The Big One: A prominent project

Company: Moore Landscapes
Location: Chicago, Ill.

The Chicago Park District is one of the largest municipal park systems in the nation, with 8,800 acres of green space and 600 parks.

Moore Landscapes has been managing the Chicago Park District’s plantings and landscaping since 2004. For Jim Pearson, general manager of public works for Moore Landscapes, it’s been a new project every year.

“We’ve done all kinds of crazy things,” Pearson says.

Moore Landscapes is in charge of the mowing and maintenance of more than two dozen perennial and shrub gardens. The company also installs and maintains the irrigation and performs specialized fertilization for all plantings, which include roses, succulents, water and tropical plants.

In 2018, more than 68,000 annuals and tropical plants were installed in 18 different gardens, planters and window boxes throughout the city.

The account’s challenges include a constant amount of foot traffic in the parks. Crews have flexible schedules and often work off-hours.

Pearson says the project is a source of pride for the company. He adds that it’s a successful partnership that is built on communication.

“It isn’t about how the beds look; it’s about how we communicate with the park district,” Pearson says.

Moore Landscapes has secured the project through 2025. This project earned Moore Landscapes a 2019 Gold Award from the National Association of Landscape Professionals’ Award of Excellence program.

Photo: Moore Landscapes

More than 21,000 plants make up this 20,000-square-foot garden, which is divided into 12 separate beds outside the Lincoln Park Conservatory and at the west entrance to the Lincoln Park Zoo. This garden was created in the late 1800s as a formal French annual garden, and it has stayed that way. The design changes every year and new varieties of annuals are introduced into the design.

Photo: Moore Landscapes

The Historical Garden in Lincoln Park is primarily composed of naturalized perennials and shrubs that are planted for year-round color and interest.

Photo: Moore Landscapes

These beds are located on Michigan Avenue across from the Hilton Hotel at Logan Monument Garden in Grant Park. These beds are planted with flowering perennials and shrubs for yearlong color. All beds are hand watered and fertilized.

Photo: Moore Landscapes

Jackson Perennial Garden in Jackson Park was created for the World’s Fair in the 1890s. The limestone walls are still in place from the 1890s. This garden is also hand watered throughout the season and the perennials are surrounded by large crabapples planted in the 1950s.

Photo: Moore Landscapes

South Shore Park Cultural Center is a popular spot for the Chicago Park District to hold events and the public to have weddings and various receptions. The Cultural Center is surrounded by a public golf course and has traffic driving through and viewing the garden every day. These beds are below the level of the parking lots and driveway. When it rains, the garden floods. Special consideration to plant varieties are considered when selecting annuals.

Photo: Moore Landscapes

These sidewalk beds are located on Michigan Avenue just south of the Art Institute of Chicago in Grant Park. These beds were originally showcased as annual flower beds. When the Park District wanted to showcase designs using perennial grasses, 17 perennial grasses were chosen and planted in a flowing display of different shapes and colors. Two years ago, some of the varieties died off from an extremely cold winter and pollinator plants were incorporated into the beds.

Photo: Moore Landscapes

These planters Congress and Michigan Avenue in Congress Plaza in Grant Park. The plants in these planters are selected to handle tough city conditions such as high winds and high pedestrian traffic and because their car-stopping color offsets the stone surroundings.

Photo: Moore Landscapes

The design in Lincoln Park’s Great Garden represents the rays of the sun with the fountain in the middle of the park as the center. This photo shows how the plants are used to create the sun rays. It took the designer two days to paint the lines in all the beds per the ACAD design and three days for a 14-person crew to plant the garden.

Photo: Moore Landscapes

These entry beds are located just outside the DuSable Museum of African American History in Washington Park. The Sago palms and Bismarkia Palms are overwintered in the Lincoln Park Conservatory. They are carefully removed and taken in at the end of the season before the first frost.

Photo: Moore Landscapes

Humboldt Park Garden is located on the west side of Chicago in the middle of Humboldt Park. The bed contains more than 11,500 plants. The beds are redesigned each year, and all are hand watered. The flowers survive until mid- to late October.