The West Chicago Garden Club

By Barbara Darrah

January was a long dark month this year. There wasn’t even enough sunlight to cause the snow to glisten. For the first time, our solar panels generated no electricity, and the extended subzero temperatures  knocked out the heat in our greenhouse. So, it was with excitement and delight one early February morning that I discovered the dancing yellow petals of the winter aconites in our front yard. Nothing beats these early reminders of spring as winter slowly begins to fade away.

Thus it was that I decided to make a journey to the Kruse garden to see the place where I first encountered these gentle reminders of spring’s renewal. Much to my disappointment, I couldn’t find any sign of them there. Don’t get me wrong; the garden still had the quiet beauty of winter’s simplicity. The unique shapes of the trees and the bushes stood out and the little frog prince by the pond gazed longingly for just a murmur of green.

At this time of year, we can feel winter’s dull and gray grasp beginning to weaken. There is a bit more sun, a few hints of green and the hidden secrets of new life shyly begin to appear. The lethargy that comes from winter’s darkness starts to lessen and new projects come to mind. I expect that the aconites will come back at Kruse, perhaps even a snowdrop or two, and in my mind the garden will begin to grow again.

Our first meeting of 2024 is coming up! We are looking forward to seeing everyone and getting started in planning and preparing for another year of gardening. Are you interested in growing a new variety of pepper or tomato that you saw in a seed catalog you got in the mail? Or maybe you just want to give your garden a head start for the growing season. Learn about the equipment and methods used for starting seeds indoors.

Our speaker is a University of Illinois Extension Master Gardener, Jan Gricus.

Meeting Location: St Andrew Lutheran Church (NE Corner of Prince Crossing & Geneva Road.)

Meeting Time:

• 6:45PM Arrive & Mingle
• 7:00PM Business Meeting
• 7:15PM Program

We have had our final monthly meeting for 2023.  The November meeting is always fun with our potluck dinner and member appreciation silent auction.  Our members earn “Garden Bucks” throughout the year by participating in our club and then “spend” them at this event.  Many new members joined us in 2023 and we look forward to seeing them again in 2024.

Our first meeting next year, will be in January.  We will continue to meet on the 4th Thursday of each month.  We try to hold other events such as fieldtrips, workshops and volunteer opportunities on other days of the week so members will be able to attend some events even if their Thursdays are unavailable.  Twilight Tuesdays were a great success this year and we plan to continue them next summer.

If you are interested in joining us, come to our January meeting.  If you enjoy it, an individual membership is $20.00 per year per person and a family membership is $30 per year for two individuals who reside at the same address.  For more information, take a look at the “Join us” tab above.