Indoor Gardens: Dip your hand into a pool lined with fragrant jasmine. Stroll by a French chateau garden. Experience how water and plants have offered pleasure, respite and enrichment through the ages.
Visions of Paradise: See breathtaking gardens -- including the Taj Mahal in India and Sissinghurst Castle Garden in England -- as portrayed in 50 dramatic photomurals.
Be Inspired. Meet English author and garden designer Penelope Hobhouse, best known as host of The Art and Practice of Gardening on HGTV. Guest curator of the exhibit, Ms. Hobhouse gives a lecture as leading international designers speak and teach at the Garden.
There is much to enjoy during your visit to the Chicago Botanic Garden. Find out about guided tours and family programs, a winter music series, classes for aspiring designers, activities for teachers and students and tour packages for groups.
Opening Reception
January 18, 2-4 p.m.
Members are invited to a complimentary opening-day reception and wine tasting, with fine international wines and a 3 p.m. talk by Exhibits Manager Susan Boothe. Call 847-835-8215 to reserve.
Sounds of Paradise
Music evocative of the exhibition will be performed select Saturdays at 2 p.m. at the Garden. Presented in cooperation with the Mostly Music program of Northeastern Illinois University, the series costs $75 for members, $100 for nonmembers. Individual concert tickets are $15 members, $20 nonmembers. Call 773-442-4636 for reservations.
Great Gardens Design Symposium
Friday, January 17, 9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. $129 members, $169 nonmembers
Hear acclaimed landscape architects and designers discuss their Chicago creations. Join designers John Brookes, James van Sweden, Michael Van Valkenburgh and others as they define their signature design philosophies. They will also discuss their Chicago Botanic Garden designs.
Your Garden
Experiencing the dramatic beauty of In Search of Paradise can inspire your 2003 garden. The Garden Web site at www.chicagobotanic.org features garden design resources, such as the Best Plants interactive database, and articles like these with gardening secrets:
- Lighting Up Your Garden
- Woodland Gardening
- Gardening with Colorful Foliage
- Container Gardening
Membership
Bring paradise home with you. Become a member of the Chicago Botanic Garden and receive a free serving tray with a heavenly picture of the Garden. Now is a good time to join because prices will increase March 1. Sign up when you visit In Search of Paradise, call 847-835-8215 or join online.
Blooming Now - The Greenhouses
Spend a cold winter day in our warm tropical greenhouses admiring the unusual flowers and delightful fragrances. Orchids and bromeliads flower now through March, and fragrances of gardenia, gingers, orchids and frangipani hang in the warm, humid air. In our desert greenhouse, watering elicits the aroma of a life-giving rain -- clean and refreshing -- as the desert plants burst into photosynthetic activity.
Garden News
Selections from the 4,000 rare botanical books and journals recently acquired by the Garden will be on exhibit in the Library through March. Accompanying the In Search of Paradise exhibition, these treasures include rare books dating back to the 18th century and a first edition by Carolus Clusius on the flora of Europe. The Library is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Saturday.
