Norfolk Master Gardeners
830 Southampton Ave., Ste 2069
Norfolk, Virginia 23510-1045
Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired Gardens
I traveled to Oak Park, Illinois recently to see the world’s largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright-designed buildings – 25 of them. These early 20th-century wonders are fascinating. And so are the Wright-inspired gardens and plant-filled urns that go with them.
Wright (1867-1959) grew up in the prairies of southwestern Wisconsin. His appreciation for fields of wheat and wildflowers influenced the 1,000 structures he designed during his seven-decade career.
Oak Park is where Wright made his early mark on architecture between 1889 and 1909. His stone, wood and brick buildings harmonize with their environment. Yellow walls mimic prairie grass colors, and stained-glass windows feature stylized tulips and hollyhocks as they frame the plants growing outside.
Wright moved to Chicago in 1887 at age 20 to start his architecture career. Jarred by the growing city, he found solace 10 miles away in rural Oak Park. He designed his first house there on a former plant nursery site and moved his family into it in 1889. Wright valued the property’s oak, tulip, hawthorn, and ginkgo trees and positioned his wood-shingled home to blend in with the landscape along newly paved Forest Avenue. In 1898, he added an office next door for his growing firm – incorporating a willow tree into the passageway that connected it to his home.
Today, several trees from Wright’s era flourish on the property – most notably huge ginkgo and hawthorn trees. Wright’s giant concrete urns burst with heliotrope, sweet potato vines, red fountain grass, and bacopa. Restored gardens around his home include snowball bushes, viburnum, and lilacs.
Guided tours take you through Wright’s former home and studio plus the nearby Unity Temple he designed. On self-guided walking tours an audio device highlights the exteriors of eight nearby Wright-designed homes nestled among ornate Victorian houses not designed by Wright. His homes look modern today and often feature built-in urns and window boxes cascading with plants.
There is a horticultural treat three blocks away from Wright’s home and studio – Austin Gardens. This 3.65-acre oasis boasts 285 trees and outdoor art on land donated by the Austin family in 1947 to become a permanent park. A Frank Lloyd Wright bust perches on a rock outside this woodland habitat planted in 1970. Benches and winding paths beckon visitors to admire the beauty of Joe Pye weed and shade-loving plants.
Throughout Oak Park, giant Wright-inspired urns along city streets showcase a riot of colorful plants. The city also is home to the Oak Park Conservatory built in 1929 to showcase exotic plants residents brought home from their travels. Concerned citizens saved the glass conservatory from the wrecking ball a few decades ago. It was renovated and boasts 3,000 plants in its Mediterranean, tropical and desert rooms and outdoors in two display gardens.
If you go:
The Frank Lloyd Wright Trust offers paid tours of Wright’s home and studio and Unity Temple. Walking tours include audio devices for walking tours of nearby homes Wright designed that are privately owned. https://flwright.org/tours/oak-park
Austin Gardens is open daily from dawn to 10 p.m. and is free. https://pdop.org/parks-facilities/location/austin-gardens/
Oak Park Conservatory is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is free. https://pdop.org/oakparkconservatory/
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