Nurturing Native Landscape in Urban Spaces

All of the work that JJGE does follows in the tradition of the visionary landscape designer Jens Jensen. To learn more about Jensen himself, check out the links in our History section.  Below, we pull together information on the implications of Jensen's call to create a "living green" integrated with our urban life.   

​​​

The History and Tradition of Native Landscapes 
An excellent introduction to this is to be found in The Native Landscape Reader (Critical Perspectives in the History of Environmental Design, a collection curated by Bob Grese, a leading landscape architect, educator, and adviser to JJGE. 

​

Watch here to see a video of Bob Grese presenting some of these ideas at the Glencoe Public Library.

​

 

Useful Resources on Native Landscapes 

In Evanston, Leslie Shad and her co-conspirators at Natural Habitat Evanston have been leading the charge on this issue for some time. Their site has some quite useful resources.​

​​

Also nearby, we are delighted to know the folks at Citizens for Conservation in Barrington, who maintain  excellent resources on the subject.

​​

 

Other Jens Jensen Landscapes nearby

In Evanston, you will find the ​Shakespeare Garden.

​​

Up the coast in Kenilworth is Mahoney Park.

 

Still further north, in Door County, in a less urban setting The Clearing.

 

West of Chicago, in Lombard, is Lilacia Park. 

​

In Dearborn Michigan, you'll experience the excellent Jensen landscape that is part of The Henry Ford.

​​

And near that are the grounds of Fairlane, the Ford family estate.

​​

In the City of Chicago, there are countless examples of Jensen's vision, as he had a longstanding relationship with the Park District. One of the most fully realized of those is Columbus Park, which is also the subject of an excellent Parks Service article and curriculum.