The Lurie Garden and Millenium Park in Chicago

My last post on the Windy City takes us back to Millenium Park and the Lurie Garden. The Lurie Garden has long been a garden I have been fascinated by and wanted to see. It is a garden designed in part by Dutch designer Piet Oudolf. I have been reading about his design philosophy and like that he likes gardens to be interesting in all seasons of the year. He does this by designing with plants that have neat seedheads and textures. You will see his design at its finest during the period we visited in late October because the seedheads were outstanding. We start with a shot of a redbud and some kind of grass; which escapes me. Please if anyone knows feel free to post it in the comments.

There were lots of blooms to be had in the garden. Verbena bonariensis and a red flower (unknown to me) were in full bloom.

Here are some of the textures of the garden. Remember this garden is built on a parking garage. The grasses have all gone by and are now turning golden russets and golds. Can you see the black seedheads of the 'Goldsturm' rudbeckia? The garden reminds me of what I would think a prairie would look like.

Maybe a close up will help you to see the Goldsturm seedheads.

I was impressed by the sidewalks made out of some kind of granite as best as I could tell. The straw colored perennial on the side of the sidewalk is Amsonia hubrichtii.

More seedheads in front of Amsonia hubrichtii which are probably coneflower seedheads.

A good part of the garden was walled off by solid impenetrable arborvitae and viburnum hedges. Doesn't the green make a nice living wall for the garden? The borders were probably about 10 feet wide and I was a bit amazed at how well the arborvitae were doing while being packed together like sardines in a can. The plants to the right of the walk are Russian Sage, coneflower, and more amsonia. Amsonia is a fabulous perennial if you have the spot for something that is okay in sun or part shade, is drought tolerant, lives a long time,  and looks good most of the year

More textures and seedheads of what I think is millet.The garden just seems to be filled with pin cushions but the effect is overall a soft effect.

Finally, the sun is setting on our visit to Chicago and the Lurie Garden so soon we must say goodbye...

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

More on the Windy City

We are still on our trip to Chicago and when we left off on Monday Mr. Fix-it and I were on a quest to visit the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. Did you correctly guess that the building used to be called Sears Tower? I think most Chicagoans still call it the Sears Tower as we kind of got that impression while we were there. Neither Mr. Fix-it nor I knew its name had changed to the Willis Tower.

The wait to take the elevator to the top of the Willis Tower was about one hour long. Once we crowded onto the elevator it took only 60 seconds to climb all 103 stores to the top of the building! A recording said the ascent was at more than 20 feet per second if I can recall correctly. That was pretty darned fast! Here is a view from the top. Isn't it pretty? I have also visited the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris France and can tell you I much preferred the Willis Tower to the Eiffel Tower and for several reasons. Primarily the Willis Tower did not sway half as much as the Eiffel Tower. Also, getting to the top of the Eiffel Tower takes a much longer time than getting to the top of the Willis Tower. It is not such a short and sweet trip riding just one elevator up the Eiffel Tower. No, guests to the Eiffel Tower must ascend to a second or third level then wait for the elevator, then fight the crowds. European travelers are not as nice with lines as American are. In that you use a lot of elbows to maintain your spot in line or you will quickly fall to the end and not even know how it happened! The top of the Eiffel Tower is rather crowded as well. When Mr. Fix-it and I made it to the top of the Willis Tower it was not so very crowded at all. There was plenty of breathing room; for which I was grateful. 

Waiting to visit the SkyDeck on the Willis Tower did take a bit of time. Surprisingly enough though everyone who waited to precariously walk out into the plexiglass cube on the side of the Willis Tower was quite polite and considerate of one another while we all snapped photos of our loved ones. Mr. Fix-it tried really hard to get me to walk out onto the SkyDeck but I told him no in no uncertain terms. I am sure missing the experience will haunt me for the rest of my life but at the time I could not see putting myself through the ordeal of looking down 103 stories! You can see Mr. Fix-it had no problems looking down, but funny enough he gets scared climbing on our roof and I have to lead the way in order to get him to go on the roof!

An important note for veterans and active duty service members-your ride to the top of the Willis Tower is free. Be sure to let the ticket person know you have a military or veteran's identification card ahead of time. Both of our tickets were free but at only $17.50 the tour to the top of the building was quite reasonable.  

Not to be missed is the view looking down once you are on the SkyDeck. CAN YOU IMAGINE??

I had Mr. Fix-it take another shot of the nearby SkyDeck cubicle where you can really see just how precarious looking this cube is, but I have decided not to post it. The close ups of other people is not something I usually do on here. 

Can you imagine cleaning the windows on this building? A little tidbit about this building is that no one has to clean the windows! Engineers designed a robotic window cleaner that handily takes care of the task. 

Now we'll say goodbye to the Willis Tower and move on to the Lurie Garden. 

Here is a shot of a little out of the way seating area in Millenium Park. Can you spot the white box behind the tree? It is a beehive. We saw lots and lots of beehives not only in Chicago proper but in the Chicago Botanic Gardens too.

When we left the parking garage in Millenium Park (we parked our car here for $26 a day) we took a bridge that overlooks the Lurie Garden and I snapped a shot. The garden is actually located over the parking garage that housed our car. You'll see more of the garden on Friday. This blog is predominantly a garden blog but also serves as my scrapbook of memories. Visiting Chicago with my husband was a wonderful memory I shall treasure so of course I post it on this blog for easy access.

Another shot of Lurie Garden and the overlook to the Pavilion and Great Lawn....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

A First Time Visit to the Windy City

If you have never visited Chicago, aka the Windy City, it is a must see for everyone as far as large cities go. Mr. Fix-it and I were able to spend a weekend in Chicago and enjoyed our visit very much. We saw all the must sees (okay, not all but several at any rate), ate some famous stuffed Chicago pizza, and enjoyed the people and ambiance of the city. We'll start with the city part of our visit then by the end of the week we'll look at a well known garden named the Lurie Garden. Right now take a look at the Cloud Gate located in Millenium Park.

This sculpture is known as an interactive sculpture and can you believe that at one time the city of Chicago tried to require permits to photograph it? I just couldn't even imagine! I had fun photographing 'The Bean' as the sculpture is affectionately called in Chicago. Would you like to know why it is an interactive sculpture?

Well, if you look at the picture above it is of Mr. Fix-it and me and I actually took the picture! This picture is a reflection of Mr. Fix-it and me in the sculpture. The sculpture was modeled on mercury. Do you remember that chemical element that used to be used in old thermometers? Mercury is a fluid silver liquid metal. It is the only metal that is in liquid form. The Bean really seems to be a moveable sculpture and is considered interactive because it really is! No matter where you stand your reflection is different but quite realistic as though the reflection was from an actual mirror. The bean is quite shiny and so very beautiful as it reflects the city, people, and all of its surroundings.

There were a lot of tourists visiting Chicago including the two pictured above. We were asked to take a photo of some girls in front of a sign that said 'Millenium Park' so of course I asked them to reciprocate.

One thing Mr. Fix-it and I both noticed was there were a lot of revolving doors in Chicago. Perhaps this is a thing of big cities? I always associate revolving doors with cities at any rate. Although, now that I think about it there were several revolving doors in Germany as well.

I am pretty sure the above berries are Rock Spray cotoneaster. While we walked along the city streets both Mr. Fix-it and I were impressed by the planters all along the sidewalks. The cotoneaster was a groundcover under some beautiful crabapples.

Further away from Millenium Park we found a combination garden that contained sculptures and plants. The green 'stems' are actually speakers with lights on the end of them. The whole garden is called 'Poetry on State Street' and is presented by  the Chicago Loop Alliance with the Poetry Foundation.

The kale, chard, and cabbage were a nice winter combination on the city streets.

A sight you cannot ever miss is the Art Institute of Chicago. I took the above shot of Mr Fix-it under a huge bronze lion (or perhaps copper as I am not entirely sure). The lion was immense! It was an amazing building and while we passed through it we did not take a tour. Our mission was to travel to the top of the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. The building is called Willis Tower but used to have another name. Do you know the old name?

We finish out this post in Crown Fountain. This exhibit/sculpture is also interactive and has been a bit controversial. Not being from Chicago I actually thought this exhibit fit in perfectly with the park though it seemed to only work intermittently while we visited. On our way out though the faces did finally appear. This exhibit contains two glass buildings that reflect faces of the people of Chicago. When the faces were not on the tower we could see splashing water reflected in the towers but could not actually find the fountain. Wikipedia says the fountain is a great spot for people to cool down in the hot summers of Chicago.

Next up our visit to the Willis Towers....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Part 3: Visiting the Chicago Botanic Garden in Late October

Today we will finish our virtual visit to the Chicago Botanic Gardens with a stop in the Japanese Garden. I have never before seen a Japanese garden and was enthralled with the serene beauty of it all.

It is a paradise for all to see and enjoy. The evergreen trees are pruned in a style called 'cloud pruning'. It is a horizontal type of pruning that completely changes the way an evergreen looks.

The migrating Canada Geese also enjoyed the garden. Some of the islands (and I believe this was one of them) are off limits to visitors. These two islands are only for visiting birds. How nice is that? The birds are left undisturbed to stop for a bit on their migration paths and the visitors to the gardens can enjoy them from afar such as what I was able to do. It's a good thing my camera has a great zoom to capture these birds as they were a long way away.

Okay, we leave the Japanese garden and wander on the nicely paved paths. I am for some reason fascinated with the pointy evergreens. I think it is because I like that wow factor. Sometimes gardens can get boring so when you put in a sky scraping pointy evergreen that is not too overwhelming but which raises the bar a bit the garden gets exciting!

This area is the Dwarf Conifer Garden. Our guide (we rode a tram and since we were the only ones aboard we got a good overview of the gardens) told us that many visitors were not utilizing this giant staircase to go up into the conifer garden. The garden staff decided the solution was to plant some conifers in the staircase by taking out some rocks and creating planting pockets. The hope is that people will be more apt to climb the stairs.

The Rose Garden was splendid! It is the best I've seen. The roses were all massed nicely and looked extremely healthy. Mr. Fix-it and I endeavored to smell quite a few of the blooms. Many of the hybrid teas had no scent but we found one that was a true rose smell. The name of it was 'Tiffany' and it was a lovely pink rose.

This is not 'Tiffany' but I wanted to show a shot with both rose hips and blooms in the picture. The rose hips and blooms made for an interesting rose bush and was yet another reminder we visited at the end of the garden season.

We will finish our visit to the Chicago Botanic Garden in the Heritage Garden. I was most curious about this huge and rather intimidating yet beautiful bronze sculpture. Can you guess who it is? It is a sculpture of Carl Linnaeus. Linnaeus is the father of binomial nomenclature-the naming system we use to name all of our plants. He is a very important man in horticultural history and no self respecting gardener would not know his name-though they might not know how handsome he was! Maybe it was just the sculpture:) This garden pays tribute to the world's botanical gardens. Around Linnaeus is a wild and jumbled disorder of plants (figuratively more than literally) and as you spread out from this sculpture the plants are organized by country of origin. I loved looking at each and every one of the countries and where all the plants came from. For instance, I knew that Hydrangea arborescens and Hydrangea quercifolia were both native to the United States. I also knew that Hydrangea paniculata was not but I never gave it any thought about where this hydrangea came from. It comes from....Asia!


My favorite plant in the Heritage Garden at this time of the year had to be a cool milkweed called Gomphocarpus fructicosus, aka Milkweed. This milkweed is not native to the United States though. It is native to South America. The pods were the coolest pods ever.


And lastly my traveling partner. Not only is he my best friend, and husband of many years, but he is a partner in the truest sense of the word. We are equals and enjoy being together so very much. Our children are all grown up and this was the first weekend away for just the two of us. We had a super wonderful time on our weekend in Chicago just doing our thing and not rushing here and there and trying to see everything. Sometimes travelers just need to slow down and enjoy the journey. I am very grateful we were able to do this on our weekend away....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Part 2: Visitng the Chicago Botanic Garden in Late October

Continuing on with our tour of the Chicago Botanic Garden we find ourselves still in the Landscape Gardens. This area shows a raised bed with a nice mix of conifers, grasses and groundcovers. This garden also shows plants that are drought tolerant and do well in this type of 'scree' garden. I adore the rock edging in this area.

Right next to the Landscape Gardens is the Model Railroad Garden. This area was quite a large area had a nice collection of plants as well as miniature buildings representing well known landmarks throughout the United States. There is an extra fee of $5 to visit this particular garden.

Like the Huntsville Botanical Garden the Chicago Botanic Garden also had a bonsai collection. I took a few photos but am posting only the base of one of the bonsai specimens. I think if you use your imagination you can imagine this scene could be a full sized scene in any forest, but instead it is in a pot in a courtyard at the Chicago Botanic Gardens.

A picture by one of the lakes. Weeping willows seem to do quite well along the shorelines we visited here at these gardens.

'October Skies' was in full bloom. This aster is one of my favorites for designs I do for my clients.

The gardens did not have a lot of formal water features but did have a few informal ones. This one is in the area called the Waterfall Garden. It was near the Japanese Garden (we'll see that one Friday) right across from a lake. The sound of the multiple waterfalls was very natural and soothing. The cascading plants and abundance of plant material made me think I was in the mountains. It was a lovely area.

Lastly we'll finish with another picture that reminds us it is indeed fall in the United States. Fall comes much earlier to the Chicago area than to Tennessee but it is no less beautiful....

in the garden...

So glad the election is over! I worked in a local polling station in my state yesterday and can tell you that was quite an experience! All of the voters were most joyful and happy to vote which really helped make the very busy day go by faster...

in the garden.... 

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Part 1: Visitng the Chicago Botanic Garden in Late October

On my recent trip to northern Illinois my husband and I not only visited the Wheels of Time Museum in the Peoria area but we also spend a weekend in the Chicago area. Chicago is about two and one half hours from Peoria so we decided to get a hotel for two nights so that we could explore Chicago at our leisure. And explore we did! This week I'll be posting pictures from our visit to the Chicago Botanic Garden; which is located about 20 miles north of Chicago. I took so many pictures so I am breaking up the posts into three posts so as to not overload you all. 

I have uploaded some of the many photos I took in sequential order so you'll be seeing parts of the garden in the order we saw them. First of all let me say that the Chicago Botanic Gardens are very friendly towards members of the Armed Forces and their veterans. Our admission was free. Be sure to ask for this discount no matter where you travel if you are a member or a veteran of the Armed Force. Even at full price the fee was a reasonable $20 per car for parking. If you wish to visit the gardens (and tons of people were there on the very cold Sunday we visited) bring along the family to maximize the benefits. 

We start just prior to entering the visitors hall. Outside of this lovely and modern building was a map of the gardens along with some cut flowers showing some of the many flowers in bloom and their locations in the garden. This was a helpful map for us although almost all flowers in the gardens are marked with easy to find markers.You can see that even in late October there was still plenty of color to be found in the gardens.

Once you leave the visitors center you walk out into the garden under an amazing display of pumpkin colored mums. I don't know how the staff did this display but it was splendid!

You next come to water gardens where water plants of all kinds were blooming. We were told by our guide that these ponds were heated thus allowing the water plants to bloom for a longer period of time.

I am not sure where I took this picture but I liked all the color and textures. If I had taken the same picture in spring or even summer it would be completely different. That is the beauty of gardens and I want to stress that gardens can be beautiful in ALL seasons and have colors in all seasons. I am sure that even in winter the Chicago Botanic Garden has tons of color. The key with these gardens is to mass the same type of plants, play with different textures and colors, and ensure the heights are compatible.

This picture my eyes are drawn to the upright evergreens although all together all of the plants make for interest. The lattice arbor is draped with what looked like to be Sweet Autumn Clematis (one of my least favorite vines), there is a fothergilla (the red leaved shrub), lavender (gray short subshrub), and roses as well. This view also borrows views in the distance. The one thing about the Chicago Botanic Garden is that the property is laid out in gently rolling swales that tumble amongst islands and lakes. It was an amazing garden.

On one side of the English Walled Garden (designed by John Brookes--the famous garden designer that I actually took an online garden design class from) was this serene pool of water you can overlook to let your eye travel to the lake beyond. The autumn leaves dangling from the tree (probably a redbud) are punctuation points to the serene scene.


And we finish out this post with a view outside of the English Walled Garden of a traditional English garden border. If you look at the first picture you can see the purple flower prominently displayed. It is Salvia leucantha 'Midnight'. Rounding out this view are perennial sunflowers (in the background) which are probably Helianthus 'Maximillion' or something similar, and the white daisy in the foreground is probably Leucanthemum x superbum. I have to apologize for not knowing all of the flower names and botanical descriptions. I did not write them all down so I am relying on my memory here. Specific cultivars may vary from what I have posted. You are certainly welcomed to check the excellent Chicago Botanic Garden website of "What is in bloom this week".

in the garden....

My apologies to friends on Facebook who may have seen the last picture before. I liked it so much I had to post it twice. For those of you reading this blog who are not friends of Coach In the Garden on Facebook please like my page found here: Coach In the Garden
On this page I post specific garden related pictures and plants from garden tours as well as from my own garden. I also post links to the blog that contain garden related issues and I post pertinent garden information that may be of interest to Zone 6/7 gardeners. Thanks.  

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden