Bumblebee Blog

To continue with my visit to the Chicago Botanic Garden…With so much to see and only a few short hours, I decided to set some priorities. Since I’m in the throes of my own vegetable garden maintenance, I first headed over to see how the professionals fashion and keep up a vegetable garden in the summer heat.

It seemed that everyone else had the same idea, because the place was packed with people ogling tomatoes, leering at berries and salivating over apples.

The entrance takes you over a foot bridge and past a bed of miniature sunflowers that were in their glory. I couldn’t help myself snapping photos of other people’s children who were entranced by the sunny flowers.

Cute Kid (not mine) at the Entrance to the Vegetable and Fruit Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden

Just beyond the entrance and to the right is one of the most clever combinations of flowers and vegetables that I have ever seen. The fascinating mixture of cabbages, primroses and golden coin (I think) topped a concrete retaining wall that surrounded espaliered apple trees.

Cabbages and Flowers in the Vegetable and Fruit Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden

Mixing vegetables and flowers isn’t at all a new idea. Our Colonial ancestors mixed all sorts of plants into a pleasing and workable jumble. But this combination was, I think, absolutely artful.

Espaliered Apple Trees, Vegetable and Fruit Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden

Whoever planned the vegetable garden at the Chicago Botanic Garden has a real fondness for orderly fruit. There are rows and rows of espaliered apples, espaliered pears and colonnaded apples. They even have whipped rangy raspberry and blackberry plants into submission into orderly rows, climbing obediently up trellises. I envision a jack-booted gardener with a crop patrolling up and down to ensure no one gets out of line.

Collonaded Apple Trees, Vegetable and Fruit Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden

The rest of the vegetable garden is also highly organized and beautiful, if not as inspiring as those cabbages and fruit tree contortionists.

Cold Frames, Vegetable and Fruit Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden

There were beds of basil, which beautifully illustrated the wide variety of plants in the basil world. Tomatoes were grown on iron trellises typically used for vining flowers. And here and there, flowers were mixed in to provide some continuity between the beds and some color. There was a lovely cold frame area connected to a very small, and probably inadequate greenhouse.

Basil Bed, Vegetable and Fruit Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden

Finally, I was most amused with a sign announcing an “under construction” exhibit—FOR WEEDS! Hah! My weed exhibit is flourishing. At least in this area I excel beyond the Chicago Botanic Garden!

There is more to report in the next couple of days. I have also posted a series of photos on the Chicago Botanic Garden in my photo album, where you can see other places I have visited.

Ciao!

Robin