Shrouded in Mist

Foggy and 56 degrees. Last night's nearly half-inch of rain left the garden looking moist and lush. This morning, the tops of skyscrapers to the west and north of the Lurie Garden are shrouded in fog. A few blocks west, the Sears Tower has disappeared entirely.

This phenomenon has left tiny water droplets on the plants, giving them a magical look usually rendered from an artist's imagination.



The tiny stamen tips of Astrantia major 'Roma' (Masterwort) look as though each is embellished with a Swarovski crystal bead.



Pink clouds of Geum triflorum (Prairie Smoke) are weighted down with moisture. If the sun were to come out at this moment, you would think they were covered in diamonds.



Official summer is less than two weeks away, but one could never guess from the cool, wet weather we have had this spring. This has been a Northwest spring, an Oregon spring, where overcast skies have intensified the colors of the flowers rather than washing them out. When we have a day like today, I wish that the Lurie Garden extended another five acres.

High Line Park Opens Tomorrow

The first phase of the High Line Park in New York City is finally ready to open. This morning, Mayor Michael Bloomberg presided over the dedication of the park, and tomorrow it opens to the public. It represents a 10-year effort by Friends of the High Line to convert an abandoned elevated rail line into a park. Its precedent is the La Promenade Plantée in Paris, a park created from an abandoned viaduct.

The High Line was originally a 13-mile railway that was built in the 1930s to reduce the numerous train/auto collisions that occurred in the city's busy industrial district. The track connected to factories and manufacturing plants, allowing the trains to deliver raw goods. By 1980, interstate trucking had nearly eliminated the need for the railroad and the track was abandoned.

Like the Lurie Garden, the High Line Park is the winning entry of the design team of James Corner Field Operations, landscape architects, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, architects, and Piet Oudolf, Dutch plantsman and innovator of sustainable garden design, who also designed the plantings of the Lurie Garden.

Oudolf's plant design is inspired by the landscape of the High Line that was created over 25 years by self-seeding plants that established themselves on the abandoned track. The plants and their placement are a reminder of those wild plants that spring up along unused roads or train tracks. A hallmark of Oudolf's design is to select native plants that bring sustainability, structure and texture to the garden.

The first phase stretches along the Hudson River between Gansevoort Street to 16th Street and will be open daily from 7 am to 10 pm.
I can't wait to visit.

(Photograph from the Web site of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, architects)

What's Blooming?

It is a perfect day for strolling the garden with a Master Gardener docent. Skies should remain overcast, creating good, reflective light for photographing plants.

In addition to the Salvia River in the Light Plate, you will find a variety of plants from the blue-violet palette. Tradescantia 'Concord Grape' (Spiderwort) is blooming in the center near the Seam. You can get a closer viewing in the northwest corner of the garden near the Shoulder Hedge.


Stands of Baptisia 'Purple Smoke' (Hybrid Wild Indigo) are scattered throughout the Light Plate. This is a bold plant with spikes of deep blue pea-like flowers.

For contrast, three varieties of Amsonia, more delicate with star shaped flowers, are planted in close proximity.

Amsonia hubrichtii (Arkansas Blue Star) has needle-like leaves and clusters of tiny, pale blue flowers.


A. tabernaemontana var. salicifolia (Willowleaf Blue Star) has, as its name implies, leaves shaped like those of a willow with clusters of flowers in a medium blue.


Amsonia 'Blue Ice' is making its debut this year. Only 12 to 18 inches high, it fills in as a ground cover with its willow-like leaves and slate blue flowers. All three plants are native to the southeastern U.S.

The majority of plants blooming in the Dark Plate are white - giving the eye a rest from the abundant purples in the Light Plate. Look for brilliant stands of Paeonia lactiflora 'Jan van Leeuwen' (Herbaceous Peonies) on both sides of the Cloud Plaza. Each flower is nearly 4 inches in diameter with hot-white petals in one or two rows with a large, central mass of golden staminodes.
Overhead, Robinia pseudoacacia 'Chicago Blues' (Black Locust) is still in bloom, its dense pendant clusters of white flowers gently perfuming the air. Nearby, Baptisia leucantha (Wild White Indigo) is beginning to open its creamy white flowers.

Garden tours begin at the white tent located at the south end of the Seam. Tours last about 20 minutes are are given every 15 minutes from 10 am to 1:30 pm.

The Salvia River

The Salvia River is at its peak, flooding the Light Plate with shades of violet. This area of the garden is so named because it cuts a boomerang-shaped swathe through the Light Plate from the Shoulder Hedge to the Meadow.

Plantsman Piet Oudolf chose four varieties of Salvia for this area: Salvia x sylvestris 'Rugen' (medium blue-violet), S. x sylvestris 'Wesuwe' (deep violet), S. x sylvestris 'May Night' ( dark blue-violet) and S. x sylvestris 'Blue Hill' (true blue).

The Salvias are planted in wide bands, crosswise to the channel. When you stand on the north path of the Light Plate and look south over the Salvia, the bands of color seem to ripple and undulate toward you - like a river.



The common name for these Salvias is Meadow Sage. The stems are square, indicating they are from the mint family. A closer look at the leaves show a similarity to the Mediterranean herb used in cooking, S. officinalis.

Bulb Day in the Garden

Today is Bulb Day in the Garden. University of Illinois Extension Master Gardeners will be on hand to answer questions and give brief tours, pointing out the more than 120,000 bulbs that are planted in the Lurie Garden. Look for a white tent at the south end of the Seam. Tours are offered between 10:00 am and 1:30 pm.


In the Meadow, look for:
Narcissus 'Lemon Drops' (Daffodil). They are mixed with two Camassias - C. cusickii and C. leichtlinii 'Blue Danube' - and a brilliant pink native perennial, Dodecatheon 'Aphrodite' (Shooting Star).



In the Light and Dark Plates, you will see a mix of pink and violet tulips - Tulipa 'Ballade,' medium violet-pink petals, edged in white - T. 'Don Quichotte' - a hot pink - and the regal T. 'Queen of the Night' - deep violet-black.

White tulips planted through both plates contrast with the darker tulips and beg for your attention - T. 'Purissima,' T. 'Maureen,' and T. Spring Green.'

Although the Salvia River is a month away from its full bloom, a carpet of Muscari armeniacum 'Superstar' is a rich substitute, giving a hint of the purple river that will flow in late May.

La Fête du Muguet - Loire Valley

May 1st in France is a both a day to give Lilies-of-the-Valley to loved ones and a national holiday to celebrate workers' rights - Labor Day. Children who live in the countryside, get up early in the morning to pick the muguet and make little bouquets. Members of labor organizations, including the Communist Party, stand on the corners in villages, selling the bouquets.

On this day, biking through the Loire Valley, the Cercis canadensis (Eastern Redbud) was in full bloom. These trees are native to North America and are blooming in the Dark Plate of the Lurie Garden. The tree here was planted along the roadside near a field of rapeseed.

It seemed as though each village we visited had wisteria vines growing along a stone fence or trellis - each one larger and more prolific than the next. The lavender blossoms perfumed the air as we rode by and reminded me of my grandmother's yard.

Musée Albert Kahn

Between the warm, April showers in Paris, our friends took us to a unique garden and museum near the Bois de Bologne just north of Paris. This museum is the former home of financier and humanitarian, Albert Kahn (1860 - 1940).

Kahn was a proponent of internationalism and felt that institutions of finance, art and science could break down cultural barriers. From 1909 to 1931, he hired photographers to travel the world, recording different cultures and customs. The result was a collection of 72,000 autochromes and photographs and 600,000 feet of film that are archived in the museum.

The gardens outside the museum reflect his philosophy by representing gardens from around the world and their native species.

This hill of azaleas resides in the Japanese garden and is meant to represent Mt. Fiji.

Among the plants that are also represented in the Lurie Garden, I found:

Epimedium x versicolor 'Sulphureum' (Bishop's Hat), a delicate plant with pale yellow flowers and heart-shaped leaves. It is found where the edge of the Dark Plate meets the Cloud Plaza. At this moment in the Lurie Garden, its leaves are beautifully mottled - bronze-colored, with veins outlined in green.

Rodgersia pinnata 'Superba' (Featherleaf Rodgersia) is planted is both the center Dark Plate and across the Plaza in the center Frame. As its leaves unfold in spring, they are a rich claret color, then later change to green. Its creamy pink flowers appear later in astilbe-like panicles above the foliage mound. By fall, the leaves have turned to red-bronze, giving another season of interest.