In a world where big museums with their marketing savvy compete for million-dollar acquisitions, Chicago`s outdoor museums seem like sanctuaries of calm.
With their collections of scientific material that they interpret for the public, the Morton Arboretum, the Chicago Botanic Garden and the Ryerson Conservation Area qualify as museums just as much as places that exhibit paintings or old documents on their walls.
And today they`re drawing the same kind of attention and support. The reason for their success is that these outdoor museums are direct, sometimes impatient, in accomplishing their goals.
”Deep down,” says Dr. Roy Taylor, director of the Chicago Botanic Garden, ”we are trying to create a greater awareness of how plants play a role in our society and in our culture.”
That means that in an area where buildings appear more valuable than plants, outdoor museums sometimes fight battles to make the public aware of the natural habitat. Recently, Morton Arboretum in Lisle underwent long negotiations with the state concerning a new tollway that is cutting into its eastern edge.
This created a less-than-gentle flap and loosened public money for tree research. But more to the point, our delicate environment forces living museums to focus clearly on the survival of plants.
At the Morton Arboretum, for instance, they are motivated by ”the Noah`s Ark concept,” according to Joe Larkin, editor for arboretum publications. As the urban habitat grows more hostile to native flora, sanctuaries are needed. And the arboretum provides it for 40,000 plants, classified under 4,000 names. Besides lofty mission statements, our outdoor museums are among the loveliest places in the Chicago area. They feature vistas whose woods and groves form curtains of color and texture across many gradual hillsides.
At the Chicago Botanic Garden, run by the Chicago Horticultural Society but actually in Glencoe, landscape architects have created one of the area`s most serene spots out of a once-swampy floodplain beside the Edens Expressway. The total garden is a blend of many smaller gardens, of which the Japanese Garden is one of the most stunning. Called ”Sansho-En” (Garden of the Three Islands), it is an example of intense cooperation between man and nature.
Completed two years ago, this 17.3-acre garden adheres to symbolism that is common in Japan. The wooden bridge (constructed in Japan) to the first island has an arch that signifies the climb between this world and paradise. Between the first island and the second, a zig-zag bridge is meant to discourage evil spirits, which are believed to travel only in straight lines. No bridges go to the third island because of the legendary inaccessibility of the Island of Everlasting Happiness.
Although the paths and slopes of Sansho-En are planted with species that are common in North America, they are cultivated in rare ways. Scotch pines are pruned in the manner of bonsai to make them look old, age being of value in Japanese culture. Branches are trained, sometimes with intricate wires, to follow the contours of winding paths. Willow trees on the shore of the pond are pruned to remain low to the surface, providing visual transition between land and water. ”Form and texture,” notes Galen Gates, senior
horticulturist, ”are more important than ephemeral flowers.”
Other gardens are the Rose Garden and the Sensory Garden for the Visually Impaired, where handicapped people can enjoy fragrances, textures and even the windswept sound of plants.
But the newest garden is the Waterfall Garden, which won`t officially open until Wednesday. It is a designed waterfall of brownish quartzite, with a variety of woodland plants cascading down the hillside.
These gardens, along with the 48-bell carillon (one of the Chicago area`s largest), are concentrated within easy walking distance of the Education Center and greenhouses.
Not unexpectedly, a practical side also moves the workers at the garden. Through careful study of each plant in the garden and documenting of its pedigree on a computer, horticulturists determine which plants do best in our area. They provide information and seeds to area landscape companies so the plants can ultimately become available to the public.
The Chicago Botanic Garden, on Lake-Cook Road in Glencoe, is open daily except Christmas from 7 a.m. until sunset. Guided tours of the Japanese Garden are given at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. Sundays. Tours of the garden at large in a motorized tram are held at least hourly from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. weekdays, until 4 p.m. on weekends. Admission is free; parking is $2. Call 835-5440 for scheduled events, such as seasonal flower shows.
The people who run outdoor museums say their most difficult task is not in developing and caring for plants but in transmitting messages about them to the public. This is normally a gentle educational process, but recent planning of the North-South Tollway, which will encroach on the Morton Arboretum, brought new attention to the clash between man and nature.
The arboretum, one of the Chicago area`s most venerable institutions, was founded as a ”museum of woody plants” in 1922 by Joy Morton of the Morton Salt Co. Shortly thereafter, landscape architect O.C. Simonds was hired to design the 1,600 acres in the manner of an English country graden, ”with broad lawns, open vistas and our collections meandering through the landscape,” according to Joe Larkin, arboretum editor.
Besides being a first-class tourist stop, the arboretum is also an inspiring place to study, through its classes in natural history, horticulture and even art. Tree identification, the use of herbs and bonsai cultivation are among courses that start in July. Other classes are taught year-round in the research and visitors centers.
But it is more than a place for casual viewing and course-taking. The arboretum has a leading botanic library and an herbarium for the study of dried specimens from around the world. It also has many of the papers and drawings of Jens Jensen, the landscape architect who helped develop much of the Chicago park system.
The esthetic wonders of the arboretum are the result of its rigorous research, which has been focused on practical problems since its inception. In early decades, the arboretum even provided farmers with tree species that would flourish to make the best fenceposts and wagon wheels. More recently, research director George Ware has been involved in developing an elm hybrid that is resistant to disease.
Other projects have less economic value but are no less loving. The prairie restoration project that is meant to recreate native Illinois landscape before settlers came has been going on for 26 years, with tall grasses and perennials that flourished when natural prairie fires took out competitive plants with shallower roots. This project carries the message that civilization can and does upset the fragile balance of nature.
The Morton Arboretum is on Ill. Hwy. 53 in Lisle. During Daylight Saving Time, hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily (9 a.m. to 5 p.m. the rest of the year). Admission is free; parking is $3, except Wednesdays when it is $1. Call 968-0074 for program information.
Another message-that people need to participate in conservation-is prominent at most outdoor museums. At Ryerson Conservation Area, the naturalist staff is devoted to teaching that lesson at an early age.
This is the former estate of steel magnate Edward L. Ryerson, who willed his fine Greek Revival cottage and the land around it to the Lake County Forest Preserve District in the 1970s. A river runs along the edge of the land.
Although some of the 550 acres has been farmed, the forests in this area
”are a little typical of what it was like before white settlers came here,” says site manager and naturalist Nan Buckardt.
A significant number of mature maples are here, indicating that the forest has gone undisturbed. Woodland and prairie wildflowers are in bloom in various seasons. And among the varied wildlife is a flourishing family of bluebirds, which had all but abandoned our area a few years ago.
Professional naturalists and others turn out yearly for the Smith Symposium, three weekends of workshops on various topics, including a session with the makers of a film on American eagles. Year-round, other courses are offered on natural history, nature art and other topics concerning
conservation.
But the main focus of the naturalists` work at Ryerson is to teach children ”how things (in nature) work, how they fit together, and how we fit into the natural world,” says Buckardt.
School groups learn about raccoons, fireflies, salamanders and other animals that are found on the property. Children are taught that the loss of even a single tree can change the humidity of the forest floor and threaten the lives of more delicate animals.
”We consider ourselves successful when preschoolers insist that their parents bring them back here,” says Buckardt. ”It shows that they have awareness.”
The Ryerson Conservation Area is at 21950 Riverwoods Rd., Deerfield. It is open daily from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. Admission is free. Call 948-7750 for program information.
Like all museums, Chicago`s outdoor museums relish high visitor counts. But more is not necessarily better. Part of the enjoyment of outdoor museums is their serenity.
”It is important that we don`t turn ourselves into a social service agency (like a public park),” says Roy Taylor of the Botanic Garden. ”What we have to address is: What is the quality of the experience of people who come here?”
