Conservation scientist Jeremie Fant tells us about his attempt to restore Pitcher’s thistle to its native habitat. He and his team are studying the plant and its DNA to learn more about rare plant restoration and how to make it more successful.
Category: Plant Science & Conservation
Conserving plants is one of the most significant challenges of our time—and a major focus at the Chicago Botanic Garden. From studying soil to banking seeds, from restoring habitats and protecting endangered plant species to developing new ones, Garden scientists are fighting plant extinction, pollution, and climate change through diverse and exciting research.
Planting Begins in the Green Roof Garden!
Crews have started planting the Green Roof Garden! Emily Shelton, the garden’s horticulturist, shows us around the two 8,000-square-foot gardens and tells us about some of the plants they will be evaluating.
Sustainable Features of the Plant Science Center
Join us for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Plant Science Center with Bill Brown, the Garden’s vice president of facilities and planning. The building was designed using materials and systems to earn a gold LEED rating for sustainable design from the U.S. Green Building Council. Bill will tell us what that means for the Garden and how he and his team made it happen.
Creating Coneflowers
Here at the Chicago Botanic Garden, Dr. Jim Ault has developed and introduced many plants, including a series of coneflowers: Orange, Mango, and Pixie Meadowbrite. Jim works with plants that are native to the Midwest and are adapted to this environment, creating new plants that can enhance a primarily native garden. We talked with him about some of the coneflowers he is looking to introduce in the next few years, and how he goes about the breeding process.
Selecting and Evaluating Green Roof Garden Plants
How do you decide what to plant in a green roof bed? What will grow best? What will grow at all? We asked Richard Hawke, the Garden’s plant evaluation manager, about the plants they selected to evaluate in the Green Roof Garden. Talking in the shade of mature trees near the Plant Science Center, where the plants are being stored until they are installed, we learned what grows best in the clay medium of our roof garden, and what experiments we’ll be trying to grow in our first year of plant trials on a roof.