Earth Hour 2009

1 billion people switching off their lights as part of a global vote -- what will you be doing on March 28th?  Learn more about this event and opportunity at: http://www.earthhour.org

Let your voice be heard!

Vegetable Gardens, or, Where Cabbage is King!

Like a general planning the next sortie, this time of the year, gardeners are planning their vegetable gardens. Nursery catalogs are spread out and studied, time is spent pacing around the yard with paper and pencil, and chairs are even drawn to the windows so the eager gardener can further study the landscape. Some of the most interesting and amusing gardens that I’ve visited have include a border of spinach, a run of beets or even a flurry of lettuce – right along the sidewalk by the front door. Savvy gardeners have discovered ways to meld and incorporate the traditional vegetable garden with the home’s landscaping. Recent news about the White House vegetable garden will hopefully encourage people to plant a row of peas, a strip of squash or even a ribbon of radishes. Short on space or time? Consider creating several compact container vegetable gardens. These are some of the resources in the Sterling Morton Library that will help the home vegetable gardener:

• The American Horticultural Society encyclopedia of gardening, 1993.
• Bartholomew, Mel. Square foot gardening, c1981.
• Bartley, Jennifer R. Designing the new kitchen garden : an American potager handbook, 2006.
• Bradley,Fern Marshall. Vegetable gardening : from planting to picking : the complete guide to creating a bountiful garden, c2006.
• Bubel, Nancy. The new seed-starters handbook, c1988.
• Chambers, David. Vegetable gardening, 1994.
• Coleman, Eliot. The new organic grower : a master's manual of tools and techniques for the home and market gardener, 1995.
• Creasy, Rosalind. The complete book of edible landscaping, c1982.
• Crockett, James Underwood. Crockett's victory garden, c1977.
• Harris, Linda D. Growing seeds! : starting from scratch, c1999.
• Heffernan, Maureen. Burpee seed starter : a guide to growing flower, vegetable, and herb seeds indoors and outdoors, c1997.
• Kitchen gardens : beyond the vegetable patch, c1998.
• Kite, L. Patricia. Gardening wizardry for kids, c1995.
• Lerner, Carol. My backyard garden, 1997.
• Nardozzi, Charlie. Vegetable gardening for dummies, c1999.
• Ogden, Samuel R. Step-by-step to organic vegetable growing,1971.
• Pavord, Anna. The new kitchen garden, 1996.
• Salad gardens : gourmet greens and beyond, c1995.
• Taylor's guide to vegetables & herbs, 1987.
• Weaver, William Woys. Heirloom vegetable gardening : a master gardener's guide to planting, growing, seed saving, and cultural history, 1997.

A Man of Salt and Trees : the life of Joy Morton

At last! James Ballowe’s biography of Joy Morton, The Morton Arboretum’s founder, is tantalizingly close to publication. Jim made extensive use of the Sterling Morton Library’s Archives in preparation of this work which is the first full-length biography of Morton. “Using the voluminous correspondence of the Morton family, Ballowe tells the story of the Nebraska farm boy who grew up to be a small town banker who became a leading citizen of Chicago and Illinois and a major figure in the nation’s economic and technological development during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.” This biography published by Northern Illinois University Press, will be available for purchase at the Arboretum Store.

There will be several upcoming Arboretum events heralding this remarkable book:

Saturday, April 25, 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m., Arboretum Store
Meet Jim Ballowe, author of "A Man of Salt and Trees: The Life of Joy Morton." Jim will sign copies and answer questions about his book documenting the life of Joy Morton, founder of the Arboretum and the Morton Salt Company.

Saturday, May 16, 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m., Thornhill Education Center
Salt, Chicago, and Trees: Joy Morton’s Life
Register for this class within the Arboretum’s Education Program to learn more about Joy’s contributions to the City of Chicago, the Burnham Plan and the State of Illinois.

Thursday, June 11, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., Sterling Morton Library
Jim will join the Library’s book discussion group, Leafing Through the Pages, for a discussion of Joy Morton and this biography.

Sunday, June 28, 12 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., Sterling Morton Library
As part of The Morton Arboretum's Open House, Jim will be signing copies of his book and answering questions about his research. In addition to meeting the author, visitors will have the opportunity to view images and artifacts associated with Joy Morton from the Library's Special Collections.

Nursery Catalogs : a feast for the gardeners' eyes and the soul!

This time of the year, a gardener’s fancy turns to the nursery catalogs that are beginning to fill up our virtual and snail mailboxes. Ever hopeful, the gardener is able to view and purchase new and wondrous plants through these catalogs. The Sterling Morton Library holds an extensive collection of current nursery catalogs. Resources such as Plant Information Online and Cornucopia II help navigate this current collection.

In addition to a robust collection of current catalogs, we also have a collection of historic nursery catalogs. Ever wonder what catalogs homeowners and gardeners were studying in 1896? Rich with illustrations, unusual plant names (a pumpkin named King of the Mammoths or an onion called Prizetaker) and early horticultural information, these early catalogs present a historic snapshot of the gardening world. Visit the Sterling Morton Library and prowl through this treasure trove of botanical and horticultural resources!

The Sterling Morton Library is located in the Administration and Research Building of The Morton Arboretum, southwest of the Visitor Center. Library patron parking is available in the parking lot adjacent to the Research and Administration Building.

The Sterling Morton Library is open:
Tuesday through Friday from 9 -5
Saturday from 10-4

Orchid madness -- UPDATE!

This update comes from Michael Stieber, our library administrator:

Do Orchids interest & fascinate you? If so, perhaps the following Trees of Life lecture will please you.

Peter Bernhardt and Retha Meier - both orchid biologists at St. Louis University and the Missouri Botanical Garden - will speak about Darwin's orchids and orchid books "with plenty of surprises for the audience" here at The Morton Arboretum.

The official title of their full color, full of orchids presentation in the Sterling Morton Library, March 10, Tuesday night, from 7 to 8.30 pm, is "Charles Darwin: The Flowering of Evolutionary Theory (1862 - the present day).

Bernhardt is an entertaining writer as well - 4 books for the general reader on many unusual and remarkable plants and lifestyles among the plants (The Rose's Kiss, Wily Violets Underground, Gods and Godesses in the Garden, for example). The Arboretum Store's Book Buyer will be on hand with copies of books to sell & Peter will be happy to autograph any and all.

Please mark your calendar and come learn fascinating secrets of orchids and Darwin's pioneering work on it that led Bernhardt and Meier to continue the investigations today in Australia and elsewhere.

Complete details can be found HERE.

Orchid madness!

Looking for a way to beat those winter blues? (Will winter ever end?) Well if it is flowers you crave then I think I have just the answer. If you hurry, you can catch the last weekend of Orchids by Hausermann's annual open house. You can find complete details on their website.

And if you want to figure out how to care for those orchids once you buy them, then stop by the library to browse our collections on indoor orchid care and culture. Interested in painting or drawing orchids? The orchid business? Growing your own? We can help with that too!

Here are a few suggestions:

The best orchids for indoors. Brooklyn Botanic Garden. 2004.
SB409 .B49

The forgotten orchids of Alexandre Brun by Phillip Cribb. 1992.
OVERSIZE QK500.97 .C73

Growing hardy orchids by John Tullock. 2005.
SB409 .T84

Orchid fever : a horticultural tale of love, lust, and lunacy by Eric Hansen. 2000.
SB409 .H36

The orchid in lore and legend by Luigi Berliocchi, 2000
SB409 .B47
The orchid paintings of Franz Bauer by Joyce Stewart, 1993
SB409.3 .S74

Articles of note in the Sterling Morton Library : March’s offerings

These are some recent articles that can be found within the journal collection of the Sterling Morton Library. Please visit the Library to discover the incredible botanical and horticultural resources that await you! If you are unable to visit the Library and interested in reviewing one of these articles, I would be delighted to help you at rhassert@mortonarb.org.

The Beginners guide to organic gardening. Organic Gardening, v. 56, no. 3, p. 66-71.

Hinkley, Daniel J. Collector’s choice : the snowbells. Horticulture, v. 106, no. 3, p. -52-54

Louv, Richard. Do children have a right to play outside? Orion, v. 28, no. 2, p. 68-71.

Miller, Peter. Saving energy starts at home. National Geographic, v. 215, no. 3, p. 60-81.

Miller, T.E., C.P. terHorst, and J. H. Burns. The ghost of competition present. The American Naturalist, v. 173, no. 3, p. 347-353.

Richardson, A. D., D. Y. Hollinger, D. B. Dail, J. T. Lee, J. W. Munger, and J. O'keefe. Influence of spring phenology on seasonal and annual carbon balance in two contrasting New England forests. Tree Physiology, v. 29, no. 3, p. 321-331.

Sharwood, Julia. Street trees flourish in structural soil. Cornell Plantations Magazine, v. 64, no. 1, p. 22-24.