Carousel horses, a flowering replica of Alice in Wonderland's Red Queen, and statues of Hansel and Gretel appear in gardens at this year's Chicago Flower and Garden Show, which occupies Navy Pier through Sunday. With the theme "Cultivating Great Performances," this year's show takes its visual cues from famous stories and stage productions.
"Our garden designers really bought into the theme and enjoyed working with it," said show director Tony Abruscato, who noted the theme inspired some garden sponsors to dream up creative ways in which to advertise their services. Kia Motors parked one of its vehicles in a lush streetscape inspired by the musical My Fair Lady and dubbed "On the Street Where You Live," while Pizzo & Associates, a company that deals with prairie conservation, chose a Jekyll and Hyde theme. "Pizzo & Associates' garden had two sides. One had thorny, invasive garden species, while the other side had flowering, native, natural species," Abruscato said.
Along with a new theme came a new floorplan. "Historically, the show has had a very similar layout," that followed a so-called "racetrack format," in which gardens were laid out around an oval with a wide aisle, Abruscato said. But for this year's show—its 16th iteration—planners wanted a format that would feel more open and less like a traditional trade show.
Abruscato and his team tapped Terry Guen Design Associates, known for its landscaping work in Millennium Park, to design a new plan. This year's show mimics Chicago's urban design, which incorporates wide boulevards and cul de sacs. "It's completely changed the traffic pattern," Abruscato said. "It forces people to wander and meander and discover things that are around corners and behind other gardens."
Abruscato said that guests have been vocal about their approval of the new layout. "People are saying the show has more to offer, and that it seems like there are twice as many gardens as last year," he said. In fact, this year's 28 gardens mark an increase of just five over last year's 23.
