Situated in the heart of the Loop, this prominent bank has always prided itself on having a building and landscape that project a top-notch image. One of the maintenance challenges is dealing effectively with the shade created by the honey locust and surrounding buildings. Another: all work must be done before 8 a.m. on weekdays or on weekends, to avoid disruption of banking activities.

Plantings of Taxus, Buxus, Azalea, Rhododendron, Kerria and Hydrangea are perfectly suited for the conditions. The colors and the varieties used in the seasonal rotations are changed yearly to keep the image fresh. This beautiful landscape environment where the city noise seems muted is a place where people stop to relax on wooden benches with their morning papers and coffee, work on laptops and cell phones, eat lunch or simply catch their breath. The plaza is truly a place of refuge in this corridor of concrete and steel.

We were proud in 2008 when our efforts received Mayor Daley’s Landscape Award.