… 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 …
Type: Blog
… in trees for shelter and protection from the elements. What you see as a messy clump of leaves is actually a structure formed from sticks and then lined with leaves and other materials to make … Are my neighborhood squirrels somehow related to the Three Little Pigs ? Since I know that is not the case, I started to speculate: Perhaps squirrels are attracted to that particular view. … branch over a lawn. Could it be that this spot also puts their predators at risk and therefore is actually a safer place to live? I don’t know! So, I started looking around to see if there was …
Type: Blog
… Chicago Botanic Garden. But to Jim Steffen , senior ecologist at the Garden, the oak woodland is a bustling center for natural processes and species, and may hold answers to unsolved … their presence was integral to the entire community of life in the woods. Carex bromoides  is one of many sedge plants essential to the woodland ecosystem. “I started getting more into how … natural community of the past, Steffen does aim to grow an oak woodland of today. “My goal is to increase the native species diversity and improve the ecological functioning that is going …
Type: Blog
… collections from diseases, pests, and weeds in an environmentally sensitive manner. Tiddens is a certified arborist through the International Society of Arboriculture and serves as the Garden's lead arborist in managing tree care and risk assessment. He is also the containment director for the Butterflies & Blooms exhibition and is responsible for butterfly health and management as well as the permitting process through …
Type: Staff bio
… & Blooms exhibition features a huge variety of live butterflies. One interesting example is Caligo atreus, also known as the yellow-edged owl, or our favorite: the magnificent owl. When the butterfly is resting, the eyespots of Caligo atreus  are clearly visible. Photo by Stuart Seeger via Wikimedia Commons This blue beauty is in the genus known as the owl butterflies ( Caligo ). They’re called owl butterflies because …
Type: Blog
… School of Landscape Architecture of Versailles. For me, work in landscape architecture is the best way to unite many different and interesting fields, such as art, sociology, and … Designing spaces where people will live and have an emotional connection to their surroundings is my way of creating happiness. I chose to do an internship in the United States to broaden my … the gardens were designed like the links of the city, and learned one of the reasons for this is Chicago’s motto, Urbs in horto , which means “city in a garden.” Through my internship at the …
Type: Blog
… pop up out of nowhere? Mushrooms can appear magical—seeming to pop up overnight. This is part of their mystique. The mushrooms we see are the spore forming part of the individual—analogous to an apple on an apple tree. Most of the individual is comprised of a mass of microscopic threads ( hyphae ), known as the mycelium that grows in the … mycelium growing if you pull up a mass of downed leaves or among wood chips. The mycelium is the long-lived part of the individual that absorbs nutrients and water. Depending on the …
Type: Blog
… deeper (literally and figuratively), and you’ll find the reason for that slope: the “hill” is actually the remnants of a glacier. Its proper name is the Highland Park Moraine. It’s one of a series of five, collectively called the Lake Border … path included much deliberation about the plants that were already growing at the site. As construction neared, Garden ecologist Jim Steffen reached out to the Glencoe Friends of …
Type: Blog
… a pantry item. They’re a labor of love, made with a special ingredient: broomcorn. Broomcorn is a type of ornamental grass used to make specialty brooms, a passion Spannagel discovered … broomcorn broom-making. We caught up with Spannagel to learn a little about his craft: What is broomcorn? (Spoiler: It’s not corn) Broomcorn ( Sorghum vulgare var. technicum ) is an annual ornamental grass. It has no “ears” or “cobs,” and it can grow anywhere from 12 to 14 …
Type: Blog
… until late May, due to temperature requirements.  This crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia)  is continuing to respond very favorably to the root work we did. This crape myrtle ( Lagerstroemia ) was the focus of my previous post on repotting . It is continuing to respond very favorably to the root work we did. Crape myrtles are a genus of … trees or large shrubs. Some varieties are deciduous, and some are broadleaf evergreens—this is a deciduous variety. Crape myrtles are most famous for their flowers, which grow as clusters …
Type: Blog
