Garfield Park Conservatory Garfield Park Conservatory
Garfield Park Conservatory Garfield Park Conservatory
Garfield Park Conservatory Garfield Park Conservatory
Garfield Park Conservatory Garfield Park Conservatory

Visiting Garfield Park Conservatory

Explore display houses and outdoor gardens where plants are accessible, understandable and fun during your visit to the Garfield Park Conservatory. Exclusive arts, plants, gifts and books are available in the Garfield Park Conservatory Gift Shop. 

Display Houses

Aroid House

Step into the Aroid House. At its core is a Persian Pool with yellow lily pads surrounding a serene lagoon created by world renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly. Encircling the Persian Pool is a variety of aroids that every indoor gardener will recognize.

Desert House

Discover fascinating forms, the promise of brilliant, short-lived flowers and their ability to withstand harsh and dry conditions. Within the Desert House you will find one of the region’s most varied collections of cacti and succulents ranging in size from tiny living stone plants to large pencil trees.

Fern Room

See what Illinois looked like millions of years ago in the Chicago conservatory’s Fern Room. Created by Jens Jensen in 1906, the Fern Room features ferns, rocky outcroppings and an indoor lagoon. Highlighted in the Fern Room are cycads, ancient cone-bearing plants.

Horticulture Hall

Horticulture Hall regularly hosts flower shows and is considered one of the top ten venues in Chicago. While twinkling lights lure visitors in during the winter, fragrant, brightly-colored flowers is what draws visitors during the spring and summer.

Palm House

A tropical paradise featuring palm trees intermingled with a variety of other towering tropic plants awaits you in Garfield Park Conservatory’s Palm House. Of particular importance is the Palm House’s Sheelea Palm, one of the largest of its kind in any conservatory in the nation.

Show House

During the spring, summer and winter you can delight in spectacular flower shows in the Show House. All plant materials displayed in the shows are grown at the Conservatory.

Sugar From the Sun

Sugar From the Sun is four exotic botanical environments. Wander the unique spaces and discover how plants capture sunlight and use it to change small parts of air and water into sugar, the energy that sustains life on Earth.

Outdoor Gardens at the Garfield Conservatory

City Garden

Behind the Garfield Park Conservatory, City Garden beautifully blends hardy plantings, garden “communities” and recycled bits of cityscape. As you wander deeper into the garden, it becomes clearer its urban greening is explored through multiple mediums, from its structures to its materials and plantings. Additionally the City Garden provides an important link in an ever-growing web of boulevards, gardens and open spaces scattered beyond its borders.

Demonstration Garden

Be sure to visit Garfield Park Conservatory’s Demonstration Garden, a beautiful city-lot-sized working garden where you can learn about community and organic gardening in Chicago. Theme areas within the garden illustrate urban agriculture, beekeeping, composting and other techniques used to grow food, the community and beauty in city spaces.

Monet Garden

See an interpretation of Claude Monet’s renowned garden in Giverny, France. Monet Garden was originally created as an indoor display for the 2000 Flower and Garden Show at Navy Pier and later moved to Garfield Park Conservatory. Highlights of Monet Garden include espaliered fruit trees, the wisteria standards and a picnic area beneath crab apple trees.  

Shopping at the Conservatory Gift Shop

Stop by Garfield Park Conservatory’s Gift Shop. Hand-crafted botanical arts made with real specimens from the conservatory’s plant collection; potted plants from the conservatory’s Desert House, Aroid Room and other exhibits; jewelry; books and toys; posters and stationery; and Garfield Park Conservatory’s exclusive blend of ground coffee are available to purchase. Additionally, the Conservatory Gift Shop sells a selection of sandwiches, salads, desserts and beverages.

Travel Tip

- Do not forget your camera. Visitors are welcome to take personal photographs at the Garfield Park Conservatory.