The West Chicago Garden Club

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.

The Kruse House Garden is ever changing. Today the fading plants still provide a diversity of color and texture.

The Kruse Crew will be changing too. Billie Childress is retiring from working in the Kruse Garden and she will be greatly missed! For many years now Billie has headed up the crew, providing expert leadership, knowledge, generosity, and fun. Billie has led us down the right paths, resulting in a garden with “bones” and artistic structure.

Billie has donated numerous trees and perennials from her own gorgeous garden. The viburnum she donated twenty years ago has grown to fifty feet – it’s magnificent. The variety of perennials are like a kaleidoscope –vivid, beautiful and always changing. Billie has devoted an incredible amount of time and love to the garden.

Thank you Billie!