Celebrate spring and enjoy a festive brunch buffet at the Garden, complete with an Easter Bunny meet-and-greet. Take a stroll before or after your seating to explore the Greenhouses and outdoor gardens and discover early spring blooms. Cash bar available for Bloody Marys, mimosas, beer, wine, and prosecco.

Celebrate a bewitching Halloween outside, with more than 1,000 hand-carved pumpkins illuminating the way through a fall night.

Note: Although you are buying a ticket for Sunday, October 22 at 10 p.m., your ticket(s) will be good for any date or time during the run of Night of 1,000 Jack-o’-Lanterns. VIP tickets allow you to come any day, at any time, and use the priority lane for quick access. VIP ticket-holders do not need a reservation. 

VIP tickets also include parking. 

No refunds.  Please contact the Customer Call Center at (847) 835-6801 to process. Tickets are subject to availability. This event is rain or shine.  Strollers are allowed.

As part of Love in Bloom, this outdoor evening event includes drinks and appetizers, as well as a talk and interactive demonstration by a Garden scientist. Don't miss this opportunity to sip cocktails under the beautiful sunset while you listen to fascinating stories about plants, pollinators, and more. Must be 21 or older to attend event; valid ID card must be shown. 

An herbarium is a collection of plant specimens that have been pressed, dried, and mounted on heavy archival paper and grouped with a label that provides information about the name of the plant, where and when it was collected, and other information that the collector noted as potentially important. Properly prepared and housed in modern museum cabinets, in a climate-controlled environment, herbarium specimens will survive indefinitely. Specimens collected by Carl Linnaeus in the 1700s are still used for research today.

Did you know that fungi are second only to insects in the number of species on earth? More than 1,200 species of mushrooms plus thousands of other fungi are found in Illinois alone. Meet mycologist Gregory Mueller, Ph.D., the Garden’s Chief Scientist and Negaunee Foundation Vice President of Science, and explore the fascinating and intricate world of mushrooms. Learn the basics of fungal ecology and why fungi are so important for people and the environment. Find out about some of our local mushrooms. Limit 20.  Pre-registration required.

Seed Savers Exchange Board Director Jovan Sage is a creator, food alchemist, herbalist, grower, wellness coach, and restauranteur through her Brunswick, Georgia businesses The Farmer and the Larder and Sage’s Larder. In our guest speaker’s words, “We can all agree that good food and community go hand-in-hand.” Learn the power behind building community and connecting our cultures through the seed.

Breweries pour seasonally selected beers at this popular evening tasting.
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Enjoy a spectacular meal prepared with locally grown ingredients by award-winning chef Cleetus Friedman, executive chef at the Lakefront Restaurant at Chicago’s Theater on the Lake. Guests will enjoy beverages from FEW Spirits, Metropolitan Brewing, Revolution Brewing, Begyle Brewing and Lynfred Winery as they tour the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden, followed by a unique dining experience under the grape arbor, where they will converse with their table mates while learning more about the food and beverages being served.

Pollinators are crucial to the health of the planet, from the food we eat to the cycle of life. Unfortunately, native pollinators are declining and that brings up lots of questions for researchers, including Garden scientist Amy Iler, Ph.D. Learn more about native pollinators found here in Illinois, pollination, and why it’s important. Then Nancy Clifton, horticulture program specialist, guides you in making your own native bee “home” to take home. Limit 20.  Pre-registration required. This workshop is suitable for ages 8 (with accompanying adult) and up; adults only may also register.

Bring your own soil sample from home and learn what’s in it and how you can help your garden grow more lushly, beautifully, and successfully. Tom Tiddens, plant health care supervisor at the Garden, shares soil basics for home gardeners, how to do your own soil analysis, and how to interpret the results. Limit 20.  Pre-registration required. This workshop is suitable for ages 10 (with accompanying adult) and up; adults only may also register.

Plant Science Lab, Regenstein Center

Join senior horticulturist Heather Sherwood on our quest to survive the zombie apocalypse! Which everyday foods could help you and your family survive this (highly unlikely) happening? Sort through our “pantry” to come up with a plan to outlast the zombies. Fun facts about fruit, seeds, and the power of plants are all part of the hands-on family session. Limit 20. Pre-registration required. This workshop is suitable for ages 8 (with accompanying adult) and up.

Plant Science Lab, Regenstein Center

Did you know there is more to the fossil record than dinosaurs? Or that the plants that were living during the dinosaur ages were very different than the ones that exist today? What would cause that to happen over evolutionary time? Go behind the scenes and meet Garden paleontologists, Pat Herendeen, Ph.D., and Fabiany Herrera, Ph.D., to learn how they find fossil sites in Mongolia and how they collect and study fossil plants. Sort through samples of fossil plant material to look for identifiable leaves, cones, and seeds.

Solve a mock crime with Chicago Botanic Garden scientist and soil expert Louise Egerton-Warburton, Ph.D., using the same methods that she has used to decipher dirt and restoration riddles in the real world. Try out the science-based procedures that can identify a crime location precisely by revealing the specific characteristics of the soil and other natural materials. Now you can be an expert, too.

Ages 10 & up with a caregiver
Design Studio, Regenstein Center

Experimental Words is the premier performance project from Manchester, U.K.-based scientist Sam Illingworth, Ph.D., and poet Dan Simpson.

Biology and plant science meet balladry, as five Chicago Botanic Garden scientists are paired with incredible spoken-word artists from Young Chicago Authors and RHINO to collaborate on a new performance, celebrating the creative similarities between science and the performing arts. The result? A diverse display of rhyme, rhythm, and reason.

In the movie The Martian, astronaut Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon) grew potatoes in Martian soil. But is this really possible? Experiment for yourself and test the physical and chemical properties of Martian soil like a professional soil scientist. Then decide if the movie got it right.

Ages 8 & up with a caregiver
Plant Science Lab, Regenstein Center

Meet us at the intersection of the life sciences and art—and learn how to turn biology into poetry! Join scientific poet Dan Simpson and poetic scientist Sam Illingworth, along with Garden experts, for a creative short walk (weather permitting), using the Garden’s setting to inspire your own experimental verse.

Ages 10 & up with a caregiver; adults only may also register.

Blackberry Farm’s artisan chef and farmstead educator Jeff Ross says, “Good gardeners cook and good cooks garden.” He understands the too-frequent disconnect between the planted fields and a talented kitchen, and seeks to erase that distance. With an education in American history, more than two decades of professional experience with plants, and a profound passion for food, he has found, at Blackberry Farm, a place to combine his talents.

Pamper mom with brunch, spring flowers, and family time at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Enjoy an elegant and sumptuous buffet brunch including a carving station, made-to-order omelets, a kids station, and many more fresh, delicious options. A cash bar will offer mimosas and more. Round out your day by experiencing spring at the Garden, with its abundance of joyful blooms.

Reservations required. Ticket price includes Garden admission, along with taxes and gratuity. Regular parking fee applies for nonmembers.

Photographer Julie Kaplan—named best photographer by Make It Better magazine for three years—is offering family portraits for an additional fee during our Easter Egg and Mother's Day brunches. The sitting charge is $100 for a ten-minute session and one fully edited digital file of your photo choice, paid in advance. Additional images will be available for purchase. Package prices start at $125. An online viewing gallery will be available two weeks after the photo session.

Keynote speaker Rowen White is the director and founder of Sierra Seeds, a member of the Mohawk community of the Akwesasne, and a passionate activist for seed and food sovereignty. Hear powerful and inspiring stories of the rematriation of traditional seeds with indigenous communities as she shares the beautiful seed legacy of the indigenous people of this land. Discover how you can also connect with the seed legacy of your own ancestry. Lecture is free; regular parking fees apply; preregistration required.

Alsdorf Auditorium