Garden Club of South Holland

09/19/2026

“The Cultural Context of food: Cuisine, Culture & Cousins.”

Wednesday, October 14th, 6pm: By Peggy Kapustiak at

Heritage House
443 East 157th Street
South Holland

09/03/2026

Garden club of South Holland honors members that passed away this year in the Garden clubs of Illinois Book of Remembrance.
Joan Summit and Joanne Venhuizen.

09/02/2026

07/22/2026

07/18/2026

All the members of the Garden Club want to thank everyone who made it out today to view our wonderful gardens. We want to thank the gracious garden hosts for all their hard work and willingness to open up their secluded paradises to the Public.
In spite of the downpour in the middle of the scheduled walk, we still had hardy souls who came out with umbrellas in the pouring rain, and those who stuck around in their vehicles once the rain subsided to view the remaining gardens on their tour.
Overall, attendance was double that we had last year. For our 25th Annual Walk, what a wonderful turnout!

07/18/2026

It's not too late to come out for this year's Magnificent Garden Walk. No tickets needed this year, admission is free. 5 Gorgeous gardens that will inspire you and even make you a little green with envy!
Come on out to Veteran's Park to pick up your driving directions, or google the addresses to see these works of wonder.
All Homes are in South Holland:

House 1: 52 Grandview Avenue
House 2: 16350 Drexel Avenue
House 3: 801 E. 170th Street
House 4: 819 170th Place (Also known as Maryland Ave)
House 5: 2054 E. 172nd Street

Homes 3 & 4 are only a block apart.

07/10/2026

Interesting read…

The prairie state made it illegal to punish people for growing prairie, and the irony is almost too perfect.
Illinois was once eighty percent tallgrass prairie, a sea of big bluestem, Indian grass, and wildflowers that stretched to the horizon and fed millions of bison. Then we plowed it under for corn, soy, and suburban lawns. By the time the twentieth century ended, less than one-tenth of one percent of that original prairie remained. The state that literally calls itself the Prairie State had made prairie illegal in most places. Homeowners who tried to restore native Illinois plants on their property faced citations from municipalities and fines from HOAs. The very ecosystem that built the soil beneath their houses was treated as a nuisance.
The secret history is that Illinois native plants are not w**ds. They are the biological foundation of the entire Midwest. Deep-rooted prairie grasses like switchgrass and little bluestem pe*****te ten feet into clay soil, absorbing stormwater that would otherwise flood basements and overwhelm sewer systems. Native wildflowers like purple coneflower and blazing star feed the rusty patched bumblebee, a federally endangered species that once dominated Illinois meadows. But for a century, municipal w**d ordinances and HOA covenants treated any plant over eight inches tall as a violation, effectively criminalizing the state's natural heritage.
Illinois fixed this with the Native Plants Act, which now protects homeowners who grow maintained Illinois-native plants on their lawns. The law explicitly prevents local governments and HOAs from treating native plantings as w**ds or imposing height restrictions that would eliminate prairie species. The mechanism is a preemption of local ordinance, meaning a city cannot override state law to enforce aesthetic conformity over ecological function.
The second-order effect is quietly revolutionary. Homeowners are discovering that a prairie yard requires zero mowing, zero fertilizer, and a fraction of the water. Property values on native-landscaped streets are climbing because the curb appeal is unique and the maintenance costs are negligible. Kids growing up in these neighborhoods are learning that Illinois used to look like this everywhere.
Native yards stand protected.

07/08/2026