The West Chicago Garden Club

Simple Pleasures–Inspiration for Gardeners

Winter is the calm before the storm—the hectic spring clean up when all hands are on deck in the garden. Spring is several weeks away, so join Nina Koziol as she takes you on an inspirational tour filled with ideas to help you get more from your garden this year. You can see some of her own garden at thisgardencooks.com

Nina Koziol has taught garden design and horticulture classes at the Chicago Botanic Garden and the Morton Arboretum since 1998. She was a long-time contributor to the Chicago Tribune. She writes for the Chicago Botanic Garden, Chicagoland Gardening magazine and The Landscape Contractor magazine. When she’s not weeding, reading, fishing, hiking, bird watching or writing, she’s sure to be in her garden, watching the sun set and debating with her husband over the exact names and heights of the cloud formations.  Her website is aimed at new and experienced gardeners, those who enjoy fresh vegetables, herbs and fruits, and those who simply like to observe and reflect on nature. 

Join us on January 24th at our NEW LOCATION, 

St. Andrews Lutheran Church — Northeast corner of Geneva Rd and Prince Crossing

Meeting Time:

         6:45PM Refreshments

         7:00PM Business Meeting

         7:15PM Program

Perennials for the Chicago Garden

The speaker for our January program will be Carolyn Ulrich, the Editor of Chicagoland Gardening magazine.  Her presentation will be on “Perennials for the Chicago Garden”.  She describes the program as:

We don’t need to feel sorry for ourselves. We can’t grow everything they grow in England, but they can’t grow everything we can, either. From natives to exotics, we have abundant choices. What’s really important is how we use them. Slides were taken in my Chicago garden and throughout the region.

Carolyn is a self-taught gardener who sat down one day and started writing garden columns, an event she considers akin to a visitation from the Muses in the Classical sense. After a year writing  for the neighborhood newspaper she joined the Chicago Sun-Times for seven years, writing a weekly column called The Cultivated Gardener. She then joined Chicagoland Gardening magazine and is currently its editor.  She has written freelance for Garden Design, Horticulture, House Beautiful, Chicago Tribune and has won Quill & Trowel awards from the Garden Writers Association.

Education: B.A. in English, University of Kansas; M.A.T. in English, Northwestern University; B.S. in Photography, Columbia College; Garden Writers Association, Perennial Plant Association

Join us on January 24th at our NEW LOCATION, 

St. Andrews Lutheran Church — Northeast corner of Geneva Rd and Prince Crossing

Meeting Time:

         6:45PM Refreshments

         7:00PM Business Meeting

         7:15PM Program

ENGLISH GARDENS: INCIDENTAL GLIMPSES

Presented by Keith Letsche

In July 2017 one of our Club members, Keith Letsche, spent two weeks touring England. While the tours focused mainly on architecture and history, he managed to snap photos in spare moments of the surrounding grounds of the sites visited. At our next meeting, he will take us on a casual tour through these photographs of the gardens and plantings of about 15 or so of these places. So join us October 25th as we take a glimpse at English gardening.”

Note different location: St. Andrews Lutheran Church — Northeast corner of Geneva Rd and Prince Crossing

Meeting Time:

         6:45PM Refreshments

         7:00PM Business Meeting

         7:15PM Program