Last Saturday morning, after finishing my class at the Chicago Botanic Garden, I walked outside and realized that it was a perfect day. Perfect days have been few and far between this spring, so I called Judy and asked her to come up and meet me so we could take a walk and enjoy the …
There was an interesting article in the June issue (is it already time for the June issue?) of Fine Gardening magazine with the vaguely Orwellian title of “Finding Freedom Through Structure.” The author, George Schoellkopf, argues that gardens built around straight lines and right angles provides a more “attainable aesthetic” because “the structure is woven …
Well, our blooms this March 15th are limited to snowdrops (Galanthus). I’ve already posted pictures of those. So this seems a good opportunity to post some more pictures from our visit to the Garfield Park Conservatory. For starters, there was a “Spring Flower Show”, which consisted of a bunch of blooming azaleas in containers. Nice, …
Last Sunday Judy and I met Danny for breakfast in Logan Square, then visited the Garfield Park Conservatory for the first time in years. The Conservatory is a Chicago landmark, built in 1906 and designed by Jens Jensen, the great landscape architect of the Prairie Style. We wanted to see some green plants, but also …
Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while know that Judy and I took our first ever trip to Paris back in April. I’ve already posted about Monet’s garden at Giverny, as well as the Luxembourg Gardens. Now I’m finally tackling one last part of the trip: the gardens at the …
As Christmas nears, visions of annual sunflowers are dancing in my head. I’m thinking about what I want to change in my main flower border along the driveway. I’ve grown native perennial sunflowers, but they have been a disappointment. Surprisingly, western sunflower (Helianthus occidentalus) has been unable to compete with the other border plants, and …
Here’s another post about a summer visit to the Chicago Botanic Garden. This time I want to write about Dixon Prairie, one of the less visited parts of CBG. Dixon Prairie is a 15 acre restored prairie with six different ecological communities, from wet to dry, black earth to sand and gravel. In addition to …
Monet at Giverny, by Caroline Holmes; Cassel and Co., 2001. Monet’s Passion: Ideas, Inspiration, and Insights from the Painter’s Gardens,by Elizabeth Murray; Pomegranate Communications, 2010. Some of you know that Judy and I were lucky enough to visit Monet’s garden at Giverny in April of this year. Despite the clouds and chill, we were completely …
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