Planning Archives - North Shore Channel Habitat Project

Civic Center Habitat Garden, flourishing two years after planting

What a difference two years make

The Civic Center Habitat Garden marked its second anniversary this month. What started out as a weedy lawn has been transformed through good planning and hard work into a flourishing oasis for birds and pollinators. More than sixty species of plants ...

5 years ago

Visualize green

With landscapes drained of color and temperatures plummeting, this is an ideal time to start planning for spring....

5 years ago

Climate action from the ground up

Evanston City Council voted unanimously to adopt an ambitious Climate Action & Resilience Plan that makes Evanston the first city in Illinois to commit to achieving carbon neutrality. ...

5 years ago

Plant lists for armchair gardeners

Lists of native plants in Evanston's Ladd Arboretum and Civic Center Habitat Garden, with notes on bird and pollinator value, are useful resources for home gardeners. ...

6 years ago

Judy Pollock ponders a buckthorn thicket

What goes and what stays?

The overlook deck at Harbert Park has been cleaned and repaired, and we’re ready to start preparing the site around it for planting this fall. What will we do when volunteers arrive tomorrow morning? In a setting like this, some things are obvi...

7 years ago

Great blue lobelia in bloom in the Civic Center Demonstration Garden

Finding inspiration in the Civic Center Demonstration Garden

Home gardeners and landscapers looking for inspiration will find plenty in the garden that is now coming into its own in front of the Morton Civic Center. The garden demonstrates landscaping principles that take into account the timing of migratory b...

7 years ago

Getting ready to order trees and shrubs

Site stewards have begun sourcing trees and shrubs for fall planting in the Ladd Arboretum and Twiggs and Harbert Parks, working with bird conservation expert Judy Pollock and a master plant list for the channel-side sites developed by Living Habita...

7 years ago

What are those plants in front of the Civic Center?

The new garden in front of the Civic Center demonstrates principles of bird-friendly landscape design. Plantings are layered—including tall trees, understory trees and shrubs, and wildflowers—and plant selection takes into account the timing of m...

7 years ago

Concept plan for fall planting in the Ladd Arboretum

Selecting new plants for the arboretum

Even as we continue clearing invasives in the Ladd Arboretum, it’s time to order the plants that will go in this fall. The stewards who have been working on the site are bringing to the task their collective knowledge of native plants, restor...

7 years ago

Turf removed in front of Civic Center, ready for planting

Turf grass removed to make way for native garden

City crews have prepared for installation of a demonstration garden in front of the Civic Center near the corner of Ridge and Leonard Place. A layered selection of native trees, shrubs, grasses, and flowers has been designed to support birds, butterf...

7 years ago