2026 Convention – Trips
Chicagoland Celebrates 75 Years of The Gesneriad Society
June 28 to July 4, 2026
SUNDAY, JUNE 28 – Bus Tour of Chicago Attractions
Our first stop is the Garfield Park Conservatory, one of the nation’s largest and most stunning botanical conservatories that is often is referred to as “landscape art under glass.” The eight conservatory gardens include the Palm House, which is the largest room at 65 ft high and 90 ft wide. The Desert House contains one of the region’s most varied collections of cacti and succulents. The Aroid House includes the “Persian Pool” that features 16 yellow lily pads created by the world-acclaimed glass artist Dale Chihuly. There is also a Fern Room, Horticulture Hall, Show House, Children’s Garden, and the Sugar from the Sun Garden. The 10 acres of outdoor gardens include the City Garden, Demonstration Garden, Bluestone Terrace, Sensory Garden and Artist’s Garden.
Next you have a choice of visiting either the Art Institute of Chicago or Navy Pier with an optional riverboat cruise featuring the architectural history of Chicago. The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. Lunch there is on your own. For those choosing to visit Navy Pier, lunch is on your own there. After lunch, those who chose to cruise will gather to take the narrated scenic 90-minute cruise on the Chicago River downtown. If you wish to simply stroll down Navy Pier to see the many attractions, that also is an option. The groups at the Navy Pier and at the Art Institute will again board the bus to enjoy some other iconic Chicago public art around Millenium Park. The bus will make photo stops to see Cloud Gate (“The Bean”) and the Buckingham Fountain before heading back to our hotel.
MONDAY, JUNE 29 – Visiting Chicago Botanic Garden and Pesche Nursery
With 27 spectacular gardens on 385 acres, the Chicago Botanic Garden is a place of ever-changing beauty. Ride a complimentary 35-minute narrated tram tour to get acquainted with the garden’s history and science. The greenhouses display beautiful and fragrant flowering plants, rare plants, edible plants, utilitarian plants, seasonal plants, and houseplants from around the world. You may also choose to visit the rose garden, bonsai area, and the waterfall garden. It is suggested to allow 2-3 hours to visit the entire garden. Several other smaller venues are also located throughout the garden grounds.
If you decide that you would like to stay longer, you can easily book a rideshare for the 15-minute ride back to the hotel later that afternoon. We will leave the garden at 1 p.m. and stop at our hotel to drop anyone off who prefers to rest or get ready for the board meeting later in the day. The bus will take the remaining participants to the nearby Pesche Flower and Garden Center to see their air-conditioned very large indoor area with gesneriads and other plants, as well as cut flowers and many garden supplies. They also have a very large outdoor area. After about an hour, we will return to the hotel.
TUESDAY, JUNE 30 – Trips to Orchids by Hausermann and Morton Arboretum
Our first stop will be Orchids by Hausermann that has been in business since 1920 and is one of the oldest and largest orchid growers in the USA. They have a very large set of greenhouses with many orchids as well as other plants, including gesneriads, for sale. Next, we are off to the Morton Arboretum. A guide will join us on our air-conditioned bus for the one-hour tour with historical information about the arboretum. We will stop back at the visitor center where there are gardens with paved paths. In the visitor center there is a very large gift shop and a place to get a snack or grab-and-go lunch. We will then return to our bus for the ride back to our hotel in time for lunch there.