"Plants We Love" Coming To Chicago Botanic Garden

Plant aficionados, wagons in tow, will be first in line for A Bloomin' Sale, the Midwest's premier plant sale, which returns to the Chicago Botanic Garden on Friday, May 18 through Sunday, May 20. Shoppers will discover "Plants We Love"- handpicked selections especially recommended by Garden staff and members of the Woman's Board of the Chicago Horticultural Society who host the sale.

More than 30,000 plants in 1,000 varieties will be offered at the 4lst annual event. Along with hard-to-find plants, tried-and-true favorites and the Garden's picks, gardeners can pick up environmentally friendly gardening tips and information on organic composting, Thirty-five percent of the plant material-which includes a great selection of flowering annuals, ferns, fruits and vegetables, herbs, native wildflowers, ornamental grasses, perennials, roses, shade perennials, shrubs and vines-will be newly introduced or hard-to-find.

Also available will be plants cultivated through Chicagoland Grows, a cooperative effort between the Chicago Botanic Garden, the Morton Arboretum and the Ornamental Growers Association of Northern Illinois, which develops new plant varieties well suited for Midwest growing conditions. A limited number of containers and hanging baskets designed and grown by talented Garden staff and volunteers will be for sale.

Jennifer Whitaker, manager of plant sales, singles out a few hot picks recommended by the Garden:
Iris germanica 'Stairway to Heaven' is a vigorous iris with 3-foot, strong stems bearing up to 10 buds. The early to mid-season flowers are composed of near-white standards and wavy, medium-blue falls.
Rosa 'Crown Princess Margarita' is a very fruity-fragrant, reblooming David Austin selection with double apricot flowers. Its arching canes grow 3 to 4 feet.

Caryopteris x Clandonensis 'Longwood Blue' is a 4-foot bluebeard with clouds of fragrant blue-purple flowers in late summer. It's a favorite of gardeners, as well as bees and butterflies.

Knowledgeable sales people and master gardeners wearing red aprons with a white heart will be available to point out "Plants We Love" and to help select the best plant material for one's personal garden. Signage throughout the sale will feature full color images and information such as height, spacing and exposure; plant characteristics (foliage and/or flowers); uses in the garden; and other special attributes. Shoppers can purchase a $5 raffle tickets for great prizes.

A sale catalog may be downloaded at www.chicagobotanic.org/bloomin beginning in April. Garden-recommended plants are marked with a red heart.

A Bloomin' Sale is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 19 and Sunday, May 20. Admission is free. Parking is $12. While quality plants are available throughout the sale, selections are best during a Garden members' preview, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, May 18, and from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 19. Garden memberships may be purchased at the sale entrance.

Proceeds support the Woman's Board lead pledge of $1 million for the Garden's new Plant Science Center. The project is critical in advancing the Garden's efforts to breed new plants, conserve existing taxa, nurture the earth's botanical heritage and train the next generation of plant scientists. -- www.chicagobotanic.org