Tag: Jens Jensen
Early Spring at the Lincoln Memorial Garden
Last Friday I stopped to visit Springfield’s Lincoln Memorial Garden on my way out of town. It is one of the few gardens designed by Jens Jensen (a hero of mine) that still retains the essential elements of his plan, which included only plants native to Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. There was not much in …
The Lincoln Memorial Garden in April
These days I have to spend a lot of time in Springfield, about 200 miles south of Chicago. Twice in the last two weeks I was able to get off work in time to take a walk at the Lincoln Memorial Garden, which is located on 100 acres along an artificial lake. Let me stop …
Can Naturalistic Landscapes Make Us Happy?
My son sent me a link to an interesting post by Chicago Magazine’s Whet Moser. The post deals with some current research on identifying the elements that make a park look more “natural” to most people. It was more the purpose than the results of this particular research that interested me. I’m not sure that anyone …
A Prairie-Style Shakespeare Garden
Tucked away in a corner of the Northwestern University campus is a beautiful garden with an unusual history. That history began in 1915, when the Garden Club of Evanston joined in a nation-wide effort to create gardens memorializing the 300th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death. Surprisingly, the designer was Jens Jensen, advocate of naturalistic …
New Film Highlights Jens Jensen Legacy
Jens Jensen: the Living Green is a documentary about an unjustly obscure figure who contributed greatly to conservation and garden design, especially in the Chicago area. His legacy includes naturalistic city parks in Chicago and elsewhere, as well as preserved natural lands. The Danish-born Jensen (1860-1951) arrived in Chicago in 1884, and got a job …
Sunday in the Garfield Park Conservatory with Judy – Part I
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 …
gardeninacity 