GardenOpus

GardenOpus 🌱Gardening & Botanical insights from award winning Horticulturist, Author, Designer & Consultant Robert F. Gabella.😎 across Social Media.

An award-winning Horticulturist and project consultant, my education in Ornamental Horticulture, Business Management and Leadership plus 3 decades in the trenches of the Horticulture industry offer a unique perspective into a many-faceted world that even seasoned gardeners find puzzling. My work in the industry has involved B2B young plant and proprietary genetics brokerage, landscape services con

sulting and project management, wholesale and retail sales management, procurement, business process consulting, information technology - plus authorship of high-impact features for B2B trade and home gardening periodicals. Book Previews at: http://www.GardenOpus.net

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🌱Somebody's decided to show off! 🥳 'Bristol's Tropical Sunrise' - that sunrise with a bottle of 🍷wine involved 😃 - is ...
08/03/2025

🌱Somebody's decided to show off! 🥳 'Bristol's Tropical Sunrise' - that sunrise with a bottle of 🍷wine involved 😃 - is on a mission to outperform its neighbors, ramping up with additional buds themselves. These amped up, turbocharged & oversized African Violet relatives are a favorite group of - ( ), of course. This bloom machine was hybridized & introduced by Dr. Ralph (Rob) Robinson of The Violet Barn.


The Gesneriad Society, Inc.

🌱🦋 A female (faint white spot in the red band of each forewing) ( ) enjoys a stretch on the inversion table 😃 before...
08/02/2025

🌱🦋 A female (faint white spot in the red band of each forewing) ( ) enjoys a stretch on the inversion table 😃 before righting herself to display her famous colors. -


🍍🍍🍍 The Illinois Pineapple Growers Association 😅 can always count on Jewel-Osco & Albertsons Food Stores to champion the...
08/01/2025

🍍🍍🍍 The Illinois Pineapple Growers Association 😅 can always count on Jewel-Osco & Albertsons Food Stores to champion their products.🍍🍍🍍 A Summer drive through Illinois wouldn't be the same without the sight of ACRES AND ACRES of Pineapples, stretching far into the horizon.🤣

🌱🐝BEE to the BALM. Favorite Chicagoland native ( aka - but not the same as true Bergamot in Earl Gray tea - a speci...
07/27/2025

🌱🐝BEE to the BALM. Favorite Chicagoland native ( aka - but not the same as true Bergamot in Earl Gray tea - a species of Citrus) and a ( sp.) - we have several species locally, can be tricky to identify which without a more complete view. Most common & variable of the handful of Monarda species in Illinois - also the most widespread in North America. Here in the Pocket Prairie at Wilder Park and Conservatory, Elmhurst - DuPage County.
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🌱🌹A treat here for as Climbing Rosa ( ) ' ' (David Austin Roses, 2000) does not have an off button, even going into a ...
07/23/2025

🌱🌹A treat here for as Climbing Rosa ( ) ' ' (David Austin Roses, 2000) does not have an off button, even going into a new round of extreme heat. Another of the own-root (from the milder climate UK 🇬🇧 no less) that takes both 🔥heat waves and the occasional 🥶Polar Vortex.
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🌱💛 Sweetly, for - favorite Chicagoland native ( ) & friends. In the at Wilder Park and Conservatory, Elmhurst, Ill...
07/20/2025

🌱💛 Sweetly, for - favorite Chicagoland native ( ) & friends. In the at Wilder Park and Conservatory, Elmhurst, Illinois.😎
- Family & etc.



🌱🫛DON'T LOOK AWAY - or they can get ahead of you! Pisum sativum ( ) ' ' (Dr. Calvin Lamborn, 1998) is edible at all stag...
07/17/2025

🌱🫛DON'T LOOK AWAY - or they can get ahead of you! Pisum sativum ( ) ' ' (Dr. Calvin Lamborn, 1998) is edible at all stages, & I especially like them slightly overgrown - a bit more crunch - too far along & sweetness declines. This is an improved more disease resistant version of the 1970s classic also introduced by Dr. Lamborn. Sow seed NOW (in climates with an early Autumn) for a Fall crop. If you are in an area with continued hot weather deep into Fall, count backwards 85 -100 days (not 70) from your first Frost - the Fall crop can take longer as day length shortens. 😎
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🌱🌹SOMETIMES SIMPLE IS BEST. Floribunda 'Europeana' (de Ruiter Innovations, 1963; 🏆AARS, 1968) - in a late entry for ....
07/16/2025

🌱🌹SOMETIMES SIMPLE IS BEST. Floribunda 'Europeana' (de Ruiter Innovations, 1963; 🏆AARS, 1968) - in a late entry for . Looks like a and most importantly - SMELLS like a Rose - over a well-behaved prolific plant with clean dark foliage. ❤️
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🌱🍑🍑🍑 Won't be long now, just a few weeks, and the recent torrential rains will fatten them up! ( ) 'Redhaven' (Dr. Sta...
07/12/2025

🌱🍑🍑🍑 Won't be long now, just a few weeks, and the recent torrential rains will fatten them up! ( ) 'Redhaven' (Dr. Stanley Johnston - MSU, Michigan State University, 1940).😎 Have had the pleasure of buying a box sold by name from a Michigan farmstand to bring home and share.
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In March, 2017 recovering from a serious accident, on my first trip to Home Depot once I could move more adeptly on crutches (still couldn't drive on my own), bought this as a young tree. Labeled as a semi-dwarf it instead grew like gangbusters and was nearly 25 feet tall and wide by the Winter of 2023 -'24. After studying the fine points of , in early '24 cut it back by nearly half, thinned it out, re-ordered it's exposure to light and air (an overall V shape), and voila - here we are! Of course it has grown back thickly but now with fruit - so will get another round of pruning after harvest. - .


🌱ALL TIME CLASSIC! ( ) 'Joan Senior' (Durio, 1977; 🏆Lenington All-American Award, 1990) is a sweet near-white that pla...
07/12/2025

🌱ALL TIME CLASSIC! ( ) 'Joan Senior' (Durio, 1977; 🏆Lenington All-American Award, 1990) is a sweet near-white that plays nice with every color.😎 Scapes often have brackets (bud initiations at lower bracts), modest preferential rebloom & occasional later rebloom. - .






🌱🌹One at bat, one ready to slide home & another on 2nd. For Climbing ( ) 'Pierre de Ronsard' aka 'Eden' (Marie-Louis...
07/09/2025

🌱🌹One at bat, one ready to slide home & another on 2nd. For Climbing ( ) 'Pierre de Ronsard' aka 'Eden' (Marie-Louise Meilland/Meilland International, 1985; 🏆Rose Hall of Fame, 2006). A beauty, but notoriously slow grower. Though generally bone hardy here in Chicagoland, our dry snowless Winter almost ended its game.⚾️
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🌱Native to the Eastern & Southeastern US, though technically not native to Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, or Iowa - Lonice...
07/06/2025

🌱Native to the Eastern & Southeastern US, though technically not native to Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, or Iowa - Lonicera sempervirens (Coral or Trumpet Honeysuckle) is an adventive - present in the wild but not originally native - in at least 24 Illinois counties and all four of the named states. Popularity of ("native " aka cultivated varieties selected from natives) like 'Major Wheeler' probably has no small part in this, as after being pollinated by nectar-seeking it does form prolific berries which other birds eat and then later distribute. Here 'Major Wheeler' is covering the rusty pole of the village's No Parking This Side of Street sign in my parkway.😎
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