.

Lurie Garden at Millennium Park.

Designed by Kathryn Gustafson, Piet Oudolf, and Robert Israel.

Opened on July 16, 2004.

Location: Southern end of Millennium Park in the Loop area of Chicago.

The 2.5-acre garden is a combination of perennials, bulbs, grasses, shrubs and trees.
The garden features guided walks, lectures, interactive demonstrations, family festivals and picnics.

It is the featured nature component of the world’s largest green roof.

Lurie Garden is made possible by a $10 million endowment gift made by the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Foundation and generous support of garden by private citizens, garden clubs, industry supporters, among many others. The Millennium Park Foundation manages and oversees the endowment, as well as the garden’s annual budget and operations.

.

 

.

 

.

The Lurie Garden is an essential element of the Millennium Pasrk. It pays homage to the motto of the City of Chicago – “Urbs in Horto” – which is a Latin phrase meaning City in a Garden. The Garden also pays tribute to Carl Sandburg’s moniker of Chicago as the “City of Big Shoulders” with a 15-foot “shoulder” hedge that protects the perennial garden and encloses the park on two sides.

.

 

 

.

 

Native Perennials

The plant life of the garden consists entirely of  perennials. More than half, about 65%, of the plants in the Lurie Garden are native to North America, some to Illinois, and all are perennials. Native plants are drought and disease tolerant, attract butterflies and insects, are hardier than non-native and are low-maintenance garden.

Having grown in the sub-tropical regions of India, I had never seen Native Prairie plants. This is the place I saw many of the native plants for the first time, like – Prairie Smoke, Shooting Star, Virginia Bluebells, Bowman’s Root, Blazing Star, Rattlesnake Master, Queen of the Prairie and Hemerocallis “Chicago Apache.”

 

.

 

 

.

 

 

.

The Lurie garden constantly depicts the dynamics of nature, but it is most colorful from June through the autumn.
It is not a botanical garden with a scientific purpose and is instead a public garden. Thus, it does not use a plant labeling system.

.

 

 

.

 

New Wave Planting Style

Lurie Garden is one of the first examples in the United States to experiment with the “New Wave Planting Styles.” It looks like brush strokes of an impressionist painting. It makes use of native plants, perennials, grasses and bulbs, to create a landscape that changes colors, textures and shapes through different seasons, just like a natural landscape does. This style is relaxed and natural. It is less geometric and less controlled than traditional gardens.

Piet Oudolf, the world renowned Dutch plantsman, is one of the founders of the New Wave Planting Style. In designing the plantings of the Lurie Garden, he grouped perennial plants into combinations of plants that looked good and grew well together. His design considers each plant’s entire appearance, including growth habits, leaf shape, flowering seed case and winter silhouette.

 

.

 

 

.

 

 

.

 

Garden Landscape
The garden is  designed with four primary components: Light Plate, Dark Plate, Seam Boardwalk, and Shoulder Hedges.

Light Plate: West portion of the garden. This perennial planting area has carefully orchestrated color progression and bloom time, which allows the Light Plate to serve as a calender that marks the time of the year and changing season.

Dark Plate: East portion of the garden. The Dark Plate serves as a dramatic framing foreground to the smooth, bright Light Plate on the other side.. It has flowering trees and plants that thrive in the shades of the flowering trees.

Seam Boardwalk: Lurie Garden is bisected by a diagonal boardwalk, which represents the natural Lake Michigan seawall that still bisects Grant Park. The boardwalk divides the garden into two plates – Dark Plate [east portion] and Light Plate [west portion] – one of which contains muted colors, the other bright colors. The boardwalk also parallels the line of the old Illinois Central Railroad retaining wall. The dark plate represents the early landscape history of the site, while the light plate represents the landscape of the future. The diagonal plate-dividing seam boardwalk serves as a demarcation between two eras of Chicago’s landscape development. This recalls Chicago’s first step to building itself out of its marshy origins by raising wooden boardwalks over the muddy streets and sidewalks. The Seam’s boardwalk is made from Ipe wood, which is harvested from naturally sustainable South American forests.

Shoulder Hedges: The garden is protected by, what is known as the Shoulder Hedge – a reference to the “City of Big Shoulders.” The Shoulder Hedge encloses the garden from two sides [west and north] and protects the perennials garden within..The shoulder hedge is defined and structured by tall metal framework. The plants of the Shoulder Hedge are both deciduous and evergreens. The deciduous plants provide color and texture in different seasons, whereas evergreens or coniferous plants remain robust and green all year.

 

.

 

 

.

Light Plate / West portion of  the garden.

The west portion of Lurie Garden is the Light Plate. This perennial planting area has carefully orchestrated color progression and bloom time, which allows the Light Plate to serve as a calender that marks the time of the year and changing season.

.

 

 

.

Dark Plate / East portion of the garden.

The east portion of Lurie Garden is the Dark Plate. It serves as a dramatic framing foreground to the smooth, bright Light Plate on the other side. It has flowering trees and plants that thrive in the shades of the flowering trees.

 

.

 

 

.

 

The Seam Boardwalk

The Seam Boardwalk: Lurie Garden is bisected by a diagonal boardwalk, which represents the natural Lake Michigan seawall that still bisects Grant Park. The boardwalk divides the garden into two plates – Dark Plate [east portion] and Light Plate [west portion] – one of which contains muted colors, the other bright colors. The boardwalk also parallels the line of the old Illinois Central Railroad retaining wall. The dark plate represents the early landscape history of the site, while the light plate represents the landscape of the future. The diagonal plate-dividing seam boardwalk serves as a demarcation between two eras of Chicago’s landscape development. This recalls Chicago’s first step to building itself out of its marshy origins by raising wooden boardwalks over the muddy streets and sidewalks. The Seam’s boardwalk is made from Ipe wood, which is harvested from naturally sustainable South American forests.

The boardwalk has a 24-inch wide step on one side. The step, which provides seating, leads down to a 5-foot wide canal, which runs between this step and a limestone wall. The limestone supports the plant beds of the dark plate. The water is invigorated with jets, and visitors are allowed to sit and dangle their feet in the water. It traces the angle of a historic subterranean seawall that remains beneath the site and used to be the boundary between the marshy Lake Michigan shoreline and the city.

 

.

 

 

.

Shoulder Hedges

The garden is protected by what is known as the Shoulder Hedge – a reference to the “City of Big Shoulders”. The Shoulder Hedge encloses the garden from two sides [west and north] and protects the perennials garden within. The shoulder hedge is defined and structured by tall metal framework. The plants of the Shoulder Hedge are both deciduous and evergreens. The deciduous plants provide color and texture in different seasons, whereas evergreens or coniferous plants remain robust and green all year.

 

.

 

 

.

 

 

.

The Garden Slopes Downwards from east to west.

The entire garden slopes downward to present itself for the new Renzo Piano Modern Wing addition to the Art Institute of Chicago Building. At the foot of the canal opposite the Building the water ends in a pool.  Israel’s lighting accents the hedges, and pathways are lit by in-ground lighting fixtures.

 

Materials

The garden is a sustainable design built on lightweight geofoam under the soil. All curbing, stone stairways, stair landings, wall coping, and wall cladding in the interior of the Garden use midwestern limestone. The garden uses granite for paving and wall veneer. Where it is exposed, the granite surfaces have a flamed finish. The boardwalk and wood benches in the Garden are fabricated from FSC-certified Ipe. The garden primarily uses patinized Naval Brass [all metal plates in the Seam], patinized architectural bronze [all handrails], and powdercoated steel [the armature].

 

.

 

 

.

The garden is not cut back for winter months.

In the traditional gardens plants are cut back in preparation of winter months.. In the Lurie Garden, the plant materials are left throughout the winter months. It provides trhe garden the texture and structure. The ornamental grasses specifically stand out in this enviornment. In early spring, the entire garden is cut to the ground to make room for spring bulbs and perennials…

.

 

 

.

 

SOME NATIVE PERENNIALS at LURIE GARDEN

I have grown grown in the sub-tropical regions of India. Before coming to Chicago, I had never seen Native Prairie plants. This is the place I saw many of the native plants for the first time, like – Prairie Smoke, Shooting Star, Virginia Bluebells, Bowman’s Root, Blazing Star, Rattlesnake Master, Queen of the Prairie and Hemerocallis “Chicago Apache.”

.

 

 

.

 

 

.

 

 

.

 

 

.

 

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

.

---

.

RELATED LINKS

Public Art in Chicago Loop.. click here..
Public Art by Location.. click here..
Parks, Boulevards, Gardens of Chicago… click here..

.

---

.