… Bonsai are often given as gifts around the holidays. Unfortunately, many of these trees don’t survive very long. In this blog, I will … increase the humidity and prevent leaf loss. Providing an evaporation tray is another good way to provide supplimental humidity. Avoid putting trees where forced air heat will blow on … experienced. Bougainvillea bonsai Bouganvillea are another popular bonsai species. They are best known for their paper-like flowers in a variety of colors. Though a tropical plant, they …
Type: Blog
… available at garden centers and through mail order nursery catalogs, but sell out quickly, as the idea has captured the interest of home gardeners, farmers, and professional greenhouse … of one plant (called a scion) onto another plant (called a stock). The rootstock is thought to impart disease resistance and increased vigor to a less vigorous—perhaps heirloom—tomato … rate! Much to my relief, the lone survivor was a superlative tomato plant in almost every way. Oh, what a strong tomato we had! My excitement rose—what if heirloom tomatoes could be as …
Type: Page
… Home gardeners can sympathize: not every seed that is planted grows. This truth extends to restored prairies that are grown from seed mixes, according to Rebecca Barak, Ph.D., who completed research examining the success of individual species within seed mixes, and their combined potential to power up to … transect in each study prairie, and marked off a large circle every 5 meters along the way. Within the circle, she and her collaborators counted all the plant species they could find. …
Type: Blog
… I look forward to seeing every season. In spring, I watch for “mighty plants” that emerge from the ground with enough force to heave the soil above ground. These botanical weightlifters—the … For example, how many bean sprouts will it take to lift a coconut? I want to find a standard way to measure seed strength. Second, I want to establish a reliable method for … it for their own investigations without going through the awkward phase of figuring out the best way to do this. …
Type: Blog
… form of therapy. At one extreme you have professional horticultural therapists working within the Chicago Botanic Garden's Buehler Enabling Garden ; at the other, you have gardeners simply … on the Prize Planting bulbs can be good therapy too where I use my imagination in a different way. The ground is always rock-hard in the fall, and if I couldn't visualize the end result of my … to do but sit back in an easy chair and dream about next spring? Armchair gardening is at its best with a garden catalog in one hand and a wish list in the other. The catalog should be …
Type: Plant Info
… As plant collectors, we spend a lot of time and energy researching the flora of the areas we are going to visit. We search out areas of the world where the climate is similar to that of the midwestern … scientific community until we managed to get lost and found it in the process of working our way back home. Paeonia tenuifolia in the remote and sparsely populated Vashlovani Reserve; the …
Type: Blog
… that folding 1,000 paper cranes, one for each year, can make a wish come true. So it is that the crane is the symbol of longevity and good fortune. Fast forward to the turn of the twenty-first century, when Ray Wilke, a devoted volunteer in the Elizabeth Hubert Malott Japanese Garden, decided to make origami cranes as a take-away …
Type: Blog
… Standing guard along the western shore of Lake Michigan, the ravines are a naturally engineered filtration system from land to water. Curving up from the flat lands of Illinois and arching alongside the coast into … a rapid assessment, is the third piece of a larger ravine-management toolkit that includes a way to evaluate erosion and stream invertebrates considered to be indicator species. The toolkit …
Type: Blog
… spicata ) is becoming more popular with gardeners for perennial, meadow, and prairie gardens. The thistle-like, reddish-purple flowers are borne in clusters along tall spikes, somewhat … is grassy-looking at the base of the flower spikes; the spikes have smaller leaves all the way up to the tip. Floristan violet is a consistent rich orchid color. Use it as an accent in the formal garden, or plant it in wet meadows or at marsh edges. It is one of the best plants for butterfly gardens and is a beautiful, spiky addition to prairies or meadows. …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
… white single roses appear in profusion from mid-June through frost on a rose that needs little to no care. No pruning. No spraying. No deadheading. No winter protection. And minimal pruning. … sun. Since it tolerates salt as well as heat, you can even use it in a parkway planting. For best performance, keep the soil reasonably moist, and apply a slow release fertilizer in early spring. …
Type: Garden Guide Plant
