Chicago Botanic Garden

The Chicago Botanic Garden is a 385 acre (1.56 km²) botanical garden in Glencoe, Illinois. It is located within the Cook County Forest Preserve District, a belt of more than 68,000 acres (275 km²) of open space that surrounds the city of Chicago, Illinois. It is open daily except Christmas Day. Admission is free; however, there is a substantial fee for parking a motor vehicle ($15.00 as of 2007). The gardens can also be reached using the Pace route #213 and Braeside Station on the Metra UP North Line is within easy walking distance. More than 750,000 entrants visited the garden in 2005.

The garden is operated by the Chicago Horticultural Society, founded 1890, for collections, education, and research. Its ground-breaking was in 1965, with the official opening in 1972. The address of the garden is 1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe IL 60022. The Chicago Botanic Garden is located minutes away from Ravinia Festval, a world class outdoor music theatre. The Green Bay Trail, which is a walking and bike path leads from the garden to the Ravinia business district.The business district includes stores and restaurants such as Happy Sushi, Ravinia Grill, Sloppy Jo's Lunchroom, Java Love, and Pierro's Pizza.

Today the garden contains some 2.2 million plants representing 8,310 taxa, displayed in landscape settings. One-third of the site is devoted to horticultural display; another third is native habitats; and the remaining third is lakes and facilities.