Spring Fling Friday

The Chicago Botanic Garden was the opening event for 2009 Spring Fling Fling, and what a great place to kick off the weekend's festivities. The Garden was a major Spring Fling sponsor. The staff couldn't have been more warm and welcoming, even creating a page on their website for us.

Denise Corkery, horticultural writer at the Garden, warmly greeted and welcomed us, providing guidebooks and free passes for the tram and the train garden. She was accompanied by the photographer who took the group pictures in the post below. We were also provided a free trolley ride to and from the Metra train station, and free parking passes for those who drove to the garden, along with a cash sponsorship we used to help defray the cost of Friday night's reception. My favorite single plant at the garden was this humongous blooming annual Echium virescens, or Tower of Jewels - a member of the borage family. It looked like something prehistoric. I imagined dinosaurs.

There were a number of tree peonies still in bloom. This one is Age of Gold.

Alliums were in bloom at the Garden, and in nearly every other garden we visited during Spring Fling.
The Japanese Garden was as beautiful as ever, and a calming, peaceful place - a soothing, restful retreat on a busy, eventful day.

I came upon this bewildered-looking fledgling alone in the English Walled Garden. There were times during Spring Fling I could relate to how he must have felt.

Friday afternoon we visited the Lurie Garden, and were treated to a tour with Colleen Lockovitch, head horticulturist at the Lurie. Dressed in it's late-May finery, the Lurie looked very different than it had during a previous early-spring visit.

Prairie Smoke - I added a couple of these to my own garden earlier this spring.

I love the city skyline backdrop of beautiful Lurie Garden. Just steps from my Metra train station, this was my third visit to the Lurie this season, and my third visit ever. A native Chicagoan living in the suburbs most of my life, in the future I plan to stop by there every chance I get when visiting the city from the quiet south-suburban hamlet where I now reside.
Colleen identified this tree - Black Locust. I was dying to find out what it was. Black locusts are in bloom all over my neighborhood right now. The fragrance of the blooms is heavenly, and I stood under one of these gorgeous trees at the Lurie for a good long time, breathing deeply.

Friday's events were capped with a reception at Elephant & Castle, adjacent to Club Quarters Hotel where most of the out-of-town SF participants stayed.

The first day of Spring Fling was a memorable introduction to our City in a Garden. After the reception, Mr.Brown Thumb saw Monica and I off to our train, and she and I headed back to my place for some much-needed rest to be ready for the whirlwind second day of Chicago Spring Fling.