Visiting Chicago Botanic Garden

I just returned from a trip to Illinois where I had a wonderful visit to the Chicago Botanic Garden in the suburb of Glencoe. The garden is only 36 years old, but it is quite lovely.

The Midwest had cold weather late in the season, so tulips and other bulbs were still blooming exuberantly during my visit. It was a treat to see the 2-foot-tall flowers in such spectacular arrays of color. Some were arranged as formal displays. Others, such as daffodils and grape hyacinths, were naturalized into the landscape in drifts under trees and shrubs.

In addition to the bulbs, cherries, crabapples, magnolias, azaleas, Iceland poppies, lilies-of-the-valley, fritillaries and many other flowers bloomed profusely throughout the garden. One of the most impressive displays was the hanging gardens attached to a massive trellis at the entry of the garden. The wood trellis was 15 feet wide, 10 feet high and 25 feet long. The gardens were in boxes that spanned the width of the trellis. Colorful flowers flowed out over my head as I walked through. It was beautiful.

Another feature I especially enjoyed was the vertical vegetable garden. A wooden frame, 5 feet wide by 6 feet tall, hung on a wall. It was divided into six or seven "shelves" containing plants such as red leaf lettuce, parsley, cilantro, butter lettuce and chives. Not only was this aesthetically pleasing, it was a great use of space. It gives an entirely new perspective to container gardening.

Illinois receives a lot of rain, so very different from here. So, ponds, lakes and fountains were everywhere. Some were infinity gardens with little motion except for the flow over the edges. Others were jetting to the sky in the middle of a lake. In the Heritage Garden, one bubbled between the marble trough containers. Garden designers even built a hill with four waterfalls cascading from the top in all directions " north, south, east and west. Although this feature was manmade, with the Chicago area being flat, the placement of the boulders, steps in the falls and plants looked natural. My friend and I sat by one of the falls to listen to the melody of the water falling.

I try to visit botanic gardens wherever I travel. These beautiful places stimulate my creative juices and inspire me. If you are in or near Chicago, this botanic garden is worth a visit.

For more information on gardening in northern Nevada, contact me, 887-2252 or skellyj@unce.unr.edu, or your local University of Nevada Cooperative Extension office. Check out many useful horticulture publications at www.unce.unr.edu. "Ask a Master Gardener" at mastegardeners@unce.unr.edu

n JoAnne Skelly is the Carson City/Storey County Extension Educator for University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.