Northtown Garden Society

December 15: Our annual Potluck Holiday Party was held in the Cultural Center at Indian Boundary Park. Once again, the food was wonderful and our entertainment was provided by Bill Buchholtz, a highly-regarded Native American musician from Chicago. Mr. Buchholtz played the piano during our meal and then entertained (and educated) us by playing a variety of native flutes. For further information about Mr. Buchholtz, please visit his website.

November 3: After a plant exchange and presentation of the 2012 board, Cozeake Nelson, manager of the New Leaf Urban Gardens in Evanston fascinated all attendees with his story of developing an organic gardening program to teach at-risk children the skills of gardening. This year-round new program is producing vegetables for restaurants and the West End Farmer's Market. His program is associated with Boo Coo Cultural Center and Cafe. For more information on this program, visit the Facebook page, New Leaf Urban Gardens @ ECDC.

July 16: Garden Conservancy Open Days tours. On a sunny but humid Saturday, a group of NGS members and friends spent the day visiting gardens on the Garden Conservancy Open Days program in St. Charles, Il. We visited three spectacular gardens (pictured to the left and below), two of which were designed, planted and maintained by the homeowners. We brought a picnic and were able enjoy our lunch along the Fox River at Fabyan Forest Preserve in Batavia.

Coming from the city with our small gardens, it was a treat to see gardens on lots greater than an acre with wooded paths as well as perennial borders.

June 26: Tea in Eva's Garden. On a sunny Sunday afternoon, NGS Board member and Master Gardener, Eva Mannaberg and her husband, Walter, opened their garden for tea, hors d'oeuvres and conversation. Eva refers to her garden as "The Garden of RE: ...Recycle, Reuse, Repurpose, Redo". Among the plants, vines and shrubs, you may find an old garden gate used as a plant support, a music stand as an easel, metal CD towers holding up cucumbers, wine racks as low fencing or tomato cages and metal bed headboards supporting vines. One plant of interest to all was the prickly pear cactus in full bloom in a garden in Chicago...and it stays out all winter.

June 16: On a perfect spring evening, The Annual NGS Spring Evening Garden Walk featured gardens along the 2400 to 2700 blocks of Farwell Avenue in Chicago. Fourteen gardens of a variety of styles were shown including the Gent and Waldron water gardens (see below). Following the walk, a reception for NGS members and exhibitors was held at the home of board member and exhibitor, Lee Holohan.

NGS thanks NGS member and garden photographer, Martha Meyer, of Fotogiardino in Evanston, for supplying most of the photos shown below.

May 14: Spring Plant Sale. The Northtown Garden Society and Indian Boundary Park Advisory Council joined forces for the first time to hold a large plant sale at Warren Park. Proceeds from the plant sale were split between the two organizations to benefit the gardens at Indian Boundary and Warren Parks. This was a huge undertaking with 600 tomatoes grown from seed, hundreds of donated perennials dug up and repotted, and orders for flats of annuals and hanging baskets placed at a local nursery. Volunteers from both organizations helped water and transport tomato plants, helped on the day before the sale to unload the nursery delivery truck and organize the pre-ordered plants for pick-up and helped on the day of the sale to set up tables and assist customers. In spite of the miserable, cold and rainy weather on the day of the sale, customers showed up and the sale was a success.

Special thanks go to Rev. John Hoekwater who allowed us to use greenhouse space at the Gale School for growing the tomatoes. We returned the favor by helping plant pansies along Howard Street, a project of Rev Hoekwater. Thanks also go to Pat Grunde, the principal at Bethesda School, for providing space to store the perennials and to Diana Schilz, the manager of Warren Park, for providing space for the sale and personnel to provide support to the volunteers.

April 7: Jeff Lieder of JL Honey Bee Farms spoke to the group on the topic, Everything You Wanted to Know About...BEES. Although relatively new to beekeeping, Mr. Leider was widely-read and quite knowledgeable. He spoke extensively on the organization and work of bee communities and stressed the importance of bees to nature and our survival. Beekeeping equipment was demonstrated and delicious samples of honey from his hives were available.