Chicago Botanical Garden in 1988

Like many of you I've been eagerly enjoying the tweets and posts and photos from the bloggers who are meeting in Chicago this weekend.

Mr McGregor's Daughter has posted a photo of the wonderful Carolus Linnaeus statue as it looked for the Chicago Spring Fling participants yesterday. The statue seems to be unchanged but apparently a vegetative barrier keeps the public away from the sculpture. On the chance that someone might be interested, I hunted down an old photo.

Carolus Linnaeus Statue, Chicago Botanical Gardens, 1988

The set-up was a little different 21 years ago in 1988 when this picture was taken. Everyone had their photo taken with Linnaeus, sort of like every kid in Chicago having a picture taken sitting on one of the stone lions at Brookfield Zoo. The protection seems like a sensible decision. The Linnaeus statue is composed of many individual representations of plants and animals, very unlike the smooth lions.

Here in Austin's Zilker Park several large gates are decorated with representations of the plants and creatures found in Central Texas.

Thanks for the photos and notes, Chicago Flingers!