Category: Gardens & Grounds

All posts related to the Gardens & Grounds

5 Questions: Q&A with Chris Pieters

It would be easy to bestow pity upon Chris Pieters, not that he’d ever want it. He joined Cantigny as food and beverage director in May 2017, just as Project New Leaf was getting under way. The project has made...

/ July 7, 2020

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...

/ June 26, 2020

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...

/ June 24, 2020

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 began in 2017, and among the very first actions was the draining of Gold Pond....

/ June 10, 2020

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...

/ May 20, 2020

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...

/ May 20, 2020

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...

/ May 11, 2020

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,...

/ April 24, 2020

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...

/ April 9, 2020

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...

/ April 9, 2020