Chicago Botanic Garden

Explore the Garden

Waterfall Garden

Water has been used in garden design for centuries. Both its sound and its motion provide a lively contrast to the serenity of garden landscapes, as the Waterfall Garden dramatically demonstrates.

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The Waterfall Garden provides a unique setting to demonstrate the seasonal adaptation of nearly 26,000 plants and trees. A 45-foot waterfall cascades down a hillside into a series of small landscaped pools. The steep slopes offer plant material perfect drainage, and the trees and shrubs lining the stepped paths recall those of a mountainous stream.

Shade-loving perennials accompany pendulous plants, weeping conifers, and other plants displaying cascading habits. The top of the garden affords beautiful views across the lake.

Find out what's in bloom now.