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CityEscape

3022 W. Lake St., Garfield Park

This West Side flora site transports visitors to a French provincial Narnia with carefully curated selections.

Gethsemane

5739 N. Clark St., Edgewater

Sitting like a country house at the northern gateway to Andersonville, Chicago’s nearly 50-year-old plant and supplies store still charms.
Seedling story

In 2003, Connie Rivera opened a small market in the back of nearby Garfield Park Conservatory before expanding into her own location three years later.

Owner Regas Chefas began the biz as a seasonal venture, selling pumpkins and Christmas trees in 1977.
Lay of the land
Beneath the 19,000-square-foot conservatory’s vaulted ceiling, it’s desert plants here, tropical flora there, and designer housewares everywhere. It sprawls across multiple lots, full of flowers, vegetables, trees, and fountains. Its midsize greenhouse connects to a gift shop with everything from Chicago merch to fine French linens.
Gardener’s choice
Increasingly popular Japanese maples, says Rivera, “are great in urban areas because they stay on the smaller side, and their fall color is beautiful.” “Get fruit trees while they’re here in April and May,” advises marketing manager Tucker Curts. He recommends the Chicago Hardy Fig, “so named because it can survive our winters.”
Indoor colossus
The giant cacti and succulents may make you believe you’ve landed in Joshua Tree National Park (up to $400). Cats love lounging beneath the Thai Constellation monstera (starting at $1,200), a six-foot leafy canopy.
Beyond the green

Rivera travels the world to source antiques to sell, including 20th-century Swiss vases by designer Willy Guhl and 17th-century lebrillo bowls from Granada, Spain ($1,500 to $3,800).

What better garden guardian than Awakening, a cast stone statue of a figure emerging from nature ($197)?

Photography: (CityEscape) Marty Regan; (Gethsemane) Courtesy of Gethsemane Garden Center; (statue) Courtesy of Campania