Archive for the 'Kruse House' Category

May 15 2024

News from Kruse: May 2024

Filed under Kruse House

By Dee Soustek

Lilacs in full bloom draped over a white fence.The gardeners are back!   So are the weeds and the plants that love to reseed!  It’s been fun reconnecting to the garden and especially the Kruse gardeners!  Everything is green, vibrant, and looking good. 

Most of the spring bulbs have finished blooming giving way to the next group of spring blooming plants. The Irises are throughout the gardens, most of the dwarf crested irises have finished blooming waiting for the tall bearded Irises to make their appearance. They all have big buds, getting ready for their time to shine.  You should stop by to check them out as well as the Poppies that are ready to Pop and of course I can’t forget the peonies!  Be sure to check out the peonies by the front entrance, they are spectacular. The Alliums are dotted throughout the garden and look so beautiful especially when the sun lights them up. They seem to multiply but not problematic, we can easily move them to other areas. 

Close up picture of a purple AlliumThe Lilacs are finishing up. They looked fantastic, and the fragrance was heavenly!  Kruse has such a nice variety of lilacs which is so fitting for the historical home, as is,the Bridal Wreath, Spirea that is around the entrance and along the fence line. 

We welcome you to visit Kruse House Gardens and if you are interested in working in the gardens we are there Wednesdays, 9:00 to 11:30am. Happy gardening!   

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Apr 18 2024

News from Kruse: April 2024

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Photograph of the gardenBy Christina Covarrubias 

West Chicago Garden Club gardeners returned to the garden at the Kruse House museum property just last week and will meet every Wednesday from 9-11am weather permitting.

Gardening began just in time to inhale all the beauty of spring. Literally, at every turn in the garden there is a bright spot of color from the flowering barrenwort along the sidewalk, tulips dotting the landscape, Virginia bluebells, pink and purple lungwort, hot pink pigsqueak, a showstopper of a magnolia tree to blankets of violet-hued grape hyacinths that are children, grandchildren and great grandchild (probably) of the original ones planted by the Kruse family. A picture will not do it justice to represent how lovely the garden is in spring.

Ephemeral bulbs are not the only thing of interest in the garden. There are several unique species of trees including ginkgo, dogwood, London planetree, an original pear tree, and even a once-thought-extinct Dawn Redwood.

Just a note, from the Metasequoia genus native to China, a forester rediscovered Dawn Redwoods in one single Chinese region during the 1940’s. This led to seed collection and distribution around the world. The deciduous Dawn Redwood species sets itself apart from the other two redwoods species (Great Sequoia and Coast Redwood) by changing color to a rusty orange in the fall and then dropping its leaves. Such a treasure to have in this garden!

If you find yourself driving down Main Street at any time you should pull in the driveway and take a short (or long!) stroll around the garden.

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Mar 21 2024

News from Kruse: March 2024

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A Hint of the Master: Jens Jensen and the Kruse House Garden
By Keith Letsche

Black & White Photo of Jens Jensen seated in one of his council rings.

Jens Jensen seated in one of his council rings

 

You may have wondered where the ideas for the distinctive rock terraces and pond came from that you see in the Kruse House Garden. The source of these is likely the master landscape architect Jens Jensen (1860-1951). Born in Denmark, Jensen emigrated to Chicago in 1884, where he took employment with the city’s West Park Commission, working his way up from laborer to general superintendent of the West Park system. During this time, he designed or redesigned the system’s major parks like Humbolt, Garfield, and Douglass Parks, and his masterpiece, Columbus Park. In 1920, he started his own landscape architectural practice, creating gardens for prominent client’ s like Henry Ford and Ford’s son Edsel.

Jensen used natural features of the Midwestern landscape as themes for his designs. Terraced tiers of rocks were intended to invoke the rocky outcroppings of the Midwest’s post-glacial landscape.  Often the focal point of his rocked terraces was a small grotto that featured a pond or a “council ring,” a circular arrangement of rocks for sitting. At the height of his influence in the 1920s and 1930s, his designs inspired much imitation, and the large size and natural contours of the Kruse House lot provided a perfect opportunity for the Kruses to realize what then a very contemporary garden design based on Jensen’s ideas. Compare the Kruse House lily pond below with the one next to it that Jensen designed for Henry Ford’s Fair Lane estate in Gross Point, Michigan.

Photo of the pond in the Kruse Garden. It is surrounded by rocks and natural greenery.

Kruse House Lily Pond

Photo of rocky pond

Grotto pond at Fair Lane, Henry Ford’s estate in Grosse Point. Michigan

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