… Pondering the Prairie Series Graminoid is a term created to encompass all of those grass-like plants with narrow leaves and barely noticeable flowers. Yes, grasses and grass look-alikes do have flowers! All plants need to reproduce and they do so primarily by …
Type: Blog
… The Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden is the place to explore small-space gardening. Seven Basil Types Planted at the Regenstein … The bed is planted with seven very different basil varieties, laid out in a pinwheel design, and all grown from seed. It’s enough to make a gardener’s—or a foodie’s—head spin with plans for dinner…and for your own herb garden. Discover these varieties of Ocimum basilicum : ‘Dwarf Fine Bush’ …
Type: Blog
… by Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari in 1878. On August 6, 1878, he first observed the leaves and fruits of a plant (interestingly, August 6 is the date we put Spike on public view!) . Several weeks later, Beccari saw a flowering plant for the first time. He sent a few tubers and seeds to Florence, Italy, but the tubers all perished; a few seeds, however, eventually …
Type: Blog
… five years in late summer or early autumn improves the overall health, disease resistance, and appearance of your lawn. To prepare your lawn, mow grass to 1 inch and choose a high quality grass seed. Make sure that the seeds make contact with the soil for … for the seeds to make contact with the soil. These machines can be rented. Broadcast the seeds and lightly work into the soil, if necessary. Water regularly until the seeds germinate, making …
Type: Plant Info
… This clump-forming perennial grows to a height of 10 inches with partial shade and moist soil conditions. It has yellow-green blooms from May through August. It belongs in a …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… This shrub grows to a height of 4 feet with full sun to partial shade and moderate moisture conditions. It has white blooms that fade to pink from July to October. It …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… This shrub grows to a height of 4 feet with full sun to partial shade and moderate moisture conditions. It has showy pink blooms that attract butterflies from May …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… much larger than her body. Not much larger than a quarter, the ruby-throated hummingbird nest is an engineering marvel. This is all well and good until the eggs hatch. Growing young hummingbirds can double or triple the amount of room … get around this need for flexibility is that they construct the nest of soft plant fibers and then wrap the whole thing with spiderweb silk. This creates an elastic nest that has the …
Type: Blog
… Teaching Children and Grandchildren Valuable Lessons, One Seed at a Time Parents and grandparents are often children’s first and most important teachers. For 15 years, I have had the pleasure of teaching families with young children at the Chicago Botanic Garden. It is a gift to work in a garden with children because there is so much about gardening that we can …
Type: Blog
… arrival, one can’t help but daydream about greener pastures, or in my case, lawns. Now is the time for spring lawn maintenance. The main purpose of spring lawn care is to get the turf … the summer months. Cool-season grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass, perennial rye grass, and the fescues need to develop a strong root system to survive summer’s heat and dry conditions. There are a number of things you can do to ensure that your lawn gets off to …
Type: Blog
