… short shower only washes the dust off the leaves. A rain gauge placed in an open area, away from buildings, fences and trees, provides a true picture of how much rain reaches the soil. In … as well. 4. A Soil Thermometer If you grow edibles, a soil thermometer will give you a head start on spring crops. Seeds need specific soil temperature ranges for proper germination. For … last year, high temperatures in the Chicago area during late March through mid-April ranged from 69°to 73° degrees, and the soil had begun to warm. (Once the seeds germinate and leaves …
Type: Plant Info
… that’s just for you. How to Settle into Your Sit-Spot Try to visit your sit-spot once a week. Start with a five-minute visit and build from there. After you turn off your phone and get settled, take three deep breaths. Breathe in …
Type: Blog
… dedicate this Smart Gardener to the story of how bees actually produce the honey that you eat from the flowers that you (and your neighbors) grow. It’s a missing link that gardeners don’t … carbohydrates that bees need. While searching for and collecting nectar, bees spread pollen from one plant to another. This mutually beneficial relationship has co-evolved over millions of … gathering their body weight in nectar. Having stopped at many flowers (the “busy bee” movement from flower to flower on a single plant or crop), the bee flies back to the hive. Nectar delivery …
Type: Plant Info
… and with candling in both spring and summer. What’s candling? In spring, we all know things start to grow again: seeds sprout, perennials push out growth from the roots, and trees break dormancy. In pine trees, these shoots of new growth are called “candles.” When we candle, we break off part of the new growth to stimulate growth from lower nodes. (In other plants, we often refer to this as “pinching.”) A closeup of this …
Type: Blog
… all in Plant Evaluation Notes #25. While they found that some varieties spread quickly, moving from attractive mounds of green foliage to more of a ground cover after merely a few seasons, … spring, early summer, and late-summer garden? This foliage remains relatively healthy and free from insect or disease problems. What might mar the edges of the leaves are poor drainage or … select the nonflopping cultivars for this purpose). Depending the cultivar, anemones can grow from about 2 to 4 feet. The longest to bloom topped out at more than 60 days, with some plants …
Type: Plant Info
… I scratch my head and wipe the sweat from my brow. One of my summer interns found a little plant, under a bunch of big plants, and we … horehound ( Lycopus americanus ). We cheer! Now that we know this little plant’s name, we start to see it everywhere. I’ve been working all summer with a fresh-faced team of undergraduate … one another. While most people would feel comfortable declaring that an elephant is different from a carp, an oak tree, or a shiitake, there are often much more subtle distinctions that can …
Type: Blog
… Russian variety with "a very salty taste," Hilgenberg says. Like many dark varieties, it comes from the area around the Black Sea. 'Cherokee Purple' is a burgundy tomato with a sweet, complex … in Germany by a Romanian refugee. Like many of the Garden's tomatoes, its seeds were ordered from Seed Savers Exchange . Not all heirlooms are sprawlers. 'Nebraska Wedding', another orange …
Type: Plant Info
… on Eggs Sylvia Shaw Judson Cast aluminum, 1959 Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden A gift from Mrs. Leonard S. Davidow Blue Heron Gregory Glasson Bronze, 1981 Home Landscape Gardens A gift from Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Bent Boy Gardener Margot McMahon Bronze, 1986 Krasberg Rose Garden A gift from Mr. Bruce Krasberg Canada Geese William Turner, American (b. 1935) David Turner, American … Birds on Eggs Sylvia Shaw Judson Cast aluminum, 1959 Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden A gift from Mrs. Leonard S. Davidow Blue Heron Gregory Glasson Bronze, 1981 Home Landscape Gardens A …
Type: Page
… Science and Action—provides long-term storage for more than 4,200 seed collections from 1,800 species of plants native to the tallgrass prairie, woodland, and wetland ecosystems of … The Seed Bank’s primary goal is preserving native plant species diversity. By collecting seeds from many different wild populations of plants across the Midwest, the Seed Bank helps preserve … Founded in 2003 as a partner in the Millennium Seed Bank Project , the Seed Bank accepts seeds from nearly 3,000 native plant species. Through the Seeds of Success national native seed …
Type: Research
… The start of the new year is an ideal time for homeowners to begin making plans for enhancing their … of a landscape design. They can also provide showy spring or summer flowers, a shady retreat from soaring heat, and exquisite fall colors or evergreen boughs. Trees don't need to be large or … which can span many generations, one tree typically absorbs one ton of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, all the while producing life-sustaining oxygen—which makes a simple change a …
Type: Plant Info
