Join us for an upcoming program at The Morton Arboretum:

The Pioneering Prairie Spirit in Landscape Design
Christopher Vernon & Robert Grese, Landscape Historians and Authors
Wednesday, June 20, 2012 - 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, landscape architects in the Chicago region changed the face of landscape design. Join landscape historians Christopher Vernon and Bob Grese to meet the pioneers of the native landscape movement. These experts will share the impact of important landscape architects such as Jens Jensen, O.C. Simonds, (the landscape architect who designed the Arboretum), Frederick Law Olmsted, and others. Join them to explore the research included in their new books, Graceland Cemetery: A Design History and The Native Landscape Reader, and to view and discuss the short film by Darrel Morrison, Designing in the Prairie Spirit, which will be shown at the event. This event is partially underwritten by the Library of American Landscape History and forms a part of the Sesquicentennial Celebration of the Founding of Graceland Cemetery.


Pre-registration is required for this evening event to be held in the Sterling Morton Library. Registration details can be viewed at http://www.mortonarb.org/education.html, by stopping at the Arboretum’s Visitor Center or by calling the Arboretum’s registrar at 630-719-2468.

Fall into the Sterling Morton Library!

During the coming months, there are a number of noteworthy events at The Morton Arboretum including the following programs to be held in the Sterling Morton Library:

N732 - Green Fire : Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time
Thursday, September 22, 2011 – 6:30-9:00 p.m.
In his book, A Sand County Almanac, conservationist Aldo Leopold laid out the key insight that was the culmination of his life's work: a shared responsibility for the health of the land we inhabit. Explore Leopold's personal journey and the threads that connect to his legacy today through an intimate screening of the new documentary Green Fire.
Join us for a dessert reception preceding the film, and stay afterwards to discuss the film, Leopold, and his groundbreaking work with Leopold biographer Curt Meine, author Jim Ballowe, and more.

A411 - A Fascination with Flight
Saturday, September 24, 2011 – 1-4 p.m.
From the time we are quite young, the feathered creatures that perch high up in the trees and then take flight capture our imaginations. Meet artists such as Audubon, Fuertes, and Jaques, who took this fascination a step further and made their careers painting birds and helping us to see and understand them in a new way.

N 733 - A Trek Across the Chicago Wilderness
Thursday, November 3, 2011 - 7-8:30 pm.
In June 2009, Jack MacRae walked across Chicago Wilderness, from Chiwaukee Prairie in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, to Warren Woods in Berrien County, Michigan. Over 15 days he walked approximately 240 miles, visiting over 50 preserves, parks, and natural areas. Join Jack on his journey as he describes his walk and shares his experiences in prairies, sand dunes, forests, flatwoods, savannas, rivers, ponds, wetlands, ravines, and one great lake.

H734 - Jens Jensen, Frank Lloyd Wright, and My Small Garden
Thursday, December 1, 2011 – 7-8:30 p.m.
What can you do in a small garden? Join author Cathy Jean Maloney as she takes you on a virtual tour of her own historic cottage with a garden designed by renowned landscape architect Jens Jensen. Designed ca. 1907 for the gardener of a large estate, this Frank Lloyd Wright home was landscaped by Jensen. Discover the enduring influences of the Jensen/Wright collaboration and how Maloney and her family enjoy the naturalistic, small-space garden today.

Pre-registration is required for all of these events. Registration details can be viewed at http://www.mortonarb.org/education.html or by stopping at the Arboretum’s Visitor Center.

Hope to see you at one or more of these programs that will be presented within the Sterling Morton Library!

New Library Exhibit!

Jens Jensen: Landscapes for People

June 28, 2011 - September 1, 2012

Drawing on the strengths of the Jens Jensen collections in the Sterling Morton Library, this exhibit features landscape drawings, archival photographs, and modern color photographs to introduce visitors to Jensen’s philosophies as laid out in his 1939 book Siftings. The exhibit demonstrates how Jensen’s naturalistic, prairie-inspired style of landscape design has established him as a major figure in American landscape architecture and focuses on what Jensen always intended his landscapes to be for: people. His landscapes thus emerge not only as sites of aesthetic beauty but as expressions of Jensen’s theories of the social impact of landscape architecture.

This exhibit is presented in conjunction with Festival of the Architecture Book, 1511-2011.

Articles of note in the Sterling Morton Library : August/September’s offerings

These are some recent articles that can be found within the journal collection of the Sterling Morton Library. Please visit the Library to discover the incredible botanical and horticultural resources that await you! If you are unable to visit the Library and interested in reviewing one of these articles, I would be delighted to help you at rhassert@mortonarb.org.

Arvidson, Adam Regn. Jens Jensen in 2008: how is the master’s legacy holding on in a vastly changed Chicago? Landscape Architecture, v. 98, no. 8, p. 68-76.
This article features the work of Jens Jensen in the Chicagoland community including Columbus Park, Garfield Park and the Becker Estate. Interested in a further exploration of Jensen’s legacy? The Sterling Morton Library has a rich collection of photographs, landscape plans, letters and other items related to this significant landscape architect.

Beahrs, Andrew. The “prairie hens” of Illinois. Living Bird, v. 27, no. 3, p. 22-30.

Dietze, Michael C. and J.S. Clark. Changing the gap dynamics paradigm: vegetative regeneration control on forest response to disturbance. Eclogical Monographs, v. 78, no. 3, p. 331-347.

Isbell, Forest I., David A. Losure, Kathryn A. Yurkonis and Brian J. Wilsey. Diversity–productivity relationships in two ecologically realistic rarity–extinction scenarios. Oikos, v. 117, p. 996-1005.

Lancaster, Roy. China, mother of gardens. Gardens Illustrated, no. 140, p. 68-71.

Lasseigne, F. Todd. Sciadopitys – the other living fossil. Conifer Quarterly, v. 25, no. 3, p. 6-10.

Reich, Peter B., et al. Scaling of respiration to nitrogen in leaves, stems and roots of higher land plants. Ecology Letters, v. 11, no. 8, p. 793-801.