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[Image] Great day at the Chicago Botanic Garden (CBG) today. It was day 1 (of 8) for the Healthcare Garden Design Certificate Program. I left Janesville early so I could avoid rush hour traffic but did manage to catch the tail end of it just before arriving at the gardens (Glencoe, IL). I grew up in the Chicago suburbs but have lost the knack for aggressive driving with no signals or regard for others. I'm sure I'll pick it back up again soon enough. My program started at 9 am but I had a good hour to take some photos around the gardens after arriving at 8 am and actually tallied up over 400 photos over the course of the day. Above is a wisteria (Wisteria sinensis 'Prolific') that was in the vegetable garden and caught my eye although we haven't had much luck with wisteria at RBG.

The symposium was great and was a nice kick off to this program. Today was a general symposium that included those in the eight day program and those that were just there for the day. There were about[Image] 60 people or so although I don't know how many are part of the "eight day crew". I met a lady from San Francisco and guys from Kansas City and Washington, D.C. This program is apparently quite well known. We got to hear Roger Ulr[Image]ich (Texas A&M) who has pioneered lots of research regarding the benefits of providing access to nature for hospital patients. He spoke on "Evidence Based Design Practices." We also heard Clare Cooper Marcus (UC-Berkeley), Teresia Hazen (from Oregon) and Jack Carman (from NJ). All the speakers were very knowledgeable and it was an informative day. I'm looking forward to the rest of the program. Above and to the left is the wild hyacinth (Camassia leichtlinii 'Blue Danube') artfully combined with ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris). CBG has always done a nice job with their plantings and I've visited a dozen times or so in the past and always been impressed. I'm looking for[Image]ward to spending all my free time out in the gardens. To the right is 'Marshall' lettuce (Lactuca sativa) in the vegetable garden. Looks good to me and I also enjoyed all the spring containers around the gardens.

It was interesting to see the "tower of jewels" (Echium wildpretii) to the left out in the gardens (two locations). These are tropicals (from the Canary Islands) that were brought out from the greenhouses for impact and they certainly do catch the eye. In the foy[Image]er of the education building where the program was being held were some very nice arrangements of painted tongue (Salpiglossis sinuata) and I caught a sweet shot to the right. We've used this as a bedding plant at RBG in the past but it sure looked happy in these interior arrangements too. I'm sure they have staff devoted to these fresh displays and short-lived arrangements.

It was tough to pick out just a few shots of the gardens to share but below are two shots of the Japanese garden at CBG and a shot in their Enabling Garden. We'll be getting a formal tour of the Enabling Garden tomorrow afternoon.

I'm enjoying the experience thus far but am already looking forward to getting back next week. I'm sure everything is in good hands with Larry, Marv, Terry, Marianne, Janice, Jerry, John and Jenny keeping everyone in line.[Image][Image][Image]