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.

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.