Monthly Archives: February 2023

YUZU (Japanese Winter Hardy Citrus) Yuzu (Citrus junos, from Japanese 柚子 or ユズ) is a citrus fruit and plant in the family Rutaceae of East Asian origin. Yuzu forms an upright shrub or small tree, which commonly has many large thorns. Leaves are notable for a large, leaf-like petiole, resembling those of the related makrut lime and ichang papeda, and are heavily scented. It is unusual among citrus plants in being relatively frost-hardy, due to its cold-hardy Ichang papeda ancestry, and can be grown in regions with winters as low…

Outdoor: These trees will need to remain in their winter quarters this month. It is often tempting to bring them out on that odd warm day that may occur this month. This is not advisable, however, as the weather cannot be expected to remain above freezing as yet. It may be necessary to water the trees if there isn’t sufficient rain or snow melt. Do not fertilize. Trees can be wired if they are accessible enough to be worked on. Indoor: Care continues the same as last month. Be…

What a Difference a Year Makes We had a great event on February 18th at Cantigny Park.  You may know that this is our third Silhouette Show at Cantigny.  The first was held in 2020, just a month before the pandemic shut down everything and everyone.  It was well-attended and we all considered it to be a successful event, particularly for the first time we had run the event.  There was no show in 2021, due to the pandemic.  We did run the show again in 2022, but the…

Collecting Bonsai What is it about Bonsai that so thrills the viewer? Is it the fact that a Bonsai looks so old? Could it be the "how does it grow in that small container?" How about the simple beauty of it? What is it about Bonsai that so thrills me? They say the first Bonsai were brought back from the wild. That a man, one day, so admired a tree along his way that he returned and dug it up. He then brought it home, planted it in a…