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Inspirational. Visually Exciting. Dreamy. These are just a few of the words that begin to describe the gardens at the 2010 Chicago Flower & Garden Show.
Created and designed by acclaimed landscapers and horticultural professionals, the gardens will be exquisite, lush and, quite simply, make visitors say Wow! Whether a suburban yard or a smaller urban plot, you'll be stimulated with a wide range of gardens and landscape styles.
From exotic flowers and plants to more common foliage ... paving stones ... decks ... ponds ... and more, the gardens will be about variety blended with fantasy, yet practicality. Visitors will experience sleek, lush and creative as well as -- with a little imagination -- the affordable.
In the end, you'll leave the Chicago Flower & Garden Show inspired with phenomenal garden and landscaping ideas!
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Garden #1 - Photo Competition
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Mounted in a garden gallery setting, the Photo Competition presents creative images in seven categories, including people, animals and plants. The show is juried by professional photographers and represents a wide range of approaches to the medium. In addition, Chicago sculptor Jeffrey Breslow exhibits a selection of his large-scale, nature-inspired pieces made from reclaimed maple trees and granite.
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Garden #2 - Shakespeare in the Garden
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William Shakespeare was a man who knew plants. Throughout his writings, the playwright refers to 180 different herbs, flowers, vegetables, fruits and trees -- and, yes, even weeds. The kingdom of plants helped him articulate the human kingdom, from its rulers and conquerors to its subjects, high and low. We welcome you to stroll through Shakespeare's landscape -- from the royal court of his plays to the "green world" of his comedies and romances.
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Garden #14 - Spring Awakening
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From Versailles to the Loire, the grounds of the great French estates always include a potager -- a kitchen garden arranged with geometric formality. Here you see the various traditional techniques adapted for urban living. Spirals, concentric circles, stripes and checkerboard patterns of edible spring greens -- from mesclun and romaine to kale and herbs -- combine beauty and utility, creating an eye-pleasing green space of nutritious plants just steps from the dinner table.
3 Points of Interest:
- Lettuces are easy to cultivate, anyone can cultivate them
- Arranged in geometric pattern, leafy greens and vegetables can be as pleasing to the eye as a flower bed
- Growing vegetables intensively in even a small space makes for healthier eating and helps reduce your carbon footprint
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Garden #15 - Food Among the Flowers
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What better to set the mood--and rest your feet--than a large, picturesque garden where the city's top chefs convene to share some of their secrets to cooking with fresh, natural ingredients? Four times a day, you'll find plenty of suggestions for using your own homegrown produce and you'll even get a delicious taste sampling of what's being demonstrated.
Proud Sponsor:
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Garden #20 - Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
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A garden stage showcasing the new varieties for 2010, this energized space features a central medallion of colorful plants framed by a ring of reclaimed, preserved trees painted white. The display also includes an eye-catching dinner table. Made from concrete and recycled barn timbers, it features a trough suitable as a water feature or vessel for potted plants or floral displays.
3 Points of Interest:
- New varieties provide new opportunities
- Get the right plant for the right place
- Plant what you enjoy and plan what you plant
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Designer
Greg Pierceall
Landscape Design Instructor, Joliet Junior College
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Collaborator
Ball Horticultural Company
www.ballhort.com
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Garden #21 - Container Gardens
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Headed to the food court or the seminar rooms? Be sure to admire the container arrangements that greet you. One embraces a traditional motif echoing an English estate garden, featuring evergreens, million bells, verbena, ivy -- and the decorative touch of classically draped statues. The other container garden is a prelude to a hot summer, its brightly colored, high gloss vessels holding impatiens, begonia, as well as plants usually associated with the indoors: draezena, sansevaria, bromeliads.
3 Points of Interest:
- Match containers to your architectural setting
- Plants and containers should relate to each other
- Don't be afraid to try new kinds of plants
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Garden #26 - I'd Like to Thank the Academy ...
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The year-s Excellence in Landscape Awards Garden--directed, produced, and written by Grant & Power Landscaping, Bertog Landscape Co. and The Illinois Landscape Contractors Association, and guest starring The Geneva Underground Playhouse--features professional landscape companies who have submitted and received awards for their design, installation and maintenance in 2010. Get a red carpet preview and a rare behind-the-scenes look at the landscape industry's biggest night.
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