Club News

Club reports are highlighted here when they submit reports for GCI's Garden Glories publication.

Check back for more clubs in the future.

Arlington Heights Garden Club

Arlington Hts Garden Club Winter to Spring programming will include a presentation in partnership with the Arlington Hts Memorial Library in January on Soil Biology. February teases us with the return of Spring as we learn about Warblers Unveiled. March is a presentation on Spring Gardens with a virtual field trip to local gardens to enjoy and Citizens for Conservation will present on Water Solutions in Your Garden.

We will begin prep for growing native plugs for our annual plant sale on June 6th. The shift to natives last year allowed us to educate the community while we got more natives into the ground throughout the community to support pollinators! Our Garden Walk Planning also kicks off in January as we get ready to showcase local gardens on June 28th.

AHGC is also co-hosting the Dist IX annual meeting with the Wauconda Garden Club. Save the date to join us for a great day of education and networking with local clubs on March 10th, 2026. This year’s theme is Pollinators Beyond the Bee.

Lake Bluff Garden Club

Lake Bluff Garden Club closed 2025 on a high note and we plan to continue on this upward trajectory in 2026! Our motto for 2025 was Bloom and Grow – and we hit both targets. The Club launched a new website, with a goal to inform the community about all that we do, cultivate interest in the Club, and spark enthusiasm for gardening (you can find us at LakeBluffGardenClub.org). We wrote new Mission and Vision Statements, updated our Bylaws, continued our important community partnerships, and hosted a lovely afternoon Garden Walk for members and guests. We were thrilled to add eight new members to the Club.

In 2026 we plan to continue on this growth and community-building trajectory! We will continue our partnerships with the Village of Lake Bluff, which includes re-designing, ordering materials and re-planting 47 concrete troughs and urns in the downtown district for each of the four beautiful seasons. We will also keep working with the Lake Bluff Park District on Arbor Day tree-planting and Holiday Tree Trimming with preschoolers. The Club has put a special focus on updating our Blue Star Memorial Garden this year, and our programs committee has planned an exciting lineup of programs, including Native Pollinators; All Things Houseplants; Soil Management; Native Plants … and more!

Photos below taken by Lisa Schwarz, Katherine Marsoobian and Adrienne Fawcett

Garden Club of Lake Zurich

The Club is delighted by its continued growth, welcoming 10 new members this past year! Members have been actively involved in preparing both the community garden under our care and their own garden beds for a peaceful winter rest. Their dedication keeps our gardening spirit thriving, even as the seasons shift. In October, members gathered to celebrate the dedication of two white swap oak trees donated to the Hawthorn Woods Community Park. Representatives from the Village Board and Park District joined the event, highlighting the shared commitment to partnership and stewardship that continues to strengthen our local communities.

From planting roots to planning routes, members enjoyed a special program in November on incorporating public gardens into their travel plans. It was a great way to blend wanderlust with a love for horticulture. Our January garden trivia series remains a winter favorite—an entertaining and educational way for members to tap into their natural curiosity, challenge their minds with new gardening facts while enjoying a bit of friendly competition in a relaxed, light-hearted setting.

Upcoming events include:

A session on composting to reduce carbon emissions

A creative program blending art, music, and words about birds

A crowd-pleasing floral design demonstration

A special presentation on garden design inspired by Piet Oudolf

Save the Date: the Club’s annual plant sale will take place on the third Saturday in May at the Ela Public Library.

"Our love for gardening knows no season—it blooms even in winter’s quiet."

For more information, please follow us on Facebook or visit www.gardencluboflakezurich.org

Lincolnshire Garden Club

As the new year rolls in we are looking forward to another year of rewarding community focused and engaging suite of activities. These will include an event ‘From Our Hearts to Your Hearts’, where members bring canned food for the Vernon Township Annual Food Drive, at our February 19th General Meeting, our highly popular Annual Plant Sale and our monthly social and horticultural programs where invited speakers inspire us.

When the weather warms up members will be helping at the Spring Cleanup of the redesigned and refurbished Blue Star Memorial Garden. This garden has become a beautiful focal point of our community where annual events such as the Memorial Day Commemoration of our fallen soldiers is held and daily visitors of the park enjoy the colorful blooms as they progress through the season.

In May we will hold our annual Plant Sale offering native plants, perennials, and annuals for sale to raise funds and support our philanthropic programs. Please visit https://lincolnshiregardenclub.com/fundraisers for more information including the date and location.

Garden Club of Mount Prospect

The Garden Club of Mount Prospect is looking forward to its 2026 program topics, which include moon gardens, soil characteristics, and a Ryerson Woods Conservation Tour. We are also excited about a new seed library opening at the Mount Prospect Public Library, where we will be able to access seeds in time for winter seed sowing. Several members attended the District IX Fall event “Sewing Seeds of Organization,” and plan to implement some of the suggestions for storing our club records and improving communication.

Northbrook Garden Club

So far this season we really enjoyed a program on herbs and another on native plants for problem areas. The GCI
District IX special program on using Google Drive, held at the Mt Prospect Library was attended by 7 members and
now we'll coach each other to fully utilize a most valuable resource for our club. We were especially happy to learn
how to create online polls.
Coming up, we were asked to create a winter sowing program for adults at the Northbrook Public Library in
January. We'll adapt a program we already did for children who planted swamp milkweed seeds with more
complex information and a variety of seeds that would include native plants and vegetables. So many of us enjoy
the ease of winter sowing in milk jugs and we love to share the experience.

Park Ridge Garden Club

NEED MORE FREE PUBLICITY FOR YOUR PLANT SALE OR GARDEN WALK? The Park Ridge Garden Club

will post your information in their spring e-newsletters. Let’s help each other’s events be an even bigger success and send your information to joanbende@gmail.com. Put your club’s name in the subject line.

We take January off, then we are back with general meetings on the 2nd Thursday of the month @ 7PM from February through June. We will be gearing up for our annual Plant Sale on Saturday, May 16 in Cumberland Park and our 31st annual Garden Walk on Sunday, June 28. The Plant Sale features members’ perennials, hanging baskets, nursery plants and lots of free advice! The Garden Walk showcases fabulous local gardens and at each house there is an artist with their designs for purchase. We host a booth during Earth Day sponsored by the Park Ridge Park District on Saturday, April 26 in Maine Park. And we look forward to a June field trip with a variety of stops that include plant shopping and lunch. This year we offered the Beautification Award winners an honorary one-year membership to the PRGC and we hope they will be members for many years to come! For more information go to: www.parkridgegardenclub or our FB page for garden tips.

Town and Country Garden Club of Libertyville

Our new program year will start March 2026, so the winter months are a time of planning and reflection for our club as we shift our focus to the new year. This includes the Programs team planning another stellar lineup of educational programs for our education and enjoyment. Our Civic Affairs teams will be planning their themes and plant needs for spring and summer civic projects and plantings. This includes expanding our new pollinator garden at Cook Library with additional plantings of native grasses, wild petunias, ornamental alliums and anise hyssop to provide for all the pollinators visiting the garden. Planning for our Memorial Butterfly and Blue Star Marker gardens will include dividing plants and evaluating for the addition of new plants as these gardens mature.

Our first club meeting in March is always a welcome sign that spring is around the corner and it's a great time to come together, share our friendship and kick-off a new year. The highlight of our year is the Hidden Gems Garden Walk on June 27th. Five exceptional gardens have already been chosen and the owners are excited to share their designs and knowledge. We look forward to a fun, rewarding year building our membership, friendships and expanding our civic projects and community involvement.

Garden Club of Barrington

The Garden Club of Barrington is celebrating its 100th Anniversary this year. At its first meeting in
October of 1925 a group of Barrington women met and established the objectives for the
organization: stimulating the knowledge and love of gardening, aiding in the protection of native
plants and birds, and encouraging civic planting. This fall the club will be presenting a photography
show entitled “Through the Garden Gate: A Century of Growth”. Each of the six classes in the show
highlights how the club has honored those original objectives throughout its history. One class
focuses on plant cultivation, another native grasses, and still another on teaching children to enjoy
nature.

In June the club presented a judged non-standard flower show entitled “America the Beautiful”.
Classes included multicolored foliage and underwater designs. Another highlighted iconic American
architecture through flower color. Our 1925 predecessors would have been proud of the members’
efforts and creativity.

The club continues its civic activities: weeding and maintaining a native shrub and forb garden at
one of the parks in the village keep members busy as does the maintenance of a garden at the local
library. Monthly, members meet to create bouquets for patients at our local hospice center. We are
sure our founding mothers would approve of our commitment to their original objective

Wauconda Garden Club

The Wauconda Garden Club will be holding a “learn-and-do” winter sowing session using seeds that we have harvested from the natives in the planter gardens on Main Street. Our club will gather to have a Seed Exchange, with members are collecting, drying and labeling seeds to share and celebrate gardening together. Every other month members meet at Alta rehab and memory car facility assisting residents in various craft projects. For the holidays they will be decorating a felt Christmas tree and the residents will receive a small gift of jewelry. Pine cone bird feeders will be being made in February. These visits try and involve as many residents as possible to chat and brighten their day. The club will also be hosting an educational hands on event to teach kids how to care for winter birds - “Helping Winter Birds - Build Your Own Bird Feeder” at the local library. At our annual Holiday Party luncheon we will be entertained by a florist making arrangements as well as collecting food pantry donations.