Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Loving It - Chicago Botanic Garden

I first visited the Chicago Botanic Garden two years ago and I immediately fell in love with it. How can you not? It's a premier institution and there's something for everyone. Us Spring Flingers were treated so nicely by their staff. Click here for a photo of the bloggers who attended our tour.

Where to begin? I'm sure you'll see similar photos from other bloggers who attended CSF so I hope you don't mind. We just can't pass up a good photo-op! I think what captured my attention so much were their plant combinations. Here's a few.







The English Walled Garden is a favorite of mine and many others (perhaps Americans still craving the English style of gardening??). As you walk through it you get a peek of the poppy hillside, seen in the middle background here.



Then the hillside explodes in front of you. What a riot of color!



I couldn't resist a photo of some of the bloggers I walked with: Cindy of From My Corner of Katy, Beth of Growing in Chicago, and Pam of Digging.



There are multiple islands in the garden, including this small Japanese Island on the right.



On the island they train their trees into some beautiful shapes.



As you cross a zig-zag bridge you come across these spectacular irises.



There were many restful places to enjoy.





The allium has been dubbed the flower of the Chicago Spring Fling. I admit to having allium-envy.



Of course, none of this beauty is possible without hard working people. A big thank you to them!

17 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing your trip. THis looks like a wonderful adventure. A fellow blogger friend of mine attended as well and share those wonderful poppies! JUST BREATH TAKING!!!! You all are so blessed to have been able to enjoy this first hand.

    Happy Spring - Thank you for sharing.

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  2. Your photos are gorgeous, Jean! I so enjoyed touring this garden with you. Like you, the English Garden is still my favorite, although Evening Island runs a close second (it's more impressive in fall though). I also loved that hot border with the tulips.

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  3. What a beautiful picture of CBG you've painted for us with your photos. The Japanese Island and the irises growing at the edge of the water were two of my favorites. And a very nice touch to include a photo of the hard working people.

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  4. The photos are outstanding. I LOVE the one of the orange tulips and the red flower (Sweet William?). Beautiful!

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  5. Hi Jean! I love the combinations you've shown...especially the sweet yellow viola with the deep purple sage. Imagine being able to visit the CBG weekly to see the gardens evolve over the season...a nice fantasy....and Jean, your photos are outstanding! gail

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  6. The more Spring Fling photos I see, the sorrier I feel that wasn't there in Chicago. The combinations you've picked are great. I agree with Gail in liking the soft yellow violas next to the purple-leave sage--It's a nice, unexpected grouping.

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  7. Jean, I see we were struck by some of the same things: I photographed those first two views also! It was great to tour CBG and the Lincoln Park goose farm with you. I'm still going through my pictures but I have a couple of you that I'll pass along. Not only do you take great photographs, you photograph well!

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  8. How stunning! I especially like the poppy hill...so gorgeous. I wish I lived closer to the Chicago Botanical Gardens!

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  9. What beautiful pictures! I especially love the lettuce close-up!

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  10. Great spending time with you in Chicago! Susan

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  11. I really like your photos--I also took a macro of the lettuces. I thought they had such great color and patterns! Was fun talking to you several times!

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  12. Beautiful photos, Jean! While we may have some of the same subjects for our photos--the poppies, for sure--everyone has a little different perspective on the tours we took. And you saw some things I missed--thanks for sharing! I came home with allium-envy, too:)

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  13. These are some of the best pictures I have seen from bloggers of the Chicago Botanic. Wonderful! Definitely the best of the poppies.

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  14. Wasn't that a special trip we had? So glad I got to meet you. Your photos are beautiful.~~Dee

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  15. You found so many different things to photograph, all of them beautiful. I'm glad I got to meet you, I just wish we'd had more time to talk.

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  16. OMG looked like you all had a whale of a time. The photos are fabulous and the gardens are too beautiful for words. If I were to visit these gardens I would think that I would have died from too much beauty and had gone to heaven. LOL It is a pity I live soo far away sob sob....though I was lucky to meet up in Florida one of my blogger buddies Meems from hoe and shovel last month. I was even in Illinois early May for my daughter's Graduation wish I had more time to visit the gardens. One of these days.......sigh

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