The West Chicago Garden Club

By Jean Ann Saarnio

Shorter days and cooler nights bring about changes in the Kruse garden in October. As the spring and summer blooms begin to fade, the fall blooms command our attention.

As we stroll through the garden, we see the masses of the tiny daisy like flowers of the purple or pink asters, the bright golden yellow of the golden rods. The ageratums blooming in either purple or white, as well as the tall stalks of the great blue lobelia. The burgundy perilla showing off its color in many places, sometimes in uninvited corners of the garden.

On the north hill the white boneset is making itself known as the white blooms of the Annabelle hydrangea fade to a lovely green. The sedum has large rosy blooms that command your attention. A close examination of the beauty berry reveal the tiniest bead-like berries and the coral berry as well. The Japanese anemone provides a pop of daisy-like pink flowers on the east side, along with the seven sons tree planted last fall. The panicle hydrangeas are turning to a faded pink, which will provide excellent fall and winter interest.

We will soon be giving attention to the spent blooms and seed heads of the zinnias, poppies, marigolds, coneflowers, goldenrods, four o’ clocks, hollyhocks, and more for dead heading and seed collecting. Seeds will be used for winter sowing or spring planting. When dead heading we keep in mind the needs of birds and wild life and those that provide winter interest.

Our days for gardening are soon ending, weather permitting, we will continue through the end of October, as there is always a new flower to plant or anther weed to pull. There is something in the garden for everyone to enjoy, no matter what the season.

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!

Kruse House Museum: 527 Main St, West Chicago

Tags: Kruse Garden

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