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.

Color My World … with yellow, red, orange, brown …, Or, Fall Color at The Morton Arboretum!

"The trees are spectacular at The Morton Arboretum!" While I might be prone to making this remark at anytime of the year, at this moment our grounds seem to glow with the vivid colors of autumn. Yellow, red, orange, brown with occasional splashes of purple and magenta – are all part of our fall color palette. As I walk and drive through the grounds, I’m beginning to see more and more leaves changing colors. With plants from over 40 countries, it almost seems like there'll be no end to this beautiful and colorful season!
Interested in learning more about color on our grounds? Our very own Color Scout has previewed some colorful Arboretum destinations for you in his weekly color report. Curious why and how leaves change colors? Find out in Why Leaves Change Color. Interested in reading and sharing some colorful stories? Visit the Sterling Morton Library to check out:

• Leaf Man or Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert


• The Garden in Autumn by Allen Lacy


• Autumn Leaves by Ron Lanner


• Sketching Outdoors in Autumn by Jim Arnosky


• Pumpkin Heads! By Wendell Minor


• Songbird Journeys : four seasons in the lives of migratory birds by Miyoko Chu


• On the Wing : American birds in migration by Carol Lerner


• Living on the Wind : across the hemisphere with migratory birds by Scott Weidensaul


• Autumn across America by Edwin Way Teale

Go for a walk, scramble through the fallen leaves and immerse yourself in an autumn world filled with a kaleidoscope of colors at The Morton Arboretum. Whether you’re looking for some information on plants to select for superb fall color, sharing an autumnal story or wanting to read a little more in-depth about this vivid season, the Sterling Morton Library has a host of resources awaiting you!

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!

Independence Day Holiday

The Sterling Morton Library will be closed Saturday-Monday, July 2-4, in celebration of Independence Day. We will reopen to the public on Tuesday, July 5th.

Wishing you a safe and happy holiday!

The Sterling Morton Library is typically open Tuesday – Friday from 9-5 and Saturday from 10-4.

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.

Art in the Service of Science: The Guild of Natural Science Illustrators Exhibit

Scientific illustrators are artists in the service of science. They use scientifically informed observation, combined with technical skills to accurately portray a subject. Accuracy and communication are essential. The skilled scientific illustrator can clarify and emphasize important details, and reconstruct broken specimens on paper.

Join us in the Sterling Morton Library from February 15 - June 4 for an exhibit featuring the original artwork of these talented artists. Explore subjects from land to sea, including plants, insects, birds, fossil reconstructions and more! The paintings and drawings on display are created through a variety of mediums, ranging from century old techniques used to illuminate manuscripts to digital paintings created entirely on the computer.

The library is open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday.

To learn more about the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, visit www.gnsi.org.

Leafing Through the Pages - 2011

The nominations have been presented! The ballots have been cast! The votes are in! During 2011, participants in Leafing Through the Pages, the book/film discussion group of the Sterling Morton Library, will be viewing, reading and discussing the following works:

• January 13 – The Curious Mister Catesby – Viewing of the film will begin at 10 a.m. with the discussion to follow.
• February 10 – Egan, Timothy. The big burn : Teddy Roosevelt and the fire that saved America, 2010.
• March 10 – Muir, John. A thousand-mile walk to the Gulf, 1916.
• April 14 – Lisle, Laurie. Portrait of an artist: a biography of Georgia O'Keeffe, 1997.
• May 12 – Biggers, Jeff. Reckoning at Eagle Creek : the secret legacy of coal in the heartland, 2010.
• June 9 – Freinkel, Susan. American chestnut : the life, death, and rebirth of a perfect trees, 2007.
• July 14 – Carson, Rachel. Silent spring, 1962.
• August 11, 2011 – Wulf, Andrea. The brother gardeners : botany, empire and the birth of an obsession, 2009.
• September 8 – Lewis, Charles. Green nature/human nature : the meaning of plants in our lives, 1996.
• October 13 – Plotkin, Mark J. Tales of a shaman’s apprentice : an ethnobotanist searches for new medicines in the Amazon rain forest, 1993.
• November 10 – Stegner, Wallace. Beyond the hundredth meridian : John Wesley Powell and the second opening of the west, 1954.
• December 8 – Greenfield, Amy Butler. A perfect red : empire, espionage, and the quest for the color of desire, 2005.
  
  Meeting the second Thursday of each month from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. in the Sterling Morton Library of The Morton Arboretum
  
  Join us for a morning of spirited conversation, discussion and dialogue!