For the past 15 years, visitors roaming the Chicago Botanic Garden’s English-style gardens–where they encountered billowy perennials, perfectly composed shrubs, and an enticing fountain–would finally arrive at an overlook on a lagoon. But instead of glorious scenery on the other side they saw a few big evergreens, a lawn, and what appeared to be a forest ranger’s lookout station. The view was a lot like what many Brits think is typical of this country’s landscapes: bland masses just sort of taking up space, not very interesting but very big.
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In order to make the Great Basin improvements, 20 million gallons of water had to be drained from the central lagoon so its soil bottom could be completely reworked to support different kinds of aquatic plants. The lagoon used to be a uniform nine feet deep, like most bodies of water in the Botanic Garden. Now the bottom is varied, with shelves just six to eight inches deep extending as far as 50 feet from shore and areas where the water is 18 feet deep.
Oehme and van Sweden–the Washington, D.C., firm that designed the landscape on Evening Island–has gained national recognition for its trademark style (known as the New American Garden), which is heavy on big masses of hardy, low-fuss perennials. The look is never delicate or precious, always muscular, incorporating a lot of the big, fountain-shaped ornamental grasses rarely seen in gardens a decade ago. Color is used in broad strokes instead of dots and dashes–these gardens are “American” in the sense that they’re microcosms of our immense landscape.
“Many people come to the Botanic Garden for serenity and inspiration, not necessarily for plant information,” Poor says. “They’re going to like Evening Island best of all our gardens.”
