… A lot of thought and work are put into raising bonsai trees and pruning them just so, but for many bonsai artists, their containers are just as important as the plant itself. “The pot and … and functional too,” said Chris Baker, curator of bonsai at the Chicago Botanic Garden. For all gardeners, proper drainage, size, and a suitable material are important considerations. … of the tree. Junipers prefer a well-draining soil, so this shallow container is not a problem for it, though more frequent watering is needed to care for the tree.” A raintree slab in the …
Type: Blog
… and Early Cretaceous age rocks from Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, China, are the source for a remarkable diversity of fossil plants and animals. The Early Cretaceous of Mongolia in particular is well known for its fossil dinosaurs and other vertebrates, but fossil plants from Mongolia are very poorly … from two different modes of preservation to maximize our knowledge of structural details for these plants and to provide more detailed reconstructions of “whole fossil plants.” We are …
Type: Staff bio
… Poland, to spend the summer with relatives. My grandparents’ farm was the home base for my adventures with cousins and siblings. We spent hours in the breezy northern hills, picking … at the grocery store. This strawberry is Fragaria × ananassa , which has only been around for about 260 years, and has undergone a lot of breeding in that time. Fragaria × ananassa is … by Philip Miller, a famous English horticulturist. He referred to it as the “pine strawberry” for its taste, which was similar to pineapple. If you’re taken aback by this assessment of …
Type: Blog
… Bridges are integral to the Chicago Botanic Garden, too, built as it is on nine islands. For a lovely summer evening, take a long walk together…cross these six romantic bridges together…and prepare for some memorable moments. Bridges are one of the most spectacular places at the Garden for photography—as countless brides, prom groups, families, and sweethearts can attest. Sunset …
Type: Blog
… degree in horticulture from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1984. He worked as a foreman for Campbell's Garden Center, installing and maintaining landscapes. During summer breaks from … Regenstein, Jr. School of the Chicago Botanic Garden. He writes a weekly gardening column for the Chicago Tribune and a weekly gardening tips column for the Daily Herald , and responds to other media request. He is a regular speaker at the …
Type: Staff bio
… 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
… restoration in the tallgrass prairie. My post-doctoral research is focused on seed mix design for restoration from both a social and ecological perspective. Using social science methods, I am studying the factors that drive seed mix design for prairie restoration managers. Using ecological data collected though observation and …
Type: Staff bio
… 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
