Teresa's Garden Song: Historic Fern Room Construction Update

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Historic Fern Room Construction Update - Chicago's Garfield Park Conservatory

The historic Fern Room at Chicago's Garfield Park Conservatory is undergoing repairs and

Historic Fern Room At Garfield Park Conservatory

renovations after the 100+ year old roof was destroyed by Hail in July 2011. While the room was open after a temporary (plastic) roof was in place, only recently was the roof returned back to glass.
Currently (Fall 2014) the Fern room is undergoing redesign and replanting. The stone walls, originally placed by Jens Jensen, are all easily visible now as moss and liverwort have died back or been pulled away. The new design for the Fern Room will have more cycads and a wider diversity of ferns. It will also have no philodendrons climbing up the pillars. This will create a very different feeling!

Here is a photo of the Fern room from before the hails storm and then immediately afterwards. The removal of the glass from all the beds took lots of time. The process of restoring this historic room at the Garfield Park Conservatory has been ongoing for years. You can see my other posts about this wonderful place and the renovations.

Fern Room - July 2011, Post Hail Storm

Now take a look at the work in process of recreating this place of wonder and inspiration! These photos were taken in October 2014. Even with plants wrapped in burlap and open spaces - it still inspires me. What a uniquely challenging task to plan this space for generation to come.