By Jordan Mann
The New Elsie Jacobsen Discovery Garden recently opened just a few days before what would have been Jacobsen’s 101st birthday.
In the 1960’s the Conservatory had fallen into disrepair and the village was considering tearing it down. Jacobsen felt destroying the Conservatory would be a terrible waste. Her response was to start the “Save the Garfield Conservatory” campaign in 1970.
“She saved the conservatory so it seemed appropriate to name the garden after her”, stated Beth Cheng, Executive Director of Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory.
The garden is a beautiful 3000 square foot addition which the Park District of Oak Park started planning in back in 2008. The Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory launched a $200,000 fund raiser to bring the garden to fruition.
“The culmination of a joint vision that the Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory and the Park District have had for some time”, said Cheng, “to create an outdoor education and demonstration garden. A place where people of all ages can discover plants from different ecosystems.”
The garden has a wet zone, a dry zone, a woodland area and a sunny area. These areas are cleverly designed with different grow mediums and differing elevations to separate each zone to produce the different environments. There is also a water feature with a hand pump and small drainage system that leads into a 400 gallon underground cistern.
Patti Staley, Director of Horticulture of the Conservatory stated, “The re-purposed water is used to irrigate the new outdoor gardens around the Conservatory.”
The garden also offers a hands-on experience for visitors, “We encourage people to touch and explore the plants.” said Cheng. There is seating on boulders, conventional benches and a “[R]e-purposed Ash tree logs that had fallen victim to the Emerald Ash Borer” according to Staley. There are also some gardening toys for children to rake the gravel path.
A nook on the west side of the garden helps incorporate the garden into the enclosed greenhouse areas of the conservatory. The main window in the nook looks in on the carnivorous plants in the greenhouse.
The Oak Park Conservatory is located at 615 Garfield St., which is less than three miles from the CUC Campus. The Conservatory is open Monday from 2 to 4 pm and Tuesday through Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm, admission is free. Additional information can be found at www.oakparkconservatory.org. Information about Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory can be found at www.fopcon.org.
