… of mint —this year, I’m growing peppermint, catnip, banana mint, and pineapple mint. Rich in nutrients, mint is both delicious and medicinal, known for easing both digestion and … Mint can also relieve a runny nose by clearing congestion. A perennial herb that thrives in both sun and shade, mint is a vigorous grower and should always be grown in its own pot—plant it in a raised bed or in the ground at your peril. If you do so, it will …
Type: Blog
… beautiful flower, commonly called the lady’s slipper orchid. The first story has its roots in the ancient Greek myths. Flower legend says that the goddess Aphrodite (Venus to the Romans) … with the handsome mortal Adonis, when a powerful storm forced them to seek shelter together in a cave. Love ensued. Post-storm, the lovers ran off—Venus, minus one slipper. A mortal human … calceolus , was given it by none other than Linnaeus himself (Carl von Linné), who listed it in Species Plantarum in 1753. The great botanist packed a lot of meaning into that name: Cyprus …
Type: Blog
… stroll. Find the places where the two of you can hear the music across the water, take in a different view, and have a bench all to yourselves. Our top ten hideaways at the Garden: Stop and smell the roses. In between the entrance to the Krasberg Rose Garden and the Linden Allée is a tiny terrace, tucked behind a hedge. The chairs there are perfect for taking in the scent of the thousands of roses in summer bloom. Where light dances on water. In summer, …
Type: Blog
… In 2018, the Chicago Botanic Garden hosted celebrated designer Bunny Williams of Bunny Williams … plant a container, all of the plants are very small. But a month later when they’ve grown in, they’re at their full profusion. They look quite different. You have to think in advance about plants growing to varying heights. For instance, I always like to have something …
Type: Blog
… Just like magic, a ghost orchid ( Dendrophylax lindenii) appears overhead in a Florida swamp. Its pale roots extend like gloved fingers across the bark of a pond apple … approach to better understand the species’ uncommon lifestyle. During March 2016 fieldwork in the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, Johnson went deeper every day—even when it meant … looked past the plant and took a sample from the bark of its host tree. “What I’m interested in primarily is identifying the fungi within the habitat of these particular orchids,” said …
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… Chicago Botanic Garden, and the research project had me sitting on the side of a road at dusk in Pueblo West, Colorado. I sat there in front of a group of plants that produce lovely-smelling flowers, waiting for their impressive … conduct over the next five years—highlighted. So how did this one photo go from being taken in the spring of 2008 to being highlighted on the NSF’s website? How does a research project …
Type: Blog
… of all parents when deciding on their child’s first preschool experience. No. 1: Children in nature preschools learn by doing and with hands-on activities. You must be hands-on when you learn in nature. You cannot be a passive learner; you must engage. Most nature preschools do not put a … social, emotional, and creative development. Growing and planting teaches a valuable lesson in change over time, and sticking with a project to see results that may take a while to be …
Type: Blog
… Are you feeling winter blue? Do you feel trapped in cold and ice? Has your mood gone south, leaving you wishing that you could, too? What, with … a brisk walk any time, anywhere. But never is it as urgently necessary for my mental health as in winter. A winter walk is the cure for cabin fever. And more than that, it’s the way to reshape … winter. Winter doesn’t have to be a sentence to months of suffering. Once you start walking in it, you see it as a time for a brisk spins through snow-frosted landscapes; an opportunity to …
Type: Blog
… Perhaps you noticed the spiderwort, with its striking royal blue flowers, in the Dixon Prairie as part of the perimeter walk of the Garden. Or did you say cow slobbers? … has a unique story to tell. Tradescantia ohiensis , better known to most as spiderwort, blooms in late spring in moist prairies. Its brilliant, royal blue flowers composed of three petals contrast with its …
Type: Blog
… twofold, having positive and negative virtues. On a positive note, our soils tend to be rich in nutrients. But on a negative note, our soils are heavy and do not drain well. The soils at the … and are about to embark on another trial…biochar. Biochar has been used for thousands of years in the Amazon Basin of South America to greatly improve poor, unproductive soils for farming. The … process to create biochar. This process involved cutting and burning plant material in an incomplete “smolder” style, rather than complete burn. They worked the charred material …
Type: Blog
