… Robin Carlson added the color inside Brian’s head. Now Brian, along with the rest of the team, is bringing his vision to life at the Orchid Show , from February 9 to March 24 at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Also, Orchids After Hours is back —on Thursdays from 4 to 8 p.m., the Show is lit for evening, and cocktails and light tropical fare are available for purchase. New this …
Type: Blog
… Cathy Thomas is the plant propagator for the Plant Production department. One of her responsibilities is sowing seeds for the annual displays on the Garden's grounds and for plants used in classes and camps. She is especially interested in the complex strategies that plants have developed to prevent the …
Type: Staff bio
… Tim Pollak is the Manager, Plant Production at the Garden, where he has worked since 2001. As part of his job, he is the grower and buyer of all the plants for the seasonal annual displays, containers, hanging … other media and appears regularly on local TV news segments to discuss gardening topics. He is also a regular instructor for the Joseph Regenstein Jr. School of the Chicago Botanic Garden. …
Type: Staff bio
… The first moth to emerge in the Butterflies & Blooms exhibition is the Atlas moth ( Attacus atlas) , which is native to Southeast Asia. The Atlas moth lives for one to two weeks, so its main purpose after emerging from its cocoon is to mate. Most moths do not have functioning mouthparts, and the Atlas will not feed at all. It …
Type: Blog
… Garden this spring. Its bold blooms draw pollinators in as well as Garden visitors. What is it, you ask? Some of the most unusual plants our Production Greenhouse team grow for our … nursery quonset, with temperatures of 42 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit all winter long. (It is called vernalization, and it is a process by which keeping a plant in colder winter temperatures induces a bloom cycle.) The …
Type: Blog
… song—translated as “Hey, sweetie,” (though you can’t often hear the third syllable)—is reserved for late winter, spring, and summer, when the bird is courting and nesting. Nothing brightens a mid-February day more than when a chickadee sings … with white cheeks makes it easy to identify. Photo © Carol Freeman The black-capped chickadee is considered a non-migratory species—it can survive the harsh winters of northern Illinois. …
Type: Blog
… responding to human impacts, such as climate change, on the environment. One of the projects is on nativars, or cultivated varieties of native plants. Researchers are studying whether … wild cousins. Understanding variation in pollinator attraction between natives and cultivars is critical to designing effective pollinator habitats. Do cultivars of native plants attract as … Red’, were more frequently visited by small bees and flies. The nativars research project is also looking at four other native plants in the Midwest and their cultivars: Eastern red …
Type: Blog
… yourself back from buying every type you see on the shelf, you also know that this feeling is fleeting. Those beautiful colors and unusual varieties are in their prime now, when the hot … couldn’t pick a peck of them. You have to pickle them yourself. Luckily, pickling peppers is perfectly painless. Hot or not Just how spicy do you want your peppers? Go ahead and take a … the outside of the pepper on the grill, in the oven, or with the broiler. Once the skin is blistered on all sides, let the pepper cool and the skin will slide right off. If you don’t …
Type: Blog
… rate to brain waves to protein markers—indicate that when we spend time in green space, ‘there is something profound going on,’” said University of Utah cognitive psychologist David Strayer. … mental health, musculoskeletal, etc.—simultaneously.” Other studies show that nature is essential to the well-being of children. Children learn and focus better, and are healthier … guidelines on encouraging nature play, the National Wildlife Federation says, “Nature play is defined as a learning process, engaging children in working together to develop physical …
Type: Blog
… the garden looks entirely different. The process that our staff uses to prep roses for winter is the same process you can use in your rose garden, too. Step 1: Prune canes. While early spring is the major pruning season for roses, end-of-the-year pruning protects the plant from winter … 2: Clean up leaf litter. This simple step can prevent major problems later, as leaf litter is a prime source of diseases and pest problems. As you can imagine, we have a lot of leaf litter …
Type: Blog
