… shrub roses. Like all roses they need full sun, good air circulation, and good drainage for best performance. And as strong repeat bloomers, it's best to fertilize them both at the beginning of the season and again mid- summer. …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… Creamy yellow to pale-orange flowers are produced atop sturdy stems on this tulip belonging to the Darwin Hybrid section. 'Daydream' was released to the trade in 1980 from the Netherlands. It is a sport of 'Yellow Dover'. Darwin Hybrids are the best adapted tulips for naturalizing in the Chicago area if planted in full sun and well-drained …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… Lesser calamint is an aromatic, slow-growing, erect perennial with ovate dark green leaves that are 1½ inches long that smell like mint. It grows best in sun in well-drained moist soil. In summer, it produces 5 to 15 white-turning-to-light-lavender to blue flowers with the onset of cooler nighttime …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… consider constructing a raised bed outlined with durable, untreated lumber. The boxed bed is then filled with a perfect, lightweight mix of topsoil, compost, and leaf mold. Other small-space gardeners who choose containers to grow their veggies and herbs can use this same mix for their pots. Any gardener who suspects … the soil is contaminated should have a soil test taken prior to growing edible plants. This is best done when the soil temperature is above 50 degrees. …
Type: Plant Info
… IVORY HALO® Tatarian dogwood is a more compact and finely textured form of this suckering shrub species. It has medium green leaves edged in white as well as red stems in winter. In early May to June it produces flat clusters of insignificant yellow-white flowers which give way to whitish fruit. To maintain the red stems, the oldest stems should be removed each year. …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… June and extending throughout much of the remaining growing season. A native of Japan, this is the catnip if other species have not tolerated your typically heavy Chicago area soils. Insect and disease resistant it is a great pollinator attractant in the garden. Full sun provides for the best bloom. …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… in attracting flies that pollinate the flowers as they lay their eggs in what appears to be a dead animal. This native of southern Africa is not hardy outdoors in the Chicago region and grows best in full sun and relatively dry soils. The odor can be overpowering indoors. …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… ‘Fireworks’) explode with color in the Home Landscape Gardens during summer. Flowering best in full sun, drought-tolerant sundrops must have well-drained soil. This winter-hardy, summer-blooming perennial has exceptionally cheery, 3- to 4-inch flowers, and a loose, sprawling habit that softens edges of walkways and paths. Fireworks is selected for its dusky purple flushed leaves and red buds. …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… This large, nonhardy perennial comes into flower in midsummer and continues blooming up to frost. It is best used as an annual in Chicago-area gardens. Plant this salvia in sunny locations that will …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… the head identify this caterpillar as a true armyworm ( Mythimna unipuncta ), almost identical to the fall armyworm ( Spodoptera frugiperda ). A fall armyworm has an inverted Y-shape on its head and is found in larger numbers late summer/fall. Adult armyworm moths migrate north to Illinois from … control armyworms. When the larvae hatch in large numbers, however, they can eat their way across a lawn at an alarming rate. Healthy lawns are not usually permanently damaged as the …
Type: Plant Info
