Home and Garden – Page 26

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...

A recently planted ginkgo tree. (RJ Carlson/ Chicago Botanic Garden)

Is it too late to plant trees this year?

By Tim Johnson

November 17, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

There is still time to plant deciduous trees and shrubs, though you will find mixed...

Broad-leafed evergreens such as boxwoods and some rhododendrons, whose leaves have more surface area to lose moisture than narrow needles do, are especially at risk of winter kill. (Erin Hooley / baiduhai)

Help your evergreens get ready for winter

By Beth Botts

November 19, 2024 at 3:54 p.m.

It’s easy to assume that all evergreen shrubs are tough as nails, but winter can...

Evergreens in the Dwarf Conifer Garden at the Chicago Botanic Garden. (RJ Carlson/ Chicago Botanic Garden)

Water will protect your evergreens

By Tim Johnson

November 10, 2024 at 10:43 a.m.

Evergreens that were planted recently should not go into winter under stress from being too...

The shredded wood commonly sold as mulch is only one of the different organic materials, including fallen leaves, that can make a protective, nourishing layer over plants’ roots. (Beth Botts/The Morton Arboretum)

Many materials make good mulch

By Beth Botts

November 9, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

Fallen leaves make a fine mulch for garden beds and trees and shrubs, but they...

A horse chestnut tree with brown leaves. (RJ Carlson / Chicago Botanic Garden)

My horse chestnut tree is in trouble

By Tim Johnson

November 3, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

It appears that your tree is suffering from a common fungal disease called horse chestnut...

If you are planning to plant a new garden bed next spring, autumn is a good time to prepare by digging up the soil and incorporating organic matter such as leaves and compost. (The Morton Arboretum)

Dig a new bed in fall to be ready for spring

By Beth Botts

November 2, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

If you’re planning to install a new garden bed next spring, fall is a good...

John Willis, 12, left, looks in awe at a blewit mushroom that Gino Albert found with the Illinois Mycological Association at the St. Mihiel Woods-East nature preserve in Tinley Park on Oct. 26, 2024. (Tess Crowley/baiduhai)

‘A haunting in the woods’: Mushroom club searches for understudied topic that thrives in the creepiest places

By Peter Breen

October 30, 2024 at 9:53 a.m.

During mushroom season in Illinois, mid-April to early November, the club conducts surveys around Chicagoland...

Marianne Kozlowski, volunteer site steward at Eggers Grove, stands amid dried native grasses there. “Touching the tops of Indian grass is like petting a soft kitten,” she said. (Susan DeGrane/Daily Southtown)

Good seeds: Stewards make sure native plants stay in Calumet area preserves

By Susan DeGrane

October 29, 2024 at 3:52 p.m.

At Calumet area forest preserves, seed-saving efforts ensuring native plants repopulate plots cleared of invasive...

Colorful leaves that fall in autumn are not just beautiful but too useful to waste, so put them to work in the garden. (Beth Botts/The Morton Arboretum)

Make the most of fallen leaves in your garden

By Beth Botts

October 27, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

When autumn leaves fall from the trees, welcome them as though you’d found a treasure...

Surround small trees with hardware wire mesh supported by fence posts. (RJ Carlson/ Chicago Botanic Garden)

Deterring deer in your garden prevents damage

By Tim Johnson

October 27, 2024 at 9:19 a.m.

I moved to Highland Park this summer and have seen deer wandering the neighborhood. Are...