The Garden of Live Flowers

July: Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

2009-07-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

Every day is Bloom Day these days at the McGarden. The Stellas are already finished (gee, that didn't last long!), the coneflowers are ramping up, and the prairie garden is teetering on the brink of floral explosion. Oh how hard it is to go to work in the morning when I could be spending my days gazing at these beauties instead...

Thanks as always to Carol @May Dreams Gardens for hosting GBBD!

July: Milkweed

2009-07-10T21:29:00.002-05:00

I've spent the last two days sitting at my computer at home, making numbers do my bidding. I even did some trigonometry! What a strange job I have. I went to the garden after dinner tonight hoping for some magic. The theme of the hour turned out to be milkweed...

Red milkweed beetle; close-up of common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca

I am VERY excited to have my first monarch caterpillar! I've had milkweed naturalized in my garden for many years and the monarchs are rampant, but this is the first caterpillar I've seen. He's so tiny! I named him Scooter and will be looking for him every day. Yes I know I could put him in a protected spot and feed him but I want to see him grow up on his own. Scooter is the reason I planted so many natives in my yard.

Those nasty earwigs had better leave my Scooter alone! I had to pull four of them out of that inflorescence with tweezers just to take the picture. *shudder*

Hey, Foley, move your big head! You're blocking the butterfly weed!

July: Procrastination begins at home

2009-07-09T09:39:00.004-05:00

Working at home is difficult. The garden, TV, and fridge beckon. I obey 2 of the 3 siren songs and wander outside with a cup of tea to find:

My first-ever balloon flower! Platycodon grandiflorus 'Sentimental Blue', planted last fall. SO cute!

My hibiscus thankfully turned out not to have ugly peach flowers. Instead it has foofy double flowers. I will learn to like it. It definitely makes a dramatic statement!

Okay, bintie, get back to work!!

July: GGW's July Photo Contest

2009-07-09T07:24:00.004-05:00

This month's Gardening Gone Wild photo contest is all about flowering trees. I have dug through my archive of American basswood photos and it is official: I have ZERO good pictures of a basswood in flower. How embarrassing! It's not entirely my fault; basswood flowers are kind of sloppy and mushy looking, and since they hang below the branches the photos must be taken pointed up, which gives no perspective on the rest of the tree. Plus, in all honesty, I prefer the trees for their foliage (and of course for their genetic and biogeographic mysteries, soon to be clarified by the Future Dr. Bintie!) and their nifty leafy bracts.

For example, here's a Carolina basswood in southeastern Alabama:

The flowers are just opening, already mobbed with bees. They look like they've been stepped on. (But aren't the leaves gorgeous?)

However, that is not my entry for the contest! Instead I will go conventional and show a magnolia on the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago. UIC is an architecturally unfriendly place that only recently was partially deconstructed and made more lush and green, and I applaud the efforts to transform the campus into a more traditional American park-like setting. This particular tree is planted in the UIC Memorial Grove, an odd open space at the corner of campus that was designed by Walter Netsch, the campus architect, in the 1960s. It makes for a pleasant getaway when the lab and office feel too constraining, and the magnolias for their brief moment in a Chicago April are mesmerizing...

July: Recycling in the garden

2009-07-05T17:21:00.002-05:00

I finally planted my plants from the Native Seed Gardeners project. I put the Baptisia leucantha in the ground before I left on my field trip, but I didn't have time to plant the shade plants (Polygala senega and Oxalis violacea) until today. The difficulty was finding a way to mark plants that have already died back for the season or are very teensy. My haphazard gardening methods don't lend themselves to keeping track of four tiny, important plants! and plant markers are imprecise.

Here's my solution: rings made from margarine tubs. If something grows inside the ring, it's probably the important plant.

Now I just have to keep them alive until they produce seeds! Wish me luck!

July: Happy 4th!

2009-07-04T22:21:00.003-05:00

Hubby and I rebuilt the fence between yard and alley this weekend. It looks fabulous and solid and we are so proud of ourselves!

Just a handful of photos of what's in the garden right now. It really popped while I was on my trip and it's so much fun to explore!

An adorable green bee with yellow pollen leggings; red lilies

Lilies and butterfly weed; when did I plant an orange coneflower?! (ETA: Last August, apparently! It's an Echinacea 'Sunset'. Yay for blogs as searchable records!)

Foley felt left out during fence construction.

July: Field work

2009-07-04T21:30:00.004-05:00

I spent a week doing field collecting for my dissertation. If you haven't already heard a zillion times, I study American basswood, and I received some research funding to visit the herbarium at the University of North Carolina to ponder their extensive basswood collections. I also had plans to visit several natural populations and collect samples, but this is a typically hit-or-miss activity and I didn't have much success finding trees.

The short version:
Day 1: On the road; an ironic visit to the Creation Museum in Kentucky where I had a surprisingly nice time walking their gardens, which are free. Somehow I managed to escape the place with my rational mind intact. Phew!

A purple loosestrife cultivar. I hope they know what they're doing!

Day 2: Torrential downpour and hotel with damp carpet. Left my pillow at the hotel... grrr. Fruitless visit to a nature preserve on Pine Mountain with badly marked trails. Found one tree roadside. Very irritated. Got poison ivy. Gorgeous drive east from KY through VA, TN, and NC to the Blue Ridge Parkway, where I collected 7 or 8 trees. One of the prettiest places I've ever been; too late in the day for good photos, unfortunately.

Day 3: South Carolina, wandered Sumter National Forest, finding just about nothing. Grouchy. Visited Columbia, did not find trees an acquaintance swore would be there, but did like the city very much. 101 degrees. Got more poison ivy.

Detail from the beautiful and moving African American History Monument outside the State House, Columbia, SC; more here.

Day 4: Southern North Carolina Piedmont. Pretty. No basswoods. Attracted some concern from a pair of women in their Sunday best who were driving home from the Baptist church down the road.

Days 5 and 6: UNC campus in Chapel Hill. Many hours in the herbarium photographing hundreds of samples. Also collected in the Coker Arboretum and wandered campus a bit. Very nice place but I had a tendency to get lost. Hills and ravines don't lend themselves to a street grid.

Cool variegated redbud at the Arboretum; my herbarium workspace. Other NC pics here.

Day 7: West Virginia, Kanawah State Forest south of Charleston. Hey, actual trees! Woo! Then treated myself to lunch at Taco Bell (YUM), and headed home, getting back around 9. So good to be back with hubby, dog, house, garden, and bed! I miss my pillow though.

June: It's not a weed until I say it's a weed

2009-06-23T10:12:00.005-05:00

Anyone know what this is? It appears to be in Polygonaceae, maybe a Polygonum or Persicaria. I'm letting it stay in the butterfly garden until I have a good reason to pull it out. It's cute!

Also on this nasty, sticky, hot day...

Clematis 'Jackmanii', being amazing on the coachlight for over a decade

Lysimachia punctata, yellow loosestrife; and proof that the shade garden does get some sun, around solstice-time

Daffodil and tulip greens are cut back to give more sun to the butterfly garden. The new plants are all in: Salvia nemerosa 'May Night', and the annuals: lantana, portulaca, gazania, ageratum, cosmos. Keep looking out window, impatient for butterflies to show up. Couldn't find any daisies (Leucanthemum vulgaris) but will look again later. The mix of purple salvia and white daisy outside the Garfield Park conservatory is still on my mind.

I'm leaving soon for a few days in the field, collecting American basswood leaves and visiting the UNC herbarium in Chapel Hill. For anyone I might have promised to visit on the way, I'm sorry but I don't think I'm going to have much spare time, since I absolutely have to get back home by a certain day. These trips are anything but lazy and relaxing, and I am a monomaniacal crazywoman on the road. In a good way of course! I intend to post pictures from the road so watch this space. Soon you will be as sick of basswood as I am!

June: Brookfield Zoo

2009-06-22T08:35:00.004-05:00

My husband and I went to the Brookfield Zoo for the first time a few days ago. We had a great time although we had to skip the reptiles and frogs because we ran out of time. We spent a lot of time in the butterfly house, where I was inspired to buy lantana and ageratum and turn my patio garden into a butterfly garden.

If you'd like to see the pictures, the Flickr set is here!

June: Boojum!

2009-06-19T22:45:00.004-05:00

The Hunting of the Snark is an epic poem by Lewis Carroll. If you recognize the title of this blog, you can probably guess that I have some love for Carroll, who did more than write the Alice books and have inappropriate relationships with little girls. The Hunting of the Snark outlines a hunting trip in which a motley band of misfits whose titles begin with B hunt the elusive Snark in some far-off land. Some Snarks are rumored also to be Boojums, a horrifying possibility that the band is unwilling to accept. None of this makes any sense of course; like Jabberwocky, you just roll with it, relish the language and rhymes, and say "wtf??" to yourself once in a while. Carroll reputedly wrote the entire epic after the final line popped into his head out of the blue one day. He may or may not have been stoned on absinthe and laudanum as well. (I made that last part up but hey, if Coleridge can write Kubla Khan after an opium-induced hallucination, anything is possible!)

And thus I have a special fondness for the Boojum Tree at the Desert House of the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago. It's a crazy-looking tree endemic to the Baja Peninsula and state of Sonora in Mexico. Fouquieria (or Idria) columnaris is related to the ocotillo, a spiny plant familiar to anyone who has spent time in Arizona. I wouldn't say the Boojum is attractive, exactly, but it's rare and interesting and dangerous-looking and through the magic of conservatories it's growing right here in Chicago.

What does our intrepid hero, the Baker, have to say about it?

"But if ever I meet with a Boojum, that day,
In a moment (of this I am sure),
I shall softly and suddenly vanish away--
And the notion I cannot endure!"

Luckily for us, this Boojum is entirely non-lethal and does not cause involuntary vanishification.

The Baker unfortunately met with a less friendly instance of Boojumness...

In the midst of the word he was trying to say,
In the midst of his laughter and glee,
He had softly and suddenly vanished away---
For the Snark *was* a Boojum, you see.

June: Oh, Stormy, bring back that sunny day

2009-06-18T10:09:00.005-05:00

The sun is out at the moment but I woke up to a thunderstorm (or, more correctly, I woke up to a trembling dog who heard the storm long before I could have). Does anyone know a good website or news article that says how many inches over normal rainfall we've had each month?

It is so wet that I'm pretty sure I spied an ark under construction under the viburnum. I dread the powdery mildew that will surely come later in the season, and the mosquitoes are already turning my morning garden walk into a slap-fest.

On the plus side, I have more greenery than most Central American countries...

Would you believe, this is my prairie garden? Just because plants are adapted to heat and dry soil doesn't mean they won't grow like gangbusters given frequent rain and cool temps. It's getting so overgrown I don't even know where to start fixing it. Oh wait, yes I do. I'm looking at YOU, Mr. Dogwood.

I would never purposely plant a pink rosebush. I don't much like roses and I don't much like pink, but this bush came with the house and for a couple of weeks each June it is impressive. The rosebuds are my favorite part.

Mr. Goatsbeard says "Ugh, please stop the rain!!"

So does the garnet laceleaf Japanese maple, Acer palmatum dissectum. I think I need to move this fella before the burning bush eats it.

Penstemon digitalis (foxglove beardtongue); Dicentra spectabilis (bleeding heart) in fruit for what is I think the first time ever. Are the seeds easy to germinate?

Thalictrum dasycarpum (meadowrue), which was covered in fluffy stamens just yesterday, today is a sodden mess; Clematis 'Rouge Cardinal' and Phytolacca americana (American pokeweed). The pokeweed is a weed, yes, but it's also a native plant that I think is gorgeous and tropical-looking so I let it be. However, I diligently pull out any seedlings I find. One per yard is enough.

My Lemon Queen sunflowers for the Great Sunflower Project, and my Blue Lake beans for One Seed Chicago, are making progress. Don't make fun of the tomato cage; I still haven't made it to the store for a sturdier support.

This weekend: douse self in bug repellant and tackle the prairie garden. I can't wait!

June: Time to get Cereus

2009-06-11T10:08:00.002-05:00

It was the big banquet dinner on Friday night at the Garden Bloggers' Spring Fling. I'd been thinking about Carol from May Dreams Gardens and her night-blooming cereus plants all day. She had said the first three people to tell her the Secret Phrase would take a plant home! I was in agonies. How could I possibly receive one of these coveted plants when I was at work all day?! But then Carol, after dinner, miraculously holds up one of the plants and says to the room in general, "Does anyone want this?" I confess I may have embarrassed myself by jumping up and down but acting 8 years old sometimes pays off and this crazy charmer is now living in my dining room. I'm praying to the patron saint of houseplants to keep it alive and happy so I can 1) not disappoint Carol and 2) actually see it bloom one of these years. Carol, thank you!!!!

Here's some inspiration for it from Garfield Park:

June: Spring Fling Chicago - The rest of the story

2009-06-11T08:35:00.009-05:00

Garden Bloggers' Spring Fling is well in the rearview mirror by now, but here at last is my take on the event. As a Chicagoan I relish any opportunity to show off my city to visitors, share what I know, learn something new, and clear up misconceptions about what life is like in an urban center. I hope everyone came away with a new appreciation for life in the city; it's not all Asphalt Jungle (thought we certainly have our share of that, too!).

Friday
Chicago Botanic Garden - I skipped this because I had to work, and thus I missed that amazing poppy field. Darn!

Lurie Garden - I met up with the group here and was desperately nervous about attempting to locate and interact with a large group of people I didn't know. I should not have worried; what a wonderful bunch of people! Also: the nametags were infinitely useful.

I showed two pics of Lurie, past and present, in a previous blog post. Here are a couple more pictures:

After the garden, I had a tasty dinner at Elephant & Castle, received a very generous bag of goodies, continued to meet people, panicked about the prospect of winning the gigantic tiller (it was a fabulous giveaway but really what would I do with it?!), and had Jane Smith sign my copy of her book.

And then...and THEN... well, I think I received the best giveaway of all, but that story deserves its own post, here.

Saturday
Saturday was a real smorgasbord of sights and activities.

HAHAHA ahem.

I did not go to the Bayless garden since I am not an edible gardener myself; however, all reports are that it was an impressive production. Easy to be impressive when you have a full-time gardener, right? But what if you are your own gardener? Enter Carolyn, who so kindly invited us to eat a yummy lunch at her neighborhood hangout Andie's, then invade her home and garden, poking our nosy noses into every corner and asking questions about everything we saw. Carolyn, if my husband and I had seen your house before renovating our own, ours would likely have turned out very differently! Your windows.... woodwork... basement renovation... color choices for every room... everything was perfect and worked together so nicely. I'm kind of an old house nut and seeing what Carolyn and her husband accomplished was a wonderful treat.

But! the garden was the reason we were there, right??

I need to borrow a few of these ideas for my own yard, which is about the same size. I adore the pergola especially. At Carolyn's we also received a nice pink petunia as a sponsor gift:

From Carolyn's we moved on to Ginkgo Community Garden, where I like a ninny did not take any pictures. I apologize for being amused by the following overheard conversation (paraphrased):
"I wonder what they're trying to keep out with all that chicken wire?"
"Probably rats."
"Oh, right, rats!"
Let me tell you, the rabbits in Chicago are legion. And they're big. And they eat everything. Okay, yes, there are rats as well, but they mostly eat junk food, not veggies. I tried to convince people that we also have coyotes in the city, but I'm not sure they believed me. I didn't even try to tell about the deer in my alley, the possums in my yard, or the cougar. Nature in the city is a topic that must be introduced in stages.

Also outside Ginkgo I had the opportunity to introduce several people to basswood trees, the topic of my dissertation. This gave me much joy so thank you for humoring me :)

Next up, and the day is barely half over: Lincoln Park!

The Conservatory:

And the zoo!

The warthog says, "I'm as pretty as any of those girly flowers. Hmph."

Oh my gosh, is this day still going on?? Not having time to go home and get back before dinner, I walked to State Street with Ani and Monica where we gabbed and checked out the clothes at Old Navy. And then: pizza! and meeting even more friendly people. And finally: an exhausted ride home on the "L".

Sunday
We're not done yet! I think the Garfield Park Conservatory is my favorite place in the city and it's my own fault I don't go more often. I'm just nuts for houseplants, plus they have stunning outdoor gardens. I bought a book about the history of Garfield Park, which is fascinating. It's a premier example of how much effort is required to design, install, and maintain a public space over the long term, even one filled with "nature".

The view from my car, directly under the Central Park "L" stop; back door of Conservatory.

Palm House and Fern Room:

Desert House:

Am I the only one amused by the installation of carnivorous plants in the Children's Room?

They look well-fed, don't they?

Outside, in the Monet Garden:

And the City Garden:

And then - tired but happy, I finally went home for good. Thank you all for such a fantastic weekend, and for giving me a chance to see my city through new eyes!

June: One Seed Chicago

2009-06-05T19:57:00.004-05:00

I planted my One Seed Chicago beans on Memorial Day. Three of them came up today (along with two silver maples and an empty peanut shell...funny, I don't remember planting those). I am so excited!! I've never grown anything to eat before, unless you count my popcorn experiments back in grade school. The unfortunate thing is, I'm not that crazy about green beans. However, if I manage to keep these puppies alive to harvest time, I will eat them more or less cheerfully.

They're planted in a pot because I didn't feel like getting my soil tested and I've heard that lead contamination is always a concern in the Formerly Sooty Old Industrial City. I need to get some sort of cage or support around the pot before the plants get too big.

I also planted my seeds for the Great Sunflower Project, a bee-counting project. They came up a couple of days ago. Things are bustin' out all over!

June: A different kind of birdwatching

2009-06-04T10:14:00.004-05:00

In my day job, I'm a graduate student in the biology department of the University of Illinois at Chicago. My fellow student, Isabel, studies the population genetics of reintroduced peregrine falcons in the Midwest, and I've been lucky enough to get to know these amazing birds as a result. On Tuesday, the baby birds at the nest site here at UIC were banded, and I was invited to tag along...

This is Rosie, the mom, a 13-year-old female who has been nesting at UIC for 11 years. She's old and she's tough and she doesn't take crap from anyone.

The babies, both male, cram themselves into the corner and glare at me. Peregrines are very good at glaring. Determining the gender of the birds is tough and is primarily based on size, especially the size of the legs. Males tend to be smaller than females, even as adolescents.

The unnamed, unbanded father. He's probably the same male who was here last year but without bands, it's hard to tell.

A staff member from the Shedd Aquarium retrieves the babies from the ledge and hopes the parents don't attack him. They didn't, but they were flying very close. Both he and the other retrieval expert report that at other sites they've been hit by angry falcons many times, hence the helmet.

Isabel (right) helps keep one of the babies calm while a vet from Lincoln Park Zoo takes a DNA sample.

It was pretty remarkable to watch the whole process, especially in the same room where a few months ago I attended a wine and cheese reception. There are some more pictures here, and if you want to know more about the peregrine falcon reintroduction in the Midwest, go to the Field Museum site here.

June: Made in the shade

2009-06-03T08:17:00.004-05:00

It's a chilly, overcast day, expected high in the low 60s. Not quite what we envision for June but hey, it's better than 90 and humid! Let's go see what's blooming in the McGarden today, shall we?

The shade garden has filled in nicely, and the Rhododendron 'Roseum Elegans' is in full bloom. My iron sunbathing frogs are getting lost in the foliage. I'll have to move them elsewhere.

My lone Siberian iris. I bought lots but multiple years with unexpected January thaws took their toll, and this is the only one left.

Tradescantia ohioensis, spiderwort 'Little Doll' (left) and T. bracteata, prairie spiderwort. One of these is dropping volunteers all over the place but I won't know which until the little ones bloom. 'Little Doll' desperately needs dividing before it swallows the little bluestem grass to its left. Add that to the "to do" list!

Baptisia australis, blue false indigo. It's just not as impressive as the ones at Lurie Garden but I love it. Fabaceous plants have the neatest floral structure. Let's look closer:

And closer still:

The standard forms the upright banner, the wings protrude forward, and the keel is tucked inside (you can see a keel on the leftmost flower because it's missing a wing). The fruit will be an inflated legume which when dry makes a rattling sound when shaken.

May: Spring Fling Chicago photos

2009-05-31T22:04:00.004-05:00

I had big plans to annotate all the weekend's photos, crop and adjust brightness and blah blah blah. We all know what happens to the best laid plans, of course, and thus WITIWYG (What I Took Is What You Get). Those of you who took hundreds of photos this weekend, you have my sympathy.

My Spring Fling flickr collection is here. If you also flickr (hmm, that doesn't sound right), feel free to add me (bintie) as a contact!

I would just like to point out one thing that you might enjoy. This was the scene at the Lurie Garden on Friday, May 29:

And here is essentially the same shot from July 8, 2005:

Looks rather different, doesn't it? Note how much the "shoulder" hedge has grown; we were skeptical when the concept was explained to us back then, but it really has filled in. Also note the whole new skyscraper, the Trump Tower, just completed a few months ago.

I'll highlight a handful of photos in coming days and share some of my favorite sights from the weekend! Now I need to go get some sleep; big week of DNA sequencing ahead of me. Keep an eye out for those basswoods!

May: Spring Fling Chicago - last day!

2009-05-31T08:20:00.004-05:00

It has been an extremely hectic weekend and I'm secretly glad it's the last day b/c am so tired :p I'm heading to the Garfield Park Conservatory around 10 and will meet everyone there.

Incidentally - the Spring Fling registrant list shows my blog as "McGarden" but that's just my own name for the garden. If you are looking for Diane from The Garden of Live Flowers who is a graduate student and lives in Chicago - you're in the right place!

Pictures later. Need coffee.

May: Memorial Day and grouchy

2009-05-25T16:41:00.002-05:00

I'm not the grouchy one. In fact, I had an awesome weekend of gardening, tree-trimming, tree-climbing (well, hubby did anyway), family overnight guests, and lots to eat. The grouchy one is this little guy:

Little Robin Jr. complained from that sand cherry for about two hours while his poor parents depleted the local worm population. "Stop planting those foofy flowers and feed me!" he grumbled at me.

Happy Memorial Day! Tomorrow it's back to work, then Friday is Spring Fling Chicago!

May: New gloves!

2009-05-25T16:17:00.006-05:00

This is a long overdue post! Just hours after I joined Twitter, Ethel Gloves had a Twitter-follow contest and I won a pair of their lovely gloves! I persuaded my husband to take some pictures so you can see them in action. I chose "Jubilee", size L, and they are already caked in mud, but that's the sign of good gloves, right?

Digging a hole for my new Dianthus

Closer shot

Me, gloves, and Dianthus, plus bonus greyhound. You'd be amazed at how many of our pictures have a bonus greyhound in them.

The best thing about the gloves is how flexible they are. I can easily grip a trowel or clippers and the rubbery bits on the fingers hold tools and slippery pots firmly. All in all, I am very happy with my new gloves, and it does lend an air of quaintness to wear something so pretty while gardening! Now all I need is a wide-brimmed hat and a parasol! I look forward to putting the gloves through their paces this summer. Thanks, Ethel Gloves!

May: It's late, I'm sleepy, here are some plants

2009-05-22T23:46:00.003-05:00

Japanese maple 'Sango-kaku'

Weigela florida 'Ruby Queen' - I don't much like these shrubs, am shopping for replacements

Aquilegia canadensis, extreme closeup!! with pistils crammed against camera lens

Panicum virgatum, switchgrass, with adorable tiny furry flowers

Drumstick allium poses complementarily with the neighbor's Euonymous

A glorious 3-day weekend of gardening and other non-work-related stuff stretches before me. Time to go rest up!

May: Garden Bloggers Bloom Day (my first!)

2009-05-15T09:22:00.002-05:00

The stars finally aligned properly and I realized it was Bloom Day in time to actually participate! My little Chicago garden is in its usual May slump in which I just don't have a lot of flowers, but due to the rain the foliage is becoming prematurely riotous and I foresee great things this summer.

The last of the tulips, and my newest purchase, a bright blue birdbath (has settled crookedly in the mud... oops), which my husband makes fun of but I think is gorgeous!

Columbines, self-seeding throughout the shade garden. And dandelions! Yay.

Lilacs, one of the few flowers I like the smell of (I think I associate smelly flowers with my allergies, though of course it's the wind-pollinated ones that are the worst culprits)

A fading tulip that has turned into a bird feeder thanks to some rather messy eaters

The last of the bleeding hearts

Carolina allspice - This is a beautiful and interesting shrub with its reddish brown, straw-like flowers and glossy leaves. More people should plant this.
Close-up:

Red twig dogwood

Pulmonaria, or lungwort, one of the best additions to the garden I've made in ages. I also have a pink one but it's not quite open yet.

Drumstick allium, something I recently added so I would have flowers in May (and nifty seedheads all season)

Zizea aurea, golden Alexanders. For some reason this just never photographs well but trust me, it's adorable.

Can't post flowers without Foleyage! Foley dozes in yesterday's sunshine and hopes Daddy doesn't run the scary mower and dislodge her. Sorry, Foley, but it must be done.

Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting GBBD!

May: April showers brought May flowers

2009-05-09T17:05:00.003-05:00

But not a pilgrim in sight. It's been a frustrating mix of too rainy and too busy at the old McGarden these days. I still have not finished doing my winter clean-up, which means my clematis is all wound into the dead brush and my coneflowers are choking on mulch and I have so many dandelions I can hear them roaring late at night. The yard desperately needs core aeration and overseeding but I don't see it getting done any time soon. My neighbor pays a service to do her winter clean-up and every year I privately poke fun at her, but the joke's on me because her borders are lovely and mine look... well, casual is a polite way to put it.

I hope to get out there and fix up the back 40* later next week, after stressful meeting with dissertation committee is firmly behind me. In the meantime, life marches on...

Tulips!

Daffies, and spiky tulips! Don't ask me what varieties any of my bulbs are. I care deeply and obsessively about the IDs of the "real" plants, but the spring bulbs and annuals are lucky if I bother remembering the genus. OK, I exaggerate a wee bit, but not much.

My Dicentra is underwhelming but bear in mind it's been moved, trampled, broken, or otherwise abused every year I've had it. I'm happy with whatever I get.

Pulmonaria something. What was that about obsessive taxonomy? It's written down somewhere, I'm sure.

Tradescantia zebrina 'Red Hill', just a baby a few months ago, surprised me by blooming all over the place. Always a pleasant surprise when houseplants bloom; I only grow them for the foliage.

Foley checks out the perimeter at the in-laws' place in Michigan.

*more like 40 yards than 40 acres

April: UIC Memorial Grove

2009-04-24T22:51:00.002-05:00

I left my camera at my office all week, which means no pictures of my daffodils or tulips, and I know you're all upset but you'll just have to wait!
What I do have is pictures of the Memorial Grove on the University of Illinois at Chicago campus. It's not clear what it's a memorial to; perhaps to the two ethnic neighborhoods that were bulldozed to build the campus in the early 1960s. On a campus designed to reflect the stark rectilinear shapes and traffic flow of the downtown and expressways nearby, the Memorial Grove is a pleasantly organic space.

Staircases at SEO

Magnolia

Fagus sylvatica, European beech, I think a copper beech. A tree with wonderful bones but I still favor the American beech, which sadly is rarely planted ornamentally.

Tie-in with my dissertation project: Tilia (basswood) that has been well-loved by sapsuckers.

This fine example of absurdist topiary (I believe it's an oak) is pointing at the Science and Engineering Lab building. If you put on your x-ray specs you will see my lab!

April: psyche, it's actually a flashback to September 2007

2009-04-21T21:31:00.002-05:00

My entry in the GardeningGoneWild PictureThis native plant photo contest:

Sky blue aster, Aster oolentangiensis, an Illinois prairie native that has naturalized in my Chicago garden. When in full bloom it makes solid masses of lovely lavender flowers like drifts of oddly colored snow. It's a plant that makes me feel like a gardening rock star, but of course my secret to success is it's supposed to be here.