http://www.westchicagogardenclub.org/about/

West Chicago Garden Club, 155 N Prince Crossing Road, West Chicago, IL (2026)

06/12/2026

You're cordially invited tomorrow, Saturday, June 13th from 9-11:30 AM to spend a little time in the Kruse Garden. This is a great way to perhaps meet some fellow members, familiarize yourself with some new plants that grow well in our area and keep our club-maintained garden thriving.
There are gardening tasks for any skill or knowledge level and a regular Kruse "crew" gardener will be there to guide you. If you would like, bring your favorite weeding tool, pruners and kneeling pad – don't forget to mark them as your own. Looking forward to gardening with many of you at Kruse House 527 Main Street West Chicago, IL 60185 We’ll have a break halfway through our morning gardening together. If you can’t stay the whole 2 hours come for any part of it. All help is valued and greatly appreciated! If you find yourself available on Saturday, just show up.

Did you know that the Kruse garden is the reason our club exists? When 2 docents at the Kruse House Museum set out to restore the garden they realized it was too monumental of a task for them alone and declared we need a garden club! That is when the new era of the West Chicago Garden Club began.

06/12/2026

If you're interested in learning about making and preserving dill pickles, salsas, or apples, you might find this series of classes helpful:

https://registration.extension.illinois.edu/start/food-preservation-series-in-kane-county

05/16/2026

Happy Plant Sale Celebration Saturday! It's sale day!

The plants featured today are ones that embody different parts of our celebrations this year. These red, white, and blue plants celebrate the 25th year of Bloomingfest as well as the upcoming Semiquincentennial for the US on July 4th this year. We are sharing a few that we have grown and might be available to purchase today, Saturday, May 16 at our Bloomingfest plant sale (9am-2pm), but please know that this is just a sampling of possible plants and not images of the actual plants in the sale.

For red, some tomatoes that haven't already been shared this week are filling this role. According to a Google search The 'Delicious' tomato is a classic, large heirloom beefsteak variety known for its impressive size, meaty texture, and rich, old-fashioned flavor. Polish Paste is a meaty, bright and sweet paste type tomato. Verandah Red is a prolific, early producing dwarf variety of flavorful and sweet cherry tomatoes.

For white, some plants that weren't featured previously have been included today. Many hosta varieties that we have feature white variegation for brightening shady spots in our gardens, along with the white-flowered varieties. Shasta Daisies are cheerful and bright addition to sunny spots. Pentas 'Lucky Star' White have lovely star-shaped flowers on a mounding plant that attracts hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies and is a low maintenance plant.

Blue is not a common color in the plant world, but we have been growing a few. Brunnera is a shade tolerant blue flowering plant that will brighten a shady spot in your garden. Great Blue Lobelia is a native plant with blue floweres in the fall that is known for attracting bumblebees, butterflies, and hummingbirds and thrives in any spot with extra moisture. Lastly, Siberian Iris' are highly adaptable with tolerance for clay soil and wet conditions, along with drought tolerance.

We hope you will join us at the sale today. Our members have put a lot of care and attention into the plants we are offering for sale, but more importantly we enjoy sharing the joy of gardening and we hope you will allow us to share that joy with you.

05/16/2026

Happy Plant Sale Eve to all who celebrate! It's International Family Day, so let's keep the countdown to the plant sale going by featuring plants that bring back fond memories of family!
I grew up with a mom who loved to garden (she was a test gardener for Jackson-Perkins Roses) and I think my love for digging in the dirt was inherited. I found a number of plants on the list of plants that make me think of the time spent in my mom's garden. Theyave been expertly potted up and cared for by our members and will be available to purchase tomorrow, Saturday, May 16 at our Bloomingfest plant sale (9am-2pm), .
One of my favorites is Columbine (I have vivid memories of playing with the seed pods - such a great rattling sound)(we have native, pink/purple, purple, double purple and white, and rust red flowering varieties). Another of my mom's favorites is bearded iris (we have many different colors and both tall and regular) and they were always the purple ones, her favorite color. Violets are another favorite, probably also because they are purple along with the purple pansies planted each year.
These plants could start a new family tradition in your family or perhaps you have fond plant memories that remind you of family members that you'd like to share in the comment section.
We do hope that you will visit the sale tomorrow and that you have a beautiful and enjoyable season of gardening in 2026!
Disclaimer - we pot up plants early in the spring and get as accurate a description as possible of them. There is no guarantee that the plants in our sale will look like anything shared in any of these posts, but it is possible that they will based on the information we were given.

05/15/2026

Happy Thrilling Thursday! Let's keep the countdown to the plant sale going with ideas for containers!
Are you familiar with the design strategy of Thriller, Filler and Spiller for making exciting containers for your yard? The basic idea is that the Thriller is a tall plant that is a bit of a diva - it's all about them and they are put in the middle of a pot that is viewed from different directions or the back of a pot that only is seen from one direction. The Filler is something fluffy to fill in around the base of the Thriller, doing its best not to steal the show. The Spiller is a bit lazy or dramatic, swooning to soften the edge of the pot and spilling over the side on all sides if the pot is viewed from all sides or at the front if the pot is only viewed from the front. You probably do this on instinct, but if not it might be something to try. Today we are sharing a combination that we are growing and members will be able to purchase them individually this Thursday night and the general public will be able to purchase this Saturday, May 16 at our Bloomingfest plant sale (9am-2pm), but please know that this is just a sampling, we have tons of annuals for you to choose from. It's also okay to use perennial plants in pots, but they tend to be a bit more of an investment so unless you have a spot in your garden you want to move them to at the end of the growing season, it might be best to stick with annuals.
For your consideration: Thriller : Salvia Victoria Blue (a known hummingbird, bee, and butterfly magnet),
Filler: Carex 'Amazon Mist', Spiller: Bacopa. Let us know if you use Thriller, Filler, and Spiller in your containers and if so what your favorite combinations are or if you like to mix things up every year.

05/14/2026

Happy Wildflower Wednesday! Let's keep the countdown to the plant sale going with wildflowers/native plants!
The plants featured today are ones that occurred in our area even before people started bringing plants from other places to grow. They are especially well-adapted to the growing conditions in our area and are known to be high quality resources for wildlife, from turtles and ducks, to songbirds, hummingbirds, and bees. We are sharing a few that we are growing and members will be able to purchase this Thursday night and the general public will be able to purchase this Saturday, May 16 at our Bloomingfest plant sale (9am-2pm), but please know that this is just a sampling. We have quite a few of each of the species that are being shared here, but for best selection we do recommend that you shop early.
Celandine Poppy is a woodland native with yellow blooms in spring. Canadian Ginger is a wonderful groundcover for shady spots. Anise Hyssop is a summer-blooming bee and hummingbird magnet that tolerates hot dry spots and blooms in summer. Violets are food for caterpillars and a lovely way to fill in a shady or tough spot in your garden. Virginia Bluebells can be an important resource for bees in April, especially bumblebee queens who are hungry after overwintering and needing to provision their nests for the next generation. Spiderwort is a delightful spring bloomer with striking purple flowers. (These pictures are not of the specific plants in the sale, but of mature plants from other locations.)
Do you grow any of these in your garden? Please share in the comments if you have a favorite!

05/13/2026

Can you believe the plant sale is 3 days away?! We have a wide variety of plants all expertly potted up and cared for! Our friendly and knowledgeable members will be there to assist with plant selection and we offer a holding area so that you can shop at your convenience and pick up your plants when you are ready to leave Blooming Fest (or by 2pm).
These are photos taken throughout the process. Just like the plants in your yard, everything is growing more and more each day! Come by early for best selection!

05/12/2026

Happy (Taco) Tuesday! Let's keep the countdown to the plant sale going with plants for making salsa!
There's nothing like growing your own vegetables and making fresh tomato salsa, so let's imagine it's a Tuesday in mid-August and you have a taste for some homemade salsa. We have 27 varieties of peppers and the same number of varieties of tomatoes we are growing that members will be able to purchase this Thursday night and the general public will be able to purchase this Saturday, May 16 at our Bloomingfest plant sale (9am-2pm).
For a great base for our salsa, let's pick a paste-type tomato, like the Invincible (known to do well even when temps are really hot) or Martino's Roma (known for heavy yields and growing well in a container). Next if you prefer a super mild salsa, you might want to add the Habanada and Nadapeno peppers, which have flavor without the heat of habanero and jalapeno peppers. For a spicier salsa, add Serrano and Orange Habanero and maybe the Hungarian Hot Wax. Sounds good, right?
Are you hungry yet? It's a good thing this post is going up after dinner because otherwise there might be a lot of hungry gardeners out there!
Have you made anything with the tomatoes or peppers that we offer in the sale that you really enjoyed? Share it in the comment section to get everyone hungry for plant shopping this week!

05/12/2026

Happy Monday! Let's start the countdown to the plant sale with Moon Garden plants!
In case you are unfamiliar with the idea, planting a garden with lots of white will glow in the light of the moon. We have a number of plants that would be great for a Moon Garden. I'm going to share 5 that we are growing and members will be able to purchase this Thursday night and the general public will be able to purchase this Saturday, May 16 at our Bloomingfest plant sale (9am-2pm).
Five beauties for a moon garden that caught my attention are: White flowering hostas, Hydrangeas (we have smooth and Annabelles, which are both white flowering), Mountain Mint (which is a native plant so it will probably be very attractive to our native moths at night), Pagoda Dogwood trees, and Solomon's Seal (we are growing variegated, dwarf, and green).

02/01/2026

It's cold out there - let's dream of pollinators!
If you don't have a lot of room, this is something that you can use to support local wildlife in a potted planting. This is a specific kit, but you can probably find the plants for sale locally and create your own (Madison might have some different choices so feel free to substitute with an appropriate choice for our zone/area.)

West Chicago Garden Club

06/12/2026

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