Beautiful plants for your Chicago event. We handle the rest.
We rent plants for conferences, trade shows, launches, and corporate events across Chicago and the suburbs. Your plants are grown, delivered, and installed by our Midwest partner — so they arrive fresh and local, styled by the shop that's built stages for Meta, Hyundai, KPMG, and Reuters.
Past clients include
A look at our recent work.
Every photo here is real: our plants at events we've styled, staged homes, and our own shop. No stock photos.




Steph Curry filmed here.
When Complex filmed Steph Curry for an episode of 360 With Speedy, they shot the whole conversation inside our shop. We like to think that says something about how the place looks.
Watch the episode
Complex · 360 With Speedy
What we take care of.
Your job is to tell us the room and the look. Ours is that the plants show up on time, hold up all week, and vanish before your move-out deadline.
Delivery & install
We work your venue's move-in window — dock times, freight elevators, early calls — and place every plant to your floor plan.
On-site styling
Before doors open we walk the room with you and move anything that isn't sitting right. Rooms always read differently once they're built.
Pickup & teardown
We collect everything inside your strike window. Nothing to store, nothing to return, nothing left on the floor for your GC to deal with.
Insured & papered
Fully insured, with COIs sent straight to your venue in whatever format it demands. Convention floors and corporate campuses are picky; we handle it.
Venues across Chicago and the suburbs.
Convention floors, ballrooms, museums, lofts, and campuses. If your venue isn't here, it almost certainly still works — ask.
Delivering across
Our eye, grown close to your venue.
The Preserve is a design-led plant shop in San Jose. We don't truck plants 2,100 miles to Chicago — your material is sourced, staged, and installed by our Midwest growing partner, from the region's own greenhouse belt, to our spec and our styling. You get local, fresh plants and a shorter replacement drive, with the same shop deciding what goes where.
Who we work with in Chicago.
Conference & Trade Show Planners
Multi-day shows at McCormick Place and in Rosemont. Booth packages, mainstage backdrops, and lounges built to survive a full exhibit run without a watering crew.
Corporate Event Teams
All-hands, launches, offsites, and holiday parties across the Loop, Fulton Market, and the suburban campuses. Recurring calendars welcome — we keep your spec on file.
Brand & Agency Teams
Activations, press days, launches, and pop-ups. You send the deck and the layout; we send a proposal with photos of the actual plants, not a mood board.
Stagers & Listing Agents
Plants that photograph well and hold through weeks of showings. We work your showing calendar, not a single event date.
How it works, in four steps.
Tell us about the space
Dates, venue, booth or room number, and the look you want. A floor plan helps; a few inspiration photos are plenty if you don't have one.
Get a proposal
An itemized proposal with photos of the actual plants, suggested placements, and one clear price — including the Chicago delivery and labor line.
We install & style
Our crew works your move-in window and fine-tunes the room with you before doors open.
We pick everything up
We strike and haul everything out before your move-out deadline. The plants go back into rotation, not a dumpster.
Evanston to Hyde Park,
and west through the suburbs.
We cover the city end to end, plus the O'Hare corridor and the western suburbs. Your plants are grown and staged by our Midwest partner, so nothing travels further than it should before it reaches your venue.
Somewhere else in Chicagoland? Ask. We travel for the right event.
We work the Bay Area out of our own San Jose shop, with written guides to how load-in, styling, and strike actually go at the rooms we are in most.
Chicago questions.
The things Chicago planners ask us most, so you can scope your event without waiting on an email.
Do you serve all of Chicagoland?
Yes. We cover the city end to end — the Loop, River North, Fulton Market, the lakefront, and the neighborhoods — plus Evanston and the North Shore, Rosemont and the O'Hare corridor, and the western suburbs through Oak Brook, Naperville, and Schaumburg. Wider Chicagoland is available by arrangement. Tell us your venue and we'll confirm same day.
Which Chicago venues do you deliver to?
McCormick Place across all four buildings; Navy Pier's Festival Hall and Aon Grand Ballroom; theMART; the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont; Wintrust Arena and the United Center; the Field Museum, the Shedd, and the Art Institute's event spaces; Union Station's Great Hall and the Chicago Cultural Center; the Fulton Market and West Loop lofts; and hotel ballrooms from the Hilton Chicago and Palmer House to the Langham. Loading docks, freight elevators, and 5am load-ins are a normal part of our week.
How much does event plant rental cost in Chicago?
Pricing is per plant, and one rental price covers your event for up to three days. There's a $3,000 minimum per event. Delivery and setup are billed separately based on your venue, your move-in window, and the size of the install. Most Chicago conference and activation builds land between $3,000 and $12,000; our largest build to date was $40,000 across a full convention floor.
How far ahead should I book a Chicago event?
Four to six weeks is ideal, and larger builds want more. Chicago gets tight around the big spring and fall show runs at McCormick Place and in Rosemont, NeoCon week in June, the late-November radiology run, and December's holiday-party season, so booked-out dates cluster there. We can often still take rush requests — ask and we'll tell you straight away what's possible for your date.
Can you work at McCormick Place?
Yes, in all four buildings — Lakeside Center, North, South, and West. We work to the show's move-in and move-out schedule and coordinate with your general contractor and the venue's required labor — McCormick Place runs on union crews, and we plan for that rather than argue with it. Send us your exhibitor manual and booth number with your request and we'll build the quote around the real dock times rather than guessing.
Our event is outdoors — will the plants hold up in Chicago weather?
Yes, if we choose for it. Chicago summers are warm and humid — most tropicals are happy outside — but the lakefront wind is real, so rooftops, piers, and plaza decks want sturdy material in ballasted pots. Winter is the opposite problem: cold that can damage a tropical in the minutes it takes to cross a loading dock, so cold-month deliveries travel protected in heated trucks and anything tender stays indoors. Tell us whether the space is covered, exposed, or on the water and we'll spec accordingly. We don't staff on-site watering during events, so this choice matters and we make it up front.
Do you do brand activations, launches, and production work?
Yes, and they're some of our favorite jobs. Activations, press days, pop-ups, and launches in the West Loop's lofts, galleries, and warehouse venues all work the same way: send the layout and the look, we send a proposal with photos of the actual plants. We're an events business, not a set-dressing house — we rent and install rather than sell or build.
What does full service include?
Delivery, installation and styling to your floor plan, a walk-through with you before doors open, then full teardown and pickup after. You never lift, store, or return anything. The one thing we don't do is stay on site to water during your event, so we pick and prep plants that look their best for the whole rental.
Are you insured? Can you provide a COI for my Chicago venue?
Yes. We're fully insured for every event and provide Certificates of Insurance on request. Send us your venue's insurance requirements — most Chicago convention and museum venues have specific limits and additional-insured language — and we'll handle the paperwork directly with them.
What if a plant gets damaged during my event?
We swap it. Our Midwest material is sourced and staged locally, so replacements come from inside the region rather than from California.
How do deposits and payment work?
A 50% deposit up front so we can source the exact plants and planters your event needs, and the remaining 50% one week before the event. We invoice — no deposit is taken before you've seen and approved the proposal.
Do you rent plants for home staging in Chicago?
Yes. Stagers and listing agents are a real part of our business. The same per-plant pricing covers a single statement tree in an entry or greenery through a whole listing, and we work to your showing calendar rather than a single event date.
Still wondering something? Just ask →
Tell us about
the space.
If you'd like us on your Chicago event, fill out the form or email us directly. We cover the city and the suburbs, from the North Shore to Hyde Park and west through Naperville, with wider Chicagoland by arrangement.
Heads up: we have an order minimum of $3,000 per event.Prefer email?
friends@shopthepreserve.com