Native Plants Showcased in Chicago's New Millennium Park

In July, the city of Chicago proudly opened Millennium Park to the public. The 24.5-acre space, built over commuter train tracks east of Michigan Avenue and south of Randolph, provides a new oasis in keeping with the city's motto, "Urbs In Horto," meaning "city in a garden." The Lurie Garden, located in the southeast corner, combines several design elements to symbolically represent Chicago's future as well as its natural history. As part of that objective, the garden welcomes back native plants that had once been evicted from the land to make way for urbanization.

Pale purple conflowers. Photo by Torkel Korling.

Landscape architects from the Seattle-based design firm Gustafsen Guthrie Nichols, Ltd., collaborated on the project with world-renowned Dutch horticulturist Piet Oudolf and Robert Israel, a Los Angeles-based theater set designer. Together, they created a unique, four-season garden to showcase a harmonious blend of native and exotic plants.

"Piet is responsible for the perennial plant palette. He did extensive research on native species selection," explains Jennifer Guthrie, one of the garden's designers. Oudolf is known for pioneering the "New Wave" planting style, which tries to evoke nature (rather than copy it) through form, texture, and color.

Roy Diblik, co-owner of Northwind Perennial Farm in Wisconsin, took Oudolf to visit various prairies around Wisconsin and at The Morton Arboretum. "Each time he was just amazed by what he saw," says Diblik.

Some prairie denizens now in the garden include white false indigo, purple coneflower, Joe Pye weed, blazing star, prairie dropseed, and golden Alexanders. "There is a natural flow and rhythm that prairies have," says Diblik, "and that's what Piet wanted to capture." 

— Viveka Neveln