The West Chicago Garden Club

By Billie Childress

When you do your best with love, even things that are far from perfect
can be absolutely beautiful.
That’s what we do at the Kruse Garden.

We Kruse Gardeners were delighted that so many garden club members came to visit the garden in July! We are proud of our work and love to have
company. It was a lovely evening! Thanks to Jean Ann, Marcy, and Harlene for the tasty, safe, treats! Greatly appreciated!

Our philosophy at Kruse is: Keep up with the work and the work will get easier. So, we go every Wednesday morning and tend the garden. We’re
waiting for the “easier” part to kick in. This hot dry weather is tough on the plants…especially the new ones. Our biggest investment, the American Hornbeam tree, looks a bit spooky at times but I think it’s settling in. On the other hand, the three new Cranberry Crush Hibiscus are a joy to behold! It’s unusual for a plant to be beautiful it’s first year in the garden. Chris suggested that plant, and it looks like a winner! Thanks Chris…the garden just keeps getting better!

We hope you are enjoying your gardens as much as we are ours. All of us have two gardens, our own, and the Kruse Garden that we share. We have a lot to enjoy! Since our Kruse garden still needs plants, we welcome any donations. Marion Martin recently gave us a nice group of day lilies, Chris
Gicela brought tall bearded iris, and Ruth Kyme donated some lovely pulmonaria ! Thank you ladies! All lovely additions!

I’ll certainly be glad when safe living allows us to see each other in regular monthly club meetings. I miss you all! Until then, stay safe and enjoy
nature and your garden!

By Keith Letsche

Beebalm

The long, hot summer is here, with more 90-plus degree days already than the whole of last year. The sultry weather, however, has not deterred the dedicated Kruse House crew from gathering each Wednesday morning to work in the garden. With the copious rains in May and June and now the warmth and meticulous tending by the crew, the garden is beautifully arrayed with all kinds of mid-summer blooms.

Early July, of course, is lily time, and lush banks of Mary Todds, Stella d’Oro, and other varieties of day lilies are everywhere. Most sensational are a dark purple variety planted in the new front yard bed on the east side of the house that are blooming for the first time. There are also spectacular thickets of crimson beebalm and feathery purple larkspur. Virtually all of the yuccas this year are topped with tall thick stalks of creamy white bell-shaped flowers, thanks probably also to our hot days. Perhaps the loveliest site is the pond, which is abloom with lavender water hyacinths and pink water lilies.

One of the projects this year was the enlargement of the new front yard bed mentioned earlier to include a small tree. A hornbeam was selected and delivered and planted in mid-June, and then almost lost to the excessive heat at the end of that month. However, the tree seems to have recovered and is doing well

Now is the time to come and see the Kruse House garden. If you wait until August, the show will be over.

Kruse Garden Waterlilies

By Barbara Darrah

Well, it’s been an interesting spring, hasn’t it? No potting parties, no plant sale and no garden club meetings. With almost everything closed, we’ve spent a lot of time at home. Thank goodness we are gardeners. As spring arrived, we were able to get out into our yards, dig into the dirt and get our hands dirty in an entirely safe way. We recently had friends out from the city and they seemed to bask in the chance to sit out in the garden and
enjoy the hot sun.

Here at Kruse we have been extra lucky because we have been able to meet with friends while we worked together (at a safe distance) to open the grounds again to spring. We watched the tulips and iris open and fade and this week saw the water lilies open up and the heritage rose bushes teem with blossoms. It is truly a pleasure to maintain such a lovely place for others to visit freely.

Monet’s garden at Giverney

Last year at this time our family was together on vacation in Paris . Ironically, they were having Saturday protests that were turning violent, so we decided to leave town and take the train to Giverney to visit Monet’s garden. It was as lush and beautiful as we expected and I am reminded that no matter how the world has changed in the more than 100 years that it has existed (including two world wars), nature still has the power to outlast all our follies and weaknesses.

Util we can meet again at our next meeting; Happy Gardening from the Kruse crew. If you want to join the Kruse House crew this year,
regular work days are Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. to noon, though adjustable to fit your schedule. Contact Billie Childress or Kerry Perry or mail the club and the message will be forwarded to both of them.