxed. It requires you to find some live moss, but it makes an extra special decoration for kids—and adults—who love plants. The finished moss terrarium ornament A fillable plastic …
Type: Blog
… the annual Woman’s Board Fall Bulb Sale is online only. You’ll be able to shop at your leisure for hundreds of varieties of bulbs imported directly from growers in Holland. The members’ … 9 to 10 at the Chicago Botanic Garden, where you can take in the fall color . Can’t wait for spring? The sale also offers several fall-blooming bulbs that you can plant immediately for flowering this fall (see the Colchicum selections). Here are some tips and suggestions to …
Type: Blog
… My top pick for cool new plant species? The media has called it grotesque and compared to an eyeless worm. … when researchers stumble on a species unknown to science. Here are five of my favorite recent news stories on orchids: Gastrodia agnicellus , by Rick Burian, courtesy of the Royal Botanic … across a crested fringed orchid (Platanthera cristata) , which no one had seen in the state for nearly 20 years. It’s always a feel-good story to learn that a plant has been rediscovered …
Type: Blog
… Botanic Garden. A room in the basement of the Regenstein Center is the hive of repair activity for the Model Railroad Garden. There are also ghost trains for Night of 1,000 Jack-o’-Lanterns . That is why there is a staff of three year-round engineers … They also invent their own fixes. They have to. Cubs fans in fresh whites never lose hope for their team winning one day. “The Amtrak train hasn’t been made since 2004; we couldn’t get …
Type: Blog
… Using peonies as a cut flower for floral design is easy, with a few tricks to preserve the health of your plants and flowers. … the plant can continue to thrive. You can select flowers that are as open as you like, but for the best vase life, select buds that have just begun to open and feel similar to a marshmallow. Cut stems can be stored in the refrigerator for two to three weeks, but ... no fruit—such as apples—can be in the refrigerator with your …
Type: Blog
… composed of three petals contrast with its six bright yellow anthers, each flower opening for a few hours in the morning or longer if cloudy. Spiderwort belongs to the Commelinaceae, the day flower family, which commonly features plants with flowers that open for a day or less and then deliquesce (liquefy). If you pinch one of the blue petals between your … came to be. The genus Tradescantia and others in this family have a mucilaginous sap that, for all you farmers out there, resembles bovine saliva as it drips from the broken leaf. A …
Type: Blog
… in spring! Snow brings an important nutrient into the soil: nitrogen There are not many ways for nitrogen to enter the soil. While planting legumes and adding fertilizer are the most common … the poor man’s fertilizer. Don’t forget, snow is water! When snow melts, it provides moisture for evergreen trees and shrubs. This moisture helps keep these plants happy and healthy … willows, hazels, winter hazels, and witch hazels are only a few of many very attractive plants for a winter landscape. Dogwoods and willow varieties often will have young growth that is …
Type: Blog
… to add up. An Amorphophallus titanum shoot to the right of a leaf stalk provides comparison for determining the slight bulge, which could mean a flower bud. The emerging Amorphophallus … take a decade or more to send up their first flower shoot. We’ve been tending to this corm for about 12 years, so the timing was right. Is the corm big enough? The smaller the corm, the … and expertise. Their final confirmations gave us the thumbs up to go public with the big news that Spike would soon blast into bloom! Like first-time parents, we are learning as we go. I …
Type: Blog
… tend to name men. Rarely do they mention some of the amazing women who have opened the door for so many of us following in their footsteps: marine biologist Rachel Carson, conservationist … that they have their own hashtags: #YAMMM (Yet Another Mostly Male Meeting) and #Manel (short for “male panel”). However, as difficult as it has been for women in science generally, it has surely been much, much harder for women of color and other …
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. Part of Weaver's houseplant collection, grown under grow lamps in his basement. Weaver's dog, Pepin, isn't so sure about the monstera coming along for the move. Weaver's trunk-load of houseplants. Research state restrictions for plants “First …
Type: Blog
