The West Chicago Garden Club

It’s early April at the Kruse Garden and the anticipation is immense to see winter wither away and new growth emerge. Already, the cream colored hellebores planted last fall are in bloom and the Gentian-blue flowers commonly known as Glory of the Snow are showing their bright color.

The red eyes of the peony in the front yard are peeking out and in early June will be spectacular. Soon the white bearded irises will be four feet tall with gigantic blooms. Rudbeckia (sunny yellow flowers) are  pushing out tiny green leaves among last years dried stalks. This summer the plants will be nearly six feet tall. Aah the anticipation.

The variety of plants in the Kruse Garden is impressive. Visit any time and let the Kruse Crew know if and when you’d like to help! Come plant, prune, weed and perhaps pick up some gardening tips.

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

By Dee Soustek

I’m new to Kruse and I’m so happy to be part of the crew!  I love gardening and it’s more fun doing it with fellow gardeners.  At home I garden in a small space, so it’s different and fun to garden in a large space, learning about new plants and sharing ideas and muscle.  Gardening in a new space helps expand my gardening knowledge and I look forward to a full season at Kruse. 

You can join the fun at Kruse, we garden on Wednesday’s at 9:00am, contact Billie for more information. Please consider volunteering, more hands make the work quick and more enjoyable. 

I went over to Kruse to look around and to see if Spring had sprung. I was a little surprised to notice a raccoon ??? had beat me to the punch. Look at the size of those paws!  I took a stroll thru the garden on Friday, March 4th, being new to Kruse I didn’t know where to look for the daffodils, aconite, and tulips that I know are there. So I looked around and most of the garden is still dormant but spotted bulbs poking up and some perennials and woodies starting to bud.  I did notice the hellebores that we transplanted on a hot day in August seemed to have made it thru the winter! That was a nice surprise.

Happy Spring!