… Now that the leaves are turning and the days are growing shorter, if you’re tempted to pack away your gardening gloves…don’t! At the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden, we’re as busy ever. Our cool-weather crops include brussels sprouts, spinach, and toscano kale. Fall is a great time to grow vegetables—insects die off, weeds wither, moisture plentiful. If you don’t have much …
Type: Blog
… of its native habitat nominated the gladiolus for trial at the Garden: first, it is a winter-growing bulb in South Africa, which translates to summer growth in North America. Second, this plant thrives in moist soils in grassy areas—it was perfect for the site we chose in the Bulb Garden. Based on its initial success in our plant trial program, other …
Type: Blog
… my nostrils at an Orchid Show scented display one year. The sweet smell was a great way to show many Chicago Botanic Garden visitors that vanilla comes from the fruits of the vanilla orchid (Vanilla planifolia). As a docent at that Show, I was eager to show off the Garden’s vanilla plant (located in the Tropical Greenhouse next to the banana … cabinet. Currently, I am in the second year of my research of the vanilla orchid. Vanilla is an exciting plant to study because it grows as a vine with two different types of roots. These …
Type: Blog
… Thousands of visitors to the Orchid Show at the Chicago Botanic Garden have been delighted to see a special guest star at the Tropical Greenhouse: Alice the Amorphophallus is on display, in full and glorious fruit! Visitors are asking: why are some of the berries on …
Type: Blog
… that in mind, we’ve gathered a few stories about how orchids will do just about anything to attract a pollinator…along with a few soundtrack suggestions. A spray of Brassia rex … attracts a wasp that hunts the spider as potential food for its own larvae. Thus the wasp is fooled into landing on the flower—and picking up its pollen—while hunting. So cheeky! A … (Check out more on orchids fooling mating bees with this famous video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h8I3cqpgnA .) Oncidium Sharry Baby ‘Sweet Fragrance’ has dancing skirts and …
Type: Blog
… From ancient China to Greece, Europe, and finally the New World, the tradition of sending messages as a gift of … group. Even the number of blooms was important. While much of the secret language of flowers is lost in modern times, the traditional gift of roses on Valentine’s Day still expresses … you a happy Valentine’s Day with a virtual bouquet, and hope that if you were lucky enough to get some flowers of your own, you enjoy them at least until the snowdrops pop up to welcome us …
Type: Blog
… The secret is out; visitors to the Chicago Botanic Garden have unprecedented access to plant information, guides, and tours through a groundbreaking smartphone app, called …
Type: Blog
… Bakker) brainstorm, gather, and plan for their wreath that it took them just two lunch breaks to assemble and decorate it. Monica Vachlon (administrative assistant of horticulture) and Jacob … (for the bow) were all collected in the Fruit & Vegetable Garden. Circle, Ring, Wreath This is a BIG wreath—great for an outdoor wall. Flint. Dent. Sweet. Flour. Pod. Pop. Regenstein Fruit … and ‘Golden Bantam’—in a seasonless sunburst. The French saying on this wreath translates to, “the moon is my light and my joy.” Even the branches of this wreath are made of raffia. A …
Type: Blog
… As we are all adapting to new ways of connecting for work and play, students in Windy City Harvest’s Youth Farm program … a few obstacles, but discovered some positive surprises along the way. Windy City Harvest is part of the Chicago Botanic Garden’s urban agriculture program that strives to bring food, … It’s been lots of fun and it feels like a second family." Ordinarily, youth farmers work on-site and attend in-person workshops, five days a week for eight weeks. This year, because of the …
Type: Blog
… osprey would be a rare—if not impossible—sight in Cook County in the summer. But now, thanks to the ban on certain pesticides (including DDT), and the creation of osprey nesting platforms, the fish-eating bird is breeding again in local forest preserves. The osprey looks somewhat like an adult bald eagle, … an osprey (Pandion haliaetus) —with its 6-foot wingspan—soar above a lake, then plunge in to snatch a meal with its talons to bring to its young. Once endangered in Illinois, the osprey …
Type: Blog
