This winter is so long and drawn out this year. Getting 6 inches of snow on Tuesday didn’t help. Luckily it is time for the Chicago flower and garden show! You’ve got until March 17th to go… go… go, you’ll be a happier individual for it. The streams, ponds, and beds of tulips were magical. [...]
Chicago was 60 degrees yesterday, Jan 29th of the year 2013. Wow! I road my bike without a jacket. Very strange indeed. I had put out some extra sunflower seed for the wildlife and spent a good amount of time watching this squirrel “plant” a bed. We’ll see this summer if his efforts produce a [...]
The Lakefront Bike Trail in Chicago runs from the Southside to the Northside of Chicago, about 18.5 miles. One of the most noteworthy projects going on is the wildlife sanctuaries. These spots along the trail are wild with native prairie plant life for birds, insects, and butterflies to feed from and find shelter in.
About a month ago, I rescued a day or two day old kitten left in our compost pile. It’s been my life hand raising little Eartha Kitty. Up to now, life has been in two to three hour segments for me, including sleep. Week three was a bit scary with a sickness and fever, but [...]
This past Easter Sunday, I hiked the trails of the Japanese Garden and bird sanctuary at Jackson Park. The Japanese Garden is a reconstruction on the original site of the Japanese Garden from the Chicago World’s Fair 1893. In the background you can see the Museum of Science and Industry, which is the only building [...]
This past week, I was in Florida and the Bahamas. I can’t wait to share the Edison house garden and lab with you. Edison spent a majority of his time in Fort Myers, Florida, finding an American source for rubber, with Goldenrod becoming the best solution. He became quite a lover of the tropics, [...]
If you were ever reading a paper or watching the news, you saw that Texas was on fire this past summer. With the most consecutive days over 100 degrees recorded, it was hot. It was also brown. Xeriscaping, choosing native plants that don’t consume any extra water, is popular, as it well should be, in [...]
The Chicago Park District has used castor bean plants intermixed with prairie grasses to make a striking entrance to their park building. With its deeply lobed palmate leaves and a height between 6-10 feet, it’s grand, but don’t eat it! THIS PLANT’S SEEDS ARE VERY POISONOUS, AND IT IS NOT RECOMMENDED TO BE GROWN IN [...]
This past weekend, I was up in the non glaciated parts of southwest Wisconsin. The land is hilly and picturesque, a wonderfully serene world.
Back in the Spring, I stopped in Wicker Park to visit Billy and Katie’s secret garden. They’d been given access to the garden lot next to their apartment. Eager to grow food, be urban farmers, and share the excitement, the two have been hosting garden Thursdays. I’ve gone a few times and it has been [...]