… native seeds for the national Seeds of Success (SOS) program this field season. The Garden is an active partner in SOS, led by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, to collect seeds for conservation, research, and ecosystem restoration. Under contracts with … participate in the Seeds of Success program. The goal is to collect 80,000 viable seeds per site, but the devastating heat and drought in the west has made the job especially challenging. …
Type: Blog
… This summer, when you walk through the Linden Allée, be sure to look UP—and marvel at the incredible trees above you. These 28 GREENSPIRE™ linden trees ( … linden, are actually pruned into a 270-foot-long hedge! Littleleaf lindens are native to Europe, central Russia, and western Asia. They are relatively disease-resistant and … in the winter for shaping, and once in the summer for detail grooming. The design is very uniform and creates a formal allée of trees. The sides are pruned at a slight, almost …
Type: Blog
… In November, I had the unique opportunity to go to the Portland Japanese Garden for a week-long training session—and what a week it was! I … of Japan. One of the two pines species most popular in a Japanese garden, the black pine is symbolic of the seashore and referred to as on-matsu (the male pine), because of masculine …
Type: Blog
… Even as the leaves start to turn in shades of scarlet and gold, we are thinking ahead to nature’s other big show—spring color. This year, the annual Woman’s Board Fall Bulb Sale is online only. You’ll be able to shop at your leisure for hundreds of varieties of bulbs …
Type: Blog
… heard in late summer and fall as chickadees gather in family groups and small feeding flocks to prepare for the winter. The chickadee’s song—translated as “Hey, sweetie,” (though you can’t often hear the third syllable)—is reserved for late winter, spring, and summer, when the bird is courting and nesting. Nothing brightens a mid-February day more than when a chickadee sings because to those who hear it, the song signals spring’s arrival. Because of its curiosity and propensity …
Type: Blog
… After a year of extraordinary challenges, we are looking forward to all that summer 2021 has to offer in the Lavin Plant Evaluation Garden. Here at the Chicago … ( Eupatorium perfoliatum ‘Polished Brass’), which at 68 inches tall and 96 inches wide, is one of the most pollinator-friendly plants ever. Eupatorium perfoliatum Astrantia Echinacea … plant is regularly monitored for its adaptability to the environmental conditions of the trial site, disease and pest problems, and the ornamental value of the flowers, foliage, and habits. …
Type: Blog
… trains rolling at the Chicago 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 … 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
… The first moth to emerge in the Butterflies & Blooms exhibition is the Atlas moth ( Attacus atlas) , which is native to Southeast Asia. The Atlas moth lives for one to two weeks, so its main purpose after emerging …
Type: Blog
… like something a scarecrow might wear. His bushy black eyebrows dance when he talks, bringing to mind the woolly bear caterpillars abundant in the fall. A playfulness—tinged with the … smile on another jack-o-lantern gives a mixed message. Obenchain describes it as an “I’m-happy-to-see-you-because-I’m-going-to-eat you” look. “I get a lot of, ‘Wow! I could never do that!’” … the shape of the pumpkin has the idea. The pumpkin determines what you’re going to carve. How is it going to sit? Is it a “Bert” or an “Ernie”? (A Bert has a more elongated shape, while an …
Type: Blog
… An exotic, tall-dark-and-handsome visitor has returned to the Chicago Botanic Garden this spring. Its bold blooms draw pollinators in as well as Garden visitors. What is it, you ask? Some of the most unusual plants our Production Greenhouse team grow for our … that produces giant spikes of flowers—but not right away. Echium take two years of growth to become the epic plants you see throughout the Garden. You won’t find these Dr. Seussian plants …
Type: Blog
