Model Railroad Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden

Last Friday morning, the Chicago Spring Fling meetup of garden bloggers traveled to the Chicago Botanic Garden, one of the sponsors of the event. They provided a shuttle between the train station and the garden, free entry, and passes for the tram and this area: the Model Railroad Garden.

I had imagined a small kiddie ride of a train traveling through a garden. I thought it unseemly that a botanic garden should have an amusement ride in it. I also doubted that such a machine would have trouble handling my mass. So I wasn't planning to visit this garden, despite the free pass.

However, as I left the landscape gardens behind, the entrance to this garden was right there. Since I had a free pass, I thought, "What the heck." Similar to the New York Botanical Gardens annual display, this garden features, yes, model trains running continuously among model houses, buildings, dioramas and other scenes made of plant material. The difference is that this is outdoors, on and in the ground, with permanent plantings.

As a garden, it didn't move me. But that's not what this is about. It's model trains. Leave your cynicism behind.

The 7,500-square-foot Model Railroad Garden features 17 garden-scale (G-scale) trains on 1,600 feet of track. The garden-scale trains are 1/29th the size of life-sized trains. Train and garden enthusiasts, young and old, return year after year for the delightful sights and sounds of the miniature trains traversing high and low through tunnels, across bridges, and around buildings — all intricately handcrafted with natural materials, including twigs, bark, leaves, acorns, and pebbles. More than 5,000 tiny trees, shrubs, groundcovers, and flowering plants of close to 300 varieties re-create the topographical landscape of America. Vignettes of tiny people and animals give the exhibit a storybook feel, while sound effects and a working geyser capture visitors’ imaginations.
- Railroad Garden

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Related Content

Flickr photo set

Chicago Spring Fling 2009

Links

Railroad Garden

Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool, Lincoln Park, Chicago

A masterpiece of Prairie School landscape architecture.

Originally built in 1889 for raising tropical water lilies, the Lily Pool was redesigned in the prairie style during the 1930’s by Alfred Caldwell. The landscape design of the Caldwell Lily Pool is a tribute to the natural ecology of the Midwest. It was originally designed to mimic a river formed by a melting glacier’s flow of water cutting through limestone. The stonework and paths have a natural look that conveys the interpretation that melted glacial water flows are cutting through moraines, creating dramatic limestone bluffs. A waterfall near the north end of the lily pool represents the source of this glacial river.
- Lincoln Park Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool

After decades of disrepair and neglect, this site was rehabilitated and refurbished in 2001 and 2002 and reopened to the public.

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Flickr photo set

Chicago Spring Fling 2009

Links

Lincoln Park Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool

Rick Bayless Garden, Chicago Spring Fling 2009

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Flickr photo set

Chicago Spring Fling 2009

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Chicago Now
Mr. Brown Thumb
My Skinny Garden
Our Little Acre

Rick Bayless

Chicago Spring Fling 2009

It's going to take me several days to slog through the 350 photos I shot today, let alone what's coming tomorrow. Suffice to say that I was overwhelmed and inspired by what I saw.

Here's the outline for my entire Chicago trip. I'll be adding the links as I write the posts for each feature of the tours.

• Shedd Aquarium
• Chicago Botanic Garden:
  
  
  • Native Plant Garden
  • Edible Plant Garden
  • Landscape Gardens
    
  • Model Train Garden
  • Other
  
  
• Lurie Garden
• Rick Bayless Garden
• Ginkgo Botanic Garden
• Carolyn Gail's Garden
• Franklin Park:
  
  • Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool
  
  

This is a 180-degree panoramic shot stitched together from eight hand-held and panned shots using the pano tool built into Microsoft Vista. Best viewed at the largest resolution your monitor can support. I took this shot while standing on the Nichols Bridgeway, just opened two weeks ago, which joins Millennium Park to the new modern wing of the Art Institute of Chicago. Monroe Street passes underneath, on the left and right of the photo. Downtown Chicago is to the left, and Lake Michigan is to the right. Millenium Park, including the Great Lawn and Lurie Garden, are roughly in the center of the photo.


I created this panorama of the Native Plant Garden at the Chicago Botanic Garden the same way.



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Native Plant Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden
Edible Plant Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden
Rick Bayless Garden
Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool

Links

Each Little World
Garden Punks
Gardening While Intoxicated
Mr. Brown Thumb: Words, Pictures
On the Shores of Lake Chicago: Day 1, Days 2 & 3
Our Little Acre
Prairie Rose's Garden

Chicago Botanic Garden
Lurie Garden

Brooklyn Gardening Bloggers (and Blogging Gardeners)

Update 2008.07.06: Added My American Garden.
Update 2008.05.26: Added 66 Square Feet.
Update 2008.05.03: Added A Brooklyn Life.
Update 2008.04.25: Added New York City Garden.
Update 2008.04.17: Added root stock & quade.

---

Just a quick post to highlight some of my fellow Brooklynites who also blog about their gardens or gardening.

Brooklyn has more community gardens - about 300 - than the rest of New York City. More people live in Brooklyn (Kings County) than any of the other four boroughs of New York City. The U. S. Census estimates that 2,508,820 people live in Brooklyn as of 2006.

66 Square Feet
The Bark Tree
A Brooklyn Life
City Dirt
The Clueless Gardener
Crazy Stable
frogma
A Garden Grows in Brooklyn
My American Garden
New York City Garden
root stock & quade
The Urban Planter
ZuZu's Petals

Here's hoping I get to continue expanding this list.

Links

Kings County Quickfacts, U.S. Census Bureau

Outside Clyde

Anemone blanda, Outside Clyde


This afternoon I had the pleasure of visiting with CC of Outside Clyde. I've been following his chronicles witnessing the succession of growth and bloom on the resident gardeners' hillside. This is just my small contribution.

There's no single vantage from which you can take in the entire hillside at once.

Daffodil Hill


The trails wander and intersect organically, having evolved over three decades of clearing, planting and gardening.

Over the hill, through the woods


The trails are rough, and steep at times. But it pays to stop often and look around, and up, and out.

Daffodil "Rip van Winkle"


Narcissus, cyclamineus tribe


Possibly "King Alfred"


Shelf fungus


Pulmonaria


The threatened thunderstorms never materialized. CC's site is adjacent, and we hiked along another trail to get there. There was only a sprinkle of rain.

Lichens


Old foundation


Last year's Goldenrod


Claytonia


A lovely afternoon.

The Volunteers

I'm guilty of rarely highlighting other gardeners or their blogs here. I read something wonderful today:

She embodied the spirit of volunteerism in both its meanings. She was a person who performed services willingly and without pay, providing an example to others who may have come to the garden for personal growth but stayed to cultivate that passion in others. But she was also like a stubborn volunteer plant, flourishing in our communal garden without being planted or cultivated.
- Death of a Gardener, Grow This

I've written many times here about the connections I feel among between gardening, grief and recovery. This echoes it beautifully:

Dorcas embodied the gardener’s faith that the ground we prepare, and the seeds we sow today, will bear fruit in the future – regardless of whether today’s gardeners will be there to witness the next harvest. While she will be greatly missed, the volunteers that she inspired will continue her work for many seasons to come.

Word.

Thanks to the Contributors to Gardeners for Recovery

Thank you to the anonymous contributor or contributors who donated $100 to the Gardeners for Recovery Cobblestone campaign over the weekend. Your contributions increased the fund from $100 to $200. I matched your $100 yesterday. The total now stands at $300. Just $200 more - your $100 plus my matching - will bring us to the minimum of $500 needed to have our own paver in the National September 11 Memorial Plaza:

An eight-acre landscaped Memorial Plaza filled with more than 300 oak trees will create a contemplative space separate from the sights and sounds of the surrounding city. The design is unique in its use of ecological considerations which exceed sustainability standards.

Gardeners for Recovery is a Cobblestone Campaign for the National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center. Gardeners for Recovery recognize the importance of gardens and gardening for individual, community, and global healing and recovery.

Gardeners for Recovery is on its way!

[Update 2007.11.20: Added clarification that cobblestones will not be marked.]

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Cobblestones, Van Dyke Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn


The Gardeners for Recovery Cobblestone Campaign has received its first contribution. The fund now stands at $100, one-fifth of the minimum amount needed for a cobblestone, and one-tenth of the way toward the goal of $1,000. See the thermometer at the top of the sidebar.

Gardeners for Recovery is a Cobblestone Campaign for the National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center. Gardeners for Recovery recognize the importance of gardens and gardening for individual, community, and global healing and recovery.

The contribution was in the amount of $50. I matched it, to bring us to $100. I will match the first $500 contributed, to bring us to the goal of $1,000.

Out of respect for the victims of September 11, cobblestones will not be inscribed with donor names or any other markings. When the Memorial is completed, we will be able to identify the exact location of our cobblestone by using a kiosk on the Memorial Plaza.

If you would like to make a contribution, please visit the Gardeners for Recovery Cobblestone Campaign home page, then click the DONATE NOW button. This lets you contribute online, anonymously and securely, using a major credit card. If the National Tour visits your city or town, you can also contribute there; just let them know you're contributing to the Gardeners for Recovery Cobblestone Campaign, so I can match it.

Related Posts

Announcing the Gardeners for Recovery Cobblestone Campaign, September 28
Gardeners for Recovery, September 11

Links

Gardeners for Recovery Cobblestone Campaign home page
National Tour Cities and Dates
National September 11 Memorial Museum

Announcing the Gardeners for Recovery Cobblestone Campaign

Two weeks ago, I wrote at the end of Gardeners for Recovery:

I've submitted a proposal to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum to sponsor a paver for the memorial plaza through a campaign for contributions.

The online proposal form asked for information about the "group". Since I'm not a group, here's how I responded:

Please give us some information about you, your group, or organization which you would like to fundraise on behalf of.
Response: Gardeners for Recovery recognize the importance of gardens and gardening for individual, community, and global healing and recovery.

They approved my proposal. I invite you to join me in supporting the memorial. I will match the first $500 contributed toward the $1,000 goal. So, every dollar you contribute is worth two. You can visit the Gardeners for Recovery Page on their Web site for more information, or to contribute. There's also a link now in the sidebar of this blog.

The National Tour

In addition to viewing photographs, artifacts, and a film featuring firsthand accounts of 9/11 and the aftermath, individuals and communities across the country will have a chance to contribute directly to this historic effort by signing a steel beam that will be used in the construction of the National September 11 Memorial.

The Memorial and Museum recently added ten more stops to the national tour: St. Louis, MO; Little Rock, AR; Memphis, TN; Oklahoma City, OK; Ft. Worth, TX; Shreveport, LA; Jackson, MS; Birmingham, AL; Atlanta, GA; and Tampa, FL. By the end of the year, they will have visited 25 cities in 25 states. They have requests for 8 more cities; on their Web site you can enter your zip code to request a stop in your area.

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Related Posts

on 9/11
on Ground Zero
on Recovery

Links

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center

In the Shadow (How shall my heart be reconciled to its feast of losses?)

Updated 2007.09.12: Added brief bio and link for Renee Barret-Arjune.

Haddadada the gargoyle stands watch behind the maple in my backyard.


I'd rather be writing about something else, but this presents itself right now. Better I write it while it's fresh, and raw, and resist polishing the life from it.

Earlier this evening, I learned of the death of John Larsen, someone I knew from my old days in the East Village. We were neighbors, bar buddies, and, for a hot minute, boyfriends.

In March of 1996, I had just started reading Walt Odets' "In the Shadow of the Epidemic: Being HIV-Negative in the Age of AIDS", the first book I read which gave voice to feelings shared by many of my cohort, gay men of a certain age: survivor guilt, and a spiritual crisis which has ravaged many of us. I wrote:

March 1996

so far surviving
what will it mean to be alive
having outlived generation after generation
decades of death
the explosion widening until, finally
and yes, with some grim, righteous satisfaction
finally noone can truthfully say
they are not also affected

imagine how it will be
when your closest friends are strangers
when long ago you gave up hope
of growing old together
as everyone you've loved, and despised
has died, seven times over
when you've learned, and loved, and lost
and learned, loved, lost
and ...
When each new friend is met with the knowledge
that they too will leave soon
but it no longer matters
because, you think, you've already grieved their deaths too

the corpses pile up
against the walls you've built around yourself
walking along familiar streets
past the bars, your old haunts
you see tombstones, crosses, ashes
and you're not safe, even in your own mind
especially at night
when the walls must come down
and you must remember the dead

you want to believe you've come so far
but it hasn't even begun

I moved to Brooklyn in June of 1992. I'd lived 13 years in the East Village, in the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic. My move was neither well-planned nor well-executed. I knew I had to move. I didn't know how important it would be to me for my survival, for my recovery. Though I could not surface the thought at that time, let alone voice it, I was also running, trying to run, away. I couldn't face any more death.

January 25, 1994

ghosts

glimpsed in a stranger's gait
darting behind another's mask
in that moment

for how long
must I never forget?

the epicenter
reaches to numbers inconceivable
my heart implodes

when darkness falls
how should I greet it

for a moment
I thought I saw you
but you left long ago

Reminders of the upcoming 6th Anniversary of 9/11 are piling up. My first day back at work from my North Carolina trip, I walked by the Deutsche Bank building - ruined in the attacks, condemned, and only now being dismantled - where two firefighters had lost their lives the day before. I could see the blackened scaffolding and walls of the building. I smelled the smoke, startled for a few minutes, taken back to the months after the attacks, when the fires burned for months, when we walked every day through the crematory of downtown Manhattan. I know - knew, met a handful of times - a woman, Renee Barret-Arjune, who died from injuries she received in the World Trade Center attacks. It's how we measure our distance from such things: who we knew, how many, how close.

Earlier this summer, Eleanor Traubman of Creative Times gave me a little gem of a book, The Wild Braid: A Poet Reflects on a Century of Life in the Garden. It's by and about the poet, Stanley Kunitz (1905-2006), written with Genine Lentine and with photographs by Marnie Crawford Samuelson. When we met at the Flatbush meet-up, she recommended this book to me.

I've estimated that half of everyone I've ever known has already died: from AIDS, chemical dependence or overdose, or suicide. I should have expected to feel resonance with a centenarian gardener-poet writing at the end of his life. Here's an excerpt from Kunitz' "The Layers":

When I look behind,
as I am compelled to look
before I can gather strength
to proceed on my journey,
I see the milestones dwindling
toward the horizon
and the slow fires trailing
from the abandoned camp-sites,
over which scavenger angels
wheel on heavy wings.
Oh, I have made myself a tribe
out of my true affections,
and my tribe is scattered!
How shall the heart be reconciled
to its feast of losses?
In a rising wind
the manic dust of my friends,
those who fell along the way,
bitterly stings my face.

Kunitz closes more hopefully:

no doubt the next chapter
in my book of transformations
is already written.
I am not done with my changes.

This evening, fresh with the news of a death of a friend, I look behind. Nor am I done with my changes.

---

Renee Barrett-Arjune worked as a compensation accountant at Cantor Fitzgerald in Tower 1 of the World Trace Center. She grew up in Brooklyn and lived in Irvington, NJ. She was active in the church where Blog Widow John worked at the time; I met her a couple of times through him. She was 41.

Her name is inscribed in a bronze panel - #N-48 - along the North Pool of the National September 11 Memorial at Ground Zero. The names of Cantor Fitzgerald employees and consultants make up 34, nearly half, of the panels surrounding the North Pool.