All posts related to the Gardens & Grounds
Category: Gardens & Grounds
Project Update, Summer 2020
Summer at the park is not what we pictured just a few months ago. COVID-19 has changed our daily operations in so many ways. We’re happy to be open again on a limited basis but we miss not being able...
Aqua Show!
Throughout Project New Leaf, one of the most anticipated elements has been the new fountain, the crown jewel and centerpiece of the gardens located east of the Cantigny Visitors Center. The Fountain Garden is also among the first Phase II...
5 Questions: Q&A with Todd Henderson
Project New Leaf, as we learned in the previous “5 Questions” with Joe Hibbard, began in 2014. But that was on paper. The physical work started in 2017, and among the very first actions was the draining of Gold Pond....
5 Questions: Q&A with Joe Hibbard
Joe Hibbard is a landscape architect with the Boston office of Sasaki Associates, a planning and design firm with international operations. In 2014, Cantigny retained Sasaki to develop a property “master plan” that became Project New Leaf. Hibbard’s expertise in...
Renewing the McCormick Allée
In the 1930s, when Robert R. McCormick expanded his Cantigny home with spacious east and west wings, he applied an equally grand idea to the mansion’s southern landscape. An avenue or “allée” was planted: two parallel rows of American Elms...
5 Questions: Q&A with Scott Witte
Scott Witte became director of horticulture at Cantigny Park in 2018, one year after Project New Leaf began. He was previously director of agronomy (superintendent) at Cantigny Golf, where he served 23 years. Witte holds a bachelor’s degree in Crop...
5 Questions: Q&A with Tom Featherstone
Project New Leaf was announced to the public in February 2017. One month later, Cantigny selected Featherstone, Inc. as project manager. The firm, based in Downers Grove, coordinates and oversees all aspects of the project, including planning, budget estimating, bidding,...
Project Update, Spring 2020
Despite the current health crisis, there’s a feeling of great anticipation here at Cantigny. With winter behind us, we’re glad to be back outside and working again! That said, COVID-19 is slowing our progress a bit as we follow the...
Creating a “Logarium”
Don’t look now, but the Cantigny Horticulture team is up to some shady business. The team is applying old tree stumps and large branches to create a new botanic attraction, opening later this year. Instead of carting away the dead...
Little Mermaid All Shined Up
Some things at Cantigny are simply iconic. The McCormick House north portico. The WWI “doughboy” outside the Visitors Center. The Dick Tracy bunker at Cantigny Golf. Another strong candidate for icon status is the mermaid statue in the mansion’s south...