Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Part 2: Visitng the Chicago Botanic Garden in Late October


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Continuing on with our tour of the Chicago Botanic Garden we find ourselves still in the Landscape Gardens. This area shows a raised bed with a nice mix of conifers, grasses and groundcovers. This garden also shows plants that are drought tolerant and do well in this type of 'scree' garden. I adore the rock edging in this area.
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Right next to the Landscape Gardens is the Model Railroad Garden. This area was quite a large area had a nice collection of plants as well as miniature buildings representing well known landmarks throughout the United States. There is an extra fee of $5 to visit this particular garden.
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Like the Huntsville Botanical Garden the Chicago Botanic Garden also had a bonsai collection. I took a few photos but am posting only the base of one of the bonsai specimens. I think if you use your imagination you can imagine this scene could be a full sized scene in any forest, but instead it is in a pot in a courtyard at the Chicago Botanic Gardens.
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A picture by one of the lakes. Weeping willows seem to do quite well along the shorelines we visited here at these gardens.
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'October Skies' was in full bloom. This aster is one of my favorites for designs I do for my clients.
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The gardens did not have a lot of formal water features but did have a few informal ones. This one is in the area called the Waterfall Garden. It was near the Japanese Garden (we'll see that one Friday) right across from a lake. The sound of the multiple waterfalls was very natural and soothing. The cascading plants and abundance of plant material made me think I was in the mountains. It was a lovely area.
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Lastly we'll finish with another picture that reminds us it is indeed fall in the United States. Fall comes much earlier to the Chicago area than to Tennessee but it is no less beautiful....

in the garden...

So glad the election is over! I worked in a local polling station in my state yesterday and can tell you that was quite an experience! All of the voters were most joyful and happy to vote which really helped make the very busy day go by faster...

in the garden.... 
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for bringing back more memories, Tina. The waterfall garden was one of my favorites; so beautiful. I'm looking forward to seeing the Japanese garden next, another favorite...well, actually, almost every part of the CBG is my favorite:)

    Thank you to you for your service at the polls yesterday; my hat is off to all the election judges and poll workers who put in a very long day yesterday. Whatever a person may think about the results, we should be thankful to live in a country where every person can vote as he wishes.

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  2. Those huge rocks make me want a border of them in my backyard! The areas where I garden are so flat that they become a bit boring to me at times. A nice border such as that would raise the area for great interest. Oh, dream on in these gardens....

    Love the waterfall garden! But who does not love a watery spot in a garden. The two just seem to go together....

    Finally, the election is over! We voted early to avoid the long lines which I heard were many in our country yesterday. Thanks for your taking time out of your life for the cause...

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  3. What a great garden. Love the large water features. I am always intrigued with bonsai but not to do myself.
    I had to look closely at the picture with the train set, at first glance I thought you were up on a bridge or something and looking down to the station. hahahaha

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  4. Thanks for a great tour. I love the rocks. You can do so much with them. I miss having them so plentiful as N.C. but did bring some home. lol
    Thank you for taking your time to help out at the polls. It was a long day. I did vote. Thankfully the lines were not long at all.

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  5. I've enjoyed your tour Tina. It does look cold in Chicago much colder than your place.

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