The weather in the Chicago area was again quite nice with a sunny day close to 70 degrees F. However, a cold front moved in and it became quite chilly in the afternoon. Our class met again at the Chicago Botanic Garden and we all introduced ourselves this morning. Of the 28 students, I'd say about 15 or so were landscape architects (from around the country), some were horticultural therapists (or training to be such), there were two college students and some other interesting professions. The lady above is a medical doctor in Europe and is taking this training to better help her patients with recovery and horticultural therapy tasks. You can certainly pick her out in a crowd (the red jacket). Needless to say, it is a very interesting group. I was able to get to CBG early and hoofed it to the far end of the gardens where they have their trial spaces. Few visitors make the trek over there and I was glad I did. I caught the dwarf bluestar (
Amsonia montana 'Short Stack') and oodles of Rodgersias and ferns. I think I startled the grounds people in that area as they probably don't see visitors right at 8 am every morning ("Who's this weird guy taking all these pictures..??").
I've been photographing just about anything that catches my eye. I do this for many reasons. I am of course getting ideas for plants to try at RBG but I am also seeing worthy specimens for which I do
n't have a good digital image. We are slowly but surely increasing our photo library at the gardens and I have really hit the motherlode at CBG as I rarely make it there is spring, thereby missing those great spring images. They also do a superior job of plant labeling. The Japanese painted fer
n (
Athyrium niponicum 'Burgundy Lace') to the left is one of my favorites and really shows some serious maroon coloration that holds well thru the summer. We have about 15 or so varieties of these painted ferns and while many look the same by mid-summer, they certainly have some coloration differences in spring before it gets hotter. To the right is baby blue eyes (
Nemophila menziesii), an annual native to California, and a nice cool season annual for our climate. We've done this exact annual at RBG but I was blown away by the thousands that I saw around CBG today. This image also shows a hyacinth (
Hyacinthus) in close proximity. The image below is another of my favorite ferns. This is one of the "criss cross" type lady ferns (
Athyrium filix-femina 'Dre's Dagger'). I just love the texture of this fern and it stays around 18" in height or so. The CBG specimen is "textbook".
The highlight of the day was a tour of the enabling garden at CBG with Gene Rothert, the manager of the Horticultural Therapy program at CBG. Pictured in the middle below, Gene gave a wonderful tour and answered many questions from our group. Gene is well-known around the country for his knowledge and expertise and was a speaker at a RBG program a couple years ago. The last three images below include the foliage of Gold Rush dawn redwood (
Metasequoia glyptostroboides 'Ogon'), a cool season container combo of pansies and nemesia 'Sunsatia Lemon' and the last shot is of a Rodger's flower (
Rodgersia podophylla 'Bronze Form') that has the best "marooning" in spring. I saw many varieties I wasn't familiar with but took lots of pictures today (380). Cruddy weather tomorrow and cold but will enjoy it nonetheless (except for the traffic jams!). 'Hi' to any/all RBG staff or volunteers. See you soon enough!
n't have a good digital image. We are slowly but surely increasing our photo library at the gardens and I have really hit the motherlode at CBG as I rarely make it there is spring, thereby missing those great spring images. They also do a superior job of plant labeling. The Japanese painted fer
n (Athyrium niponicum 'Burgundy Lace') to the left is one of my favorites and really shows some serious maroon coloration that holds well thru the summer. We have about 15 or so varieties of these painted ferns and while many look the same by mid-summer, they certainly have some coloration differences in spring before it gets hotter. To the right is baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii), an annual native to California, and a nice cool season annual for our climate. We've done this exact annual at RBG but I was blown away by the thousands that I saw around CBG today. This image also shows a hyacinth (Hyacinthus) in close proximity. The image below is another of my favorite ferns. This is one of the "criss cross" type lady ferns (Athyrium filix-femina 'Dre's Dagger'). I just love the texture of this fern and it stays around 18" in height or so. The CBG specimen is "textbook".
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