Gerard T. Donnelly Grand Garden

Commemorating the first 100 years of the Morton Arboretum, the Gerard T. Donnelly Grand Garden was unveiled as a central attraction showcasing the beauty and diversity of plants alongside gathering spaces that include numerous water features, decorative pavers, and a trellis structure.

Providing civil engineering and landscape architecture services, Eriksson Engineering Associates, Ltd. (EEA) worked to design new watermains that feed water features, in addition to new storm sewers that extend throughout the garden for site drainage. Our landscape architecture team created a native planting plan for Firefly Pond, which was originally designed as a fire protection reservoir, to allow for a native vegetation stormwater management element.

During construction, EEA’s engineers worked closely with the Arboretum and the contractor to ensure proposed utility lines were aligned to avoid dozens of existing trees and their underlying root zones, ensuring as little harm as possible to existing vegetation within the garden.

The project team adhered to budget and schedule constraints while emphasizing and enhancing the site’s beautiful and serene aesthetic. To do so, EEA overcame significant challenges by working diligently with DuPage County to find cost effective and creative ways to meet stormwater requirements for the Grand Garden project, in addition to accounting for any future improvements.