… hate, focusing on the top ten weeds most commonly found in gardens in the Chicago area. What is a weed? Essentially, it’s a plant that’s growing where you don’t want it to be. Weeds are … a thick mat and an extensive root system that overwhelms any garden bed—or even farm field. Get familiar with bindweed’s arrow-shaped leaf and search for the first tendrils at ground level … next year. An old-fashioned dandelion fork is a great tool for the job. And if you don’t quite get all the roots this year, let the survivors bloom for the bees next year before you tackle …
Type: Plant Info
… projector—using leaves. Rule number one with eclipses—and with the sun every day, actually—is don’t look directly at it with the naked eye . A fun way to indirectly “see” the eclipse is with a pinhole projector, and one of the best natural projectors is a leaf. Leaves often have … Event The Garden partnered with the Adler Planetarium to host a solar eclipse viewing event. Free special viewing glasses were available so visitors could safely view the eclipse directly. …
Type: Blog
… who fills homemade bird feeders with thistle in the Enabling Garden, Garden visitors can get close views of a northern bird species called the pine siskin. Gregarious little birds, pine … in about 13 days. Pine siskins could very well be on nests in Illinois in March! While winter is here, enjoy watching the antics of the siskins and their more common counterpart, the American …
Type: Birding
… “Visitors love them, and they have become our fall trademark each year,” he said. Pro tip: Get to the Garden early and take a selfie under the hayracks on the bridge leading toward the … in Japan. All told, we grew 6,965 mums for this year’s fall display; the bridge display is the most labor intensive. Mums in waiting, grown for fall displays Mums in autumn hues In …
Type: Blog
… developed for people’s gardens. My favorite, sweet black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia subtomentosa) , is a native species of moist to wet prairies and woodland edges. Although the flowers are very similar, the familiar common black-eyed Susan is a short (about 1 – 2 feet), often annual or biennial with simple leaves, whereas sweet … or ray) of an individual flower called a ray or ligulate flower. I know this is hard to get your head around, since the entire heads of many tiny flowers are arranged in a way that …
Type: Plant Info
… growing in containers including a special focus on Brazilian and South American varieties. Get harvesting tips. Watch demonstrations throughout the day. Demonstration Schedule noon —Pepper …
Type: Event for Calendar
… this benefit of keeping chickens: Earth First Farms, run by Tom and Denise Rosenfeld, is a local organic orchard that uses chickens as natural “insecticide.” Biddie Biorecycling Many … amount of organic waste. A mother hen teaches her chicks to forage. By fir0002 | flagstaffotos.com.au [ GFDL 1.2 ], via Wikimedia Commons An adult chicken eats around 9 pounds of food per … flock of chickens can turn all that vegetable matter from your kitchen into highly effective, free fertilizer. Chicken feet at work! These feet are made for scratching—and ridding your yard …
Type: Blog
… Tip 1: Work with the proportions of the space. In the low-to-the-ground containers, no plant is taller than 12 inches, and most are in the 3- to 6-inch range. Keep heights low, but allow for … small in this mix, with tulips as the largest in the bunch. Diminutive flowers—nemesia, bacopa—get their moment in the sun, and don’t disappear when they’re in the company of other … petals and fiery, red-orange color. As with daffodils, dig up tulip bulbs post-planter and site them in your yard come fall. (If the leaves are still green, you can plant the bulbs right …
Type: Plant Info
… as straight of lines as possible. We’ve learned that the straighter the lines, the easier it is to monitor the plots. With a team of about a dozen people, we planted seedlings using noisy … or not have had enough resources. To imagine these tiny seedlings turning into huge trees is inspiring. In one week, our team planted about 1,600 Joshua tree seedlings. How do we feel … Joshua trees will be saved. Maddy: It takes good ol’-fashioned manual labor and teamwork to get a big project done! Working side by side in the soil and getting to talk about life and our …
Type: Blog
… the entrance of the Instituto Health Sciences Career Academy (IHSCA). The program’s leader is Vincent Gomez, manager of horticultural therapy services at the Chicago Botanic Garden. “The … lessons about connecting with the natural world. “I didn’t know the environment itself is used as therapy and that sensory gardens could have a meaning and remind you of a memory. I … I want a bunch of plants.” These documentaries were supported by teaching artists from Free Spirit Media Inc. and will be showcased by The One Earth Film Festival presented by Green …
Type: Blog
