Welcome back to National Parks and other public lands with T!

The Chicago Botanic Garden covers a 385-acre property in a suburb of Chicago. It’s a living plant museum . It stretches out across nine islands in the Cook County Forest Preserve.

It is one of just 17 public gardens in the United States accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, recognized for its extensive horticultural library and state-of-the-art research laboratories. With over 50,000 members, it also boasts the largest membership of any public garden in the country.

The Chicago Horticultural Society, founded in 1890, manages the garden, which is located on land owned by the forest preserve. In 1962, the Society adopted the mission to create a public garden—a goal that took ten years to achieve.

My daughter and I flew into Chicago for Memorial Day weekend a few years ago. Upon landing, we picked up her friend and went right to the garden where we waited in a pretty long line to pay the entry fee. Once inside the gates, we had a surprisingly good lunch in the visitors center cafe and mapped out our plan.

There are 27 distinct gardens in four natural habitats and with only half a day we couldn’t really see everything. It was early in the season and blooms were just beginning to emerge.

There was tram tour, but we decided to just walk around the loop and enjoy the scenery.

Location: 1000 Lake Cook Rd, Glencoe, Illinois
Designation: Public Garden
Date designated/established: 1972
Date of my visit: May 23, 2015