Treat mum to a special treat on Mothering Sunday - lunch in the oak-panelled dining room at Wakehurst Palace, Kew's country garden in West Sussex. Bookings are now being taken for the special menu which will be available at one sitting only on Sunday 18th March, 2007.

The Wisconsin-Illinois Lily Society presents a monthly series of free, interactive slide show lectures on lilies from January through April 2007 at the Chicago Botanic Garden. The series is part of the Society's annual public education/outreach program. Lectures are at 2 p.m. in the Fairchild Room in the Regenstein Center. Speakers and topics include:

Journey into the Amazon rainforest through the eyes of the late British botanical artist-explorer Margaret Mee in an exhibition from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, coming to the Chicago Botanic Garden through March 25, 2007.

A wealth of information on the world of African plants is now available at the touch of a button. Today saw the launch of an innovative new initiative, Aluka, an international not-for-profit organization collaborating with institutions and individuals around the world to produce a digital library of scholarly resources from and about Africa.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden presents the 25th anniversary of Making Brooklyn Bloom, the Garden's annual community horticulture event and spring gardening kick-off day, Saturday, March 10, 2007. This year's conference is the biggest Making Brooklyn Bloom event ever, and will focus on the burgeoning interest in urban agriculture in Brooklyn and the many benefits that urban greening-including growing fresh organic food-has on local communities.

The Model Railroad Garden: Landmarks of America chugs back into the Chicago Botanic Garden on May 12 for its eighth season, with several new attractions and vignettes. Visitors step into an enchanting outdoor exhibit of model trains, miniature representations of America's best-loved landmarks, and small-scale gardens.

Celebrate the beauty, glory and gardens of spring, while discovering enchanting new ideas for blending the outdoors and indoors, at the Chicago Botanic Garden's signature spring event, the Antiques & Garden Fair.

Imagine a world where tulips dance in a vase and sunflower seedlings genuflect to the sun. sLowlife, a dynamic multimedia exhibition opening at the Chicago Botanic Garden on June 23, 2007, presents unusual and sometimes unnerving perspectives on how a plant reacts, both short- and long-term, to its inner and outer worlds.

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.

The Chicago Botanic Garden will host the Mid- America Orchid Congress (MAOC) in conjunction with the Illinois Orchid Society (IOS) Spring Show & Sale on April 28 & 29 in the Regenstein Center. Fifty-eight sister orchid societies have been invited to join in this major celebration of orchids. The Garden and the IOC last hosted the MAOC in 2002, attracting approximately 15,000 visitors.

Above average rainfall in Central Texas could mean good things for wildflower displays and the many wildflower enthusiasts that enjoy them each spring. "Wildflowers typically do well in El Nino years," said Mark Simmons, ecologist at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.