You are welcome, Valerie, and I thank you for your kind comments about my photos. I really enjoyed your city, its gardens, and the public art and just wish I’d had more time to see it all. —Pam

I was just at Lurie today after a dowtown appt. I have seen it all four years but never in full regalia in autumn. Your pictures are fabulous and many are views I just saw. It is however even more intensely colored now – and the feathery, yellow amsonia in with the grasses is striking. I took a side entrance I had not before and it was like a framed picture. I almost gasped. I understand the person who said you have to leave and re-enter to take it in. And yes, I love the backdrop of the older architecture along Michigan Avenue there. The nearby pavillion by Geary also frames it in it’s openings through the framework overhead. BTW – Millenium Park was built over a former railroad yard. It did not make it in time for the Millenium, but was worth the wait. It has added a major tourist and resident destination to our city.

I am a huge fan of Roy Diblik (Northwind Perennial Farm owner – Wis.) and provider of many of the plants for Lurie. And now I am also a fan of Piet. His grasses and design books are amazing. I went to the opening a year later and met him and was pleased he was so humble. And Roy is very down to earth. A good pairing. Roy has a philosophy of gardens as communities and I think that is expressed in the volunteer’s comments about the health and lack of pests here. He chooses plants that work together and help each other out – just like with people.

I am very proud of our city and Mayor Daley gets much credit for that. He is responsible for so many gardens – I keep tripping over new ones. The museum campus (itself fairly new) now has a lovely walk leading to it along the lake, lined with crabtrees. It is exquisite when the classical museums are lit at night. He has planted 250,000 trees (as of a few years ago) and of course brought us ideas from other countries such as Cows on Parade. And he promotes roof gardens – the showcase being City Hall. I was lucky enough to see it even though it is not open to the public. Unlike many made up of sedum and low grasses, his is a true garden with shrubs and trees. An Audubon friend of mine monitors the birds on the City Hall roof and they have beekeeping there! They test the temps on that side and the County Building side. The differences are dramatic.

One other inside bit – the sculptor hates that his Cloudgate is called The Bean. I think he should be happy it has become a fixture here, like the Picasso.

Glad you survived the marathon. As you can see our weather is screwy of late, so winters are a gamble. These past several years it has not been as snowy as I like (for beauty and garden cover) but at any time we can get a traffic crippling blizzard. We have had long cool springs and hot dry summers. It rained so much this summer I forget to water my garden when it finally stopped. These past two weeks have gone from blustery November to perfect fall days. Come in the spring, summer, or fall to avoid most bad weather and enjoy gardens and outoor activities. There are tons of fests in the summer, much of it free.
Mary

Mary, I am thrilled to have another Chicago gardener’s perspective on her fair city. Thanks so much for your detailed comment. I wish I’d known all this before I went so I could have made even more of an effort to see the city gardens. However, our visit was short, and I do feel lucky to have seen as much as I did.

I didn’t learn that the Lurie is a rooftop garden until I got home. We noticed a couple of rooftop gardens from the top of the Sears Tower, which impressed us. They’re just starting to do rooftop gardening here in Austin. And that’s an interesting tidbit about the sculptor of “Cloud Gate” not liking the popular moniker “The Bean.” You can never control nicknames, unfortunately, as they usually take on a life of their own. I think it’s an apt one, though not as lofty as “Cloud Gate,” and everyone seems to be crazy about his work. I am too.

Thanks for all the great information about Chicago. I hope to go back one day and see even more of it. Thanks for writing, Mary. —Pam

I am thrilled to hear from you, Gloria. How wonderful that you’ve been a part of this beautiful garden’s maintenance. I love your poetic description of the garden in other seasons. And thanks to you I learned that Lurie Garden is a rooftop garden, which I did not realize. Do any signs at the garden mention it?

Another commenter on this post mentioned rooftop gardens in talking about Lurie, but I didn’t make the connection. Now I’m even more impressed with this garden. Thanks for commenting! —Pam

That’s too bad. But did you make it to the Botanic Garden? I loved it too. Thanks for commenting, Benjamin. —Pam

I forgot to mention the green roofs, but we did actually see a few from the bird’s-eye view atop the Sears Tower. In fact, it looked to us as if they were in the process of installing one on one of the lower roofs of the Sears Tower itself. Pretty cool! For more info on Chicago’s green roofs, click here.

I’d love to visit Chicago again, but after reading your description of the winters, I think I’ll stay away at that time of year. —Pam

So there isn’t one in San Francisco, Chuck? Sounds like a trip to Chicago is in order. —Pam

It’s a shame that the urban areas in the Caribbean are not more “green,” with plants suitable to the region. I bet you could do a lot with tropical plants to enliven city streets. Austin has gone native with much of its city planting areas, to great effect. But we still don’t have as many urban garden spaces as Chicago seemed to have. —Pam

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Ah, lavender fields. Well, now I want to see that too. ;-) I suppose a trip to the Hill Country would satisfy that impulse though. I’d read about the city’s motto. They’ve certainly taken it to heart. —Pam