I am entranced by the Lurie Garden. And as I visit Chicago frequently, I have the good fortune to experience the garden throughout the seasons. This provides an opportunity to fully appreciate the simple brilliance of its design.
Created fifteen years ago, the two-and-a-half acre garden is part of the 25-acre Millennium Park. It is built over parking garages and an active commuter railroad and is one of the world’s largest green roofs.
Summer view of Lurie Garden. Photo by Devon Loerop, Sky High Photography, courtesy of Lurie Garden.
Designed by the landscape architectural firm of Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, Ltd., Dutch plantsman Piet Oudolf and lighting designer Robert Israel, the garden’s design is inspired by history and place. It synthesizes architecture, horticulture and theater and pays homage to Chicago’s transformation from flat marshland to a city, whose motto, established in 1830‘s is “Urbs in horto,” a Latin phrase meaning “City in a Garden.”
The Lurie Garden is enclosed by a 15-foot high “Shoulder Hedge.” The hedge, a reference to poet Carl Sandburg’s depiction of Chicago as the “City of Big Shoulders” provides a separation from Millennium Park and invites the curious to enter through a series of openings or “doors” into the garden. It’s a secret that’s not quite secret.
The hedge protects the delicate perennial plantings and creates intimate places where one can sit in solitude, completely immersed in the landscape and removed from the city. You really can feel very much alone.
A graceful hardwood footbridge floats above shallow water to divide the garden diagonally and create two distinct rooms. The footbridge invites people to sit and dangle their toes in the water.
The garden has four main elements as seen in the plan below. The footbridge bisects the site and the two outdoor rooms it creates are described as “light” and “dark” plates, which are reflective of their planting schemes. The dark plate is inspired by marsh ecologies and evokes humankind’s relationship to the natural world. It is slightly mysterious and lushly planted with ferns, shrubs, trees (including black locusts, redbuds, and cherries) and perennials with primitive shapes and colors.
The light plate, which represents the Midwestern plains, is open, sunny and filled with more than 130 species of perennials and grasses. Organized in planting blocks, the light plate is a complex tapestry of color and movement that was designed as an ever-changing horticultural museum.
The Lurie Garden is a four-season experience that changes dramatically throughout the year. It is a treat to visit often and each visit provides a new perspective on the landscape. According to Kathryn Gustafson, “Every time you move though it you discover something else and this is an essential part of the design.”
And discover one does. For a small, public, urban open space the Lurie Garden is an exciting example of innovation and experimentation. When it was first planted it looked messy and, indeed, at times it still does. But the reality of this highly curated space is that it provides an opportunity to view the “whims” of natural processes and the impact they play on ecological systems. The plants are the stars of the show.
According to their website, the Lurie garden contains over 222 types of plants including 20 types of grasses, 26 types of trees and shrubs, 34 types of bulbs, and 142 types of perennial herbaceous plants. Ninety (40.5%) of these plants are native to North America and 26.1% (58) are native to Illinois.
This mixture of plant life supports a vibrant community of local insects, pollinators, and wildlife. Each plant species was carefully chosen for its longevity and ability to withstand harsh urban conditions. The garden is maintained naturally and does not use synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.
More than one hundred species of birds make their homes in the garden throughout the year as well as innumerable beneficial insects including butterflies, moths, bumblebees, honeybees, various beetles, grasshoppers and katydids.
Recently, much has been written about beauty in cities and its impact on economic viability. While it is intuitive that beautiful places enhance the quality of urban life all too often the design of open space is held hostage to declining park budgets and maintenance challenges. While the Lurie Garden may be at one end of the spectrum, supported by a $10 million endowment by the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Foundation as well as garden clubs and private citizens, it offers a compelling example of how necessary gardens are to urban environments. And it is free and open to all.
The Lurie Garden has garnered innumerable awards including the Award of Excellence from the American Society of Landscape Architects.
There are many articles about the Lurie Garden and its designers. For more information Garden Design Magazine’s Guide to Millennium Park, https://www.gardendesign.com/millennium-park/ provides a comprehensive overview complete with videos.
You can also visit the Lurie Garden’s site: https://www.luriegarden.org/.
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