Spring Fling Finale

It's hard to believe that a week ago today I was waking up in Chicago and boarding a bus for an activity-filled day of Spring Fling. Since I've returned home, I've been very busy catching up here--watering the garden, napping, weeding, napping, planting more homeless plants, napping, mulching, and . . . did I mention napping? As a result, my intention of carefully sorting through all my photos to choose the best ones to accompany a sparkling, comprehensive commentary of the weekend's events never materialized. Instead, here's a last look at Spring Fling with minimum narration and minus blog links for the sake of time.



Early arrivals on Thursday were treated to a tour of Rich's Foxwillow Pines in the northern suburbs of Chicago, a huge and amazing place. No wonder Mr. McGregor's Daughter loves this place! Rich himself greeted us warmly and entertained us with lots of colorful stories besides impressing us with his extensive knowledge of everything conifer-related. Laynee (left), Carol, and Dee (backs to the camera) took it all in.

A walk through back paths brought surprises at every turn, including giant hostas, and muddied our shoes.

Back at MMD's, a few more arrivals took the later tour of Squirrelhaven. At this point in the weekend, I wasn't sure about bloggers' wishes for anonymity, thus the back view of (l-r) Tina, Lisa, Gail, and Frances with MMD and her "apprentice gardener" facing them.

After the "scenic route" to the hotel that night--we were "too west of west"--it was straight to bed for an early morning train ride to the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Beckie and I opted for a later arrival at the Garden, which didn't allow us much time to see such a large area. We decided to first take the tram tour to give us an overview of the place, and I'm glad we did, because I believe this is the only way to see the large prairie area of the Botanic Garden. I learned so much more about the prairie; for example, there are actually three types of prairie, including the marsh prairie, which probably originally covered the land where I now live. Unfortunately, I don't remember the other two--the small notebook and pen purposely put into the large purse for taking notes remained at the hotel most of the time:)

The tram tour also gave us a glimpse of areas we weren't able to visit, like the Japanese Gardens. These, along with the Model Railroad Garden, will definitely be on the "must-see" list the next time we visit the Chicago area.

So many plants to ooh and ahh over, especially those Icelandic poppies I think we have all pictured. My eye was also caught by these simple Canterbury bells. I love the colors, but mainly I was excited to see them since I planted some seed given to me by Cheryl. I hope mine turn out this well!

The waterfall garden was another compelling place. Beckie and I climbed to the top, drawn by the rushing waters, and admired the view. Suddenly we realized we had only 20 minutes left to get back to the trolley for our return trip back.

Hurry, hurry down the slippery uneven slabs of rock--don't slip!

Hurry, hurry through the garden with trough after trough of potted annuals. Ok, time for one picture--but next time we will take time to see this area in entirety, too! We did make it to the trolley in time, fortunately.

On Saturday, most of the group began the day with a morning tour of Rick Bayless' garden in the heart of Chicago. After a sumptious buffet at Andie's in Andersonville, our first stop of the afternoon was at a community garden in the heart of Chicago. Surrounded by tall, older apartment buildings, this garden was a testament to the best of volunteerism and good will among gardeners.

Next, a stop at Carolyn Gail's garden where there were ample opportunities for everyone, including Jessica above, to take photos of a fantastic urban garden.

And some time to chat. Linda, aka Garden Girl, was one of several Chicago Gardeners who deserve many thanks for organizing such a fantastic weekend.

Before we left, Frances was the lucky winner of one of Carolyn Gail's paintings. I know Frances made sure this lovely artwork was well-cared for the rest of the bus trip:)

The final stop of the afternoon was at the Lincoln Conservatory. While others visited the fabulous lily pond and other areas of the Conservatory, several of us chose to hike a few blocks to the nearby Peggy Notebaert Museum to see the butterfly exhibit. Being a butterfly lover, I didn't regret my decision, but only wished that vanity didn't get in the way of wearing much-need reading glasses: the camera was on the wrong setting for much of the visit, resulting in blurs of color instead.

We were told upon entering that the butterflies were "awake," and they certainly were in a constant state of motion. This blurry photo must be shown, though, as Lisa explained we were watching a mating dance.

Changing the camera settings resulted in a few good photos, but no i.d.'s have yet been made.

I thought this was a Buckeye at first, but on closer inspection, I'm not so sure.

This has to be the most colorful butterfly I've ever seen;

it's certainly not one I would see in my garden.

Not to be completely outdone by Frances' butterfly magnetism, one small butterfly

chose to land on my leg . . . and then he flew to Frances:)

My intention was to also take lots of photos of the bloggers who attended Spring Fling, but somehow I never did. Saturday's dinner of authentic Chicago-style pizza did give me a chance to get a photo taken with Monica (left) and Beckie (right). Sorry, ladies, being very unphotogenic, I chose the most flattering photo of ME.

All too soon the weekend came to an end, and with just a few hours left on Sunday morning, Millenium Park seemed a logical place to return to, being within walking distance of our hotel. The fountain with changing images drew many visitors both Friday evening, when this photo was taken, and Sunday morning when little ones splashed happily in the shallow water.

The breathtaking river of salvia in the Lurie Garden, pictured on nearly everyone's posts, including a previous one of mine, was hard to capture in a photo, even though I tried from many angles.

Also difficult to capture completely were the hedges surrounding the gardens, meant to symbolize the "big shoulders" of Sandberg's poem "Chicago." Note the couple in the righthand corner of this photo--we saw several brides and grooms having their photos taken in the Lurie Gardens.

There's more to the Garden than just the salvia, however; one area is devoted to prairie plants, including this "Prairie Smoke." I first saw this on one of Mr. McGregor's Daughter's posts as well as seeing it in person in her garden. I know I'm not the only garden blogger who wants to add this plant to my garden!

And for a more traditional plant-lovers, the Lurie also had the perfect white peony.

Like any typical tourist, Beckie and I couldn't resist a final stop at "Cloud Gate," aka "the Bean," for a reflective photo of the Chicago skyline. Besides all the wonderful people we met and all the interesting places we saw, Chicago has even more to offer and has a beautifully landscaped downtown. While it won't be the same as Spring Fling, Beckie and I are already talking about returning to the Windy City to see all that we missed this time!