Many people visit Cantigny Park in Wheaton, Illinois, for the 27-hole golf course or the prized military museum, which features impressive exhibits of the 1st Infantry Division’s war efforts, and an outdoor collection of refurbished tanks. The 500-acre park is the former estate of Colonel Robert McCormick, an editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune, who was a 1st Division commander at the Battle of Cantigny in France during World War I.
Once visitors leave the museum’s dramatic dioramas, they can stroll along shady paths under century-old oaks and hickories, alongside a pond, through a stunning formal garden, a dazzling rose garden or the prairie planted with native wildflowers and grasses. In all, there are 22 gardens on 29 acres, but it’s the Idea Garden, somewhat tucked away, with its scents, sounds and vivid colors, that instills inspiration and perhaps a little envy.
“We often hear ‘I wish my garden looked like this,'” says Liz Omura, the Idea Garden’s curator. That’s because the garden is bursting with awesome annuals as well as a sprinkling of perennials, shrubs and a few ornamental trees. “Using annuals can give you a lot of color. Perennials come in and out of bloom, but annuals provide color all season.”
Omura wants the plantings in the one-acre garden to appeal to the average homeowner as well as the avid gardener. “There’s something here for everyone–from the different varieties of herbs, vegetables and flowers to the way we combine colors.”
More than 300 varieties of plants are packed into four main sections–an herb garden, a children’s garden, a sensory garden, and a walk-through-the-seasons garden. Paths take visitors past nearly two dozen beds that highlight different themes, such as prehistoric-looking plants, including a Loch Ness Monster topiary planted in the “dinosaur” bed, vegetables and edible flowers, fragrant plants, plants to attract butterflies and hummingbirds, a garden that feeds the birds, small space gardening, and containers with flowers that flaunt colors of the Big Ten schools.
In the butterfly bed, there are host plants, such as bronze fennel and annual milkweed for the caterpillars, and nectar plants, like zinnias, pentas and the fragrant butterfly bush (buddleia) to feed the adults. “I love bronze fennel,” Omura says. “The color can be a good foil for other plants and the blooms are neon green, which goes well with the asclepias (milkweed).”
Butterflies don’t necessarily read the garden catalogs, Omura says, so you’ll find them flitting beyond the butterfly garden to lay their eggs on the hops vine that climbs the Idea Garden’s fence, or over to the perennial “PowWow Wild Berry” coneflowers, the lantana and the “Fire Mountain Red” dahlias.
“Butterflies might be attracted to a certain color but they tend to look for a big landing pad, like a little helicopter.” One great landing pad is the “Double Zahara Cherry” zinnia, with its deep magenta flowers that span more then two-and-a-half inches.
The Alphabet Trail, which highlights plant names–from Angelonia “Angelmist Purple” to Zinnia “Profusion Yellow”–is a favorite with children and adults. There, kids can skip through the gourd tunnel, past Jupiter’s beard, kale, and “Lizard” sedum. “I’m encouraging people to try something different,” Omura says. “The Idea Garden has a trial area for unusual plants and we’re even growing a cotton plant that is a deep burgundy red. I’m excited about those types of things.”
For fragrance, there’s rosemary, heliotrope, lemon thyme, alyssum and lavender. “I really like the alyssum “Snow Crystal,” Omura says. “It has a larger flower and is more heat tolerant,” which was a bonus during this summer’s hot weather.
In the “Sound” bed, there’s a planting of ornamental grasses, baptisia and other plants that rustle with the wind. The potager, a decorative and functional vegetable garden, features greens, peas, beans, herbs, squash and other edibles with plantings that change from spring through fall.
A “Feed the Birds” border runs along the fence outside of the Idea Garden. Here you’ll find cosmos, millet, sorghum, sunflowers and other plants that provide seeds. “Goldie is a really nice sunflower,” Omura says. Unlike older varieties of sunflowers, “Goldie” produces large fluffy blossoms.
“You want plants that look good throughout the summer instead of just another green plant that’s finished flowering,” Omura says. When selecting plants, she chooses varieties that will look good for several months in spite of the weather. “You want to get a little more for your money by asking yourself whether the plant has an interesting leaf texture or variegated leaves when it is out of bloom.” Among her favorites is the new Dianthus “Amazon Neon Rose,” which attracts butterflies, and unlike other dianthus (aka sweet William), this one tolerates heat, flowers for a long time and makes a great cut flower.
Besides showcasing new plants, the Idea Garden uses tried-and-true varieties, along with unusual products–attractive benches made from recycled milk jugs. There’s a raised tabletop planter, shade structures, and planted baskets placed on pillars, all of which encourage gardeners to experiment in their own back yards, patios, decks or balconies.
Perhaps one of the best reasons to visit this little gem of a garden is that it changes through the seasons and from year to year.
Garden Tips Tastes
Wednesdays, September 5 and 19, Noon to 1 p.m.
Cantigny Park Education Center
1S151 Winfield Road in Wheaton
Bring a sack lunch and join Liz Omura for some practical advice, a new recipe and discussion. Free with paid parking ($5). Register at Cantigny.org or 630-260-8162.
