The Chicago Botanic Garden in Illinois

See Plants and Birds in Their Natural Habitat

Joyce Ryan
For an interesting new experience on your next trip to Chicago, Illinois, try visiting the Chicago Botanic Garden. The garden actually includes 23 separate gardens and three native animal habitats, covering a massive 385 acres of Northern Illinois. There are thousands of different plants living within the Chicago Botanic Garden premises, along with hundreds of bird species. As you walk into the Chicago Botanic Garden, you will see the first of many spectacular live plants, an assortment of pergolas strung across the entrance bridge.

The Chicago Botanic Garden in Illinois: Buehler Enabling Garden

The Buehler Enabling Garden is one of the gardens on the property of the Chicago Botanic Garden. It hosts the Healthcare Therapy and Design program that devises ways to help ill or disabled gardeners to continue enjoying the hobby they love. The Buehler Enabling Garden has a number of accessible garden items, such as raised bed that make it easier for older gardeners to tend to their crops. Rather than bend over or kneel uncomfortably on the ground, these raised planting beds allow the gardener to sit on the edge of the bed and simply reach over.

The Chicago Botanic Garden in Illinois: Assortment of plants

The Enabling Garden is one of Chicago Botanic Garden's most diverse areas, with over 3,100 different types of plants. The plants are selected to provide visitors with a wide assortment of colors, textures, and fragrances to give them ideas to take home with them after their visit. The walkways of the Chicago Botanic Garden are also designed to make it easy for visitors to move through the site, along with improving drainage of water throughout the garden. This is especially important in the Chicago area because of the frequency of rain and snow.

The Chicago Botanic Garden in Illinois: Innovative designs

The vertical wall planters are another innovative feature of the Chicago Botanic Garden. These vertical planters allow the Botanic Garden to hold more plants for the amount of floor space used. These can also be used at home if you only have a limited space in which to grow. Almost any type of plant can be converted to vertical wall planters, as demonstrated by the amazing variety at Chicago Botanic Garden. Another useful innovation you can see at the Chicago Botanic Garden are the hanging planters that operate on a pulley system. Being able to raise and lower the plants makes them far easier to maintain, trim, and water. The watering system is raised up, giving visitors the pleasant sound of running water while also providing an efficient irrigation system.

To comment, please sign in to your Yahoo! account, or sign up for a new account.