… productive small-space garden. The cycle of selecting seeds or small plants, digging a garden for them, nurturing the plants, harvesting the bounty, and eating the delicious, nutritious final … source and easy to access, since food crops require hands-on tending, watering, and monitoring for problems—as well as daily checking on how big and colorful those veggies are getting! Start … A simple drawing of the garden is visually helpful and shows exactly how much space you have for each plant. This will prevent over-purchasing at the garden center. To prevent the tallest …
Type: Plant Info
… others feature thistles and brambles, as well as bindweed, nettles, and red campion. Known for its fabulous floral displays and glorious garden designs with state-of-the-art plants, the … of a garden or neighborhood and well behaved in another. The Garden does offer alternatives for many invasive plants. There can be a happy medium when it comes to dandelions. Lawn “Mow How” … inches tall before the first cut. You’ll have less maintenance during May, and the bees will visit clover and dandelion blossoms, but when it comes to cutting the grass for the first time, …
Type: Blog
… with the diverse plants appropriately themed to each specific garden. A fine starting point for this walk is the Great Basin, the Garden’s central lake, which is surrounded by gardens that … the roses, irises, daylilies, bulbs, and sages are massed by the hundreds, even thousands, for their color impact visible across the water. This time, too, is when the waterlilies and … is every gardener’s dream. Look and listen for all our water sources on your next Garden visit. …
Type: Walks
… Resale stores, antique shops, and garage or estate sales can be rewarding if you’re looking for inexpensive, unusual containers to hold your plants. The only caveat is that if the container … pots that sit on narrow trays to catch any water. The windows face south and are perfect for her sun-loving succulents planted in old empty spice tins that have a few drainage holes in … ( Streptocarpus ), nerve plant ( Fittonia ), and money plant ( Pilea ). And, the next time you visit the Garden, stop by the Greenhouses where fragrant flowering plants, seasonal plants, and …
Type: Plant Info
… than a blooming apple tree growing against a brick wall — but it's also an effective technique for producing an ample crop of fruit in a small space. You don't need an orchard to grow apple … or spurs, that will ultimately produce apples. Mail-order catalogs are often the best source for selecting trees to espalier. Popular varieties hardy to the Chicago area include 'Northern … the end buds that are more likely to produce leaves and stems. Before attempting espalier, visit the Chicago Botanic Garden's Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden to study the many examples …
Type: Plant Info
… there’s always something to see, something different.” Bundle up, grab your camera, and come for a visit. Composing a winter photo is a lot like writing. There’s a story that you tell with the … branch evenly coated in snow as the sun makes everything sparkle—but that's not an excuse for leaving your camera at home.” Indeed. Nina Koziol is a garden writer and horticulturist who …
Type: Plant Info
… the floriculturist who had raised Spike from a seed, peeked inside the frilly spathe to check for pollen. “If there had been pollen, it would have been all over my hand,” Still said. Pollen’s … tubes, paintbrushes and a “scoopula” (to collect pollen). At 10 a.m. today, staff gathered for the delicate procedure. Pollak and Still fist bumped…and the operation began. As Still began … and director, explains Spike’s spathe to a young visitor. For more information please visit our titan arum page . …
Type: Blog
… May is the month to look for warblers, vireos, thrushes, sparrows, and some shorebirds, as they migrate through the … the weather report if you want to see these beauties while they are passing through. The good news is that there are a few warblers that actually nest in our area, so if you miss them during … but its song sounds like one. Join me and #birdthepreserves. My top five migration places to visit in the spring are the Chicago Botanic Garden, Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary (the magic …
Type: Blog
… Persistence can be a good trait for prairie plants. Take this tale of the return of the Hill’s thistle ( Cirsium hillii ) to the Dixon Prairie at the Chicago Botanic Garden. I’m the assistant ecologist for the natural areas at the Garden. While managing some tall vegetation on the gravel hill of … prefers drier prairies with less competition from taller plants. A number of species of bees visit and pollinate this plant. The plant is believed to be monocarpic, which means the plant …
Type: Blog
… The aggressive root systems of these plants can go down 6 to 7 feet into the soil and travel for many yards underground before surfacing in another spot. These extensive root systems make … thistle Cirsium discolor Pasture thistle Image By Fritz Flohr Reynolds - https://www.flickr.com/photos/fritzflohrreynolds/15143788606, CC BY-SA 2.0, … being impaled by the spines. As you might imagine, the spines provide effective protection for the plants against herbivores. They tend to increase in pasture land, due to the fact that …
Type: Plant Info
