Beth Botts – Page 12 –

When you plant a tree, make sure that the root flare — the areas where the trunk flares out into the roots — is placed at or slightly above soil level. (Beth Botts/The Morton Arboretum)

Give a new tree a good start in fall

September 7, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

While you wait for autumn leaves to fall, consider planting a tree. “If you plant a tree in early autumn, the soil will still be warm enough to encourage root...

Stiff goldenrod is one of more than a dozen native species of goldenrod that bloom with bright yellow flowers in late summer throughout Illinois, and none of them causes allergies. The real

culprit is ragweed. (Beth Botts/The Morton Arboretum)

Enjoy goldenrod and don’t fear sneezing

September 3, 2024 at 11:07 a.m.

If your allergies act up in late summer, don’t blame goldenrod.

Indigo buntings are among the migratory birds that depend on trees and other plants in yards, gardens, parks and natural areas as they fly south along the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River in fall. (The Morton Arboretum)

Make your garden a friendly rest stop for migrating birds

August 25, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

More than 200 species of birds fly through the Chicago area every autumn, following Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River south for the winter.

This yellow coneflower, shown by the shore of Meadow Lake at The Morton Arboretum, is a prairie perennial that is likely to do well in a sunny garden with well-drained soil. (Beth Botts/The Morton Arboretum)

Go native in your garden

August 18, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

Late summer is a great time of year to look for native prairie plants that might bring beauty and wildlife habitat to your garden.

By August, many leaves in the garden will have minor holes, spots, scorched edges or tatters. You can spruce up the look of the garden by snipping them off. (Beth Botts/The Morton Arboretum)

Here’s permission to be a lazy gardener as summer wanes

August 11, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

By the time August comes with its heat and humidity, many gardeners are ready for a break and so are many plants. “The growing season is starting to wind down,”...

Peaches and Cream™ honeysuckle is a woody vine with colorful blooms that is not considered invasive, like some other species of honeysuckle. (Beth Botts/The Morton Arboretum)

Not all honeysuckle plants are invasive

August 4, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

Their scent may be as sweet as honey, but for many gardeners, honeysuckles have a bad name.

The delicate blooms of seven-son flower appear in late summer on a large, sprawling shrub. (Sharon Yiesla/The Morton Arboretum)

Seven-son will bring eyes to your garden

July 29, 2024 at 6:04 p.m.

If you’re looking for a plant that will make your garden stand out, consider the seven-son flower, an unusual shrub that makes a splash twice each year.

During the summer, scale insects are immobile, appearing as bumps along a branch with a waxy coating that makes them impervious to spraying. (Sharon Yiesla/The Morton Arboretum)

Black mold on branches caused by magnolia scale insects

July 21, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

We enjoy magnolia trees for their beautiful early spring flowers, but in summer they sometimes get downright ugly. Gardeners may notice a fuzzy black coating on branches or a sticky...

Japanese beetles, like this one on a coneflower, can reduce the leaves of many plants to skeletons. To discourage them, don’t overwater the lawn where their larvae live as grubs. (John Hagstrom/The Morton Arboretum)

Beetle battle in your yard? Here’s what to do.

July 13, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

What is less lovely than a summer blossom? The sight of a Japanese beetle on that blossom, shiny as an oil slick. “We’re hearing quite a few reports about the...

Cuttings grafted onto rootstocks at The Morton Arboretum are a potential new life for a historic bur oak tree dating back to 1857 that had to be removed from the Lincoln Park Zoo. (Kris Bachtell/The Morton Arboretum)

Trees come and go, but you can help keep heritage trees alive

July 6, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

A big old tree speaks of history. Somehow, as cities rise, roads are paved and widened, buildings are torn down and replaced, as the very atmosphere of the earth is changing,...

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