The West Chicago Garden Club

Special Exhibit: Each year the Kruse House Museum has a special exhibit along with the ongoing household and railroad memorabilia. The 2014 display is “It’s A Doll’s World” featuring dolls both old and new, doll accessories, doll houses and furniture and just about anything pertaining to dolls. The museum is open each Saturday from 11 AM to 3 PM starting in May. Stop by for a tour when you can and check out the garden while you’re there. You’ll probably want to invite a friend or neighbor to join you. Continue Reading »

Happy Returns : The title is not referring to the splendid yellow day lily with that name nor is it a salutation to offer hope that a happy day will recur many more times. It is to say we are awaiting the happy returns of the Kruse Garden plants. The third worst ever Chicago winter is likely to delay Spring blossoms somewhat but the daffodils and grape hyacinths will be back! As will the short purple iris with those wowie blue fuzzy things and this gorgeous orange and rose streaked tulip will not be far behind. It’s amazing how much better it feels when you conjure up those plants in anticipation of Spring. Tom Angie and Billie will be back in the garden too and this year we will have a new partner to work with. Continue Reading »

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. Continue Reading »