The West Chicago Garden Club

I am so pleased that y’all are coming to visit my garden on Thursday, June 23. The garden will be open starting at 5:30. Come anytime that works for you. I will take small groups of ten or less on half-hour tours beginning at 6:00. However, you are totally welcome to explore on your own. Wear your comfortable garden shoes so you can check it all out. There are garden beds and wooded areas. The north woods are the most developed with multiple native trees, a grove of witch hazels, and paths added. And the honeybee hives are up there too. The central woods are basically a walk through path with most of the invasive stuff removed and the south woods are much the same. However, there is an unusual tree you should see in the south woods. And by the way…..bring a friend or neighbor if you’d like. 

There will be a variety of appetizers, sweets, and drinks and ample seating on the back patio. Please sit back and enjoy a lovely summer evening socializing and relaxing with members and friends.

Hopefully, we won’t need it, but in case of rain, we will reschedule to Thursday, June 30.

Members can find more information in their newsletter.  If you wish to attend and are not yet a member, please email us at WestChicagoGardenClub@gmail.com for more information.

Here’s some of what’s blooming today in the Kruse Garden. Come and enjoy.

The Kruse Garden is located at 527 Main Street, West Chicago, IL 60185

One of my favorite poets, Robert Frost, described the erratic nature of spring in the following words:

The sun was warm but the wind was chill,
You know how it is with an April day,
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You’re one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
A cloud comes over the sunlit arch
And wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you’re two months back in the middle of March.

He certainly had it right about the weather when we started gardening at Kruse this spring. When it wasn’t raining so hard that we had to cancel, it was freezing cold and windy. Then, all of a sudden, it was a humid 80 degrees. Nevertheless, our valiant crew soldiered on. We started out cleaning up and cutting back. Then we all spent one morning attacking the creeping Charlie and sticky-weed (i.e. bedstraw) only to discover the next week that we didn’t get it all. We moved on to planting and I think the garden is looking great. Sometimes, we start out with a walk-around, not just to see what needs to be done, but also to stop and enjoy the beauty of the garden itself, something I need to remind myself to do in my own garden as well.

More than twenty years ago , two local women decided to restart the West Chicago Garden Club with the intention to make restoring the Kruse Garden as its main community project. I think they would be astonished to see what we have accomplished. I think they would also be surprised that our first little plant sale at the Fox Center would result in BloomingFest and the spreading of plants from our gardens throughout all the local communities .We can be proud that we have fulfilled the goals set out for us at that time.

Dick and I will miss seeing you all at the May meeting . Right after the plant sale, we are leaving for England to visit the Chelsea Flower Show and tour other English gardens. Look for his pictures on the garden club website or Facebook. I’ll be the small woman he insists on including in his photographs.

The Kruse Garden is located at 527 Main Street, West Chicago, IL 60185