The West Chicago Garden Club

By Mary Anderson

“April is the cruelest month.”

I had always heard this quote and thought it referred to April’s fickle weather, especially the prospect of snow showers right when you thought we just couldn’t get any more. But I found out T.S. Eliot was way darker—he was writing about a character in his poem who was so melancholy and despondent he rejected the rejuvenation that April represents. How could anyone hate a swath of grape hyacinths or a joyful bouquet of daffodils?
Poor man! He really needed a gardener for a friend….

The gardeners at the Kruse house definitely celebrate a new season of growth each year. But cruel April didn’t allow us to get started outside, as our first April date was 38 degrees with gusty winds. So we spent our time in the Kruse house basement winter sowing and preparing for a future day of planting sprouted seeds: zinnias, hollyhocks, coneflowers, alyssum, among others. You can find them soaking up the sun and rain by the back steps at the Kruse house, and later on in various beds where we are confident they will flourish.
The next week we started clean-up. And on our Second-Saturday-of-the-Month Volunteer Day, we continued in earnest. We tackled the Spurge Scourge, trying to get all the underground runners of this particular variety of spurge that is poisonous. We also identified some trees that winter winds battered and we had to cut them down. Power saws! And debris!

2nd Saturday Volunteers

We called the landscaping company that mows at the house and they brought a truck for us to fill up. And we filled it!
So now we’re almost set to get to the fun stuff. We have plans for the border garden, including a hosta hill; we are looking for ideas for the front planters; we are looking forward to Wasco coming to plant the new tulip tree; and we want to add to the fencing along the east side (no Tom Sawyering when we paint it!).

And we are just anticipating seeing the garden in its glory from month to month over the Spring and Summer and Fall, never once considering April’s introduction to Spring as anything except glorious! We’d love to share all this with others, so come by to visit the garden any time.

And something else I learned recently: Being in nature can boost your attention span. The benefits are many! Be inspired to join in.

Tags: Kruse Garden

Ghouls in our Garden by Christina Covarrubias

Flowers in the garden are typically thought of as calming and cheerful but what about the plants that are dangerous? Some lovely flowers come with a warning like roses with thorns. Other flowers -though beautiful- need to be handled with caution. Keep reading for examples we have in our garden.

Monkshood Aconitum v. is a delightful, dark purple fall-blooming perennial standing approximately 36″ tall -however all parts are poisonous.

Castor bean Ricinus communis is a unique annual, in our area, with palmate red or green leaves and bright red ball-like inflorescences, its fast-growing tropical appearance makes a unique addition to our sun-drench containers. Castor bean is EXTREMELY toxic and known as the poison ricin which is estimated at 12,000 times more toxic than rattlesnake venom.

Mediterranean spurge Euphorbia characias we consider a thug in our garden as it spreads wildly. It and other more attractive euphorbias can cause skin irritation, rash and if the exposed to the eyes can lead to blindness. We found this out, unfortunately, through one of our fellow gardeners who had a horrible reaction to her eyes and required an emergency room visit. Please wear gloves when handling this plant and don’t let it touch any part of your body.

Poison Ivy Toxicodendron radicans, what garden is complete without a little poison ivy supplied by birds? Interestingly poison ivy loves climate change, scientists note it grows bigger, sprout early and is more potent in response to higher CO2 exposure. Kerry Perry has taken one for the team to thoroughly irradicate our unintentional patch of poison ivy.

Please don’t let these plants ever deter you from visiting our garden or gardening.

If you care to join us gardening in the Kruse garden next year we typically garden from 9-11:30am every Wednesday and the same time on the 2nd Saturday of each month starting in spring.

Visit the garden during any daylight hours, there are still plenty of plants blooming and we have been busy fall-dividing and planting perennials-come find them! Kruse House Museum 527 Main St West Chicago, Il 60185

Tags: Kruse Garden

By Barbara Darrah

I am writing this article with a bit of hesitancy because since July 18 when my husband Dick had knee replacement surgery, I became his “designated driver” and have spent my Wednesday mornings ferrying him to his therapy sessions. I am sure that the crew members managed very well without me but I have missed our gardening together.

This has been a very strange and exhausting summer for all of our gardening as well. These super hot and humid days seem to just suck our energy out of us. Many plants seem to have outdone their normal growth patterns. The clover and creeping Charlie have made a concerted effort to take over our lawns and in the flower beds that I hoped were weedless, there are three and four foot invaders towering over the blossoms. The Joe Pyeweed has flopped completely over and deadheading seems endless. We are all working overtime along with the industrious Kruse crew.

I hope you have taken advantage of the Tuesday Open House at the garden. If you still haven’t had a chance to tour the house, do try to do so. Most house museums showcase the large, expensive houses of the upper classes. Thanks to the Kruse sisters’ gift to the community, we have the unique opportunity to visit an early twentieth century remarkably complete example of the small town home that your midwestern great, great grandparents probably lived in. And the docents seem to ensure that there is always something new to see every time that you visit. Thanks to our garden club volunteers, you also get to see a charming garden as well.

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.

Tags: Kruse Garden