June 2018 ILLINOIS Chicago 2 - Green Gardens, Chicago Style

We woke up to a clear, but muggy day. The high temp was supposed to be 74, but felt warmer with the humidity. Breakfast was at a fun place called Jelly. We chowed down on omelets, biscuits and gravy, skillet scramble, Caprese breakfast sandwich, and wonderful toasted homemade bread.

Then off to the Chicago Botanic Garden, about a half hour drive east, almost to Lake Michigan. The name says "Garden," but it is really a combination of various styles of gardens. They are located on islands in North Lake and the surrounding area. It is a 385-acre living plant museum.
There are numerous walking paths, a bike trail, and several options for tram tours.

First we went to the children's area to check out the butterfly "zoo," but it was so crowded with kids running amok that we held back entering. We had all seen this type of display before, so no huge loss. There was also a children's growing garden, a learning center, and a man-made creek there. It was so hot that day that the kids were having a ball playing in the creek.

We passed through the Regenstein Learning Campus. There was a gallery with art, a reflection pool, and gorgeous orchid plants. In this facility they conduct classes in cooking, botanical arts, wellness, photography, garden design, and more. Paul Lange's large scale photographs hang in the background.

Next we came across the bonsai garden. There are as many as 60 living masterpieces of miniature trees and plants on display. Some are gifts from the Midwest Bonsai Society and from Japanese bonsai master Susumu Nakamura, including a Japanese white pine that has been trained for at least 100 years. Here are some examples.

The first is a Bald Cypress with triple trunk, estimated 40-50 years old.

A deciduous tree. Not sure of species, but estimated 50-60 years old.

A Limber Pine, estimated 600-1000 years old and in training since 1980. It was maybe three feet tall.

There were some bonsai-ers working on their projects. This one is a miniature azalea plant.

We continued on into the general gardens. There were lots of water features. 

Birds found this a wonderful place to hang out.

We saw finely manicured grounds and statuary.

Many gazebos and trellises scattered about. Lots of places for shade on our stroll. A huge rose garden surrounds this fountain.

One person recorded his vision of the fountain with paint and paper.

Further down the path, we came across this photo op...a young lady in her quinceañera dress. This celebrates the 15th birthday of a female with Latin family roots. A rose among the roses. How beautiful!

We had heard about the Corpse Plant, a featured plant almost ready to bloom. We kept our eye out for it and finally found it. More on that in the next blog entry.

It was a steamy hot day, so the next stop was the beer "garden" for a sit-down and cool drink.

From there we strolled past the Dwarf Conifer Garden.

On the way, were streams and water foss. Oops, I meant waterfalls!! Guess we're not in Iceland anymore.

Our last garden stop was the island of the Japanese Garden. It was not as colorful, but so serene and peaceful.

The final stop was the gift shop, of course. So much good stuff--books, plants, planters, garden tools, toys, clothes, food, etc., etc. Fun browsing, but no purchases today.

We only scratched the surface of the soil. Read more at: https://www.chicagobotanic.org