Designed by GGN (Gustafson Guthrie Nichol), Piet Oudolf, and Robert Israel,[3] it opened on July 16, 2004.

[7][8] For visitors, the garden features guided walks, lectures, interactive demonstrations, family festivals and picnics.

The light plate, which includes no trees, represents the city's future with sun-loving perennials that thrive in the heat and the sun.

[10] Lying between Lake Michigan to the east and the Loop to the west, Grant Park has been Chicago's front yard since the mid 19th century.

Its northwest corner, north of Monroe Street and the Art Institute, east of Michigan Avenue, south of Randolph Street, and west of Columbus Drive, had been Illinois Central rail yards and parking lots until 1997, when it was made available for development by the city as Millennium Park.

[9] In 1836, a year before Chicago was incorporated,[13] the Board of Canal Commissioners held public auctions for the city's first lots.

Foresighted citizens, who wanted the lakefront kept as public open space, convinced the commissioners to designate the land east of Michigan Avenue between Randolph Street and Park Row (11th Street) "Public Ground—A Common to Remain Forever Open, Clear and Free of Any Buildings, or Other Obstruction, whatever.

"[14] Grant Park has been "forever open, clear and free" since, protected by legislation that has been affirmed by four previous Illinois Supreme Court rulings.

In 1900, the Illinois Supreme Court concluded that all landfill east of Michigan Avenue was subject to dedications and easements.

[20] In 1909, when he sought to prevent the construction of the Field Museum of Natural History in the center of the park, the courts affirmed his arguments.

[23] The "shoulder" hedge, which serves as the northern edge of the garden, also fills the space next to the void of the great lawn of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion.

[24] Seattle-based landscape architecture firm GGN and Israel, a renowned lighting and set designer,[7] determined the thematic concepts such as the placement of paths and the shapes of perennial beds.

[26] In addition to the Carl Sandburg symbolism, the western hedge also forms a topiary referring to greek mythology.

[7] It traces the angle of a historic subterranean seawall that remains beneath the site and used to be the boundary between the marshy Lake Michigan shoreline and the city.

[9] The entire garden slopes downward to present itself for the new Renzo Piano Modern Wing addition to the Art Institute of Chicago Building.

[26] There were complaints that the construction of the Nichols Bridgeway clutters the picturesque view of Lurie Gardens and in so doing diminishes its prairie aspect.

[28] The seasonal highlights are as follows: Spring highlights include - Star of Persia, Arkansas Blue Star, Wild White Indigo, Quamash, Shooting Star, Prairie Smoke, Virginia Bluebells, Herbaceous Peony, Phlomis, Meadow Sage, Burnet, and Tulip; Summer highlights include - Giant Hyssop, Ornamental Onion, Butterfly Weed, Purple Lance Astilbe, Calamint, Rusty Foxglove, Pale Coneflower, Daylily, White Blazing Star, Bee Balm, Oregano, and Culver's Root; Fall/Winter highlights include - Japanese Anemone, White Wood Aster, Northern Sea Oats, Tennessee Coneflower, Purple Love Grass, Rattlesnake Master, Bottle Gentian, Common Eulalia Grass, Red Switch Grass, Little Bluestem, Prairie Dropseed, and Toad Lily.

[33] The wide variety of plant life has lured dozens of cottontail rabbits to the Garden and the surrounding park.

[1] The dark plate's perennials include ferns, angelicas and other broad-leaved species, with a scattering of trees sprouting out of the flower beds.

[23] Another Tribune critic, Beth Botts, noted that the historical symbolism of the plantings is a future pleasure to be anticipated.

He praised the light plate especially for its vibrant composition and undulating garden as a fitting contrast to the historic Chicago skyline.

[35] Among the entrants in the competition were Louis Benech, Dan Kiley, George Hargreaves, Jeffrey Mendoza and Michael Van Valkenburgh.