Keep Growing – My Chicago Botanic Garden

You know it’s bad news when the troublemakers—such as Queen Anne’s lace, purple loosestrife, or another invasive species—start to take hold in the landscape. Imagine the sight at Illinois Beach State Park when a dense thicket of more than 20 invasive species took over a ten-acre utility corridor—and began to grow steadily toward 50-foot-high power lines.

To ComEd, which manages the utility corridor, the thicket was potentially hazardous. According to safety regulations, plants under such transmission lines should grow no higher than 10 feet to ensure that overgrown plants do not interfere with service lines and threaten power disruptions.

PHOTO: A ComEd employee examines a plant in the field, open plant ID book in his hand. — A ComEd employee does some plant identification in the field.

In 2010, ComEd turned to the Chicago Botanic Garden for help in managing the overgrown narrow leaf cattail, reedy phragmites, common and glossy buckthorn, and other invasive species. “We reached out to the Chicago Botanic Garden as a partner to research the transmission corridor and see, over time, with different maintenance practices, what would come back,” said Kevin Jury, senior project manager for vegetation management at ComEd. “We wanted to use the information to guide our practices and see if there was something we could tweak in our process to reap an economical benefit and a benefit for the environment.”

As a result, the Garden developed a pilot program to research ways to turn overgrown corridors into sustainable native landscapes. “We’re interested because ComEd is the second-largest landowner in the state, and improving the habitat could have a major impact on the whole region,” said Greg Mueller, chief scientist and Negaunee Foundation vice president of science at the Garden. “It fits the type of public-private partnership that allows companies like ComEd to be better stewards of their land and allows the Chicago Botanic Garden access to land for use as a research opportunity.”

PHOTO: Michigan lilies (Lilium Michiganense) — Michigan lilies (*Lilium michiganense*)

Now, in the program’s third year, plant life abundant nearly 200 years ago has reemerged with surprising vigor. Tall stalks of scouring rush—the same kind used by prairie homesteaders to scrub pots and pans—are growing under power lines alongside bright red cardinal flowers (Lobilia cardinalis), orange-petalled Michigan lilies (Lilium michiganense), and eastern prairie fringed orchids (Platanthera leucophaea).

Nearly 300 different plant species, including 225 native species and 40 newly identified species, have been recorded on six research plots. The plots are bounded by transmission towers and divided into three experimental conditions: two sites receive annual spot treatment with diluted herbicide solutions that control broad-leaved plants but protect grasses; two receive prescribed burnings every two to three years; and two sites are left unmanaged as experimental controls.

In addition to the current research sites at the state park, two new research locations are underway in Vernon Hills and Highland Park.

PHOTO: ComEd employees use a frame built of PVC pipe to measure a number of plants in a given square foot of prairie. — Two ComEd employees measure square-foot growth in the prairie.

When the research is finalized in 2016, the Garden, ComEd, and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources aim to implement the most effective approaches in ComEd’s ongoing maintenance of 3,000 corridor right-of-way miles and 5,300 miles of power lines throughout northern Illinois. “The lasting impact of this partnership will reintroduce, protect, and enhance native ecosystem locations throughout northern Illinois,” Mueller said. “We are hopeful the lessons learned from this collaboration can one day serve as a road map on how a groundbreaking public-private partnership can protect natural habitats beyond northern Illinois.”

Visit the Garden for World Environment Day on Saturday, June 7, and discover how you can make an impact in restoration and conservation.

This post was adapted from an article by Jeff Link that appeared in the winter edition of Keep Growing, the member magazine of the Chicago Botanic Garden.

When the glossy gardening catalogs come in the mail, or when you stop by to see what’s new at your local nursery, it’s tempting to dream—wouldn’t those pink-hued purple coneflowers be lovely in the front yard? Or what about that new, show-stopping snowflame hibiscus?

But before you grab your credit card, consider the pertinent question: which plant would work best in your garden? That’s where the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Plant Evaluation Program comes in. For more than three decades, the program has conducted scientific studies to determine which plants offer superior performance in the Upper Midwest and in areas with similar climate and soil conditions.

PHOTO: Overhead view of the bridge and gardens in mid-spring. — A view of the Serpentine Bridge and Plant Evaluation Gardens

“So many plants have a premium price, and if they don’t perform as expected, people get disenchanted,” said Richard Hawke, plant evaluation manager. “You’ll find what’s hot and new in catalogs and magazines, but I’m all about the tried-and-true. We’re here to tell the average gardener and the green industry how plants performed in our evaluations.”

Few plant evaluation programs are as large or as diverse as this one. There are currently 30 groups of plants growing in the Bernice E. Lavin Plant Evaluation Garden, a 2.5-acre site in full sun, and in the William Pullman Plant Evaluation Garden, which has perennials, vines, shrubs, and small trees growing in partial shade.

Plants are rated based on their ornamental characteristics, how well they adapt to the site, whether they are winter hardy, and how well they resist diseases and pests. “When we look at winter hardiness, it’s not just for cold temperatures but for wet soil, which can be very detrimental,” Hawke said. None of the plants is treated for diseases or insects.

The length of the evaluation varies from four to ten years based on the type of plant. Perennials are studied for four years, while shrubs and vines are a six-year study, and trees may take seven to ten years. “We observe and review them over a long period so we can say with fair certainty how the plant performs for us,” Hawke said.

The results are published in the Garden’s Plant Evaluation Notes, a series of reports made available to home gardeners and the green industry and available on the Garden’s website at www.chicagobotanic.org/plantevaluation.

The latest issue of Plant Evaluation Notes reports on Joe-Pye Weed. Click here to view the full list of plant evaluations.

A Joe-Pye weed cultivar, Eutrochium maculatum ‘Glutball’ in bloom

Hawke is also involved in evaluating the potential for some popular ornamental plants, such as maiden grass (Miscanthus) and smartweed (Persicaria/Polygonum), to be invasive. This is a concern not only for home gardeners, but also for forest preserves and other open spaces where invasive plants compete with native plants.

It’s easy for visitors to check out the plant trials underway—the Trellis Bridge connects Evening Island to the Lavin Evaluation Garden across from the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Plant Conservation Science Center, and there’s a new path within the evaluation site. “What’s great about the evaluation gardens is they are densely planted with things that you won’t necessarily see anywhere else in the Garden,” Hawke said. “You can see a group of different filipendulas or lavender growing side-by-side.”

The Plant Evaluation Notes are made possible in part by the Woman’s Board Endowment for Plant Evaluation Research and Publication. This post was adapted from an article by Nina Koziol that appeared in the winter 2013 edition of Keep Growing, the member magazine of the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Tag: Keep Growing

Power-Line Prairie

Trialed and True