A Passion for Beauty

A Passion for Beauty. . "I don't think you're a great gardener until you are passionate." -William Brincka, If anyone should know what makes a great gardener, it's William Brincka. A professor at the Art Institute in Chicago for more than 30 years, Brincka combined his artistic flair with his passion for gardening to create the four acres of landscaped gardens that surround you., Brincka owned, designed, and managed this 25-acre property with his longtime companion Basil Cross, an antiques buyer for Marshall Field and Co., whose own artistry emerged in his passion for theater and acting. Together, the two men designed the Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired house on this property, built in 1969., Their gardens reflect more than 40 years of creativity and hard work. Winding pathways will guide you through gardens that are living legacies of a lifelong passion for beauty., Brincka's Garden Design , "'Collection' makes me think of the museum syndrome. The interesting thing is to conceal the collection so that ultimately you don't see all those numbers. Everything should be blended." -William Brincka, It's easy to get caught up in the sheer numbers and varieties of plants in the Brincka Cross Gardens. Originally, the garden hosted twenty-five varieties of forsythias, 40 cultivars of ornamental grasses, 400 types of hostas, 25 kinds of crabapple trees, and 450 varieties of daffodils. Today there are fewer hosta varieties (about 250) and forsythias, but more than thirty species of conifers add to the unique space. But, as Brincka knew, a breathtaking garden is far more than the sum of its parts. He noted, "It's a three-dimensional form, something you have to walk through and experience in the round."