Amsonia tabernaemontana, that is, commonly known as Blue Star because of its star-shaped blue flowers in May and June. This is a plant that starts out small but gets quite hefty with time. The one in the front gets almost four feet high and three feet across. Flopping can be a problem after the flowers …
It is the season when the Common Violets (Viola sororia Willd.) are blooming. People have a complicated relationship with wild violets. We see them as charming and petite wildflowers, but also as voracious invasive weeds. Personally, I think that violets are fine in their place, which is anywhere other than my flower beds. I welcome …
So we all agree that wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), also called red columbine, is the most beautiful perennial flower for shade, right? Exactly. A friend of mine likes to say that columbine are like candy, you can never have enough. Certainly A. canadensis, native to North America east of the Rockies, is a sweet wildflower. …
Starry Solomon’s Plume is more properly known as Starry False Solomon’s Seal, but the people who write plant catalogues don’t like common names with “false”, it must drive down sales, so they came up with something with a more positive ring. I think they did right, because the other name implies that the plant is …
As I may have mentioned, starting last week and for the remainder of May I have to be out-of-town Monday through Friday. This is what we used to call a major bummer, especially given all that is happening in the garden. Yesterday I arrived home to find that the late season container tulips were blooming. …
This is a very stressful period for some garden bloggers (namely, me). On the one hand, we have had another glorious weekend and I am almost overwhelmed by all the wonderful blooms now returning to the garden, not to mention the new plants being installed. I want to write posts about all these developments for …
To paraphrase a former Illinois Governor, “It’s freakin’ golden, and I’m not gonna give it away for nothing.” If only he had been referring to the native wildflower Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea), he would never have gotten into so much trouble with federal prosecutors. And he would have been fully justified in placing a high …
This time of spring is better than Christmas, Hannukah, and all the other holidays rolled into one. Just like during the holiday season, delivery vans periodically pull up to the house. What’s better is: 1) all the boxes are marked “Live Plants – Fragile”; and 2) it’s all for me!!! Just in time for this …
I learned something the other day about native dogwood trees. There are two types you are most likely to find in the Chicago area: flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) and pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia). Flowering dogwoods are not common in Chicago, but you will see one occasionally. They are very hard to find in area nurseries. …
A recent post by Julianne Beck on the blog of the Chicago Botanic Garden (CBG) reports on an interesting new strategy for combating invasive plants. Specifically, CBG research scientist Andrea Kramer is testing a new approach to stopping the spread of cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) on the Colorado Plateau, which covers parts of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, …
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