Here we go - welcome back. Continuing through the Chicago Botanic Gardens.
Today we will be mainly in the English Walled garden. By the end you should all be speaking with a British accent. Capital.
I liked this container for the somewhat un-fancy water element - and how they set it off with the brick turned on a corner behind the somewhat un-fancy water element. The container has a cool pattern on the face, but you don't feel gaudy around it or too high-brow.
Detail people, detail! At the foot of the not so fancy tub holding water - is this; black, smooth stones on end and mortared in. It's what lies between the tub and the brick patio. Again, this space could have been left with out any treatment whatsoever, HOWEVER - someone was using their brain here, and it's a detail that I am sure excited everyone who notices it. Or at least me.
Here I love the depth of brick on brick. And the Creeper lavishly adorning the wall and column. It feels lived in and worn in, in a good way.
Focus on the evergreen foliage...then through to...
...the sundial. I didn't notice the sundial until I had my camera in my face - and while looking through the lens noticed this on the other end. British gardens are full of surprises and happy discoveries.
So naturally, I could not do anything else until I found my way to that sundial. As you can see, you cannot tell the time, but rather the weather - overcast and rainy.
I LoVe the blue bench across this outdoor room! Now there's a bench for you to sit in!
Fun plant container. Fun plants in the container.
Another view of the outdoor room. I like the weeping tree - and the columns creating a space within this space. There were so many patterns going on - it was great.
See this great bench?
It's like an art piece - with that sprawled out espalier behind it as a backdrop.
Weeping trees and water is a fine combination.
Here you see a variety of ground plane materials - brick and crushed gravel - with low plants filling in the spaces in between. And I love this tree trunk.
Sedum is great for the fall - it holds it's color well into the later month of the year, even when most everything else has decided to droop over and call it quits for the year.
Here I love the mixed used of wall materials. Normally one would not think of this combination as one might consider it two different styles. But that's exactly why it is so great! Each style emphasizes the great qualities of the other, and as a whole they become stronger.
I don't think this is in great focus? But I love the concept. Make your walls interesting, please.
We won't go through these gates yet - but again, the color is lively and adds drama without the drama.
I like the rows of recessed brick - there are no boring walls in this garden.
Little spouts of water are found on just one corner of this pond - so remember that. They don't always have to be in the middle.
Let's back up so you can get the full view here.
Here we can see the joining of three wall materials if you look closely. Also - those pots of mums are on steps - hinting that you should join them and see what is at the top of the stairs...where does it lead??
It doesn't lead to here - but I just wanted to show you these blue doors. Blue bench, blue gates, blue doors. Not too much, but just enough to tie the garden all together.
I think this in enough for today. We have ramped up above the English Walled gardens and will be on to somewhere else some other day. For now, enjoy the idea of these two trees - which are of the same species - are just on opposite sides of the wall. It creates movement and breaks up the stiffness that a brick wall can sometimes create.
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