Winter Wonderland

I love the Chicago Botanic Garden. Perhaps it's because I live in an apartment in the city and have no yard of which to speak. But what I really love about having the Chicago Botanic Garden as my alternative yard is that I only have to pay for a membership and an expert team of gardeners will create a lush wonderland to delight my senses without me having to lift a finger. If I were left to my own devices, me and my brown thumbs would only be able to offer a blighted, withered landscape devoid of anything but tumble pigweed and hairy crabgrass. It would be the Garden of Perpetual Sorrows, and that's no good at all.

The best thing about the Chicago Botanic Garden is that you can go (almost) any day of the year, including smack dab in the middle of winter. This is especially recommended because of the way the Japanese Garden looks buried in snow.

The bridge to the islands is beautiful any time of year, but I think it looks amazing in the snow. The landscape was created to catch all the subtle shadows and light playing on the patterns of the trees and stones.



































From the English Walled Garden, my friend the Satyr/Greenman:



















From one of the buildings in the Fruit and Vegetable Garden:















Yes, it can get cold, so dress like you're from Chicago and you won't be sorry. But if you need to warm up a bit, you can always go into the Greenhouses, where you can find plants in the Arid Desert greenhouse, the Semi-Tropical greenhouse and the Tropical greenhouse.

In the Tropical greenhouse you'll have to wait a minute for your spectacles to unfog, but once that occurs, you'll find a lush landscape full of colorful flowering plants and some of your favorite foods.

The Banana Tree!



















Like my simian cousins, the banana has to be my favorite fruit. It's a lovely tree with a lovely fruit and flower. Full of potassium, vitamins B6 and C, the wonderful banana also gave it's name to one of the world's most celebrated poets, Bashō. And you thought you wouldn't learn anything today (well, er, unless you already knew that...)

Behold! Before thine very eyes, you will see what is the most Holy and Revered tree in all the universe... the Chocolate Tree!















Okay, so it's really called a Cacao Tree, but still, see how its Divine Light shines through to your very soul? This tree is yet more evidence that this is the best of all possible worlds. You cannot possibly be miserable knowing that such a thing exists.

In the Semi-Tropical garden you will find plenty of lovely plants to gaze upon. The ubiquitous Pointsettia, for instance.



















Or the majestic Bismarck Palm:



















And the "carnivorous" plants, the Venus Fly Trap and Pitcher Plants ! (Shhh... they're dormant this time of year.)















The Venus Flytrap snoozing. Awwww, they're so cute when they're asleep.















The Pitcher Plant dreaming of trapped insects...

The first thing you'll see when you enter the Arid Desert greenhouse is this little aardvark made entirely of Spiderweb Houseleek. The devil you say!















Soon, however, you will find out his true purpose. He is here, ultimately, to serve as guardian to many of the Great Old Ones who are biding their time in this greenhouse disguised as Arid Desert plants. Here's the proof!















And...















AND!!!



















Am I right or am I right? Just pray that they devour you first when they return. Hail C'thulhu!

So there you are kiddies. A winter trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden. I highly recommend it after a nice snowfall. Just remember to wear your long underpants and a warm hat. Plus, if you're lucky like we were, you just might find a lovely little message from a previous visitor!