… basics about male and female flowers. And then they started talking pollen. Flashback: What is pollen? Tiny squiggles of pollen emerge from the male flowers about three days after Spike’s … that needs to meet up with another flower’s female genetic material. Technically, pollen is a haploid or gamete, the cell that carries the male half of the plant’s chromosomes. The covering of a pollen grain is directly related to how the pollen travels to the next flower. That’s why wind-pollinated …
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… diseases or be browsed by critters. But the main reason that a perennial has evergreen leaves is to provide a place to store energy and nutrients while dormant. The leaves are tricky … on the north or east sides of a structure to provide shade in late winter because the sun is lower. Applying mulch will also help insulate the ground. The energy and nutrient reserves within evergreen leaves are used by new growth in the spring. This is why most evergreen perennials do not shed their original leaves until the fresh leaves have …
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… rare plant species that can be found there. The data, now quite valuable due to its longevity, is a treasure chest for land managers and others who are trying to better understand the system … guide for the ravines. She hopes it will be completed by the end of this year. Its purpose is to serve as a resource for ravine restoration and management long term. The plant-focused sampling method, called a rapid assessment, is the third piece of a larger ravine-management toolkit that includes a way to evaluate erosion …
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… wild and tasted like candy. We often brought some back to share with the family, but there is nothing quite like a strawberry fresh off the plant. Time lapse of a strawberry, … by Tomas ‘Frooxius’ Mariancik The Cultivated Strawberry The garden strawberry is the strawberry we most often think of when we think of strawberries. This is the strawberry from the clear plastic boxes you find at the grocery store. This strawberry is …
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… field of vision that helps it avoid predators. The most abundant dragonfly I’ve seen is the eastern pondhawk, with blue dasher dragonflies coming in a close second. I’m also seeing … as aquatic nymphs before they emerge into the beautiful winged insects we see on land, which is why you will often see them around water. They are fierce hunters in both stages. They don’t bite or sting humans, though. The common green darner dragonfly is one of the first dragonflies to emerge in the spring, and one of the species that can be found …
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… Fall bloomers are already stealing the show and, while they are colorful, it is largely due to their size. By the time many of these perennials bloom, they are so tall that … monkshood, and sneezeweed are all guilty of this unsightly phenomenon. Fortunately, there is a compact substitute for each of these bulky favorites. So, if you want to give your yard more … well-drained soil Little Henry sweet coneflower ( Rudbeckia subtomentosa ‘Little Henry’) is the petite progeny of Rudbeckia subtomentosa ‘Henry Eilers’. While 3 feet isn’t necessarily …
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… of big plants, and we thought for a second it might be the same as the big plants, but it is definitely different. It’s our first field day. We don’t know what this plant is called, and it’s a hot and humid summer day in Chicago, and we have been searching through our identification guidebooks for what seems like forever. “Is it this one?” we ask each other, pointing to pictures in the book where the leaves kinda sorta …
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… home to my quiet, tree-lined Chicago neighborhood, but one thing I miss about urban living is ample outdoor space. The back door of my apartment leads to a wooden fire escape—built after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 as a second means of exit from the building. The landing is wide enough to finagle furniture during moves, but doesn’t invite much summertime lounging or … for starting an herb container, no matter where you live. Find the right container: Drainage is key for healthy herbs, says Hilgenberg, so make sure to find a pot with holes at the bottom. …
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… recently experienced the fascinating bloom cycle with the titan arum Sprout. However, there is an additional denizen of the Araceae (a.k.a. Aroid, a.k.a. Arum) family with rare and … flowers of Japanese cobra lily have a spathe (pulpit) with a spadix (jack) inside. The pulpit is striped purple with white on the outside, while the interior is a dark, shiny, chocolate color. What is different about the blossom of a Japanese cobra lily …
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… In gardening, as in life, patience is a virtue. Twelve years ago, the Garden embarked on a mission to bring a rock star of the plant … Botanic Garden. The titan arum ( Amorphophallus titanum ), also known as the corpse flower, is the largest flowering structure in the world. When it blooms, it puts on a show like no … its display location . Native to the rainforests of western Sumatra, Indonesia, the titan arum is distinguished by its large size, odd shape, and terrible stench (hence its common name, corpse …
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