SWEET HOME CHICAGO

Jodi at Bloomingwriter is sponsoring the Garden Bloggers' Geography Project. Here's my contribution :


Chicago's motto is Urbs in Horto or City in a Garden. The " City of Big Shoulders" as native poet Carl Sandburg called it has also been described as " A blue collar city of asphalt, glass and concrete canyons. "

Currently we are been dubbed " America's green thumb", a description which I like much better and as a gardener and garden blogger I will introduce my sweet home Chicago from that perspective.

How did we grow from an urban concrete jungle to America's green thumb?" We can thank our tree-hugging Mayor Daley who was born on Arbor Day. He's planted 500,000 trees, miles of flowers and installed a green roof on city hall, the first mayor in America to do so.

He has transformed our city into one of the greenest in America and we are now the largest user of green energy in the country. We've received awards for our environmental agenda and have one of the world's only platinum rated for green design buildings.

With grants and encouragement from city hall, homeowners have installed more than 214,000 square feet of green roofs. To encourage consumption of locally grown organic produce, the Green City Market showcases small family farms that supply chefs, restaurants and the public .

Our latest public garden, the Lurie, is a part of the new Millenium Park, an award-winning center for art, music , architecture and landscape design ( pictured below ). This peaceful oasis in the middle of a large city contains over 240 perennials . The designers must have been gardeners as well and gave much thought in planting a garden that would evolve over time. They could have planted an "instant " glamor garden but they chose to allow it to develop over a period of 15 years. This is a great gift to our future generations .

Chicago is home to Garfield Park Conservatory, one of the largest , oldest and most stunning in the world. Designed by renown landscape architect Jens Jensen, it it celebrating it's one hundred year anniversary this year. Often referred to as " landscape art under glass ", it sits on 4.5 acres and grows thousands of plants for displaying in Chicago's 7300 acres of parks and displays.

The Morton Arboretum in the Chicago suburb of Lisle is internationally recognized. Situated on 1700 acres it is home to 4,000 kinds of trees, shrubs and other plants.

Chicago Botanical garden in suburban Glencoe has 26 spectacular gardens on 385 acres. In addition it's educational and research facilities are outstanding.

That's the summary of our public gardens but since Chicago is a city of neighborhoods you will find enthusiastic and avid gardeners who've organized Garden walks to show off their creations. Best garden awards from the city and our leading newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, bring out many gardeners vying for the prize.

I can brag about a lot of other interesting Chicago things such as our world famous deep dish pizza, hot dogs, Symphony orchestra, Joffrey Ballet , Art Institute, tall buildings, sports teams with championships in all 4 major categories, beautiful Lake Michigan, etc. , but I'd much rather invite you to visit us in 2016 for the Olympics. Cocky? You bet. I'm from Chicago.

I'M EVEN GARDENING ON VACATION

I've been consuming my share of Florida's wonderful organic locally grown fruit. When I opened an avacado I found that it had already developed a bud at the top and roots at the bottom ! WOW! It's ready to be planted in a peat pot. So I potted it up and gave it to my friend who will eventually plant it in her garden. I read that avacados are Florida's most important crop ( Yeah, I know, I thought Oranges were, too ) and SO nutritious. A famous doctor said that of all the fruits in the world, the avocado would be his selection as the healthiest.

I was also surprised to learn that such tropical fruit as bananas, pineapple, kiwi and mangos grow here as well. What a paradise !

The seed will make a beautiful evergreen tree that will grow from 30 to 60 feet tall. So I've left a little tree as my legacy in a Florida garden.

TRAVELS WITH JOJO

I wonder where I am ?

Travelling is very tiring

This was Jojo's very first road trip and she took it all in stride. Dubbed the "Dog with a Human Brain " she does everything but talk . She lets us know when she's sick of the car, thirsty , hungry or needs the bathroom. No matter how many times I take her for a walk she always grabs the leash in her mouth and sings out her pleasure.

She's intrigued by the lizards that go dashing across the lanai and loves to chase them. Egrets that come up on the lawn are targets of her hunting instincts as are squirrels.

Being a small dog strangers love to oooh and awe her and extend their hand toward her face to pet her. I try to warn them but most don't listen until they hear her growl. She doesn't " cotton " to strangers. She also doesn't know her size because she'll take on really BIG dogs. I wish I had a picture of the huge Great Dane that took off when she growled at him ! Jojo thinks she's ten feet tall and bullet proof.

A SPOT OF GREEN

Walking about the neighborhood I see bare trees sporting a spot of green. Curious , I drew closer to see what it might be. There were little white berries on the mass of leaves clinging to the tree. I haven't seen this since I was a youngun' growing up in Alabama.

Mistletoe ! I didn't know that it grew down in Florida. It's everywhere. We used to pick it off the trees at Christmas, along with holly branches loaded with red berries.

AMAZING TREES

I'm still in limbo down in Florida. My brain's been cooked by the sun. But one thing I've been paying strict attention to is the amazing trees down here . You can just go down the street and boom ! There's a grapefruit or orange tree. And, funny thing is that the property owners pay no attention to them at all. I said " Good Morning " to one of the home owners and asked what kind of fruit tree is that? Right away they knew I was from out of state and asked me if I wanted some. They grabbed a bag and filled it up and gave it to me. WOW! Juicy oranges and grapefruit; ruby red and sweet.

Live oaks are everywhere down here and I can see why. They have such beautiful shapes and when the Spanish moss hangs from them , it's a sight to behold ! They remind me of Savannah .Then, of course , there are the palm trees which really say tropical.

And, of course, the most beautiful tree in the world as far as I'm concerned , the Southern Magnolia.

I can't imagine living in a place where you can just go into your backyard and pick fruit for your breakfast. That's SO cool !

And the weather. Well, they tell me that February is winter down here. HUH? 70 -plus during the day and cooler at night, say 60. I'll take it if that's really winter.

Meanwhile, our Mini Schnauzer, Jojo is checking out all the fun stuff such as lizards, weird birds and funny bugs.

GOT A MINUTE ?

AN AMERICAN DIES EVERY MINUTE FROM HEART DISEASE !

February is National Heart Month. Last February I became a vegetarian after I read a very inspiring book titled EAT TO LIVE . I didn't change because I had health problems, I changed because I felt it was a healthier way to live. It also helps if you grew up on a farm like me and learned to love your veggies at a young age. I'm not advocating that you become a vegetarian but at least eat heart healthy foods such as beans, broccoli, nuts, olives, olive oil and deep green vegetables.

No matter your age you should have your heart checked. As I wrote recently, a colleague of mine dropped dead at age 42 from a heart attack. That is way too early to die.

Got a minute ? Check your heart ! Not only does an American die of a heart attack every minute, it is now the number one killer of men and women alike.