The West Chicago Garden Club

Spring is here! Happy New Year! Signs of spring are everywhere! The Kruse Garden daffodils are peeking out and the clumps are expanding. It’s always rewarding to see plants return year after year, and when there’s an even bigger plant than last year….whoopee…that’s a good thing! The grape hyacinths, original to the Kruse Garden, are also popping out everywhere! We can tell you from experience that you can’t dig anywhere in that back garden without encountering those precious little bulbs. They don’t mind being shifted around to make room for new plants throughout the year but come spring they step forth with a presence that commands attention. It’s their time for showing off! The tulips in the back garden are also originals!  They are unique souls.  Not well color coordinated but hey they aren’t the ‘run of the mill’ tulips.  There are a few pictures of them on the GC website, photo tab, “Kruse Garden”. The species tulips donated by Jeff Handel will soon grace the west hillside garden. We can here Jeff snickering in disbelief that some survived, since they were planted in heavy clay. Now that the soil has been improved in that area, how about a few more bulbs Jeff?

This year we hope to see seedlings from self sowing annuals sprouting on the west hillside garden.  Red ‘Memorial Day’ poppies, cosmos, and moon flowers should reappear and we hope to get others started this year… maybe the awesome fragrant nicotianas.  Last year we placed several ‘Nearly Wild’ roses in the front dooryard garden and we are looking to a good show from them this year. The Antique Rose Emporium assures us that “the cheery single rose pink blooms reminiscent of apple blossoms will brighten any space”, and from what we saw last year, it’s the truth! We also installed the perennial geranium Roseanne, a prolific full season bloomer, in the west foundation garden.  Little doubt she will be a star this year. This plant as a fantastic track record!

We plan to continue renovation of the big day lily bed that we started last fall. We removed countless orange ditch daylilies. This plant was just a bit too aggressive so it’s being replaced with some ‘tamer’ daylilies and a nice variety of perennials and small shrubs. With this diversity and selection, we hope to provide season long interest with minimal maintenance.

But of course, the first endeavor for early spring is the major clean up of debris and leaves. This huge job is partially funded by garden club but if you want to volunteer time towards this effort we would be happy (no, thrilled) to provide direction. Just contact either of us. Remember it’s a chance to earn valuable ‘garden bucks’!

And on a last note, Ivy, the garden’s resident cat sends greetings. Tom and Angie’s ‘meals on wheels’ sustained her through the winter and her shiny sleek black body can be glimpsed streaking through the garden. She is not tame by any means, but clearly the garden is her home and we are thankful that she shares it with us and some other critters that we hope to get to know better as this lovely garden season unfolds.