… for science fair projects and sometimes wait until the last minute to do their experiments. We in the Education Department of the Chicago Botanic Garden are committed to helping make science … ideas for studying plants. A no-brainer botany project is testing germination of radish seeds in different conditions. Radish seeds are easy to acquire, inexpensive, large enough to see and … percentages. Cover with a damp paper towel; label the plates. Treat the seeds the same way in every respect except for one thing: the condition you are testing. That condition is your …
Type: Blog
… When I was growing up, there were certain animals I was saddened to think I would never see in my lifetime. There were those species that had become extinct, of course, like passenger … they were functionally extinct for me. Birds like the prairie chickens, barely holding on in postage stamp-sized grasslands that we had not yet converted to something “useful.” Peregrine … didn’t see them, no matter how hard I tried. As a kid I thought these kinds of losses were in the past. Unfortunately, the loss of species has not stopped, or lessened, but is increasing …
Type: Blog
… nursery supervisor. Many of the Garden's more unique and difficult-to-source plants are grown in the nursery. Raue started working at the Garden in 1986, as a horticulture intern rotating through different departments. Following her internship, in the next seven years, Raue worked as a horticulturist for the Farwell Landscape Garden, Native …
Type: Staff bio
… ‘Jet Black Wonder’ has unique black spots and pink- tinged flowers. Arum first emerge in the late fall. The broad, arrow-shaped leaves of Arum italicum are highly ornamental and sturdy—quickly perking up after hard freezes, providing a welcome spot of green in the winter garden. Throughout the winter, they remain green and full, providing a welcome burst of green in the winter garden. In the late spring, they send up creamy white flowers that resemble calla …
Type: Blog
… and early this summer the fortune was found. Standing on the far side of a hummock swamp in Delhaas Woods in Bristol, Pennsylvania, Andrew Bunting had located a unique magnolia tree population on the … this is where the story begins. Andrew Bunting collecting sweetbay magnolia samples in Delhaas Woods, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Bunting, the former assistant director and director …
Type: Blog
… at the Garden. While managing some tall vegetation on the gravel hill of the Dixon Prairie in summer 2016, I noticed something I have not seen in a while. It was a thistle! Hill’s thistle ( Cirsium hillii ) Hill’s thistle ( Cirsium hillii ) … Cirsium canadensis ), which is a non-native weed that is commonly seen along the roadsides and in your garden. What I stumbled on was Hill’s thistle ( Cirsium hillii ), considered rare in the …
Type: Blog
… to line them with a plastic bag or insert a plastic cup or pot. If you want to keep the plants in this container for any length of time, you’ll need to provide drainage or the roots will rot. Follow directions from Tim Pollack for planting a terrarium in this YouTube video . You may have to alter the container to make it work. I had to take apart a toy drum to turn it into a planter for beets. (Beets in a drum—get it? If you want to impress, don’t shy away from puns, references to popular …
Type: Blog
… background. Most perennials are deciduous. They go dormant when their above-ground parts die in the fall and then rely on the energy and nutrient reserves stored in underground roots during the winter. Why do they stay green so long? Well, evergreen leaves contain what’s called lignin— the same polymer in the cell walls of woody plants—throughout their veins and surrounding tissues. This makes them …
Type: Blog
… that only one of us had ever tasted before: powdered orchid roots. A traditional winter drink in the cafés and restaurants of Turkey, salep is made from the tuberous roots of orchids—specifically, terrestrial orchids in the genus Orchis . Dried and powdered, the resulting flour is combined in a drink mix with other ingredients, much as hot chocolate or chai spices would be: sugar, …
Type: Blog
… D.C., to Japan and finally here to the Chicago Botanic Garden, where I am the curator in charge of the Bonsai Collection , which is known as one of the best of its kind in the world. Shortly after I purchased my first tree, I started learning about bonsai and joined a prominent bonsai club in Gainesville. In 2006, Gainesville (home of the Gators) hosted the State Bonsai Convention. …
Type: Blog
