The West Chicago Garden Club

Work at the Kruse House is almost over for the year but not before a number of things are done. For the last few weeks we have been planting for the coming year. Thanks to Marion, who was kind enough to donate some of her plants to the house.  These plants were planted at various areas, but a good portion were planted on the East side of the property. This is a difficult area as we have planted there before with some problems. The new plants should fit in well.

We presently have a number of Rose of Sharon trees which we planted from seedlings. Several of these trees were dug up and moved into the area near the tool shed. All of these trees had their top and bottom branches removed in order to make them bushier next year. The area of the tool shed also had some major cutting done to the large evergreen bushes located there. This evergreen had become just a bit overgrown and was up against the tool shed itself. We removed a lot of material from the bottom, as well as the top, and it now looks great. This cutting will also allow the plants under it to grown much better as the sun light can finally get to them. Continue Reading »

“Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay. My, oh my what a wonderful day!”

We’ve had a lot of wonderful days with plenty of sunshine and, until recently, plenty of rain. So, it’s been a pleasure gardening this year! The Kruse garden is looking good, and it better be, because there’s a big event coming up.

Attention Please! Historical Society’s Ice-cream Social and Silent Auction, 12-3 PM, Saturday, September 7, (nice of them to have it on B’s birthday) in the Kruse Garden. It’s a great opportunity to tour the house (special display this year is ‘cats & dogs… & bunnies too’) and… have a big brick of ice-cream with a huge selection of home baked cakes, pies, and other tantalizing treats! The auction items always include unique, useful and ‘one of a kind’ items. It’s fun! Stop by, eat, tour (house & garden), bid, and visit with friends… what a great way to spend some time on a fall Saturday afternoon. See you there! Continue Reading »

Summer is finally here in all its glory and the Kruse House gardens are in full bloom. No matter where you look you will see something wonderful. And the colors this year are outstanding.

The Yucca plants are blooming and look better this year than they ever had. Just in back of the Yucca plants are the Smoke Bushes. The color of these bushes is hard to describe. Each year we cut these bushes down quite low, and each Spring they come back. The plants which are planted on the hill require very little care. The weeds are another story, it keeps us busy trying to control them. Most plants on the hill require very little water, other than what nature gives them. This area is in full sun most of the day but due to the selection of plants they thrive here. Continue Reading »