Chicago Botanical Gardens

We finally made it to Chicago's Botanical Gardens. In St. Louis, the gardens (Mobot) were a mile away. Here, it's an hour away (if the traffic isn't bad.) They had a large bonsai collection. This bonsai is over 100 years old. When I see bonsai, I think of Sarah Davies's bonsai Charlotte, who was a casualty of Utah's dry climate and a relocation out of the bathroom.

We spent most of our time in the fruits and vegetables. I loves the grapes- they had a huge trellis of them covering the walkway.

These are apple trees, trained and woven into an arch.

Henry and Nick potted a tiny basil plant. Henry was mostly interested in the shovel. He's hidden because his shirt matches the bucket.

The gardens here are very different from mobot, but they seem grander, as if Chicago lives by the "Go big, or go home" motto. There was more commercial photography going on here, so they must not have the same stringent policies that mobot does. I hope we'll go back soon, because there was so much more of it left to explore and it changes so much with every season.