Plant of the Week
Easterners, have the Red Columbine flowered?
New 2009 Features
- Phenophase Field Guides with phenophase photos
- Real-time mapping with Google Maps
- Photo sharing of plant observations
- Scientist blog by Dr. Kay and Dr. Paul
Read more about the changes you see and our project timeline.
Join thousands of others in gathering valuable environmental and climate change information from across the country. Project BudBurst engages the public in making careful observations of the phenophases such as first leafing, first flower, and first fruit ripening of a diversity of trees, shrubs, flowers, and grasses in their local area.
Download the Steps to Getting Started to begin your Project BudBurst investigations!
New Scientist Blog!
Join Dr. Kay Havens, our Lead Botanist, and Dr. Paul Alaback, our Lead Science Advisor, as they explore topics about plants, phenology and climate change in our new blog. >> Visit our Blog.
May 6, 2009
The Chicago Botanic Garden is in full bloom. In the last ten days I saw the first flowers open for several trees and shrubs, including lilacs (Syringa vulgaris), juneberry (Amelanchier canadensis), and redbud (Cercis canadensis). The magnolias (Magnolia spp.) are waning and the crabapples (Malus spp.) are just starting to open their colorful blossoms. The spring ephemerals such as bluebells (Mertensia virginica), white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), and dogtooth violets (Erythronium americanum), rue anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides) and celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) are in full bloom in the region’s woodlands. Most of these observations were within a few days of last year’s observations of these phenophases. >>Read more...