BY CAROL BECKER

Hoerr’s fall season designs combine native grasses, very large structural plants, and typical seasonal annuals. Credit: Steven Gierke.
Back home in Chicago, Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects finished its 20-year run on the avenue in 2013. CDOT has taken over the median plantings, blending horticulture with art in a project conceived by CDOT senior landscape architect Kris Sorich, Associate ASLA, and designed by the landscape architect Pamela Self, ASLA. Self used detailed analysis of the colors, shapes, texture, and layering in Chicago artist Phyllis Bramson?s work to design the 2016 median planters. The result is a design that mirrors Bramson?s artistic style and reflects bright color, layered textures, and a touch of the unexpected?elements first introduced into the planting designs by Doug Hoerr in 1993. The Michigan Avenue Streetscape has, over the years, lived up to Hoerr?s vision and the demands of a high-density, busy central city environment. Plants here are surrounded by concrete, noise, and vehicles; they?re punished by hot sun in summer and heavily salted snow in winter. Before CDOT began using barricades to protect them in times of celebration, they were also trampled by fans welcoming home the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks or partying with Oprah Winfrey. Facing all these challenges, the medians did so well they became famous. They please residents. They attract shoppers and visitors. They offer shelter and food for birds and b...