Jackson Park cherry blossoms nearing 2025 peak bloom in Chicago
The Chicago Park District said there have been 20 new cherry blossom trees planted at Jackson Park since the last full bloom in 2020.
The trees are expected to reach full bloom by the end of April. The park district said most of the trees have moved into bud stage four, and full blossoms are expected in five to 10 days.
The trees on the south end of the park, including the oldest "mother tree," have already reach stage five to six, which is when many, if not nearly all, of the buds have opened and the tree is in bloom.
Most of the other pink blossom trees are at stage four, in which buds are opening and flowers are becoming visible, approaching stage five, depending on their proximity to the water in the Columbia Basin, the park district said.
Most of the white "snow goose" trees are in stages two to three in which their buds are just beginning to open, according to the park district.
The cherry blossoms' full bloom is spectacular but short; full bloom lasts only three to five days, depending on the weather. Then the flower petals will start to fall.
The first batch of Jackson Park's cherry blossom trees were planted in 2013, commemorating the 120th anniversary of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Another 50 trees were added in the following three years by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Chicago in honor of the 50th anniversary of the relationship between Chicago and Japan.
The park district planted 34 more cherry blossom trees bordering the Museum of Science and Industry steps in 2022, but it will likely take several seasons for them to acclimate and begin blooming.
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Chicago Tribune
24-06-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Column: From Promontory Point to the lily pool in Lincoln Park, have you visited the creations of Alfred Caldwell?
We've had a lot of architects in this town, some of them — Daniel Burnham, Louis Sullivan, Jeanne Gang and on and on — rising in notoriety and star-status equal in the civic celestial realm to ballplayers and politicians and mobsters. But one who does not consistently reach such heights is Alfred Caldwell. Though he worked closely with famous collaborators and mentors — Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Jens Jensen — he was something of a cantankerous sort, and landscape architects, which he was, were then rarely accorded the stature of their contemporaries, those who designed buildings, and often exercised their self-promotional skills. Still, he created here and elsewhere some of the most stunning and life-affirming spaces in this land. He lived what the late architecture critic and newspaperman M.W. 'Bill' Newman called a 'thundering life,' and my friend, the Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic for this paper Blair Kamin, now retired, wrote, 'Anyone who expected him to always be a nice man talking sweetly about flowers was in for a rude awakening.' But he made masterpieces. I have long been an admirer of Caldwell, growing up within easy walking distance of one of his creations. It is at the northern end of the Lincoln Park Zoo, a three-acre oasis of trees, limestone paths and a meandering pool, what Caldwell called 'a cool, refreshing, clear place of trees and stone and running water.' Created in 1936, with Caldwell using some of the money from cashing in his own $250 life insurance policy, it was a bird sanctuary and first known as the Zoorockery. It had fallen on hard times by the 1990s, until a beautiful renovation. In the wake of Caldwell's death on July 3, 1998, it was renamed, fittingly, the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool. Now, many others, especially South Siders, might prefer his Promontory Point. That's the man-made peninsula constructed of landfill in the late 1930s and jutting into Lake Michigan at 55th Street. It has thick groves of trees and shrubs surrounding a central meadow and a seawall made of limestone blocks arranged in a series of steps leading to a promenade. It is just what Caldwell wanted: 'A place you go to and you're thrilled — a beautiful experience, a joy and delight.' Few people know as much about Caldwell, or admire him more, than Julia Bachrach. She is a historian and parks expert, an author (including 2001's terrific 'The City in a Garden: A Photographic History of Chicago's Parks') and consultant in private practice. She is busier than ever since retiring from the Chicago Park District after nearly three decades in 2017. She is also the author of the National Historic Landmark listing for Caldwell's Lily Pool, as well as the recent National Register nomination for Promontory Point. She lives in Chicago, but will soon be on her way to Dubuque, that delightful Iowa river city where, Friday and Saturday, she will be part of a symposium organized by Heritage Works Dubuque. Titled 'The Prairie School Legacy in Iowa' it will also feature John Waters from the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy and Paul Kruty of the University of Illinois. 'People who know and follow Wright know that he designed a number of Prairie School houses in Iowa,' Bachrach told me. 'But they are kind of spread out. A person can come to Chicago and in one day see an awful lot of Wright homes. That's not true in Iowa, where you have to move around.' We talked a bit about the very well known Wright and she then began to explain how it was that Caldwell, with his wife Virginia and their baby Carol, came to move from Chicago to Dubuque, and how he worked day and night with some untrained locals during the Depression to build Eagle Point Park, dotted by what Bill Newman called 'enchanted park buildings.' Caldwell's whole life was lived on the edge. He once said, 'The Depression made me belligerent and I have been belligerent ever since.' That's just some of what Bachrach will be talking about later this week, as well as explaining some newly-discovered details about the history and design of Eagle Point Park and the city's plans to preserve it. 'It is just magnificent, sitting on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi,' she said. There will be guided tours of the park and Wright's Walter House in Quasqueton, Iowa. If you are staying close to Chicago, know that the Lily Pool is closed these days, as it undergoes another renovation. Bachrach's best guess is that it will be open on July 11, meaning there will be a lot of summer left in which to see it. Promontory Point is there for the strolling.
Chicago Tribune
15-05-2025
- Chicago Tribune
How ‘love story' between piping plovers Monty and Rose unfolded in Chicago — and how their legacy lives on
Their story was filled with drama, anchored by hope and, depending on who you asked, one ultimately about love. But it was never going to last forever. Monty, one half of Chicago's endangered Great Lakes piping plover pair, died on May 13, 2022, at Montrose Beach. It was his fourth summer in the North Side sand. He was still waiting on the return of his mate, Rose. The endangered shorebird pair chose Montrose Beach as their summer nesting spot, going on to break records, fledge chicks and serve as symbols for a city as hopeful and hardscrabble as two birds, individually weighing less than a stick of butter, who picked an urban beach to save their species. 'It's a comeback story because they went way down in population and then they came back. It's a great story of conservation,' said Patricia O'Donnell, a monitor for the plovers. 'But I got to tell you — it's a love story.' Here's how their story unfolded along the Lake Michigan coast — and how their legacy lives on still. It was a busy first summer for the piping plovers in Chicago, where they weathered a flooded home and 4th of July fireworks, dodged volleyball players and hungry dogs, chased away a great blue heron, upended a music festival and even faced the death of one of their own. Monty and Rose, along with their two successfully fledged chicks left Montrose Beach at the end of the summer. Banners with 'Thank you, Chicago!' were up near the birds' summer home, and the fenced-off area was again open to the public. The rest of the chicks' lives may be a mystery: The siblings were never banded so they won't be easily tracked now that they're gone. But, said Carl Giometti, of the Chicago Ornithological Society, 'Who knows? Maybe next year we'll see an unbanded plover running around Montrose.' After wintering far away from Lake Michigan, Monty and Rose, the federally endangered piping plovers who fledged two chicks last summer on Montrose Beach, have each flown across the country to end up together again on the same patch of Chicago sand. This year, the plovers — now weighing about a half stick of butter each — arrived on the same day, hours apart, and settled on an empty beach. They got to work fledging three chicks, a big deal for small birds once down to about a dozen nesting pairs. Chicago naturalist and longtime Montrose Beach Dunes steward Leslie Borns said the birds' return was validation of what the stewardship program and the Park District have been able to accomplish. 'To think that Monty and Rose survived the winter and their long spring migration and returned to this one place along the entire Lake Michigan coast!' Borns said in an email. 'I am over the moon.' After two seasons of summering on Chicago's North Side, Monty and Rose may be flying back to an upgraded summer home. The Chicago Park District has signed off on a habitat expansion of the Montrose dunes natural area, part of the beach where a pair of endangered Great Lakes piping plovers escaped a music festival, lost a clutch of eggs, fought off other birds and successfully fledged chicks two summers in a row. Word began to spread about their long-awaited return. 'It's like your kids coming back from college,' said Tamima Itani, of the Illinois Ornithological Society and a leader in Chicago's plover effort. But tragedy struck when Monty died. 'He was observed gasping for air before dropping and passing away,' Itani said. 'Monty and Rose captured our hearts in a way very few beings do. Monty will be very sorely missed.' A local celebrity appeared at Montrose Beach. Imani, son of Chicago's beloved piping plovers Monty and Rose, was spotted on a quiet stretch of sand favored by shorebirds. He ate, took a bath at sunset, preened his white and dove-gray feathers, and fed some more. A local birder took a photo that showed distinctive silver, purple and orange bands on the visitor's legs, according to Itani. 'It's definitely Imani,' Itani said. What this means for piping plovers, which are endangered in the Great Lakes region, and for Imani, who spent six lonely weeks at Montrose Beach last summer, still isn't clear. Our diminutive hero, at a little more than a year and a half, is old enough for a mate, but there are only about 250 piping plovers summering around the Great Lakes, and many are already paired off. Chicago's lovebird has returned. Imani, son of the city's cherished piping plovers Monty and Rose, returned to the sands of Lake Michigan. A birder spotted him at the Montrose Beach Dunes, a 15.9-acre protected natural area at the southernmost point of the beach. Last summer, Imani also returned to the beach in late April 25. 'I wasn't expecting him to be back precisely on the 25th, it's just that impressive,' Itani said. 'And in typical Imani fashion, he didn't waste any time chasing killdeer off his turf.' Birdwatchers saw the tiny bird in a standoff with one of the larger plovers, after which the killdeer flew away. Imani reclaimed his summer home — and he's was flourishing. A beloved Chicago mom celebrated a special day over the weekend with a return to Montrose Beach. Her name is Searocket and she is partner and co-parent to Imani — the piping plover son of local celebrity pair Monty and Rose — who had returned to his summering spot on Montrose Beach three weeks ago and anxiously awaited her return. Finally, she joined him, just in time for their second nesting season. 'We're just so excited that Searocket is back. Happy Mother's Day to her,' Itani said. 'We're so glad to have a mother back in our midst.' The female plover comes home to competitive piping plover dating scene: In addition to Imani, Montrose has welcomed 2-year-old Pippin, a returning male from Green Bay, Wisconsin, and two other males, originally from Michigan, that were passing by
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Yahoo
Construction underway at Gompers Park amid ongoing safety concerns
CHICAGO (WGN) — Gompers Park has proven problematic for Northwest Side residents over the past several months. Planned construction is underway, but other issues are still presenting a problem. 'The residents of Mayfair have every right to feel upset,' Ald. Samantha Nugent said, whose ward encompasses Gompers Park. 'They are the last ones to be heard now on issues affecting them day to day As of early Monday evening, no tents appeared to be set up in Gompers Park, but that's due to a large construction project that was set into motion earlier in the day. On Monday morning, city crews arrived to clear any tents or encampments from where construction was set to begin on relining the park's lagoon and building an acorn-shaped play area. 'It's an acorn that they are going to make with a pliable wood. It allows children to have a lot of free play and use their imagination,' Nugent said. While no tents were set up in Gompers Park as of Monday evening, there were tents seen across Pulaski Road in Eugene Field Park. In a statement released to WGN News, the Chicago Park District said it will continue to collaborate with the City on finding amicable means to resettle tent inhabitants. 'Residents (as in, those who lived in the tent encampment) were asked to relocate to another area of the park by Sunday, May 11th to allow construction to begin Park District will continue to work with DFSS and other service organizations to connect residents with resources, including housing.' There have been previous efforts from the city to house people who set up camp in the park, which city officials have called actions taken as part of an 'Accelerated Moving Event' that began back in March. City agencies showed up and offered housing services to anyone who wanted them, but some of those living in the Gompers Park tent encampment refused, due to available shelters being located in other areas of Chicago. WGN News has documented the ongoing situation at Gompers Park, where tent encampments have been a source of frustration for those who live nearby. There have been reports of fires, drinking, drug-related incidents and even dog attacks in the park, causing safety concerns that the local athletic association cited as reasons to move youth baseball and softball games to other Chicago parks. Delay of Gompers Park homeless encampment removal prompts little league to move games from park 'We had 36 calls to the fire department within a 12-month period,' Nugent said. 'At one point, we had two fires within six days out of this encampment.' In California, Gov. Gavin Newsome has unveiled a blueprint for dealing with tent encampments, and while the encampments in Chicago are illegal in code, Nugent said she has yet to hear plans from the city on how to properly address them. 'The Chief Homelessness Officer is working on a plan to address homelessness? I have yet to see it,' Nugent said. More info: Tents still in place at Gompers Park weeks after moving event began The construction projects and updates at Gompers Park are set to last 3-4 months. Mayor Brandon Johnson's office and the Chicago Parks District have not responded to inquiries from WGN News on code enforcement at Chicago Parks. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
