Home and Garden – Page 15

At the end of the growing season, think back on your garden through the growing season to make notes for improving it next year. For example, planting some colorful alliums might fill a gap between the last spring tulips and the first summer flowers. (Beth Botts/The Morton Arboretum)

Make notes now for next year’s garden

By Beth Botts

October 31, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

As fall swirls toward winter, spend a little time out in the garden taking stock...

By simply raking fallen leaves onto your garden beds, you can provide your plants with a healthy, protective, soil-building layer of free mulch. (Beth Botts/The Morton Arboretum)

Don’t let fallen leaves go to waste

By Beth Botts

October 25, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Nature never wastes a leaf.

Fall tree color at the Chicago Botanic Garden. (Jeff Carrion/Chicago Botanic Garden)

Peak fall color in Chicago area now on display

By Tim Johnson

October 24, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

When you understand the basics of fall color and monitor the weather, you will be...

Evergreens, such as this dwarf blue spruce, are vulnerable in winter and need water because they are not fully dormant. Water evergreens regularly until the ground freezes in fall. (Beth Botts/The Morton Arboretum)

Autumn care helps evergreens in winter

By Beth Botts

September 28, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

In the gray of winter, we’ll be grateful for the color of our evergreen trees...

Tobacco hornworm on tomatoes. (Julie McCaffrey/Chicago Botanic Garden)

Hungry tomato hornworm can be dealt with

By Tim Johnson

September 27, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

I saw your recent column about tomato fruitworms, and was wondering if this pest also...

Klara Mazur allows a monarch butterfly to land on her finger Saturday during the Lake Katherine Monarch Butterfly Celebration in Palos Heights. (Janice Neumann/Daily Southtown)

Lake Katherine Butterfly Celebration helps connect cultures

By Janice Neumann

September 24, 2025 at 11:40 a.m.

Monarch butterflies took center stage at Lake Katherine Nature Center in Palos Heights, where a...

Redbud (Cercis canadensis) is one of a number of native tree species that are suitable for Chicago-area yards and can be planted in autumn. Its spring blooms offer nectar and pollen to wildlife. (Beth Botts/The Morton Arboretum)

Plant a native tree to support wildlife

By Beth Botts

September 21, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

Every yard needs a tree. All the better if it’s a native species of tree,...

Surround a small tree with a 6-foot-tall barrier of hardware wire mesh supported by fence posts. (RJ Carlson/Chicago Botanic Garden)

Don’t let deer destroy your garden

By Tim Johnson

September 20, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

I just moved from Arizona to this area, and a neighbor advised me that deer...

For springtime color beneath a tree, plant early-flowering bulbs such as glory-of-the-snow that will have time in the sun to bloom before the tree’s leaves open to shade them. (Beth Botts/The Morton Arboretum)

Plant bulbs in fall for springtime beauty

By Beth Botts

September 14, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

The best time to plant bulbs is between late September and late October.

Tomato fruitworms are caterpillars that bore into tomatoes, making neat, round holes to feed on the fruit. (Julie McCaffrey/Chicago Botanic Garden)

A tomato fruitworm takeover in your garden can be tamed

By Tim Johnson

September 13, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

Tomato fruitworms are caterpillars that bore into tomatoes and other crops, making them unappetizing.

A bee looks for nectar on allium blooms in Oak Park on Sept. 9, 2025. (Brian Cassella/baiduhai)

Pollen season is lasting longer, worsening allergies and altering pollinators

By Adriana Pérez

September 12, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

Pollen has concentrated in the city over the past three weeks, mostly from ragweed. Wednesday...

Amanda Nugent works in her parkway garden in Wilmette on Aug. 25, 2025. She has spent years cultivating a garden full of native plants and flowers that attract more than three dozen varieties of native bees and wasps in her vast suburban garden. (Stacey Wescott/baiduhai)

Gaining ground: Native plants surge as gardeners try to save bees, butterflies

By Nara Schoenberg

September 11, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

Gardens benefit insect population, a vital link in the food chain and one that is...

Crabgrass can be identified by its wide leaf blade and light green color. (Julie McCaffrey/Chicago Botanic Garden)

To prevent crabgrass, maintain a healthy lawn

By Tim Johnson

September 7, 2025 at 12:03 p.m.

Crabgrass is an annual, weedy, warm-season grass that prefers the hot, dry summer weather.