Elsie Jacobsen Discovery Garden to Open Sept. 12

The Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory have announced the grand opening of the Elsie Jacobsen Discovery Garden will take place at 10 a.m. Sept. 12.

The public is invited to attend grand opening festivities, and the annual Perennial Exchange and the Garden Tools Exchange will also take place Sept. 12, according to the Park District of Oak Park.

The Elsie Jacobsen Discovery Garden is named after a woman who started the “Save the Garfield Conservatory” drive in 1970. The conservatory is now known as the Oak Park Conservatory. Jacobsen (1914 to 2003) also helped found the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust, the Oak Park- River Forest Historical Society, the Oak Park Council for Foreign Affairs, and she was president of the District 200 School Board, according to the park district.

The garden will offer opportunities to watch, touch and interact with plants and natural materials. It will also have places to sit and relax.