Patty Wetli

A Desert Bloom in the Dead of Winter? It’s Always Summer at This Greenhouse Garden It’s always summer in the Chicago Botanic Garden’s arid greenhouse, where the view is unlike anywhere else in the world.

When this agave hit the glass ceiling, Chicago Botanic Garden staff MacGyvered a porthole. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻https://news.wttw.com/2026/02/25/desert-bloom-dead-winter-it-s-always-summer-greenhouse-garden

CSI: Moss Edition. Field Museum Researchers Say This Basic Plant Is a Valuable but Underused Forensic Tool Detectives are using all kinds of gizmos and gadgets to solve crimes these days, but they're overlooking the lowest of low-tech clues: moss. A Field Museum researcher wants to change that.

Doesn’t “The Moss Files” have an awesome ring? Would 10/10 watch a show about botanists solving crimes using slivers of moss and flecks of pollen.

news.wttw.com/2025/11/25/c...

Chicago Park District Limits Access to Snowy Owls, Citing Safety Concerns. Here’s What to Know About the Arctic Visitors Chicagoans have been going gaga over a pair of snowy owls that have settled in at Montrose beach. Maybe a little too gaga.

Snowy owls were a bit of magic Chicagoans needed. But the birds need their space more. Read on for my interview with a snowy researcher who busted some myths and talked about the many, many threats these birds face in the wild.

news.wttw.com/2025/11/24/c...

Severe Solar Storm Hurtling Toward Earth Means Chicago Could See Northern Lights This Week The national Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a "severe" alert as solar particles speed toward Earth. The geomagnetic activity could produce auroras visible as far south as Alabama.

Eyes on the sky 2nite/2morrow! Gotta love space weather! Shout out to NOAA for staying on the job.
news.wttw.com/2025/11/11/s...

Restoration of Historic Sears Sunken Garden Underway in North Lawndale, With a Design From Lurie Garden Mastermind It's been 50 years since Sears traded in its sprawling headquarters campus on Chicago's West Side for a tower in the Loop. But the retail giant's legacy still looms large in North Lawndale.

Sears' legacy still looms large in North Lawndale, where the community has, bit by bit, reclaimed remnants of its industrial past and turned the story of abandonment into reinvention.

Next up on the restoration agenda: the historic Sears Sunken Garden. https://to.wttw.com/4qp2iZZ

I give you Comet Lemmon! Oh Chicago, if the light pollution doesn’t get you, the cloud cover will. 😂 Beautiful night anyway. 🌃

Literally never noticed it in 30 years 🤣

Bat signal? (Has this always existed?)

Lights out Chicago! Intense bird migration forecast for tonight. If you have exterior Halloween lighting, unplug tonight.

Has Your Tree Sprouted Warts? The Cause Is Absolutely Gall-ing Ever seen a tree that looks like its leaves have sprouted warts or are suffering from a really bad rash? Welcome to the wild, wonderful world of plant oddities known as galls.

Those are INSECTS!!! Nature is wild.

news.wttw.com/2025/10/09/h...

This was every sewer grate I passed last night before the really heavy rain fell.

Harrison Ford Will Receive Conservation Award at Field Museum’s Half-Earth Day in October Harrison Ford is one of the most famous people on the planet. David Willard has spent a career and his retirement cataloguing dead birds. Both will be recognized as conservation superstars during Octo...

Han Solo will be sharing the limelight with fellow honoree David Willard, aka, the ornithologist who’s spent 50 years studying bird collisions, and making Chicago safer. Congrats!

news.wttw.com/2025/09/30/h...

Harrison Ford Will Receive Conservation Award at Field Museum’s Half-Earth Day in October Harrison Ford is one of the most famous people on the planet. David Willard has spent a career and his retirement cataloguing dead birds. Both will be recognized as conservation superstars during Octo...

Han Solo will be sharing the limelight with fellow honoree David Willard, aka, the ornithologist who’s spent 50 years studying bird collisions, and making Chicago safer. Congrats!

news.wttw.com/2025/09/30/h...

Baby Fish Shed New Light on Health of the Chicago River in First-of-Its-Kind Study The Chicago River has proven itself fit for swimming. But what about raising a family? No one’s ever tallied the number of larval fish in the waterway, until now.

We’ve seen the Chicago River is fit for swimming. But how about raising a family?

news.wttw.com/2025/09/22/b...

Chicagoans’ Right to Compost Could Get a Boost From City Council The Chicago City Council could make it easier for people to keep organic waste out of landfill.

You’ve gotta fight for your right to COMPOOOOOST!

Proposed amendment would prohibit HOAs and landlords from adopting rules that keep people from subscribing to compost services.

news.wttw.com/2025/09/22/c...

Ragweed vs. Goldenrod: One of Them Makes You Sneeze, the Other is the Bee’s Knees If your fall allergies have kicked in, ragweed is the likely culprit, but goldenrod often takes the blame.

Will the real allergen please stand up?

news.wttw.com/2025/09/15/r...

Prairie in a Pot: Chicago Plant Scientist Tackles Challenge of Native Gardening on an Urban Balcony Jeremie Fant, director of conservation at Chicago Botanic Garden, has spent 15 years experimenting with growing native plants in containers on his 10-foot by 5-foot Chicago condo balcony.

Chicago's porches and balconies could be the next biodiversity hot spots.

news.wttw.com/2025/09/09/p...

There’s a Mother Lode of Fossils in Chicago’s Backyard, and It Could Hold Clues to the Evolution of Life on Earth Mazon Creek is one of the most significant fossil sites in the world, and it’s in Chicago’s backyard. The Field Museum is behind a push to reinvigorate research at the site, with the help of community...

I'm OBSESSED.

"I had no idea that something like this was so close to Chicago, a world-class fossil location."

news.wttw.com/2025/09/04/t...

Water Lilies Flex Their Muscles in Global Botanic Garden Weigh-Off Challenge. How Do Chicago’s Contestants Stack Up? Now in its third year, the Waterlily Weigh-Off has bulked up to more than 40 competitors across eight countries. The winner will be announced Aug. 28.

Who needs pick-me-up? Who doesn’t?! This Waterlily Weigh-off is a blast! Horticulture gone WILD.

news.wttw.com/2025/08/21/w...

I keep meaning to do something like that.

Gonna need a “No Wake” sign over here. There’s a drain there — somewhere.

Spotted: Dead Man’s Fingers!!!! Such a cool sighting on a neighborhood stroll.

This Weekend’s Rusty Rodeo Is All About Wrangling the Invasive Rusty Crayfish On Saturday, people of all ages are invited to join the rodeo in Kane County and wrangle the rusty crayfish, an invasive species that's infiltrated local waterways.

This rodeo is less “ride ‘em, cowboy” and more “yehaw, let’s catch some bad guys.” Whatever it takes in the fight against invasive species.

news.wttw.com/2025/08/07/w...

Chicago River Swim Announced for September, and This Time Organizers Have the City’s Approval The event will mark the first open water swim in the Chicago River in nearly 100 years, according to organizers.

If you want to swim in the Chicago River — and yes, this is really happening — the deadline to apply is Monday.

news.wttw.com/2025/08/07/c...

Armadillos Are Coming. Is Chicago Ready? Armadillos have been making a slow but steady push north. At this point, it’s a matter of when, not if, they’ll turn up in Chicago, according to one expert.

It’s a matter of when, not if, armadillos will show up in Chicago. And they may be closer than suspected. 😱😱😱

Climate change has enabled their northward progress. How will local ecosystems respond?

news.wttw.com/2025/08/06/a...

Chicago Park District Mowed Down a Thriving Natural Area. Mistake? Nope. Just ‘Systemic Failing’ to Communicate What does the Chicago Park District owe its community of volunteer natural area stewards? Some say a little respect, and maybe a heads up if the district is going to mow down acres of native plants.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T. That’s what community stewards want from the Chicago Park District when it comes to management of natural areas.

news.wttw.com/2025/07/25/c...

Jack o Lantern or Chanterelle? #mushrooms

Yikes! I never venture over there. What a disaster.

Tell me more….

Ugh, spotted a whole lotta teasel in Legion Park. @lglyndal.bsky.social