Gardenig in city Chicago. Tips & Guides

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Tips for Growing a Rooftop Garden No green space? No problem! Learn how this Chicago gardener created a beautiful rooftop garden in the city. Smart tips for a successful rooftop garden

Richard Hawke is the Director of Ornamental Plant Research at Chicago Botanic Garden, where he oversees comparative evaluations of ornamental plants. The CBG Plant Evaluation Program has included 117 distinct trials over the past four decades, with 26 comparative trials currently underway in three evaluation areas. In 2011, Richard began reporting trial results in Fine Gardening magazine, and has since written dozens of feature articles that can be found by visiting his author page.

Here’s an exclusive list of the most Beautiful Trees with White Flowers you must grow in your yard!

Alright, one last wishlist post from me, your GPOD editor… This time I’m looking past flowers to foliage that I want to add to the garden. Everyone knows that foliage is the heart of a well-designed garden as it lasts so much longer than flowers. BUT I’m very guilty of being seduced by pretty flowers, so I need to really focus on stepping up my foliage game this year.

When it comes to looking for a home to buy, there are many things to consider beyond size and curb appeal. The type of housing itself is important and sometimes confusing: take condos and townhouses.

Chicago-based interior designer Julie Mitchiner of JAM Interior Design is full of opinions. As she should be; Mitchiner has been reimagining and refining interiors for 13 years.

I love this time of year when the roadsides and gardens become full of gold. Goldenrod is everywhere! It brightens the landscape and lifts my mood. Goldenrod comes in all different shapes, sizes, and even colors (Solidago ptarmicoides, for example, has white, daisy-like flowers). A search for goldenrod on the extremely useful and informative website Namethatplant.net returned 61 tax in the Carolinas and Georgia, a solidago for almost every garden situation. Zigzag goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis) is an easy-care woodland goldenrod. Unsurprisingly, southern bog goldenrod (Solidago austrina) thrives in sunny, boggy areas. As its scientific name indicates, Solidago odora has fragrant, anise-scented leaves when crushed. Finally, South Carolina’s state wildflower, Solidago altissima (tall goldenrod), is a plant of drier, disturbed soil.

You may finally be ready to update your home whether it's trying a new paint color or swapping out your current light fixture. However, there are some fundamental things that designers, architects, or renovators want you to keep in mind before beginning a home remodeling project, so you don't end up unhappy or unsatisfied with the new remodel.

The biggest food trends of 2023 prove that some foods once reserved for the health-food crowd canbe cool, creative, and crave-able. 

Explore the remarkable diversity of Chicago Native Plants, perfectly suited to grow in the city’s unique climate and soil. Discover the ideal selection to create a thriving, sustainable garden.

Today we’re back in the Forest Park, Illinois, garden of Enrique Zuniga and Christian Altman, a space they transformed from a blank piece of turfgrass into a beautiful garden that attracts pollinators and is enjoyed by them, their three dogs, and their friends alike. We saw some of the garden yesterday and are back to enjoy more of it today.

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The English-born Capon, a doctor of botany from the University of Chicago who went on to be a professor at California State University, Los Angeles for 30 years, has since retired, leaving time for the revamping of “Botany for Gardeners,” the bestselling title for its publisher, Timber Press, in the U.S. and England.Not only did Capon write it; he illustrated it, too, and even took the plant photographs that further bring the text to life. Capon is also a lifelong gardener, though images of his own place never appear in the pages.“Botany for Gardeners” was born as a textbook out of lecture notes for a botany class Capon taught for many years to non-science students, so it’s thorough—but not the kind of dense, full-fledged botany text that will scare you away.In fact (even 20 years later), it just keeps drawing me back in, especially for tidbits like these. Did you know:That litmus, the dye used to indicate acidity and alkalinity, is

Andrew, who is now assistant director of the Chicago Botanic Garden, is past president of Magnolia Society International’s board of directors, and remains a member of the society’s board. In his tenure over 20 years as curator at Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, Andrew built the magnolia collection from about 50 to more than 200 cultivars. That’s a lot of magnolias.Now Andrew Bunting is author of a book on the queen of flowering trees, called “The Plant Lover’s Guide to Magnolias,” just out from Timber Press as part of an ongoing series on various distinctive genera of plants.We talked magnolias on my public-radio show and podcast. Read along while you listen in to the April 25, 2016 edition of the podcast using the player below (or at this link)–and even learn how to train a magnolia or any w

I SAY THANK YOU to the University of Chicago Press for investing in “Weeds of North America” (above) by Richard Dickinson and France Royer. The Canadian authors have created a massive work (800 pages paperbound) covering 500 of the continent’s pest plants, including aquatics. Key ID tips include not just flower and foliage photos, but also images of seeds and seedlings.This serious reference volume illuminates other reasons to consider the plants as pests, beyond the space they steal from natives. Such traits include toxicity to livestock (like milk thistle) or transmitting a disease to a valuable crop (like barberry does w

I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT TO GIVE YOU for the holidays, and so I went window-shopping up and down the aisles of the internet, where suddenly I found just the right thing: the uplifting images by “the camera man” Leslie Jones, from the Boston Public Library’s massive collection. Consider this slideshow my holiday card to you.

Sigh.I have to say I was a little relieved to see that the Chicago-based blogger who calls himself Mr. Brown Thumb, Ramon Gonzalez, has been similarly frustrated (misery loves company and all that). And also pleased to see that Ramon’s and my common affection for the cypress vine was shared by Thomas Jefferson, who grew it at Monticello.Whichever of these hummingbird favorites you grow, treat them like other morning glories: For a headstart (especially in short-season Northern garden areas like mine) sow indoors and grow under lights, sowing 4-6 weeks before final frost. Soak the seed in warm water for a few

One of the best resources ever for those wishing to know their weeds is the book “Weeds of North America,” published in 2014 by University of Chicago Press, and co-authored by Richard Dickinson, with France Royer. Since its release, it is always at the ready here—with information about 500 species, plus photos of most every one at every life phase from seed to seedling to full plant and leaf and flower detail. There will be no mistaking weed from wildflower or garden plant again. Toronto-based Richard Dickinson has taught plant taxonomy for more than 25 years, and he joined me to talk about every gardener’s favorite—or is it unfavorite?—subject, weeds. I learned how they get so good at being weedy, and what their environmental impact is beyond taking space awa

By the time I met the Chuck, Matt and Joe Heidgen 17-plus years ago, when we were  working on the former Martha Stewart garden line at K-Mart, I at least already knew that when I said Geranium that I actually meant Pelargonium, because that’s the genus our annual geraniums actually are in. But I didn’t know that one could look, and smell, nothing like Grandma’s old standards, and perform roles in the garden she’d never imagined.Today Joe Heidgen, with his brother Matt, runs the business called Shady Hill Gardens—both garden center (below) and mail-order specialists–that their father founded in Batavia 40 years ago. It’s now in Elburn, Illinois (an hour or so west of Chicago). For more than 30 years, Shady Hill has gained a national reputation as Pelargonium specialists, breeding and propagating every color, shape, size and scent imaginable (and then some). And good news: they sell them mail-order, too.Li

The backstory: When I heard the title of a lecture being given nearby by a visiting North Carolina State University zoologist, I had to know more. The talk wasn’t titled “Woodchuck-Proof Your Backyard,” or “Rabbits Be Gone,” which would have attracted me, too, but for more obvious reasons. It sounded far more dramatic:“The Return of Predators to Urban America.”The speaker was Kays, a North Carolina State University zoologist and expert in using new technologies to study free-ranging animals, including the ones that may very well live in your neighborhood and garden. He leads the project called eMammal—a citizen-science animal-counting collaboration with the Smithsonian—and directs the Biodiversity Lab in the Nature Research Center of North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. I invited him to my public-radio pro

What special innovation in technique, exceptional plants, or flair with color or design did each of those 40 hand down to the rest of us? Matthew Biggs’s book is loaded with their garden wisdoms, and also with the charming tale of each luminary and how they got to the garden in the first place.Matthew, who trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is the author of various earlier books including “The Complete Book of Vegetables,” and is a regular presenter on BBC Radio 4’s “Gardene

Lisa is a native Minnesotan, whose family has been farming their land since the 1880s. She embraces her agricultural heritage in her role at Chicago Botanic managing nearly 4 acres of edibles in the Fruit and Vegetable Garden (below), following USDA standards for organic growing.With a crew of three plus 30 volunteers, Lisa curates and interprets a collection of more than 600 edible plants and two orchards. Last year the team grew 55,000 vegetables, producing 3 tons of fresh produce.In time to shop the new year’s catalogs with an eye to some edible landscaping innovations in our own backyards, Lisa and I talked about what edibles would work to create living fencing and screening, and others that m

Westwood (below, right, in the lab) directs the Global Tree Conservation Program at the arboretum, which strives to save threatened trees from extinction through collaborations with botanical gardens and universities, and others in China, Europe, and Mexico, as well as throughout the U.S. She has a particular interest in oaks—including a number of American species in trouble—which we also talked about.Read along as you listen to the Nov. 6, 2017 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).emerald ash borer and threatened oaks,with morton’s dr. murphy westwoodQ. Before we get started on trees in trouble, I believe I read that in 2015, the Morton Arboretum had its first millionth annual visitor tally. Is that correct?A. That’s rig

Quirky, collectible, and water-wise, succulents will add eye-catching texture to any garden bed or container display. There are some succulents that are cold hardy, while others will need to be brought indoors for the winter in colder regions. Join Danielle, Carol and guest Amanda Thomsen as they share some of their favorite succulents, including a few unforgettable “oddballs”.

Each morning my partner, Steve, and I head up to our rooftop to greet the bees as they begin their days’ work. After all, time is honey. While I sometimes struggle to spend 15 minutes saying my morning hello before heading off to work, the pollinators are always up there, rain or shine, all day and all night, whether we’re up there enjoying our garden or not. Ultimately, that’s why we opted to design our outdoor space with a larger ecological agenda in mind.

“Can bees even fly that high?” This was a comment made by one of our editors during a planning session for this issue of Fine Gardening. She was referring to the rooftop pollinator garden, which is located atop a multistory apartment building in the middle of Chicago. It is an oasis within a concrete jungle. But does it really attract beneficial insects?

For those looking to level up their container gardening game, why not give coleus a try? The leaves of Coleusspecies will definitely add vibrant tropical colors to your foliar repertoire.Believe it or not, my most mem

I have mixed feelings about growing and promoting butterfly bushes. On the one hand, they are beautiful and reliable garden plants; on the other hand, their weedy nature cannot be denied. Keep these facts in mind before buying one of these shrubs.

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When Stephanie Waddell, founder of Colorado-based Istoria Interior Design, moved from Chicago to Boulder with her husband, Greg, and her young son, Ames, she was looking for the kind of mountain-adjacent life that makes people fall in love with the West. She wanted a home with room for her family to grow, with great views of the surrounding landscape, a layout designed for entertaining friends in the close-knit community, and the expansive feeling of open space that fosters a connection with nature. They found a 1970s-era modern house on a double lot in a great neighborhood, with a Japanese-influenced garden that had been written up in the local press when it was first designed. 

Are you worried about your green buddies when on vacation or with hectic schedules? If yes, check out these easy DIY Watering Globe Ideas! These self-watering systems will help your plants thrive in dry conditions by providing a steady water supply.

The long-standing “almost every year” holiday tradition at our house is to give younger family members a huge amaryllis bulb to grow fragrant red blooms indoors in late December.Even at eight years old, my daughter Lucy could spr

Check out some Stunning Balcony Garden Pictures of June 2021 from Instagram and get ideas to make one!

Asters are members of the large Asteraceae family of plants that includes chrysanthemums, daisies, sunflowers, and yarrow.They are daisy-like flowers that generally bl