The West Chicago Garden Club

We’ve been busy at the Kruse Garden the past few weeks doing the Spring clean up; weeding, dividing, removing (editing), planting, trimming and cutting back. The evidence, the growing mountain of yard waste in the driveway. Hopefully, it will be removed soon.

It’s wonderful to see some new faces showing up to help make the garden more beautiful. It’s always great to get some new garden perspective, and additional hands to accomplish all to the tasks.

I took a brief Mother’s Day stroll through the garden to admire the hard work that has gone into the garden and to just enjoy and see what’s in bloom. When you are there working you get so focused on the job at hand that you don’t always see the overall beauty of the garden. The lilacs are blooming; most
coming to the end of their peak. They are still so fragrant and beautiful. You can find the lilacs along the driveway and along the fence. I didn’t realize how many Camassia’s we have coming up and how spread throughout the garden they are. They combine so well with the dwarf yellow iris, allium and brunnera to name a few. Camassia is a perennial herbaceous plant the grows from a bulb and can grow 24-48 inches tall.

The bridal veil shrub is still blooming in the front of the house and along the fence line, not my personal favorite shrub but seems very fitting in the historic home. The containers throughout the garden are awaiting the addition of the summer annuals. The Nepeta or catmint is starting to bloom. I found some trillium in bloom, celandine poppies, columbine, sweet woodruff, brunnera and many others. I encourage you to take a walk through the Kruse Garden and enjoy! The peonies are getting ready to pop!

As a reminder everyone is welcome to join the gardening fun at the Kruse Garden on Wednesday’s 9am to 11:30; bring your gloves and your favorite gardening tool.

Trees! Trees! Trees!

By Christina Covarrubias

The talk around the Kruse Garden this past winter has been trees. A failing Douglas Fir, that may or may not have been originally planted by the Kruse family, met its demise with a scheduled removal on the very last day of winter. 

When the big day arrived Kerry Perry kindly snapped photos of the tree removal so we all could see the action. An additional tree was trimmed with a moon-landing-like lift. Finally, a damaged pear tree was assessed and predicted to fall with the next big wind storm -which happened to occur that night. Does anyone recall the weather on the first day of Spring with high winds and snow? See photos of the rotted and fallen pear tree. 
Among other lovely tree specimens such as a gingko, weeping evergreen, Dawn redwood, serviceberry, redbud, oak, one pear tree remains circa Bertha and Celia Kruse era.  Picking out new trees, new species, perhaps a native or tree that borders a state further south (as our climate shifts) will be the silver lining to losing our trees.

See our Newsletter for more photos,

By Karen King

Intermingling, the act of combining different flower shapes, adds diversity for plants and insects alike, according to Kathryn Deery, Head Horticulturalist of Lurie Garden in Chicago. She advises planting grasses along with flowers helps diversify root types, improving soil structure for all. For example, coneflowers have long linear roots as opposed to grasses fibrous roots. 

Plant densely, using groundcover plants to cover soil until other plants mature.

Consider “temporal sequencing”. What blooms, when?

Repeating plant designs, “block planting,” throughout the space, gives continuity and cohesion and is visually restful. The “thriller, chiller, spiller” method is not just for pots. It can be the foundation for the block planting repeated throughout the space.

These design principles are evident even at this time of year at the Kruse Garden. The bones of this garden are so well thought out, even before the growing season gets going full speed, a walk through is enjoyable.

Everyone is welcome to visit and walk through Kruse Garden or come on gardening work days: Wednesdays at 9am, and 2nd Saturday of the month from 9-11:30am.

Get ideas you can use in your own garden, get to know other WCGC members, and help maintain the beautiful garden at the Kruse House.