Hot Town, Summer in the City

On the way to the IGC Trade Show last Tuesday, Michigan Avenue was calling me. I spent a few moments at the Art Institute north garden and the Lurie, and both were dressed in their August finery. Hope you enjoy this Lovin' Spoonful of summer in the city.

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.

Are You Tired of Hearing About Spring Fling Yet?

Last Friday Mr.Brown Thumb, Gina from My Skinny Garden, and I met for a private tour of Macy's State Street store's Garden Show taking place now through April 19th.

Mr.Brown Thumb and I were able to spend the rest of the afternoon downtown. We thought Spring Fling participants might enjoy coming along with us on our walk to see what we saw after Gina headed back to work for the afternoon.

Steps away from Club Quarters Hotel, this might be a popular stop.

How convenient! This is kiddycorner from the hotel.


Right around the corner, a nice pottery display, and a sale.

You may have recognized the name on the hotel sign in yesterday's post - that's where some of you will be staying during SF. Here's the lounge. You can see the lobby in yesterday's post. If the hotel hadn't been fully occupied, the staff would have been happy to show us one of the rooms.

The people we talked to were exceptionally nice, and we liked the serene vibe and white-glove cleanliness of the public areas.


We also checked out several potential SF Friday night reception sites. Gina had suggested this one, and we really liked it alot. More information about the reception will be available soon.

After taking care of business, we walked to Millennium Park. You can't go there without seeing Cloud Gate, affectionately known as 'The Bean.'

And then of course, the Lurie Garden is not to be missed. I expected the Lurie to be bigger than it actually as. Believe it or not, this was the first time I'd ever been there.

This is only a small part of the garden - don't worry, it's larger than this! Plants are sprouting everywhere, and the Lurie will look much different in late May.

Only crocus,

and scilla were blooming when we were there.

I'm glad I finally made it down to the Lurie. There's really no excuse not to, since it's a very, very short walk from my train station. I'm looking forward to going back again soon. If I make it back before Spring Fling, I'll share the progress of the garden with you here.

I hope you've enjoyed your sneak peak of a few of the sights you'll see here as I report on Spring Fling, and in person if you're one of the lucky ones who gets to come to Chicago in less than two months for the second annual Garden Bloggers' Spring Fling.