… designer Bunny Williams of Bunny Williams Interior Design at Get Growing Weekend. We spoke to her about her potted paradise design. Q: Describe your process for designing your container. What makes a good container? A: One of the things I’m always … 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 …
Type: Blog
… Some vegetables are more satisfying than others when it comes to harvest. Parsnips are in that category. The sun was out, the air was crisp, and the nights were frosty: parsnip weather. Cold weather is actually a good thing for parsnips—in fact, they need it to convert the starch in their roots to sugar, transforming them from lowly, nose-turned-up roots …
Type: Blog
… “Can a Venus fly trap bite off your finger?” Jose asked, on a virtual field trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden. With an overhead camera, I zoomed into the Venus fly trap to show him that the plant’s snapping mechanism is smaller than the tip of my finger and not … about and get engaged with nature. The hands-on component is key. After a teacher signs up for a field trip, we deliver kits of materials for every student. Students pick up the kits at …
Type: Blog
… Botanic Garden. A room in the basement of the Regenstein Center is the hive of repair activity for the Model Railroad Garden. There are also ghost trains for Night of 1,000 Jack-o’-Lanterns . … keep the repair shop busy year-round. This summer, a few of our younger visitors got a chance to interview our engineers. View the video on YouTube here . The work is crucial. The Model … railroad cars and 125 engines, and during the season, they run on a punishing schedule: eight to nine hours a day, seven days a week. “The trains are not designed to operate the way we …
Type: Blog
… Building campfires? Baking bread? In these disorienting times, there’s a growing movement to embrace such pursuits as a way to get centered, to lead a more simple, slower life. It has been called #cottagecore, but really … shirt and get glowin’: Forget the pricey pumpkin lattes Put together a quick, seasonal meal for someone—try pumpkin bisque , with walnut bread , and a corn and nopales (cactus leaves) salad …
Type: Blog
… rather papery, but spongy and protective, it’s a one-way water barrier that allows moisture to soak in—and keeps it from oozing out. If the velamen appears dried or rotted, it should be stripped off up to where it’s healthy and white, leaving the wiry inner root to help stabilize the plant once … be contained in its pot. Roots growing out of and over the edge of a pot signal that it’s time for re-potting—which gives you the opportunity to examine your plant for overall root health. …
Type: Blog
… Botanic Garden with someone special. The food’s been great, and the music sounds terrific…time to grab his/her hand and head out for a romantic 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 …
Type: Blog
… One of my summer interns found a little plant, under a bunch of big plants, and we thought for a second it might be the same as the big plants, but it is definitely different. It’s our … guidebooks for what seems like forever. “Is it this one?” we ask each other, pointing to pictures in the book where the leaves kinda sorta look like our little plant. Finally, we flip through the book one last time, and it seems to open all on its own to the right place. It’s called water horehound ( Lycopus americanus ). We …
Type: Blog
… the trees have dropped their leaves, the scenery appears brown and boring UNLESS you know what to look for. I’m talking about tree bark. Learning to identify trees by their bark can be a fun winter challenge. For starters, I’d like to share …
Type: Blog
… cleanup of garden beds as the mulch and leaves in the beds will provide some protection to any early growing perennials when the weather eventually turns cold again. Raking leaves off the lawn and cutting back perennials are all fine to do now providing your garden soil is not too wet. Early flowering bulbs like snowdrops at the … of the garden with more pronounced growth, they might benefit from a light layer of mulch. For the most part, though, there is nothing special for most gardeners to do in their perennial …
Type: Blog
