Garden News

Celebrations! Beautifully lit indoor gardens, activities for all ages, special visits by Santa and fine dining make the Garden an enchanted holiday destination for friends and family.

November 29 - January 5, Thursday to Sunday evenings, 5 - 10 p.m.
Tickets: $7 for adults, $5 for children; $2 discount for members
Dining menu: For reservations, call (847) 835-8396.
Check for daily activities, including musical performances.

Shopping for show-stopping holiday plants?
Visit the Holiday Plant Sale, December 5 - 7, Greenhouse Galleries.

Hold your own holiday event at the Garden, amid enchanted topiary gardens. Browse facility rental options online or call (847) 835-8370.

Coming Soon - In Search of Paradise: Centuries of Great Garden Design. January 18 - March 30. A major exhibition brings alive 4,000 years of garden design, culture and history.

Reception for Members
Tours and Family Programs
Garden Design Symposium
Classes for Adults
K-12 School Programs
Zimmerman Lectures
Travel Programs

Your Garden

Here are some tips for winter:

• Bring a touch of spring into your home after the holidays by cutting branches of redbud, forsythia, lilac, flowering cherry or flowering quince and forcing branches to bloom early inside.

• Trees with colorful or peeling bark can brighten the whites and silvers of winter. Amur chokecherry, paperbark maple, tree lilac and river birch all are good choices for interesting bark.

• Protect plants by using de-icers sparingly on icy sidewalks and not piling shoveled snow on shrubs. Always shovel snow before using a de-icing product.

For Members

A Garden membership provides friends and family with beauty, a sense of belonging and activities to enjoy year-round.

Gift Memberships. We give you a gift, too!
Teacher Memberships. A perfect gift that guarantees affection, if not an A.

Members-Only Sale: Take 20 percent off your holiday purchases December 6-8 at the Garden Shop.

Join us for weekly fitness classes, including yoga, tai chi and runners club, starting as early as January.

Help the Garden grow. The Chicago Botanic Garden carries on vital work, safeguarding plants, teaching people to care for nature and cultivating beauty for all to enjoy. Your gifts make our work possible.

Join, renew or purchase a gift membership.

Classes

Bring a friend and create something for your home for the holiday. A sampling of classes:

Winter Containers, November 21
The Merry Berry Wreath, December 4
Boxwood Wreath, December 10

Meet world-renowned garden design experts January 17 at the daylong Great Gardens Design Symposium. Featured speakers include British designer John Brookes, who designed the English Walled Garden, and James van Sweden of Washington, D.C., who designed the Gardens of the Great Basin.

For all classes, you can register online.

Blooming Now

Trust us! The Garden is as lovely in winter as it is in summer, especially after a snowfall. Bundle up and take this winter tour:

Japanese Garden
With its carefully styled plants, including trees that hold snow like puffs of clouds, this garden is a tribute to the beauty of pure form. Horticulturist Kristin Berry tells you why.

Evening Island
Newly opened, this garden offers eye-stopping riches that appeal to all senses, while staying true to a natural aesthetic.

The Greenhouses
Warm up in a wet tropical rain forest or a hot desert. Both offer scents, sights and beauty we crave in winter.

Shop

Shoppers can choose unique gifts for the home and garden during nighttime Garden Shop hours at Celebrations. Specialty items include chocolates, ornaments and candles. Enjoy sampling special salsas, December 13 - 15.

Dine

Holiday favorites at the Garden Cafe include spinach gnocchi and filet mignon. Enjoy them during special Cafe holiday hours, 5 - 10 p.m. Thursday through Sunday nights, November 29 - January 5. The Cafe features fine dining options on New Year's Eve too.

Make Cafe favorites at home too--click on recipes for ginger-pumpkin muffins or Old World pizza.