"A park should be a place of natural scenery......to find needed rest and comfort."  Jens Jensen (designer of the Conservatory)

Jensen knew what he was talking about, and a recent visit to the Garfield Park Conservatory offered a warm retreat from the icy Chicago winter. These are "little whimsies", as Lorado Taft described the figures in his sculptures flanking the entrance to the Fern Room.

 Lorado Taft's sculpture 'Idyl'.

"It was my intention merely to make something graceful and appropriate for the greenhouse, something that would add to the impression of fairyland which strikes all visitors in that wonderful place." Taft, 1913

The Holiday Flower Show is still holding court in the Show Room, with poinsettias of every hue and stripe. 

 Blue butterflies dance in the Children's Garden.

 Leaves soak up sun,

 and stepping stones in the foot path remind us what's really going on.

That energy can be easily absorbed by visitors to the Conservatory, where a stroll through the tropical foliage provides the perfect antidote to the endless grey of January.