Grace in the Light Plate

It's August 2nd - a new month and new plants to discover as you walk through the garden. While Echinacea, Hemerocallis and a few ornamental grasses provide most of the color in the garden, take the time to look for smaller blooms that bring grace to the garden with their delicate flowers.

Gaura lindheimeri 'Blushing Butterflies' (Butterfly Gaura) can be found on either side of the south path, Light Plate, near the Shoulder Hedge. Another common name for this plant is "Wandflower" because of the way the butterfly-shaped flowers dance along the wispy stem that arches gracefully toward the ground. Butterfly Gaura fits in to the overall design of the Lurie Garden with its delicate inch-wide flowers that catch the breeze much like many of the ornamental grasses.

Veronica longifolia 'Pink Damask' (Speedwell) is beginning to bloom nearby. Although its flowery spike are only 6 inches, it will reach more than 2 feet when fully mature. This plant blooms on graceful, narrow spires that are tightly packed with pale pink flowers. Piet Oudolf selected it for this area because of its long bloom time (6 to 8 weeks) and its complimentary silhouette and color to the Butterfly Gaura. Beneath the Veronica, Ruellia humilis (Wild Petunia) is still producing flowers, creating a lush groundcover of lavender and summer green.

Another plant in the same area is Agastache rupestris (Thread Leaf Giant Hyssop) with its delicate, gray-green needle-like leaves. This plant has small, inch-long flowers in shades of salmon and burnt orange with purple calyxes that are borne loosely on salvia-like spikes. Thread Leaf Giant Hyssop is a native to the mountains of Arizona and New Mexico where it is commonly known as Sunset Hyssop because its colors resemble those of a sunset.

Free, 20-minute guided tours are offered each Sunday and leave every 15 minutes from 10 am to 1:30 pm. Look for the white tent at the south end of the Seam.

Fireworks

The City of Chicago puts on a spectacular fireworks display each July 3rd - the idea being that the public can stay home on the Fourth and enjoy its neighborhood displays.

At the same time, the Lurie Garden has its own display of fireworks in the Meadow. Allium christophii, Star of Persia, is a stunning plant that blooms in June. Its globe-like flower clusters can be more than 6 inches in diameter. Each flower has a metallic lavender sheen when it first opens and deepens to amethyst as it matures. A sturdy stalk less than 2 feet high supports the clusters. By now, the starbursts have often dried to a golden color, detached from the stem and roll about the garden like tumbleweeds of stars.






Fireworks in the garden
- or fireworks in the sky.

Summer Solstice

Sunrise 5:16 am on the longest day of the year, but the sun will not reach the garden until well after six. When the light reaches the meadow, the leaves of Silphium laciniatum (Compass Plant) are backlit, emphasizing its deeply-cut leaves that look like large hands reaching toward the sky. In the foreground, a pink cloud of Geum triflorum (Prairie Smoke) catches the light as it filters through the trees that form a canopy over the Dark Plate (Robinia pseudoacacia 'Chicago Blues').

On today's garden tours, some of the highlighted plants include Monarda bradburyana (Eastern Bee Balm). This pale pink bee balm was planted last fall in the Light Plate. It makes a nice companion to the deep violet Allium purpurea (Ornamental Onion) that is interplanted with it. Look for both of these plants coming through a ground cover of a young ornamental grass, Sporobolis heterolepis 'Tara' (Prairie Dropseed).

In the Light Plate, growing near the Monarda and Ornamental onions, Stachys officinalis 'Hummelo' (Betony or Hedgenettle) is beginning to open. This plant was developed by plantsman Piet Oudolf at Hummelo, his garden and nursery in the Netherlands. Oudolf uses this plant in the Lurie Garden because of its deep violet orchid-like flowers that are compactly borne on flower spikes. It attracts all types of insects while in bloom and when dry, its silhouette gives interest to the winter garden.

Small garden signs will direct you to other plants in bloom that include: Echinacea purpurea 'Rubinglow' a deep pink coneflower that is just beginning to show; Phlomis tuberosa 'Amazone' (Phlomis) a tall plant with pink flowers clustered around the stem; Sanguisorba menziesii (Burnett) with red knot-like flowers and toothed leaves, growning near the stairs at the Seam.

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.

Lurie Garden Guided Walks

Guided Walks in the Lurie Garden begin Sunday. Docents, most of whom are University of Illinois Extension Master Gardeners, will be on hand to give free 20-minute tours of the garden.

While all sizes of tulips in shades of bright fuscia, lipstick red, golden yellow, white and dark blue-violet continue to dominate attention from visitors and photographers, take a closer look at some of the more subtle flowers that are opening.


Between the Cloud Plaza and the yew hedge, Fritillaria pallidiflora (Fritillary) is still blooming. This plant is a native to China and is used in the Lurie Garden for its hardiness and shape. It can withstand temperatures to -15F and its creamy yellow flowers mirror shape of tulip heads, gracefully nodding toward the ground. They brighten up and add texture to the Hosta 'Halcyon' whose leaves are at the height as the Fritillary.


Across the Plaza in the center of the Dark Plate, Epimedium x versicolor 'Sulphureum' (Bishop's Hat) forms a groundcover at the Plaza's edge. Its flowers are a sulphur yellow (hence the name) and are so small that they may be overlooked. What is eye-catching about this plant is its foliage. Heart-shaped green leaves, edged in reddish bronze, form soft mounds about a foot high. As they mature, the leaves continue to redden, outlining the veins that remain green.

Helleborus orientalis (Lenten Rose) opened in late April and will continue to flower through the month. The colors of this species vary from pale pink to deep violet. It is used in the garden for its early bloom time and because its foliage continues to look good throughout the year. In winter when patches of snow dot the garden, the leaves of the Lenten rose may be the only green in the garden.

Look for tour guides at the south end of the Seam, under the white awning.

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.

Glory of the Snow!

Sunrise 6:37 am - Warmer temperatures overnight had begun to melt the snow as I entered the garden. I was anxious to see what Chionodoxa forbesii 'Blue Giant' would look like in the snow and I was not disappointed. The deep violet flowers were scattered over the icy landscape - more showy than when framed against bare soil.

The Meadow was a bright white coverlet, dotted with blues and pinks. Rosy buds of Geum triflorum (Prairie Smoke), undaunted by their chilly blanket, poked their heads through the ice in groups of three. The petals of Scilla mischtschenkoana (Turbergen Squill) nearly matched the light blue shadows of the snow.

By late afternoon the snow had nearly melted and the garden was awaiting a warmer overnight rain.