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Cleveland Botanical Garden This is a walker’s self-guided tour through the Gardens inside-and-out that will help us to discover the magic of local Nature in July. Every month is a new top-ten list! COSTA RICA BIOME: BUTTERFLIES AND THEIR FLOWERS. July is the best month to view our neo-tropical butterflies. They love flying in the bright sunlight and sipping nectar from lantana, coralberry […]
By Connor Ryan, HF&G Rhododendron Collections Manager One of my favorite parts of my job as Rhododendron Collections Manager is plant propagation – creating and growing new plants for our grounds and for our patrons. This is a routine part of the work all public gardens do. We propagate plants to display on our grounds, […]
By Mary Brennan, HF&G Volunteer and Ohio Volunteer Pollinator Specialist Greetings to all! Now that we know a little of what pollination is, I thought it might be helpful to be able to pick out just what is flying around the flowers. Not knowing could mean we are tempted to swat at almost anything – […]
By Rebecah Troutman, HF&G Natural Areas Biologist Our team handles the birds we study with the utmost care. Here’s a little more about how we net and handle the juncos: Birds are captured in mist nets (very fine-strand nets that are nearly invisible). We use a decoy and recordings of their songs to attract territorial […]
By Sarah Kyker, HF&G Research Associate Some of the most fun stories we have in science are about surprising discoveries. Most people think of these as “eureka” moments. We can picture a scientist in a lab seeing something unexpected and shouting with excitement. “Eureka!” But, in science, these “eureka” moments don’t really exist. When we […]
By Mary Brennan, HF&G Volunteer and Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalist In this week’s post, we’ll talk about what pollination is. Let’s begin with the flower. Whether it’s a flower on a tree, bush, grass, food crop or in a forest, field or your backyard, most flowers need other flowers in order to produce seeds to […]
By HF&G Horticulturist Dawn Gerlica One of the most common reasons people decide to start home vegetable gardens is to get good tomatoes. Science has developed tomatoes for grocery stores that are easier to transport across the country without becoming mush, but those little golf ball mimics are missing the taste and texture of a […]
By Dr. Na Wei, Holden Research Scientist Why do we care about pollinators? Pollinators are important creatures in natural ecosystems and our daily life because they provide vital services to wild plants and our crops. Pollinators carry and deliver pollen to facilitate plant fertilization to produce fruits and seeds. These fruits serve as food for […]
By Eva Rodriguez, HF&G Interpretive Services Manager Last week, I shared the bounty of Cleveland Botanical Garden’s Costa Rica biome of Smith Glasshouse with the people of Cleveland on Kickin’ it with Kenny, Fox8’s morning show. Glasshouse Horticulturist, Mark Bir was kind enough to harvest a Vietnamese red papaya (Carica papaya), a fruit tree with […]
By Mary Brennan This week we are celebrating “ National Pollinator Week.” Now I like celebrations sure, but pollinators? And a whole week? What’s up with that? Who or what are they – what’s so important to warrant a whole week, and what’s it to me? Well, first thing, there are several creatures that qualify […]
As spring transitions to summer, we’re wrapping up this year’s spring phenology monitoring in Bole Woods at the Holden Arboretum. Have you heard the term phenology before? Phenology is the study of the timing of natural phenomena – anything that has a seasonal signal. When does Trillium flower? When do hummingbirds arrive in northeast Ohio […]
By Na Wei, Holden Research Scientist Today we are continuing our story of ornamental apples (crabapples). Plants are living in a microbial world. They interact not only with microbes in the soil but also the ones living in their flowers. These microbial partners can be beneficial or harmful, and thus hold the key for plant […]
We continue to reopen the Holden Arboretum grounds to visitors looking for summer adventure close to home. The Murch Canopy Walk invites guests on a 500-foot-long elevated walkway that is built 65 feet above the forest floor. The Kalberer Emergent Tower is 120 feet or approximately 12 stories tall that provides a breathtaking view of […]
By Mark Bir, HF&G Horticulturist The rose family is diverse, numerous, cosmopolitan. Of its several thousand members are the apples and pears, peaches and plums apricots and almonds, the raspberries and blackberries and all the brambles, the quinces and medlars and mountain-ash (breathe); the strawberries and cherries, the firethorns and hawthorns and loquats, the lady’s […]
By Katie Stuble, HF&G Research Scientist As a scientist at the Holden Arboretum, I wear many hats, but one of my favorites is mentor to our summer interns. Each year, Holden’s Research Department brings in students from around the country to join us in our labs, gardens, and forests. These students help us collect valuable […]
Holden Forests & Gardens (HF&G) will welcome members and the general public to the outdoor gardens at The Cleveland Botanical Garden this Wednesday, June 10, 2020. “The outdoor gardens are absolutely beautiful this time of year,” said Jill Koski, president and CEO of Holden Forests and Gardens. “Visiting the botanical garden is a beloved summer […]
By Dawn Gerlica, HF&G Horticulturist It’s now June and hopefully the weather will finally cooperate to allow all the warm season crops to get started. If your garden is not fully planted yet, don’t fret. Gardens are very forgiving and not meant to be a stressful activity. Even though potatoes can be planted as early […]
Holden Forests & Gardens condemns the violence against Black Americans and other people of color that causes them to be unsafe in outdoor spaces and in our communities. Our vision is that all communities will be transformed into vibrant places where trees, plants, and people thrive. We acknowledge that public gardens and arboreta have not […]
By Rory Schiafo, HF&G Research Specialist If you have been hiking on the Bole Woods loop in the last two years, you may have noticed some strange white pipes sticking out of the ground, or perhaps a group of eager young ecologists measuring trees or counting seedlings. “What is this all about?”, you may ask […]
Get close to nature with hundreds of acres of beautiful gardens and miles of woodland trails Holden Forests & Gardens (HF&G) will welcome the public to The Holden Arboretum beginning this Thursday, May 28, 2020. “We are excited to reopen our gardens and walking and hiking trails,” said Jill Koski, president and CEO of Holden […]