… tissue between the upper and lower surface of the leaf, leaving the edges and surfaces intact. In order to occupy the incredibly thin space within a leaf, most of these larvae are flat and move their heads back and forth from side to side as they excavate the material in front of them. Usually, the adult insect lays an egg on the leaf of a host plant and when it … eat those plants. Many of these species of insect can be identified by the patterns they make in the leaf. The patterns may start out as very tiny trails in the leaf that continually get …
Type: Blog
… the expiration date for color and excitement at the Chicago Botanic Garden—and it shouldn’t be in your garden either. We asked Tim Pollak, outdoor floriculturist, and Cindy Baker, manager of … of color options for your garden. Phlox cultivars add shades of showy pink, lavender, or white in clusters of delicate-looking flowers. Their sweet fragrance will attract late-season … hummingbirds to your own backyard. Garden phlox are generally hardy plants and will grow well in sun or shade. Plant in midspring with a layer of mulch to retain soil moisture for maximum …
Type: Blog
… Pondering the Prairie Series Life in the prairie in the middle of winter is fairly uneventful; at least for humans who focus primarily on life above ground. Perhaps now is a good time to reflect on the diversity of life in a prairie below ground. All one has to do is drive across the Midwest and view the unending …
Type: Blog
… Tequia Burt to write about the importance of African American heirloom seeds. Every year in my garden, I grow at least one African American heirloom crop, partly to commemorate … to plant heirloom seeds that our ancestors may have carried from Africa to help sustain them in a harsh, unknown land? Here are a few African American heirloom seeds that you can try growing in your own garden. Hill Country Red Okra OK, I’ll admit that okra is not my favorite—it’s slimy. …
Type: Blog
… new curator of woody plants, is not shy about listing his top picks. Spending his first summer in Glencoe, Douglas is especially taken with the variety of oaks at the Garden. The … points out the deep purple leaves on the English oak tree ( Quercus robur ‘ Purpurascens’) in the meadow east of the English Walled Garden, and the cutleaf emperor oak ( Quercus dentata … ‘Purpurascens’) He favors the narrow, upright Regal Prince oak ( Quercus × warei ‘Long’)—in the rainwater glen on the southeast corner of the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Plant Conservation …
Type: Blog
… In the middle of the night, an 8-inch bundle of feathers and hollow bones projects a haunting, … the bird—an eastern screech-owl—could likely be right above your head (that is, if you are out in the middle of the woods at night). A year-round, common resident of northern Illinois, the eastern screech-owl (Megascops asio) is primarily found in woodlands; it prefers trees with natural cavities near a field with a stream or shallow river. …
Type: Blog
… Monarch butterflies have left their overwintering sites in Mexico and are heading back toward the Midwest, including the Chicago area. In the 1990s, hundreds of millions of monarchs made the journey each fall from the northern plains of the United States and Canada to forested sites north of Mexico City. In western North America, more than a million monarchs made a shorter flight to tree groves on …
Type: Blog
… April definitely does not always go out like a lamb. Some years, we in Chicago don't put away our sweaters until the end of the month. Here at the Chicago Botanic Garden, we recorded our coldest April in 2018, ever since we started recording temperatures in 1982. Our average high temperature in April that year was 48.1 degrees Fahrenheit, which is …
Type: Blog
… Interested in a healthier, happier life? Try connecting with the natural world. A new, technologically advanced body of research shows that spending time in nature can provide protection against cancer, high blood pressure, depression, stress, and more. Take a walk in nature to improve your mood and your health. A recent National Geographic article noted that …
Type: Blog
… of sending messages as a gift of flowers has flourished over the centuries. Popularized in the Victorian era, when public display of emotion was frowned upon, great effort and detail went into the choice of flowers presented in a bouquet. Each flower chosen had its own well-known meaning concealed in its size, shape, color, and even the way it was presented — by hand, singularly, or in a …
Type: Blog
