Hello everyone.  I hope the past couple of weeks gave you all a chance to do some gardening and throw some parties!

I have an important post today about the Pullman Plant Evaluation Garden. This half acre was the first display garden shown to the public at the Chicago Botanic Garden in 1972, then the Home Landscape Garden.

It has weathered every season since then and is now an enchanting place to enjoy nature.  Take a look at some of these pictures…

As the Chicago Botanic Garden expanded and developed this little piece of land continued to support trees that are now decades old.

The picture on the left above is a Pekin Lilac.  A tree that flowers like a lilac, with bark the rich color of a cherry tree, and it exfoliates like a birch so the bark looks like it would just peel away layer after layer of coppery toned paper.  In the center shot you can see how old some of these trees are, look at that trunk!  And on the right a tree out of a fairy tale, with its wild twisted branches over the path.

And there are so many areas of interest. On the left a pergola supporting vining clematis.  It grows in front and creates a layer of flowers that climb up the front of the structure.  There are stone paths and steps all surrounded with different plants to see.

There are also unique plants, like this maple, Acer davidii…

Look at the ridges on the bark, the pale lines. They practically glow in the sunlight, making the tree appear to be lit from within, just stunning.

The Pullman Garden has so much rich history you can see it in the trees and plants that have been thriving there for years.  Now, the reason this is so important is because this garden may change in the future.  You can visit http://bit.ly/SePgKh to read about how this area became the Pullman Garden and how it may be allotted to greenhouse production in the future.  This means that many of the incredible old trees will be eliminated.  I hope to spread the word about the extraordinary Pullman Garden making it so desirable to everyone that we can find a way to support its history and continued growth.

Please visit the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/PullmanGarden and like it.  Visit the Pullman Garden, and tell the Chicago Botanic Garden how important it is.  Also, if anyone has any ideas on how to support the new Master Site Plan created by the Chicago Botanic Garden while maintaining the existing site for the Pullman Garden please share your ideas. I am sure we can find a way to increase production space and keep the Pullman Garden too.

As always, any questions or thoughts, leave a comment, I am happy to hear from you!

GG