Chicago

In Ottawa in summer, spreading trees shade the walking paths along the rivers and canal that wind their away through the city.  Throughout the city, parks are green islands of lawn with benches for resting under trees.  And dotting the city streets are wide planters filled with colorful foliage and sprinkled with flowers.

Near our our hotel, plants with colorful foliage are planted in low concrete planters.

Elephant ears, coleus and impatiens make a cheerful arrangement.

A foursquare of concrete planters fill up this wide span of pavers.  Strappy black foliage underplanted with rounded orange flowers add drama.


This brought to mind the container gardens in downtown Chicago, where I visited in late fall two years ago.

 

 

On Sunday morning, we met family for Mass at Holy Name Cathedral downtown.  In Chicago in early December, the trees along the street had already lost their leaves.

Flowers and foliage were in short supply, but near the Cathedral, large containers were decorated with a mix of cut pine and spruce, and twigs from deciduous trees.

In the alcove of a business building, four grey containers filled with red and green reminded pedestrians that Christmas was coming.

The wind was cold and damp in Chicago and it cut through our coats, yet a single rose bloomed in a small garden along a city street.

Cold or not, when I heard the song of a brown sparrow, it made me smile.