For all you Spring Flingers out there

This past weekend I was at the Chicago Botanic Garden checking out one of their American Flower Show Series (see the Chicagoland Gardening Magazine blog for an upcoming post about the show). After I finished my journalistic duties, I wandered around for a while taking pictures, and I thought those of you who visited the garden in May might appreciate how it looks now, at the height of summer (so to speak). You can click on any of the pictures to get a closer look. So without further ado...


Here is the prairie garden area in May, full of shooting stars (Dodecatheon meadia), prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis) in its early stages, and flowering spurge (Euphorbia corollata) that you can't even see in this picture.



Here is that prairie garden now! It's bursting with (left to right) prairie blazing star (Liatris pycnostachya), ironweed (Veronia noveboracensis), some type of sunflower (Unbelievably I couldn't find a name plate, but I'm guessing it's Helianthus rigidus), and purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea). The prairie dropseed in the foreground is now dwarfed by the forbs.



Another stretch of the prairie garden here had wild hyacinth (Camassia scilloides) blooming next to some extremely large leaves...


...which is the foliage of prairie dock (Silphium terebinthinaceum). Its relative, compass plant (S. laciniatum), grows next to it. These plants can reach about 10' tall, and I think these examples really display the variety of prairies through the seasons. I love how they morph from a field of little delicate flowers in spring to big, bold, even ostentatious, ones later in the summer.

Shown here are the veggie pillars we loved in the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden...




...now those triangular beds are filled with tomatoes, lavender, and lavender hyssop (Agastache foeniculum).


Don't feel bad--their tomatoes are still green too!

I found lots of interesting and mouth-watering displays in the vegetable garden, which is understandably hitting its stride about now. They have voluminous raspberries...


...and espaliered pears...


...and, literally, low-hanging fruit!



I also noticed these random pots in the ground near some of the squash, and thanks to the interpretive signage I learned they're Rootmaker(TM) pots filled with sand that deliver water to the plants at four different levels underground. The staff waters the pots rather than the plants, and the water is distributed to the squash's deep roots. Neat, huh?


Now, back to the flowers: Here is the English Walled Garden in May...




...and here is the English Walled Garden now. Those astilbes looked even better in person!

Around the corner, I walked into one of the "rooms" and was physically stopped by this sight:

Rudbeckias as far as the eye could see! Those orange ones with the huge eyes are Rudbeckia hirta 'Autumn Colors', a very fitting name.

Back in May, the rose garden was doing nothing; in fact, the only picture I took there was of a tree peony. Now, there's much more going on:


Another look:


During our Spring Fling visit we had a good laugh at the rabbit problems we share with this venerable garden institution.


I laughed again when I saw this cute but destructive baby bunny going to town on a Heuchera. And this was taken right where the first photo was--near the dwarf conifer garden and waterfall garden. Their home must be nearby!


I saved my personal favorite for last. Remember the field of Icelandic poppies?


Gorgeous! Well, it looks even better now...

The poppies have been replaced by black-eyed susans (Rudbeckia hirta 'Indian Summer', 'Irish Spring', and 'Cherokee Sunset'), floss flower (Ageratum houstonianum), Zinnia elegans 'Benary's Scarlet Flame' and 'Magellan Yellow', and anise-scented sage (Salvia guaranitica). As beautiful as those poppies were, the color combination here is just breathtaking (I think). Let's see it again!



I hope you enjoyed my little CBG retrospective! I hadn't been there since the Fling and it was great to be back. A light rain kept the crowds down but also got on my nerves after a while, so my trip was cut a little short. Nevertheless, a lovely day!

Spring Fling '09 Wrap-Up

The Garden Bloggers' Spring Fling is ending today, and it's been a great weekend filled with friendly bloggers and beautiful gardens. Unfortunately I had to miss the Sunday activities, but I wanted to share a look back at some of our other adventures.

We saw all sorts of unique trees at Rich's Foxwillow Pines on Thursday afternoon. This is a weeping Norway spruce (Picea abies 'Reflexa'). I love the weeping habit! I almost made an impulse purchase of a weeping dwarf Canadian hemlock (Tsuga canadensis). I would like to get an appropriate container and then go back for it--it was really adorable! Here's another curiosity, a dwarf spruce with purple cones (Picea bicolor 'Howell's Dwarf'):


On Friday we visited the Chicago Botanic Garden, one of the horticultural jewels of the Chicagoland area. It didn't disappoint. I loved these Icelandic poppies en masse:


The rose garden was the only area that wasn't really exploding with blooms at this time, but it did have some lovely tree peonies.

This one is 'Age of Gold', and it had a very pleasant citrusy fragrance.

Here's a look at one of the native areas. The texture of prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis) with the shooting stars (Dodecatheon meadia) floating overhead is just gorgeous.


I'm not even sure which area this technically is part of, but I thought this was a beautiful waterfall surrounded by trees and greenery.




















Contrast that naturalistic setting with the geometric clarity of the English Walled Garden:



As you can see, there is great diversity at the Garden. And this is just a sample of the gardens across the property. We covered a lot of ground there on Friday. This was no mean feat because the place is huge!

On Saturday we had a whirlwind tour of a number of gardens. First was Rick Bayless's private garden, which supplies much of the produce for his restaurant. Here's a look at some of the veggies and edible flowers. Note the banana tree in the container to the back right:


There were charming ornamental areas as well:


After a delicious lunch at Andie's (don't miss the baklava!!), Carolyn Gail of Sweet Home and Garden Chicago let us pore over her property. What a great Japanese maple!


Carolyn maximizes a small urban space with different forms, structures, and levels. She has seating, statues, a pond, vines, containers, and varied plantings. This picture captures just a fraction of that creativity with the hanging basket of petunias, clematis climbing the trellis wall of her outdoor seating (I don't know what type of structure that is technically--it's not a pergola, but I'm unsure what exactly to call it), a unique water feature, which Dee from Red Dirt Ramblings is also admiring, the pond in the back right, and a colorful bed surrounding it all:


Then it was on to the Ginkgo Organic Gardens in Wrigleyville, which supplies communally grown produce to a local charity. They devote a lot of space to greens because those are the most popular with the charity's recipients:


My last stop of the day was the Lincoln Park Conservatory, located near the shore of Lake Michigan. They have all sorts of tropical delights, but our southern bloggers explained that much of the Conservatory's collection can be grown in a typical garden in their region. It reminded me how harsh our climate here truly is! I can't imagine being able to grow anything remotely like this outdoors!


All in all it was a fantastic experience. The weather was mostly cooperative, and everyone seemed to enjoy our wonderful city. It was great to meet and get to know so many fun and friendly bloggers, and I hope everyone else had as good of a time as I did!