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Gardens of the Great Basin
Great Basin

Evening Island | Lakeside Gardens | Water Gardens

Three gardens of beauty, serenity and preeminent design—Evening Island, the Lakeside Gardens and the Water Gardens—are the most spectacular new gardens in North America. These new gardens surround the Garden's central lake and extend gardens into the water in a way never seen before at a botanic garden. Now they are yours to discover.

See our Garden grow. … The circle of three new gardens has been created for the delight and enjoyment of visitors. These gardens encircle the Great Basin, the Garden’s central lake, offering ever-changing beauty on land and in the water. This $14 million project is the largest in the Garden’s history.
Evening Island
Evening Island
With spectacular views across the Garden’s lakes, 5-acre Evening Island combines diverse hillside, meadow and woodland gardens. Sweeps of flowering perennials, shrubs and grasses lend grandeur to a landscape offering highlights throughout the seasons. The Butz Memorial Carillon remains a landmark element. Added features include a sloping lawn and a council ring.
Lakeside Gardens
The Lakeside Gardens curving along the land north of Evening Island showcase flowering trees, shrubs and perennials, with the 7.5-acre body of water acting as a reflecting pool. A noteworthy highlight will be a major collection of flowering crab apples framing the Great Basin in spring.

Water Gardens
Water Gardens within the Great Basin establish a major aquatic plant collection. These gardens will showcase tens of thousands of native and ornamental plants, such as bulrushes, pickerel weed and irises. A colorful palette of waterlilies and lotuses is a summertime highlight.

Walks and Bridges
Pedestrian pathways will make the circuit of the Great Basin. Two distinctive bridges between the Main Island and Evening Island–the Arch to the east and the Serpentine to the west–will also provide dramatic views.

Designer
The internationally acclaimed landscape architecture firm Oehme, van Sweden & Associates is the designer of the Great Basin. Oehme, van Sweden’s work includes the Nelson A. Rockefeller Park in New York City, the Francis Scott Key memorial in Georgetown and the landscape design plan for the World War II memorial in Washington, D.C.

Botanic Garden Center open
A home for classes, offices and meeting rooms, the multi-use Botanic Garden Center opened in September 2001. The building was designed by renowned architect Edward Larrabee Barnes, who also designed the Education and Gateway Centers, to harmonize with the surrounding land.

Preeminent landscape architect Dan Kiley designed the landscape surrounding the building, which features hundreds of flowering trees, ground covers and evergreens as well as a courtyard of ginkgo trees at the entrance. 		Enabling Garden

Renewed Bulb Garden inspires at every turn
Visitors to the SpringBlooms festival will be delighted with the recently renovated Graham Bulb Garden.

Dramatic drifts of 28,000 new bulbs were added, including dozens of new types of narcissus, tulips, ornamental onions and lilies planted last fall to ensure a constant color show from early spring well through summer.

The garden has also been opened up to expose the scenic vistas of surrounding gardens and lakes.

 Enabling Garden

Gardeners will find inspiration at every turn—with smashing container displays of unusual bulbs, bulbs underplanted with more bulbs, tuberous begonias as a nonstop flowering ground cover and "double planting" of forced and direct-planted bulbs to extend bloom. The garden was redesigned by noted landscape architect Doug Hoerr.

Buehler Enabling Garden newest garden area
Enabling Garden The newest garden the Enabling Garden, encourages gardening for people of all abilities.

Explore easy-does-it tools and plants with sensory appeal.

During the growing season, visit the Tool Shed for tools and publications and the discovery carts for programs.

New Dining with The Garden Café

The Garden Café offers delicious fare from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, as well as special evening dining during Celebrations. Freshly made sandwiches, salads, pizzas, paninis and more are highlights. Preview sample menus.

The Garden Café can also help you to make garden-fresh delights at home–and grow the ingredients in your own garden. Take-home recipe cards feature the Café’s vegetable of the month, highlighted in their menu as well.

Children’s Garden welcomes families
Visitors to the Chicago Botanic Garden will enjoy new features in the Children’s Garden, including a pond, a maze and a trellis tunnel.

During the summer, the Children’s Garden at the south end of the Garden will offer weekend programs for families.

Children of all ages may water the plants, dig for worms, hide among tall plants, feel different soil textures and catch butterflies.

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Last revised on 10/1/02