Search

  • … by red fruits, which can be made into preserves if not eaten first by birds. Fall foliage is red. Viburnums are a versatile genus of multi-stemmed shrubs that are well suited to the home landscape due to their range of sizes and cultural adaptability. Some viburnums are noted for their fragrant …
    Type: Garden Guide Plant
  • … planting ideas and more As summer blooms fade, you’ll see mums everywhere—the automatic go-to fall favorites—but what else can heighten your containers and garden with color, texture, and … Here, Tim Pollak, manager of plant production, celebrates our seasonal mum. According to Tim Pollak, manager of plant production at the Chicago Botanic Garden, autumn offers ample … and keeps the display visually interesting late into the season.”   Dahlias Simone Gore is an assistant grower for outdoor floriculture in the Garden’s Plant Production department. She …
    Type: Blog
  • … program , aimed his camera at the fallout—dune willows almost fully submerged, others tethered to sand by just a few roots. “A lot of rare plant monitoring is just monitoring, and sometimes volunteers see things declining,” said Gretel Kiefer, manager … mosaic of uncommon prairies, savannas, and globally rare wetlands. “There is no ‘replacement’ site for Illinois Beach, nor is there a possibility to re-create such a unique ecosystem at such …
    Type: Blog
  • … Red baneberry is a tough Illinois native. In fact, it can survive temperatures to 30 below on the one hand, and … of tightly packed flowers, often followed by conspicuous berries. NOTE: Berries are poisonous to people and rabbits; harmless to birds and butterflies. …
    Type: Garden Guide Plant
  • … <p>At the beginning of March in Japan, 10,000 people come to the park where <em>Adonis</em> has naturalized. The sunny little yellow flowers may be just 1 … a carpet of them...thousands and thousands. It's the first sign of spring. And once bloom is done, the ferny mounds of foliage unfold. <p>Members of the <em>Adonis</em> family can be found from Sweden to North Africa to Japan. Some are perennial, spreading by rhizomes or stolons; others are …
    Type: Garden Guide Plant
  • … Ruby'), a half-hardy shrub with a more compact habit than other butterfly bushes. (Its top is frequently killed to the ground in Chicago-area gardens.) This selection came from the J.C. Raulston Arboretum in … Horticultural Society in 2008. Butterflies, hummingbirds, and honeybees are all attracted to the honey-scented flowers. Deer and rabbits, however, don't care for the taste of the leaves …
    Type: Garden Guide Plant
  • … with wavy leaf margins and abundant flower and fruit production typical of the species. It is reported to be a vigorous grower. Members of the genus Cornus , commonly known as dogwoods, are welcome in … -- be it flowers, fruit, foliage, and/or bark -- and their range of forms from small trees to suckering shrubs. The dominant display, however, varies among the species. Dogwoods are native …
    Type: Garden Guide Plant
  • … Littleleaf dogwood is a low and broad shrub native to China. Small white flowers that bloom in late spring/early … -- be it flowers, fruit, foliage, and/or bark -- and their range of forms from small trees to suckering shrubs. The dominant display, however, varies among the species. Dogwoods are native …
    Type: Garden Guide Plant
  • … at the flowers on this plant and you'll see that each flower has five petals but the flower is symmetrical. If you happen to be here when it has seed pods you'll see that they have a graceful curved shape, like the … After the flowers fade the plant bears the distinctive seed capsule. Johnson's Blue grows to about eighteen inches high and two to three feet width in full or partial sun making it …
    Type: Garden Guide Plant
  • … mallows, are prized for their use as structure in a perennial border. Everything about them is large, from their rich green, three-lobed lobed leaves to their immense flowers that appear mid to late summer. Growing into three-foot mounds of dark green maple-like leaves, ‘Luna White’ has …
    Type: Garden Guide Plant