Navigating the Wet Spring in Your Garden

Like you, the staff at the Chicago Botanic Garden has been tracking the recent rains. We know many of you are anxious to get planting done—it is spring, right? But we encourage caution and patience. Here are tips to help gardeners navigate Chicago’s spring: Wait until the soil dries out to get back in your … Continue reading Navigating the Wet Spring in Your Garden

Spring is for the Birds at the Garden

“Baltimore oriole,” my husband Chuck called out—and there it was, its orange coloring glowing so brightly in the morning sun that it seemed lit from within. The bird almost seemed to be posing for us, perching in full view on a nearby tree branch and bobbing its black head as it sang. Al Stokie, our … Continue reading Spring is for the Birds at the Garden

Spring It On—Spring Annuals for 2016

Did the striking Silver Fox foxglove make it into “the show” this spring? Who decides which flowers make the cut anyway for the unfurling of 75,000 annuals at the Chicago Botanic Garden? We’ll show you a few of our spring favorites that made it through the multi-level review process. “Behind all of these beautiful displays, there … Continue reading Spring It On—Spring Annuals for 2016

So Classy: Spring Wreaths Made from Flowering Branches

Budding and flowering trees and shrubs—redbud, plum, spirea, almond—are among the great joys of spring. Under the calm and creative eye of Field & Florist’s Heidi Joynt, we learned to turn those branches into lovely, living wreaths in a perfectly timed class at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Spring blooming wreaths included “delicate” branches like those shown … Continue reading So Classy: Spring Wreaths Made from Flowering Branches

Skunk Cabbage: Gross and Cool Herald of Spring in Chicago

Do you see something pushing up from the ground that looks like the claws of some creature in a zombie movie? Does it smell bad too? Happy spring! This charmer is the first native wildflower of a Chicago spring: the skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus). It’s a biologically intriguing, ecologically brilliant prelude to the wildflower riot about … Continue reading Skunk Cabbage: Gross and Cool Herald of Spring in Chicago