… It’s been another fantastic season at Butterflies & Blooms at the Chicago Botanic Garden. This is my second year working at Butterflies & Blooms, and I think it’s looking better than ever. The … Botanical (Own work) [ CC BY-SA 3.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons Butterflies & Blooms home is in the Regenstein Learning Campus . I can’t think of a more appropriate place for visitors to come to interact and learn about nature in some of its most beautiful forms. Being able to study and interact with nature has a profound …
Type: Blog
… lithophytes) and the resulting puzzle of how best to cultivate them. I first got interested in orchids in the 1970s, both from seeing some in the greenhouses at the University of Michigan, and also … wide flowers of an intense orange-red on a plant no larger than 3 inches tall. S. coccinea is a challenge to grow at all, let alone grow well, but its hybrids are much easier to cultivate, …
Type: Blog
… Terese Adamiec is the grower for outdoor floriculture in the Plant Production department. She focuses on growing and maintaining the annuals that are used in the display gardens for the spring, summer, and fall seasons. She also maintains the inventory …
Type: Staff bio
… In 2001, Plants of Concern was launched through the Chicago Botanic Garden to track the status of rare, threatened, and endangered species in northeast Illinois. A landmark program at the time of its conception, Plants of Concern has … an anonymous foundation keep the program thriving. Importantly, the data we collect and share is long-term and consistent for a significant number of monitored species. We send data to the …
Type: Blog
… century, when these and other waders were hunted for their feathery plumes that women wore in their hats. Since then, the great egret, standing more than 3 feet tall with a nearly 5-foot wing span, has become the symbol for the National Audubon Society, founded in part to stop these birds from being killed to extinction. Great egrets spend winter as far … waders including the great blue heron. A great egret ( Ardea alba ) fishes; in the background is a great blue heron. Photo © Carol Freeman During breeding season, a patch of skin on the …
Type: Blog
… Barbara Raue is the Plant Production department's nursery supervisor. Many of the Garden's more unique and difficult-to-source plants are grown in the nursery. Raue started working at the Garden in 1986, as a horticulture intern rotating through different departments. Following her …
Type: Staff bio
… Helen Bartlett is the horticulturist for Evening Island, which was designed in the New American Garden style of … of hillside, woodland, and meadow gardens, surrounded by lakes. She has a bachelor's degree in environmental studies from Knox College. Bartlett joined the Garden in 2013 as a seasonal …
Type: Staff bio
… Ever see a tree or even a weed and wonder what kind of plant it is? We’d love for you to stumble across the answer—right in front of you. Inspired by a movement by French botanists, my 5-year-old daughter and I decided to become street botanists for the day. We would identify plants in the neighborhood and write their names in chalk on the sidewalk. In the past year or so, …
Type: Blog
… Allison Pillar is the grower for indoor floriculture in the Plant Production department. She produces high-quality plants for display in the Greenhouses, Krehbiel Gallery, Garden View Café, and Orchid Show. She also produces plants …
Type: Staff bio
… In early May, when the leaves of maples are unfolding into a soft green, the Baltimore oriole (Icterus galbula) returns, giving his liquid “tea-dear-dear” song in suburban yards and forest preserve edges. Homeowners who put oranges and grape jelly in … Life Histories of North American Birds series, Arthur Cleveland Bent noted that the oriole is “perhaps the most skillful artisan of any North American bird.” Those lucky enough to see an …
Type: Blog
