Plant Theater for May Day

 A Plant Theater, according to the Chicago Botanic Garden is a traditional English presentation of exceptional plants. The plants are potted and placed on tiers of shelves to highlight a collection of the same plant.  They can have 3 to 5 shelves and are ususally decoratively framed. Herbs, flowers, succulents can all be part of these seasonal display areas. 

I like the more traditional shape and design of a Plant Theater with crown molding and an almost inside the house look, but any set of shelves on which you display plants will work.

Here area few different images of the Plant Theater at the Chicago Botanic Garden.  For those familiar with the garden, the Plant Theater is located by one of the entrances to the English Walled Garden.  As it is one of the places at the Botanic Garden with a number of herbs as well as a relaxing formal organization, I enjoy stopping there every time I visit the Botanic Garden.

These are all Mums taken in October 2020.  During lock down in 2020 we visited the botanic garden every month during the season when it was open to the public to enjoy an excursion outdoors.  We picked different areas to explore, but came back often to the English Walled Garden.

It has other attributes besides the Plant Theater, There is a a stairway filled with scented geraniums.

There are sculpted garden shrubs surrounded by seasonal plants

I love to walk between plants, reach down and touch them with the tips of my fingers.  Besides my raised hill garden where I do that all the time, this public garden is a place I can do it as well.  They have brick paths lined on each side with a selection of scented herbs. Some have great texture like soft fuzz lambs ear varieties, or strong scent like garlic chives. And of course there are a number of different thyme plants.

The Plant Theater was originally installed in 2019 and is changed regularly by the horticultural staff. so I have a number of images of it. You can see the spring bulbs, like these grape Hyacinth in Spring and succulents in late fall. Last summer they had Mini Hostas.

The Walled Garden is a must see and here is why I started visiting. They have a Sundial.  I am obsessed with Sundials, I want more than one in my garden, so I collect images to decide what style I want.

For details on my Sundial search, check out my previous posts.

The Sundial in the Walled English Garden is a horizontal sundial with an equatorial spike, rather than a wedge which allows you to read the time in simmer and winter.

Enjoy this May Day with a trip through the garden, real or virtual!

Sundials in the Garden

Herb Garden Luthy Gardens, Peoria, IL

I have a thing about sundials.  I love them!  I search them out when we are visiting public and private gardens.  I decided it was time to share a few of my favorites.

Luthy Botanic Garden one of two made in 1905

This sundial is nestled into a wonderful herb garden at the Luthy Botanic Garden.  It had great plants, a bee skiff, and a wonderful brass entry gateway with the word "HERBS" which is must say I would like to have a similar version of one day.

I find that many times Sundials get broken, the center item that casts the shadow (called a gnomon) can be snapped off.  This one at the Chicago Botanic Garden suffered this fate.

Chicago Botanic Garden

Another at the Chicago Botanic has a single spire in the center.  This is not a common style it is called a Equatorial Sundial, as it can be read in both summer and winter, but differently so it needs a center spike rather than an angled gnomon.  However they are usually mounted at an angle to match latitude and this one is mounted horizontally, so it may have been relocated.

Before we go too far, I thought I would explain how they work.

The Gnomon is the item which casts the shadow to tell the time.  The Style (surface) of the gnomon always points directly north.  One has to figure out north whenever placing a sundial in the garden and then adjust it due to the latitude you live at to get an accurate time. This is more important with a Vertical Sundial so that it remains pointing North and set at an angle to the horizontal equal to the Latitude of the Sundial location. The Gnomon therefore must be set at an angle to the 'dial' of 900. minus Latitude.

Sundials are categorized by how they are mounted - horizontal, vertical, circular or cylindrical.  Most garden sundials are horizontal, like those shown above.  They are easy to position.  You make them level and point them north.  Vertical sundials are often found on the sides of buildings.  To be placed on the building they must be on the south facing side  Circular (called Armillary actually) use spokes or wheels to tell time rather than a gnomon. They are a bit more actuate than those with a gnomon, but take some time to install and they must be placed at a proper angle. Cylindrical are the most rare and are more common in Europe than in the U.S.  I have yet to see one.

We saw a great Vertical Sundial in New Harmony, Indiana on one of the restored buildings in this former Utopian village from the 1820s.

I used to drive by this one when I lived in Indianapolis, Indiana.  It is on the Publix Theater Building.

This sundial is Armillary.  I actually found two of them on the same trip, but it was sunny when I found this one, so you can see the time which shines as a number.  The in-between minutes are judged by the thin line on the surface of the sundial. This one is located in a formal garden at the Rotary Gardens in Janesville, Illinois.

Rotary Garden Janesville, WI

Most armillary sundials have an axis arrow (gnomon) and a series of circles being the equator, Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, making it resemble a globe.  The gnomon is angled to the latitude of the location the sundial resides. This one is located at the Master Gardeners display garden at Purdue University.

Purdue University, Fort Wayne, IN

A new trend in Sundials at Botanic gardens is an interactive style called Analemmatic.  These dials are larger sundials on the ground where the visitor stands to become the gnomon.  You stand on a spot based on the season or month to make the time reading accurate.

Quad Cities Botanic Garden

My husband, who is 6 foot 8 makes a great gnomon. Here is another one:

Klehm Gardens in Rockford, Illinois

Sundials are often placed in public gardens as a memorial.  I have found several in cemeteries as remembrance.  This one was placed in Dellwood gardens in memory of George C. Fox Sr. a Lockport District Park Commissioner from 1945 to 1958. It was the quote I found most interesting: "Dedicated to Serving his Community   Service is the Golden Coin of Life"

Here is the surface of the sundial. It has my favorite saying on it. The garden it stands in looked great even in the fall.

If you are interested in more information on mounting and using sundials or on the locations and history of memorial and antique sundials, check out the North American Sundial Society https://sundials.org  They have a nice article about the maker of the 1905 sundial in Peoria.

World Environment Day at Chicago Botanic Gardens

Saturday I attended Wold Environment Day at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

butterfly milkweed

The event was free to those entering the park and there was much to do and see all over the place.  I came home with two plants (a butterfly milk weed and a white cherry tomato) in addition to a wealth of information for my gardens. Mine won't bloom until next season, but here is a milk weed I caught in the wild last summer.

Evaluation gardens outside the Plant Science Center

I went because I was invited to attend the lecture given by Scott Hoffman Black of the Xerces Society.

He was speaking on preserving Monarch Butterfly habitat -- The Monarch Butterfly: How You Can Help Save this Iconic Species 

Scott Hoffman Black is the executive director of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.  He gave his presentation in the central hall of the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Plant Conservation Science Center on the east side of the Botanic Garden.  

You can see the gorgeous photographs he showed as part of his lecture.  And he shared a great number of facts, the most striking is that just a few years ago there were a billion Monarchs in North America and now there are only about 33 million.  That is a near 70% drop.  We should worry about this because it says much about habitat destruction, pesticide over-use and many other cultural realities of today.

His talk detailed how Monarchs travel from as far north as Ontario to winter over in Mexico a trek of almost 3,000 miles, then come back to the Midwest, taking two generations of butterflies to make it back to Illinois.  That means the butterflies that travel to Mexico each year, have never been there before, yet find their way... How extraordinary!

I love monarchs.  My sister used to grow milk weed and we were a fly over spot on the migration south where I grew up in Ohio, so I have had them in my life and gardens for a very long time.  Once they laid eggs on the milk weed, which grew into caterpillars that have the greatest stripes.  We even got to witness the butterfly emerging, when my father brought a crystalis indoors so we could watch the transformation into a butterfly.  We then released it back into the wild.  It was one of those great nature experiences I still recall fondly.  It probably cemented my love of Monarchs.

My take away from the lecture was unlike so many other endangered species activities we may engage in, this one is a species in my backyard and my backyard can help this species continue to thrive.  Planting butterfly nectar flowers and providing milkweed for breeding and food for caterpillars is something that is simple and easy to do.  And in the process I can help bees and other pollinating insects as well.  If you want more details I recommend checking out the website for the Xerces Society (Named after the first butterfly species in the US to go extinct!)  There is even a seed finder for companies that have milkweed seed in your area.

The overall theme of World Environment Day was actually the world in your backyard.  There were many places where I picked up on this message.  I learned about a volunteer program to identify native species and collect stats on their growth situation and habitat dangers.  I also learned about earthworms, mushrooms, and bees.  I even spoke with a bee keeper.

Over in the Herb and Vegetable Garden was this great display on DIY Herbs De Provence with sample plants!

I will admit that I went to the Botanic Gardens strictly for the lecture.  If I had not wanted to see the Walled English Garden before the July heat, I might not have walked to the other side of the park that day, but the weather was perfect and the Botanic Garden was beautiful and I just could not help myself.

view toward the Japanese garden that day

I was never so glad I made the effort.  They had several booths set up in different locations.  Corporate sponsors, local garden clubs and the Horticulturalists from the staff.  That was the best part.  They had booths on specific subjects to start a conversation, but you could ask them just about anything.  I figured out what to do about  nutritional issues in my community garden plot, discussed heirloom tomatoes, learned about native butterfly attracting flowers I can get locally and grow in my garden and I even got some seed bombs of local prairie plants to plant as well.

All in all it was a wonderful experience and I would recommend it next year, it should again be around the first weekend of June.  Until then I suggest the other great events they have coming up.  These will surely be as much fun!
             Garden Chef Series (every weekend until well into October)
             Herb Garden Weekend  - July 26 & 27 - how can I miss this!
             Heirloom Tomato weekend - August 24 & 25 - I need to know how mine stack up!
             Farmers Markets - first and third Sunday of the month once the local growing season gets going!

So let's go visit the Chicago Botanic Garden this summer!  I'll see you there.

Seeds at the Chicago Botanic Gardens - Herb of the Week

On Feb. 23, I went to a lecture by Ken Green of Hudson Valley Seed Library at the Chicago Botanic Garden.  They had a seed swap where I picked up three or four varieties of Nasturtiums and some other seeds.

The selection of herbs was lacking but I had a great time jockeying for seed anyway.  The lecture, however, was actually my highlight.

Chicago Botanic Garden Seed Swap Volunteers giving advice

I attended the lecture 2 years ago when they had Diane Ott Whealy of Seed Savers Exchange and enjoyed the idea of saving seed and discussions of biodiversity.  This year the lecture took a different tone as there was a focus on paying attention to where your seeds come from and recognizing that asking if the seeds are Genetically Modified (GMO) is not the key to getting to the root of where your food comes from.

Ken Green and Lisa Hilgenberg (CBG horticulturist)

Ken Green was a down to earth guy whose focus to provide a mission-based business and be a socially aware entrepreneur is evident in everything he says.  A former librarian he created the first seed library where a person could "borrow" seed and plant and grow the seed and then return that seed and more to the library for others to try in the future.  There are now hundreds of seed libraries across the nation.  His focus slowly changed from sharing seed to preserving seed and how to create the best techniques for growing seed that is true to variety and the best example of a particular plant for his growing season.  He was also interested in the biodiversity of seed grown say in California, and its ability to grow in the colder climate and shorter growing season of his native upstate New York.  This

Photo courtesy of Hudson Valley Seed Library

focus on farming to produce good seed makes his garden much different than mine.  Now as an herb gardener I do not focus on seed, heck I cut the flowers off at every opportunity, so even the images of his garden looked off to me.  They focused on luscious seed heads and very little foliage.

What I loved about his presentation is that he linked seeds to stories and art.  That the "history" of a seed is not about the day it was introduced or the historical setting it became popular in, but rather the personal story of the seed itself.  Who used it, how they used it, who hybridized it or did simple selection to craft the best seed.  In his example it was a bean for making baked beans, and how a community used those beans in every social situation in a town by making and serving the baked beans, with a recipe from someone else and seasonings from another person was a wonderful narrative of the importance of seeds in everyday life. These stories of how someone decided to choose a seed that looked like that or grew that style of plant is of importance to the history of our culture as any other historical situation.  At this point he tapped into my inner museum curator who often lays dormant these days and made my decision to grow herbs that much more interesting!

He also spoke of seeds as art.  The "Art" is not just the wonderful way that Hudson Valley Seed Library solicits original art to place on their seed packets, but seed as a catalyst for thinking about seed as an artistic expression.  For example if you saved seed from a plant or flower because you loved the way it looked or tasted, you are preserving and passing along your aesthetic -- your art.  He gave a quote by Elizabeth Murray:   "Gardening is the art that uses flowers and plants as paint, and the soil and sky as canvas."

He said something early on in his talk that I found extraordinary, many people have no idea that the foods they eat once originated from seeds.  Now I have known that in some cases there is a disconnect between say "cow" and "ground beef," but I never through there was one between seed and plant or vegetable.  Could that be because I was introduced to seed so early in my life that I knew you could grow flowers and vegetables from seed, that I grew my sweet corn, peppers and tomatoes as a child from seed I picked out myself from the bins at the feed store in town.  I never gave a moment's consideration to the fact others did not experience what I had.  This gave whole new meaning to the one seed program I knew about and promoted in Chicago.

Now back to the underlying theme of the lecture.  Know where your seed comes from.  In other words do not ask "Does my seed company sell Genetically Modified seeds?" (almost all do not.)  But rather does the purchase of these seeds from this company benefit companies that will use the "seed money" to create GMOs that will be used by those who place food in my food supply.  This is a tougher question and requires being a more informed consumer.

Ken Green with shoppers talking about his seeds

He asked those of us there from the blogging community to consider, who do we recommend for our readers to use as a seed company and have we done our homework about those companies?  Because consumers will rely on those of us who give advice to have done our homework so they can spend more time planting and less time researching.  Look for a new post on recommended seed companies from me very soon!

Among his final questions was - "Which story do you want to grow?"  This has sent me off on a wonderful journey of thought that I believe will make this gardening season a whole new adventure.  

Book Review - The Lavender Cookbook

While visiting the Chicago Botanic Gardens this month I picked up a book by Sharon Shipley entitled The Lavender Cookbook.   The author Sharon Shipley is owner and director of the Mon Cheri Cooking School in Sunnyvale, California. She has studied extensively throughout Europe at La Varenne, La Cordon Bleu, and Ecole Cuisine d'Hubert.  The reason the cookbook caught my eye was because I have just embarked on a lavender loving campaign and this was going to be the key to my enjoyment of more lavender.

I was not disappointed.  This summer I crafted Lavender honey to sell at the Garden Walks and this book had at least 2 recipes that used Lavender Honey that made my whole task of making the flavored honey worth the effort.

This edge bound paperback of just shy of 200 pages and has no photographs and few illustrations which is good because it leaves more room for recipes.  And this book is filled with them (92 to be exact.)  The best attribute of the book is that you do not have to be a trained chef to create the recipes and whenever she is teaching a tidbit or introducing a less common ingredient, she has added this cute lavender symbol that marks a box where extra information is shared.

            
To eliminate the issue of what lavender should you cook with, she has crafted all the recipes to be made with dried Lavendula intermedia 'Provence' which botanically is a Lavindin (rather than a Lavender).  This hybrid grows more easily in the United States and is a great cooking lavender. 

Organized by season she has provided recipes of all styles (appetizers, beverages, main and side dishes and desserts) in each part of the year that suit the weather.  I like that about the book because a large number of recipes on a single herb can sometimes be daunting, but by breaking it into seasonal recipes you get a nice workable number of things to try without wondering if you will be overwhelmed.

The best recipes in the book are the dressings and sauces.  They are shared in abundance, from dipping sauces to salad dressings, to creams you add to the top of a soup.  The sauces and dressings are definitely the key to cooking with lavender and they are presented smoothly and simply.  A few of the combinations seem out there taste wise, but I cannot say they do not work as I have yet to try them.

My first experiment from the book was a Wet Lavender Salt Rub.  My husband has discovered Roasting Chickens and how easy they are to cook with in the summer.  We worked up the Wet Rub, altered it a bit, and used it to make roast chicken which turned out divine.

Here is our adaptation of the recipe found on Page 17:

Lavender Salt Wet Rub
2 tsp. lavender buds
2 Tbls. course sea salt
2 Tbls. extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbls. finely diced garlic
1 tsp. fresh rosemary (this is key do not substitute dry)
1 tsp. lemon thyme (fresh or dry is fine)

In a mortar and pestle grind the lavender with 1 Tbls of the sea salt until finely ground.  Place in a bowl and stir in the oil, garlic rosemary and remaining salt.  Rub all over a roasting Chicken, pork loan roast or skin-on chicken breast.  the longer you leave it on the better, I let it meld in the refrigerator overnight.  According to Sharon Shipley you can double the recipe and keep it int he refrigerator in a jar for up to 5 days.

The appetizers were by far my favorite recipes so far, but I have to admit being summer, the idea of little plates is not only fun but quick and easy in hot weather.  Come wintertime my favorites may change and since the book lets you look at lavender as a warming and hearty herb for winter, I think it will be just as wonderful then as it is now. 

I definitely recomend getting yourself a copy of  The Lavender Cookbook by Sharon Shipley (Running Press Book Publishers: Phila. PA: 2004)

Here is my favorte recipe so far:

Grilled Lavender Honey Chicken

¾ cup white wine vinegar

¼ cup grated lemon zest

½ cup fresh lemon juice

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

¼ cup lavender honey

1 Tbls. lavender buds, ground finely

¼ Tbls. cracked black pepper

1 ½ tsp. fresh lime juice

1 tsp. sea salt

8 boneless chicken breast halves

In a large bowl, mix the vinegar, lemon zest, lemon juice, oil, honey, lavender, lime juice, salt and pepper.  Add the chicken and turn to coat.  Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Preheat a grill to medium.  Remove the chicken from marinade and place skin side down on the grill.  Cook turning the chicken every 5 minutes and brushing occasionally with the marinade for 15 minutes or until no longer pink.  Discard remaining marinade. Serves 8.  Great with oven roasted sweet potatoes.

Herb Garden Event - Chicago Botanic Gardens

Coming up in a few days at the Chicago Botanic Garden is

   Herb Weekend - June 28 & 29!

The mission of the Chicago Botanic Garden is to promote the enjoyment, understanding, and conservation of plants and the natural world and herbs as scent and edible plants fits so nicely into that mission that it is not hard to understand why they have a nice focus on herbs in the vegetable garden island.  I recently enjoyed my membership to tour the grounds of the Regenstein Fruit and Vegetable Garden where the event will be held this weekend.  I wanted to see how the herbs were faring combared to mine. I must say they have been well cared for.

Calendula

Tarragon (and thyme)

dill

During the Herb Weekend Event they will have “Herb Discovery Carts” for extra inforamtion about growing as well as vendors and some extra special Herb-theme items in the Wheelbarrow Shop. 

chives

You will have to wander around to find the herbs, but they will have volunteers to help you find your way.  Be sure to explore the wall garden and the kitchen garden as well as the round shaped main vegetable and herb area.

They hid the chives behind this bench, but they don't look real happy there!  They did have purple basil in the kitchen garden (along with several other basils, including a lime basil I had never seen before.)

purple basil and purple sage

corner garden filled with lime thyme

I found this cute corner garden in a small square of bricks along the main pathway, but I missed it on the way in and found it on my way out.  Those are the wonderful sorts of experiences you will find while touring the Regenstien Garden.

During the event they will have take-home herb resource sheets with plant/seed sources and recommendations.  They also will have some focusing on Old-fashioned herbs, kitchen herbs and those you can grow in containers.

They have a number of  herbs and edible flowers and demonstrate ways of interplant them so you can add herbs to your home garden easily.

So looking sor something herby to do with your weekend, get outside and have some fun at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

raised beds of vegetables and herbs

The Final Details:

The Chicago Botanic Garden is easy to find and easy to reach, approximately 20 miles north of Chicago. 

The Garden is located at 1000 Lake Cook Road in Glencoe, Illinois. For maps and driving directions I  recommend http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?cat=chicago botanic garden&formtype=address&addtohistory=&address=1000 Lake Cook Rd&city=Glencoe&state=IL&zipcode=60022-1168&country=US&geodiff=1, which also has traffic updates.



The Schedule:

Herb Weekend will be in the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden
July 28 and 29, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.



1:30 and 2:30 p.m.
Garden Chef Series, Kitchen Amphitheater

Nice shady seating!

11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Ongoing Activities 

• 11:30 a.m.  Companion Planting with Herbs: Folklore or Fact?
• Noon, 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. Growing Herbs in Containers
• 3 p.m. Herbal Soap Making