🧪 Doing good science starts with training good scientists. Here at @ChicagoBotanic, our researchers are teaming up with Lake Forest College to do just that!

🧪 Thanks to advances in DNA sequencing, we can now tell which flowers a bee has visited based on the pollen they’re carrying! 🐝 📸 by Jane Ogilvie

December 5th is World Soils Day! 🤎 The UN declared today World Soils Day back in 2014 to promote greater awareness of humans’ reliance on healthy soils and the need for action to stop the degradation of our soil.  Illustration by Liz Anna Kozik, Ph.D.

Fire in the natural areas @ChicagoBotanic isn’t cause for alarm—prescribed burns are a crucial land management strategy with a centuries-long history. 🔥

🧪 🍁 As fall approaches, so does the end of the research field season! Our field site in Mettawa, IL, is home to several projects with the New Roots for Restoration Biology Integration Institute (BII).

Turns out trees in urban spaces do a lot more than just provide shade— they can be important reservoirs of genetic diversity 🧬.

🧪 Great news for fans of the rusty-patched bumblebee: conservation can start right in your backyard! 🐝 📸 of rusty patched bumblebee by Terry Miesle

🧪🏝️ If you’re on the hunt for a taste of the tropics right here in the Midwest, look no further than pawpaw!

🧪 Carnivorous plants get a spooky edit in the media, but are they friend or foe?

Learn more here: www.theguardian.com/environment/... 🧪

When it comes to feeding bees, are all flowers created equal?🌷🌻  No, according to a long-term study from @ChicagoBotanic scientists. By documenting how flowers vary in nutritional value and attract different bees, we can be more strategic in what we plant to support bee populations. 🐝

🧪Apply to join Bees on the Block: a collective planting project! Applications accepted until October 24th at this link: https://www.hostplant.net/bees-on-the-block.html

Congratulations to Ian Roberts on successfully defending his master’s thesis for the Northwestern University / Chicago Botanic Garden Graduate Program in Plant Biology & Conservation: “Impacts of Prescribed Fire on Ground Nesting Bees” under the guidance of Dr. Stuart Wagenius! 🧪

On Chicago’s Southeast Side, a wetland scarred by decades of steelmaking has yet to heal. But against the odds, a single endangered lakeside daisy has bloomed here. 🧪 www.chicagobotanic.org/blog/plant_s...

Congratulations to Teagan Levar, who completed her combined bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Northwestern / Chicago Botanic Garden Graduate Program in Plant Biology and Conservation. 🧪

Clint Stevens spends his weekends gathering clues to save rare plants. As a volunteer with Plants of Concern, he’s part of a dedicated team of nature enthusiasts trained to monitor threatened species across Illinois. Protecting rare plants = protecting healthy habitats. chgobg.org/3K2pSv3 🧪

Congrats to Northwestern University / Chicago Botanic Garden Ph.D. student Andrew Davies, who is studying magnolia trees in Ecuador for 10 months on a Fulbright Open Study/Research Award. Learn more about the newly discovered magnolia species they'll focus on: https://tinyurl.com/rare-magnolia 🧪

Congratulations to Emma Fetterly, who is wrapping up her master’s thesis: “Evaluating drivers of flower color polymorphism in Castilleja coccinea,” with the Northwestern/Chicago Botanic Garden Graduate Program in Plant Biology and Conservation. 🧪

🍂 We all know what that chill in the air means… It’s time to collect native seeds! We’re keeping a close eye on our native seed beds at Windy City Harvest’s Rodeo Farm, waiting for the perfect time to harvest. Learn more about our native seed efforts: https://tinyurl.com/cbg-natse 🧪

Congratulations to Dr. Drake Mullett on successfully defending his dissertation, “Effects of Root and Stem Hemiparasitic Plants on Tallgrass Prairie Plant Species,” advised by Dr. Stuart Wagenius with the Northwestern / Chicago Botanic Garden Graduate Program in Plant Biology and Conservation. 🧪

From collecting data to monitoring ecosystems, the Walder Foundation Undergraduate Interns at the Chicago Botanic Garden are contributing to plant conservation alongside their staff and grad student mentors. Discover their impact: www.chicagobotanic.org/blog/plant_s... 🧪

Congratulations to Max Jones on completing his combined bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Northwestern/Chicago Botanic Garden Graduate Program in Plant Biology and Conservation! 🧪

Congrats to Dr. Haley Carter, who completed her Ph.D. from the Northwestern/Chicago Botanic Garden Graduate Program in Plant Biology and Conservation last year: “Causes and consequences of floral scent diversity in a rare evening primrose,” co-advised by Dr. Krissa Skogen and Dr. Norm Wickett!

🐝 Bumble bee self-care: groom… nectar… groom… Gretel Kiefer, manager of the Plants of Concern program, found this half-black bumble bee (Bombus vagans) visiting low bindweed (Calystegia spithamaea), a rare Illinois native plant. 🧪

Congratulations to our graduate, Camille Reinoso, for earning her combined bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northwestern/Chicago Botanic Garden's Graduate Program in Plant Biology and Conservation!

That thing where the endangered bee visits the endangered plant. Pictured: A federally endangered rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) visiting an Illinois endangered Kankakee mallow (Iliamna remota) at Chicago Botanic Garden. 📷: @beesearcher.bsky.social 🧪

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🌸🌀 Discover how the spirals, stripes, and spots in plants reveal nature’s clever balance of beauty and biology.

🐝 Congratulations to Dr. Jackie Fitzgerald, who recently defended her PhD: “Dimensions of Difference: Multi-Scale Consequences of Trait Variation in Bumble Bees” under the guidance of Dr. Paul CaraDonna!

Welcome to Sedge Way—a section of turfgrass transformed into a thriving native sedge habitat at the Chicago Botanic Garden!

timeline cleanse, look at this beautiful, federally-endangered angel from some fresh angles

🌿 We’re always glad to get our hands dirty with @urbanrivers.bsky.social ! Our Stewardship and Ecology of Natural Areas technicians removed weeds, planted native species, and inventoried wildlife at the Wild Mile’s floating gardens. Thanks to Urban Rivers for the continued partnership!

🐣 Say hi to the newest osprey chick at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Nested along the East Service Road, this little one was safely banded yesterday by Senior Wildlife Biologist Chris Anchor and the Forest Preserve District of Cook County team as part of their long-running osprey conservation program.

Want to spend time outside and help scientists learn how habitat restorations in public parks make us healthier? Email our Associate Conservation Genomics Scientist, Dr. Suzy Strickler, and graduate student, Isaac Ferber, at [email protected] to participate in a new research study.

🎉 Please join us in sending a big thank you and congratulations to Dave Sollenberger, Manager of the Dixon National Tallgrass Prairie Seedbank, on his retirement from the Chicago Botanic Gaden. 🎨 Dave Sollenberger #Congrats #HappyRetirement

🌳🧪 Restoring 30,000 acres of land takes a lot of native seed. We’re helping the Forest Preserves of Cook County meet this ambitious goal through the Seed Amplification Program, so that FPCC can grow more seed from more species—and restore diverse, healthy habitats.

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Honored to help @marshmaiden.bsky.social and FPCC make this dream a reality! 🧪

Protecting endangered species means protecting habitats. Please submit a comment by May 19 opposing changes to the Endangered Species Act.

🌱 Happy National Endangered Species Day! For over 20 years, community scientists in the Plants of Concern program, led by manager Gretel Kiefer @ChicagoBotanic, have been protecting Illinois’ rarest native plants. 🔗 Visit bit.ly/4krCWHf to check out the article!

🚲Happy Bike to Work Week! In celebration, we’d like to feature our Ph.D. student Andrew Davies @NorthwesternU, who commutes 25 miles round trip to @ChicagoBotanic. It’s good for the planet and a great way to enjoy our urban biodiversity.

The ultimate lawn conversion is… 🥁 🌾 Growing a prairie! Be bold and replace your lawn with a mixture of native grasses and tall prairie plants to mimic the Midwest’s iconic ecosystem. 🧪

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🧪🐝 Finally—a lawn that feeds native pollinators. This week, we’ve looked at clover and grassy lawn alternatives, but let’s turn our attention to short native plants that bring the blooms.

🌾🧪What if you like the look of grass? Choosing different grasses can make a big difference. In Illinois, we tend to use a mix of grass species including Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, and fescues. But, we have hundreds of native grasses, 190 sedges, and 28 rushes we could use instead.

☘️🧪 If we’re talking lawn alternatives, we gotta mention Dutch white clover. Intentionally adding weeds is a cheap and easy way to get some flowers in your lawn. But… we have mixed feelings about it.  Pro: Feeds SOME pollinators, fixes nitrogen Con: Non-native, spreading, dead in winter

“If you’re managing and taking care of your rare species, then you are improving the health of the habitat for all species,” said Kiefer, “not just plants, not just the rare species, but the insects, the wildlife, the underground soil activity — everything.” 🧪

Most lawns are monocultures of grass. Converting even part of them into planting areas for native plants and flowers and shrubs will bring a variety of inserts and birds and wildlife into your life.

Happy No Mow May! This month is a great time to think about how to support bumblebee queens and other insects waking up for spring. What’s in your landscape that supports the early birds of the season? 🧪