Chicago, Chicago...

     This week Ellen and I had the pleasure of attending the International Hardware Show in Chicago, Illinois.  It was here that we saw every new gizmo known to mankind.  Thirty lines of drill bits, hydraulic post hole diggers, copper coated landscape fabric for repelling roots, a laser grass vaporizing machine from Germany including GPS (in case you get lost in the zeal of mowing the estate), portable saunas, etc.

     When I was 8 years old, shooting for 9, we rode the train from “West By-Gosh,  Virginia”, where I attempted to grow up; to Seattle,  Washington.  So I am told, we stopped in Chicago on the way.  Things I remember include the beautiful terrain of Montana and the shocking taste of goat’s milk on the otherwise luxurious Great Northern Railway.

     My return to Chicago some eons later yields a more pronounced impression.  We did not just stop on the train - we stepped off of the plane and looked around.  The streets were clean and the people were friendly. It amazes me as to how much negative stereo-typing city folk must endure.  Chicago natives were eager to advise us as to when to change from the “Blue Line” to the “Red Line”, clearly proud of their town.  I  wish Fredericksburg  could mirror Chicago's train system.

     In addition to clean streets, we noticed large median plantings of trees, ornamental grasses, and annuals.  Approaching the McCormick Center, we encountered window plantings consisting of ornamental sweet potato vines and colorful annuals.  The gardens by Grant Park were accented with vast arrays of formal gardens, sporting neatly trimmed spreading yews surrounding flowering tobacco, Russian sage, and the like.

     The artistic cement work around town was particularly impressive as we passed Soldier Field and Congress Parkway.  I can’t recall the difference between Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns from art appreciation class, but Soldier Field was certainly straight out of the classical Greek architecture.  No exposed bleacher infrastructure going on there.!  Doric, I believe...

     Well, enough of Chicago.  This is about gardens.  Come on down and buy a new portable greenhouse...a collapsible garden cart...an Australian “Down Under” stainless steel digging spade...a hydraulic post hole digger.  Maybe even enjoy a free portable sauna experience (we are still investigating the possibility)!  What do you think?