Start Thinking Fall? Now?

Yep, the days are getting shorter. Boo-hoo! And it’s hard to imagine cooler days and evenings when our temperatures are soaring into the ninety degree range. But it’s time that you bust out the bin you store all your seeds in and take a peek and see what’s in there. If you’re giving me that empty look right now, I’ll take that to mean, “What seed bin? I was supposed to have a seed bin?”

Well, it’s that “inventory” of seeds that you just didn’t get to plant earlier in the spring, or maybe you just didn’t need all the seed and have a few remnants left in the package. But if you don’t have any kind of inventory—not to worry—you just might be able to pick up a few selections at the box stores or a local nursery—they don’t want to store any leftover seed and you’ll probably get them at a bargain price too. If you really have your heart set on a very particular variety you still have a bit of time to place an order online through your favorite seed catalog.

Bonus: most of the items that you will be starting for fall harvest can be sown directly outside (no need for a greenhouse or cold frame or any of that jazz) ‘cause soil and air temperatures are plenty warm enough right now.

Where will you put them? How are your current crops looking? Is there something out there that is looking a bit tragic? Have a heart and put it out of its misery—yank it out. Be it a water-logged area of annuals, an over-the-hill veggie planting, or an out of sorts container, use that prime real estate for a new and improved crop. Do a bit of cultivating in the area; add in a bit of compost if you’ve got it. Rake the soil nice and even and then you’re ready to sow.

You will need to be more diligent with your watering techniques at this time of year than in the cooler and wetter season of spring. When those new little seedlings poke out they are quite vulnerable to those blazing sun rays beating down on them. Be prepared to possibly even water twice a day during hot, sunny and windy conditions. Be gentle with the hose spray though, you don’t want to dash them right out of the ground with a forceful jet of water.

So, what can you plant? Think short term; since our days are getting shorter there is less time for some plants to mature (like eggplant, peppers and tomatoes). Look to varieties that will mature within about two to two and half months—around the end of September or mid-October at the latest, so 60-75 days.

Sow your bush beans, beets, cabbage, carrots, kale, Swiss chard, turnips right away and in a few weeks start sowing lettuce and lettuce mixes and well as spinach and radishes. Once those colorful and textural lettuce mixes start filling in they make the waning summer/fast approaching fall a bit easier to tolerate.

It's the American Idol of the Garden World

If you spin into the Idea Garden from our south entrance (just off the shady path from the First Division Museum), you’ll find a trio of circles bursting with blooms. Within those three circles are the entries for this year’s American Garden Award. They are bright with color and three of the four varieties often have a grouping of butterflies performing a tango atop them.

The American Garden Award competition is in its second year. Numerous plant nominees were submitted to the judges by various breeders. The AGA judges selected four varieties to compete to become this year’s national winner. And you, the gardening public, get to vote on who you think the winner should be. Eighteen sites nationwide, of which Cantigny is one, are displaying the four nominees. And just like the famed television program, there are several ways that your vote can be counted:

1. You can phone in your top favorite, or...
2. You can text in your top favorite, or…
3. You can vote on the website: www.americangardenaward.org or….
4. Lastly, unlike the television program, you can mail in a postcard.


Our spiffy mailbox, which contains the postcards,was hand painted by one of our horticulture volunteers, Gladys Johnston.

The four nominees this year are: Echinacea ‘Prairie Fire’, Ornamental Pepper Purple Flash, Rudbeckia ‘Denver Daisy’, and Zinna ‘Profusion Knee-High Red’. Please note that all the pictures within this blog were taken at Cantigny.

Instructional sign that also identifies each variety.

Echinacea 'Prairie Splendor'™ was Fleuroselect Gold Medal winner in 2007. And no wonder—at 24” it is shorter than most Echinacea, but blooms its little heart out from June through the first frost. The only entry in the group that is a perennial and blooms its first year from seed.

Echinacea purpurea 'Prairie Splendor'

As is typical for ornamental peppers, their fruit is fiery hot, but you’ll want to grow this exotic plant for its striking black leaves that have “flashes” of purple, green and white. Ornamental Pepper ‘Purple Flash’ looks great in container plantings as well as a bedding plant. While short of stature (10-13”) it packs quite a punch in the “looks” category and is drought tolerant as well.

Ornamental Pepper 'Purple Flash'

Rudbeckia hirta ‘Denver Daisy’ was selected by the city of Denver for their 150-year anniversary beautification project. This tall plant (18-20”) has large (4-6”) non-stop gold flowers with an inner concentric band of russet. You’ll get a lot of bang for your buck with this black-eyed susan annual plant.

Rudbeckia hirta 'Denver Daisy'



Zinnia ‘Profusion Knee High Red’ The Profusion series is well-known for its tolerance of heat and humidity, but ‘Red’ is a bit taller (16-24”) than its siblings. This red-blooming hybrid is nice as a cut flower and is drought tolerant too.

Zinnia hybrida 'Profusion Knee-High Red'

And the winner of the next American Garden Award is……to be announced in September. Don’t forget to vote for your favorite!

There's a New Tour in Town!

Over the years we have offered a variety of garden tours…morning tours with horticulture staff responsible for a particular area, volunteer docent tours, and the always popular evening tours with wine and light refreshments. Recently, we’ve added a different kind of tour—one that’s available to you whenever and wherever you may be… Over the Fourth of July weekend we added the Cantigny Park Audio Tour.

It’s a nifty interactive tour that can take the visitor a bit behind the scenes on various hot spots throughout gardens and around our Visitors Center and two museums. Signs are posted with a phone number to dial to connect to Cantigny’s Cell Audio Tour—then a “stop” number is provided to focus in on the area in front of you, when you’re at the park, or you can refer back to a tidbit of information from a remote location (like home) by dialing the same numbers.

Okay, how ‘bout an example…so, you’re out and about on our grounds and you spy a sign that asks an intriguing question—like, “Who is Cantigny’s oldest resident?“. Dial up the number: 630-315-2588 and press the stop number as directed on the sign (19) and presto-chango, you’ll be getting some interesting facts about that topic!





Did you know that Cantigny once had an airport for Colonel McCormick’s private airplane? Do you know what makes the Chicago Peace Rose unique to Cantigny? You can choose to stop and listen or….maybe you already know how to attract butterflies to your garden—well, yes you do if you’ve been following this blog at all….then you can simply by-pass that stop. If you were on human-guided tour you’d have to bide your time on a subject you’re already well versed in. And one of the coolest parts about this tour is that you can dial it up whenever you’re ready and interested.

There’s a new tour in town and it’s custom-made and personalized to your preferences. A tour with a different perspective: you pick/you choose. A sort of cafeteria plan of tours... Bon Appétit!

A Recipe to Entice Floating Tapestries to Your Garden Part 2

Today: Did you know that today is the anniversary of the Interstate Highway System’s birth? Yep, June 29, 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower signed a bill providing 33.5 million dollars for highway construction. It also happens to be the biggest public works program in history. Be it a bane or blessing to you—those are the facts. And what does that have to do with gardening? Well. Nothing actually—just thought it might be an interesting factoid to banter about at the dinner table tonight.


Attracting Floating Tapestries—Part 2

Greetings Earthling! Beautiful and a very important pollinator too!

Okay, so we covered providing a sunny, sheltered site with lots of host plants for the caterpillars and nectar-producing plants for the butterflies in our Part 1 post. What else do you need? The rest of this stuff is all bonus for our butterfly friends…

FACT—There are about 700 species found in North America and about 100 in Illinois.


"Do you like my hat? Butterfly not included." All of the pictures in this post (with the exception of Mr. Caterpillar) are compliments of Jim Frazier--one of Cantigny's Volunteer Photographers...Thanks Jim!

Ingredient number 5: provide a “Puddling” spot. What the heck is that you may ask? Well, butterflies need to access moisture by extracting it—but not from open water. You might have seen them gathering on a dirt or gravel road in a damp area where they are sipping up minerals and water. This is called puddling. So to mimic this you can use a shallow container or bury a bucket to the rim and fill with sand and gravel. You can then pour in various liquids depending on the time of the year. Water is fine at anytime of the year but, if you want to get really fancy you can add sweet drinks, or stale beer. Yumm-oh! One of their personal favorites is overripe fruit! Rotting bananas and grapes are especially attractive for early spring fliers as well as honey, molasses or syrup—these can be smeared on a rock or fence post. Maybe you’ve seen this in action at a butterfly conservatory, eh?


FACT: Most butterflies live 10-20 days. Some as short as 3-4, others such as overwintering Monarchs, can live 6 months.

Another plus to attract butterflies is to back off on your use of chemicals in your yard. Limited or no chemical use is ingredient number 6 and very important to our little friends. Use mulch instead of weed killer. Prune out a diseased branch instead of spraying. Swab soapy water on nefarious insects instead of using insecticides. Or, just have some tolerance for a bit of imperfection in your garden. The butterflies will smile in your honor. Also, if you have ever used Bt (bacillus thuringiensis) as a “safe” means to control caterpillars, don’t forget that butterflies in their larval stage are caterpillars too!

Swallowtail caterpillar on bronze fennel--photo compliments of Jack Bannister

FACT: Their proboscis (like a tongue) is like a double straw!

One more ingredient and you’re pretty well set—try to water at ground level (soaker hoses are helpful here). Sprinklers can wash eggs, pollen and caterpillars off of plants. It also limits the amount of time butterflies have to “get to” the flowers.

FACT: Butterflies “feet” or tarsi, have a sense of taste similar to a taste bud; when they come in contact with nectar, their proboscis uncoils.

Hawkmoth--sometimes people confuse this creature with a hummingbird--but he's much slower AND he's got antennae!

Combine all of your ingredients together. Add in a healthy dose of patience. Serves: Monarchs, Black and Tiger Swallowtails, Admirals, Viceroys, Morning Cloaks, Painted Ladies and Frittilaries. A very nice complementary addition to this recipe is a great butterfly identification book from your local library.

Monarch on Butterfly Bush

Enjoy with kids—yours or someone else’s. It’s a good way to get them interested in gardening period. Let them create and care for their own butterfly container garden. Raising caterpillars can be educational and fun too. The butterflies emerge from the chrysalis and can be released back into your own yard. See resources below.

www.monarchwatch.org
www.butterfliesandmoths.org
www.naba.org North American Butterfly Association
www.chias.org Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Chicago, IL

Went to a Garden Party

Asiatic Lily

Hemerocallis

After a stormy (yet another one) morning, the weather quickly changed into its “party clothes” and was properly turned out as a splendid summer afternoon. This past Sunday I went to a garden party at one of our horticulture volunteer’s private gardens and all the pictures you’ll see within this posting are from that garden.

Digitalis ferruginea 'Kirk Island'

Redbud 'Forest Pansy'


As you might imagine, there is a bit of stigma when you volunteer in the lovely gardens of Cantigny and then you invite people to come to your home garden. The hostess was initially in a bit of a tizzy at the thought of fellow volunteers and staffers coming to her house to critique her personal endeavors. But after a bit of pondering, she righted herself and decided, correctly, that her garden was a reflection of her—both her foibles and strengths are mirrored within her flower beds and borders. But my thought was, “We love her, why wouldn’t we love her garden?”

Acanthus mollis Bear's Britches


Stachys hummelo

Look at that nice color-mirroring in the flower and the stems of the sedum, mmmmm.

Ahhhh..very refreshing!

We all applauded her successes and thought her garden lovely with plentiful shade on a balmy summer day. We had mighty tasty things to eat and a glass of wine, or two. What’s not to like about spending a pleasant afternoon/evening with fellow gardeners/friends under those conditions? Our hostess was relaxed and, as just as she realized, we too should “learn our lessons well” and not stress over whether our container or flower bed designs are “right” or not…think of the lyrics to the above song….

"I learned my lesson well. You see, you can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself."

You truly only have to please yourself when designing. If you’re happy with the colors, the heights, the textures…that’s plenty good enough.


Not only did she grow this cool cardoon plant....

BUT, she's also a good composter too!

A Recipe to Entice Floating Tapestries to Your Garden Part 1

It usually happens on a sunny calm day in early summer. You straighten up from your perennial bent-over-position from pulling weeds (or planting, or moving what you have around to another spot, or, yeah, more weeding) to catch your breath, and you see one. A butterfly floating and gliding across your garden...and you think how can I “get” more of those floating tapestries to come through my yard?

Whether you have a large garden bed or only have space for a container (or several), you can entice butterflies to make a stop at a habitat you’ve provided for them. To create this butterfly area you’ll need to fulfill the ingredients list—a recipe to encourage butterflies to make a stop. They have their own agenda; you’re just trying to coax them to linger longer.

Swallowtail on Agastache (Photo by Lauren Fox)

Ingredient number one is a sunny, sunny, sunshiny area. A protected south or west-facing area is ideal. A nice addition, and one they would really appreciate, is a nice flat rock to sunbathe on—the colorful scales on their wings act kind of like solar panels. They need body temperatures of 85-100 ̊ just to fly and a flat rock will really help them come up to temperature on cooler mornings.


Fritillary on Zinnia (Photo by Lauren Fox)

Placing your butterfly garden in a sheltered area will satisfy ingredient number two. Butterflies don’t want to expend the energy fighting the wind. Try to use fencing or trees and shrubs to cut down on the heavy breezes for them; evergreens are especially helpful.


Tiger Swallowtail on Verbena bonariensis (Photo by Lauren Fox)

Are you squeamish about caterpillars? Don’t be! If you want to have butterflies—you’ve got to have caterpillars first. And if you provide food for the caterpillars (ingredient number three) and give them what they like to eat (host plants) you’ll increase your chances of attracting more butterflies! Think of caterpillars as the teenagers of the butterfly life cycle—they live to eat, and eat, and eat. Fact: a caterpillar can increase its body size more than 30,000 times from the time it hatches (from an egg) until it pupates (forms its chrysalis). Amazing, huh?

Some caterpillars will feed only on one particular host plant (Monarch caterpillars only feed on milkweed plants) and some will feed on a variety of host plants. Here are some top favorite host plants: Asclepias/milkweed (P), Asters, (P), Carrots (A), Dill (A), Fennel (A), Grasses (P &A), Hollyhock (B), Parsley (B), Queen Ann’s Lace (B), Thistle (P & A), violets (P)….A= Annual, P = Perennial, B = Biennial. Some trees are great host plants as well as good hibernation sites: Ash, Birch, Elms, Hackberry, Poplar, Tuliptree, and Willow.

Bronze Fennel and Verbena bonariensis (Photo by Jack Bannister)

Now for the nectar producers that butterflies love and crave. They do prefer flowers that are fragrant, colorful to them (purples, pinks, reds, yellow and orange) and the nectar should be accessible to them: flat landing pads (like daisy, sunflower and yarrow) or short-tubed flowers (liatris, zinnia). Here are some of their favorites: Ageratum (A), Alyssum (A), Butterfly bush and Butterfly weed (P), Calendula (A), Cetranthus ruber (Red Valerian), Cosmos (A), Coreopsis (P), Edhinacea (P), Heliotrope (A), Joe-Pye weed (P), Lantana (A), Liatris (P), Marigold (A), Milkweed (P), Mints (P), Pentas, (A), Phlox (P), Rudbeckia (P), Yarrow (P), Zinnia single-petaled (A). As well as these trees and shrubs : Buckeye, Caryopteris clandonensis (Bluebeard), Clethra alnifolia (Summersweet), fruit trees, Kolkwitzia amabilis (Beauty bush), Lilac, Lindera, Spirea, Sumac, and Viburnum carlesii.

Close up of Liatris (Photo by Jack Bannister)

Leucanthemum daisy 'Becky' (Photo by Jack Bannister)

Yarrow (Photo by Jack Bannister)

Try to plan your plantings in a dense cluster or grouping; butterflies are more attracted to the mass as opposed to individual plants.

So far you’ve got a great start on compiling all your ingredients. I’ve got a few more tips to add to the pot, but let’s leave it to stew in its juices for another day.

A Garden will Tell a Story

A garden will tell a story. And you will get a different story depending on how much time you care to spend “hearing” it. If you only have a bit of time a story may describe the color of a flower, the height and spread of a tree, or an impression on the grass where the kids had laid to look up at the clouds. And that in itself can be a pleasing story. But….if you take a little more time to really observe, to really examine a garden you will hear a whole different story.

If you were to look closely at one plant, a rose, for instance, you might notice that the sun and shade patterns are playing a little game of tag across the whole rose garden. You might become fascinated by how the last few raindrops on the petals remind you of seed pearls adding just the right touch of embellishment. Then, an industrious honeybee stops long enough to do his crazy little dance in the center of the rose, whirling about the stamens picking up a few pollen grains before he sambas off. You might focus on the color—the pink on the petals have that same crushed velvet color as the dress you wore to prom. Which, in turn, might draw you to a memory even further back, back when you were younger still…You close your eyes, and inhale deeply smelling that berry-licious fragrance, and it settles somewhere deep inside you of a time (not really so long ago) of you as a young child sitting in your grandma’s garden.

Gardens will do that to people. We are fascinated with the wildlife that visits, the unlimited colors and textures, the peace and tranquility and heady aromas that create memories in the young and refresh memories in the not so young.

The Gardens at Cantigny are over 40 years old—and still growing, evolving and changing. We can learn a lot by stopping to really look with an observant eye. A garden encompasses all those things that we are drawn to from a craving deep within us: earth, wind, sun, rain, wildlife and plant life.

With this blog, I hope to inspire your innate creativity with plants and the landscape they’re in as well as cultivating the desire within you to become a better grower of plants. Education via tips and examples will bridge the gap to get you where you hope to be as a gardening soul.

I hope you’ll join me as we go for a walk through the gardens. I’ll tell a few stories and I hope you will too!