The West Chicago Garden Club

Another year at the Kruse Garden—the shrubs are larger, the trees taller, perennials have filled in the bare spots, the need for annuals—very minimal.  Over-all the garden has structure, spring bulbs, summer flowers and fall color.  In October we put the garden to bed.

Looking back at the start of our work, we are pleased in having incorporated many features of old gardens, though with some tweaks in plant material.

In the early part of the 1900’s people gardened more for food and the flowers in the garden were those which were care-free or herbal, medicinal, etc.  Shrubs as lilacs, peonies, bridal wreaths, mock oranges, etc. were grown many times as specimens, not part of a shrub border, with of course, the family standing in front for pictures.  The early gardeners also prized some labor-intensive plants as dahlias and canna lilies, and certainly would not have put golden rod or joe pie weed into their flower garden.  Garden circles in the middle of the lawn were popular, with uniform plants around a specimen plant in the middle edged with bricks, stones, or little fencing.

Seeds were saved, passed along.  And again some of the flowers are back in favor—marigolds, zinnias, salvias, larkspur, sweet peas, poppies.  Who can’t like the old-fashioned petunia—not a low carpet of vibrant bloom as the wave petunias, but growing taller to two feet, self-seeding, in the softest of pastel shades, slightly fragrant, and so hardy it will grow in the most inhospitable spot,  spreading and twining as it reaches for the sun.  Grasses were prized since Victorian times, especially the non-native to the area, as were shrub roses, Japanese anemones, asters, lilies—all being care-free and floriferous.

We have many of these plants at the Kruse garden where we have the same need as in the old-time gardens, not only to adhere to the age of the museum but also for the need of self-maintaining plants.  The native shrub Viburnum triloba (American cranberry)—with spring bloom, fall color and winter berries is effective as a background together with the native Pagoda dogwood and a few shrub roses.  Pop in a clematis, a few red bud trees and for a semi-shady back area at the museum, the effect is quite striking.  Peonies, lilies, hydrangeas, bulbs and some old-fashioned perennials in front—and we have our 1920’s garden.  In five years the shrubs and perennials have filled in to the point where there is no need for annuals.

You might ask—What about our sunny, dry area or those areas in almost total dry shade?  What grasses, ground covers, natives have we used that have proved effective?  To us that work at the Kruse garden, this is the place where we try out plants, some bought, most donated.  We try combinations, make mistakes.  You might ask—what mistakes have we made, what failed, what was pulled?  What do we call “Not A Success,” “Awful,” “Sadly, Gone”?

These questions will be answered in another News from Kruse.