My Garden Online Blog

The owners of this property have a lovely garden; festive holiday scenes and the locals flock to see it…

What is 940# and orange all over?  This spectacular specimen was on display at the Fruit and Vegetable garden at the CBG.

Walking through the Chicago Botanic Garden on a beautiful sunny fall day is a treat.  I’d like to share a couple of photos…

This fall is filled with fun activities for everyone.  September 10-12 is the Annual Roadside Flower sale and October 1-3 is the Fall Bulb Festival.  These events draw great crowds and terrific plant selections so come early!  For more information, visit the http://chicagobotanic.org/ website.

Looking for plant combinations for your planters – the garden is a great place to start.  Check out the photo I posted to the “garden inspirations” tab  – fantastic!

The sign says it all: Welcome

Last weekend I had the greatest experience working at Justin Trails resort in Sparta, Wi.  I learned about creating Shitake mushroom spores; how to search for Morel mushrooms (under elm trees); that honeysuckles dry up the nutrients in the ground making it really tough to grow other plants.  If you live in the midwest and want to experience a wonderful outdoor weekend, I think Justin Trails is the place to go.  It’s pet friendly and I promise your dogs will love it! http://www.justintrails.com/

I am thrilled that Woodward School and Alberta Rider have joined me on Twitter; I think their teaching method is so exciting and offers so much for the students in the area.  The Alberta Rider school will be restoring an acre of property to native plants and hopefully creating a wildlife habitat!  A website promoting an Oregon Better Living Expo provides details on both schools; please read up on these wonderful projects that can’t help but provide a healthy education for the kids!

http://www.betterlivingshow.org/Albertariderelementaryschool.htm

Woodward Gardens in Oregon is a student garden located at the Mary Woodward Elementary School.  The school has captured the beauty of the garden in a lovely collection of postcards shown on this site:

http://www.betterlivingshow.org/garden-themed-cards.htm

Please help support this wonderful project by ordering some cards ($1.00 each!!).

Local gardening centers have so much activity even during the winter months.  December is obviously a big month for holiday light shows and one of my favorites is at the Marie Selby Garden in Sarasota. Florida.  The plants and trees are magnificant during the summer but to see them light up with holiday lighting is really special.  Go to http://www.selby.org/ and  check out “Selby Lights in Bloom”. 

In the Chicago area?  Check out the Chicago Botanical Gardens “Wonderland Express”.  The Garden is decorated with thousands of lights plus it has a miniature train exhibit.  For more information, go to: http://www.chicagobotanic.org/wonderland/.  The garden will also have ice skating and snowshoeing this year (http://www.chicagobotanic.org/calendar/winter.php)!  Get some exercise and enjoy the beautiful sites!