Morton Arboretum, Chicago Botanic Garden offer ways to honor Earth Day, Arbor Day at home
Forget about public celebrations for Earth Day (Wednesday, April 22) and Arbor Day (Friday, April 24) this year. Illinois has clamped down on large gatherings with a shelter-in-place mandate to help stem the spread of coronavirus.
But what can you do if you've still got an itchy green thumb? Horticultural experts from both The Morton Arboretum in Lisle and the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe offered some suggestions on how to observe both April holidays from home.
Julie Janoski is manager of The Morton Arboretum's Plant Clinic. It fields about 17,000 horticultural questions a year from homeowners and gardening professionals.
"There are a lot of things you can do with your own yard that improve our environment," Janoski said. "We can turn the Arbor Day thinking around from I am going out to plant a tree to I'm going to take care of the plants I have."
One suggestion from Janoski is to just observe and educate yourself about the plants on your property. How you choose to do landscape and maintain your trees and plants can assist the environment.
"Think about your existing trees and what you might do to help them out," Janoski said. "And can you do something to enhance your yard that would provide cover for birds and help pollinators?"
Lisa Hilgenberg, a horticulturist with the Chicago Botanic Garden's Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden, has a few cost-saving suggestions.
One is pruning and dividing perennials opposite their bloom cycle to help with propagation. Another is to create your own compost heap.
"Really, the best gardeners are economizers," Hilgenberg said. "A compost pile is a great way to make use of lawn scraps, kitchen waste, leaves from your garden and really giving back to the environment by building fertility in soil. I call it black gold."
Hilgenberg and Janoski both suggested that now is a good time to start digging out weeds while they're still young.
"The key is to get them early and to stay at it," Hilgenberg said. "And that's good for Earth Day because it will reduce your needs for chemicals later in the season."
Another way to economize, while not entirely ideal, is to consider planting old seed packets that might crop up during spring cleaning.
"It depends on how old the seed packets are," Janoski said. "Most are marked with viability dates, especially for vegetables."
Hilgenberg said that now is the time both seasonally and socially to return to the wartime idea of "Victory Gardens" to grow your own produce. She suggested salad greens and other cold season vegetables for planting.
"We have a lot of people looking for empowerment by growing their own," Hilgenberg said. "The scale of a vegetable garden doesn't need to be 10-by-10 feet. It can be a small kitchen garden in pots, so go for it."
Both Janoski and Hilgenberg are sad that people aren't able to gather in person at either The Morton Arboretum or the Chicago Botanic Garden to commemorate Earth Day and Arbor Day. Yet, they're proud of the many online classes and activities that are accessible on both institutions' websites that urge people to garden while sheltering at home.
"It can feed the soul in a time where we really need that connection," Hilgenberg said. "There's never been a more important time to kick in some beauty and do some work out in nature."
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Learn more
• Earth Day is Wednesday, April 22.
• Arbor Day is Friday, April 24.
• The Arbor Day Foundation is promoting "Alternative Celebration Ideas" at arborday.org.
Morton Arboretum in Lisle: (630) 968-0074 or mortonarb.org
Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe: (847) 835-5440 or chicagobotanic.org