Located in Glencoe, Ill., the Garden’s 385 acres are uniquely situated on nine islands surrounded by 81 acres of water, which includes 60 acres of lakes. Visitors first encounter the Esplanade, a welcoming entry garden with grand public spaces before discovering 23 spectacular display gardens. The Gardens of the Great Basin feature the five-acre naturalistic Evening Island, hundreds of crab apple trees and thousands of perennials in the Lakeside Gardens and more than 150,000 aquatic plants in the Water Gardens. Other visitor favorites include the Krasberg Rose Garden, Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable, English Walled and three-island Elizabeth Hubert Malott Japanese Gardens. The state-of-the-art Buehler Enabling Garden features horticultural displays, tools and techniques to help people of any age or ability garden for a lifetime. Three native habitats, including McDonald Woods, six types of prairie in the Dixon Prairie, and the River Valley comprise one-third of the Garden’s acreage.

The Garden first opened to the public in spring of 1972 with one garden and an ambitious master site plan. Today, 800,000 people visit the Garden each year, making it the second most visited public garden in the United States. The Garden boasts a membership of 47,000, the largest of any U.S. public garden. More than 1,000 volunteersassist with all aspects of the Garden’s mission, from planting and propagating natural areas, to teaching educational programs and staffing public programs and exhibitions.

For visitors, the tranquil, restorative Garden experience is enhanced with a Visitor Center, complete with a Garden Café, Garden Shop and narrated tram tours, as well as interpretive and educational centers in many gardens.

The recently renovated Regenstein Center houses three greenhouses, galleries, and spaces for exhibitions and events. One of the Regenstein Center’s most striking features is a twin courtyard display of the Garden’s distinguished bonsai collection where more than 50 bonsai can be displayed at once. The Garden’s premier bonsai collection includes 180 specimens, which are rotated on a regular basis. 

Special events include the Antiques & Garden Fair in April, A Bloomin’ Sale in May, Wine Festival in June, Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend in July, Malott Japanese Garden Festival in August and Bulb Bazaar in September. Summer favorites include the Model Railroad Garden, Garden Chef Series, Hot Summer Nights and American Flower Show Series. In winter, the hugely popular indoor train exhibition Wonderland Express is a new annual tradition. Rotating art exhibitions round out the Garden’s offerings. 

In addition to being a top visitor attraction, the Chicago Botanic Garden is a world-renowned leader in horticultural research, conservation and education. Through the Institute for Plant Biology and Conservation, the Garden conducts programs that focus on the collection, evaluation, introduction and preservation of plants within the context of global environmental threats such as habitat destruction, invasive species, climate change, and other human impacts.

In trial and demonstration gardens, indoor greenhouses and laboratories located in the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Plant Resource Center, Garden horticulturists study and test a variety of plants to determine those that are best-suited for local gardens.

The Chicago Botanic Garden is committed to conserving rare plant species, and is working with regional, national and international organizations on behalf of plant conservation. The Garden is a partner in the Seeds of Success project, a branch of the Millennium Seed Bank Project managed by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The goal is to collect seeds from at least 1,500 prairie species of the Midwest for conservation and restoration efforts. The Garden is also a partner in the Plants of Concern initiative to monitor rare species in Northeastern Illinois.

The Garden is a member of Chicago Wilderness, a consortium of 200 local institutions dedicated to preserving and restoring Chicago’s natural areas, as well as the Center for Plant Conservation, a group of 30 other botanic gardens and arboreta committed to conserving rare plants from their region.

The Joseph Regenstein, Jr. School of the Chicago Botanic Garden offers adult learners 475 classes each year, ranging from botanical arts to advanced horticultural courses, for backyard gardeners to experienced botanists. Ten certificate programs are currently offered, including the nation’s first Master of Science degree in plant biology and conservation, designed by the Chicago Botanic Garden and Northwestern University. Students have access to the Garden’s superb “living classroom,” featuring more than 9,400 taxa and 2.4 million specimens from around the world.

An internationally recognized horticultural therapy program offers training and services to people with physical and mental disabilities, both on-site in the Buehler Enabling Garden, as well as at schools, hospitals, nursing homes and residential treatment facilities throughout the region.

Each year, the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Center for Teaching and Learning serves more than 25,000 students through field trips and in classes at the Garden, 3000 teachers in professional development workshops and symposia, and 2,000 children and teens through discovery camps, summer science programs for middle and high school students and scout activities.

The Chicago Botanic Garden is proud to support community gardening efforts around the Chicago area in a variety of ways.  It has assisted in the planning, installation and planting of more than 300 school and community gardens throughout the City of Chicago and the suburbs. Currently, the Gardening Outside the Walls program matches master gardener volunteers with community and school gardens that need help. The Chicago Botanic Garden’s Green Youth Farms, located in North Lawndale and North Chicago, Ill., teach teenage students the basics of running a sustainable food production garden, from planting to farmer’s market sales to product development.

Other educational resources include the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Plant Information Service and the Lenhardt Library. The Plant Information Service offers answers to any and all gardening questions, by phone or in person, at the Visitor Center. The Lenhardt Library, located in the Regenstein Center, holds more than 25,000 items including books on gardening, horticulture and botany, more than 3,000 rare books, 275 current and 670 non-current journal and newsletter titles, 600 videos and 1000 nursery and seed catalog titles. The addition of 2,219 rare books and 2,000 journals from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in fall 2002 elevated the Chicago Botanic Garden’s stature as a premiere national and international scientific and educational institution. 

The Garden is open daily from 8 a.m. to sunset from Sept. 4 through June 1. Summer hours are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. from June 2 through Sept. 3. Admission is free; select event fees apply. Parking is $15; free for members. For information about the Chicago Botanic Garden’s initiatives and events, call (847) 835-5440, or visit www.chicagobotanic.org.