Club News

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

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DES PLAINES GARDEN CLUB

Des Plaines Garden Club has been very busy with activities surrounding the youth of our community. We partnered with the Des Plaines Park District for Earth Day. Over 110 Children made bird feeders with us. In May we participated with other community groups for Family Day. 140 families attended the event. We had a craft and gave away various puzzles to the kids. On July 4th we will be proudly showing our 95 Anniversary banner in our local parade. We pass out seeds to the residents and smokey the bear giveaways for the children. Last year we distributed over 4500 seed packets. Our annual garden walk is July 9th, We love to see the various garden designs of five of our members. Our regular monthly meetings will resume in September. We are gearing up for the Annual Fall Luncheon and Fund Raiser on Thursday, Nov 12th. Details can be found on our website:

desplainesilgardenclub.com.

EVANSTON HIGHLAND GARDEN CLUB

Evanston's Highland Garden Club celebrated a successful season with a potluck meeting in June. The meeting had many highlights: a successful season of programs ending in April with Melissa Hagerty from the Park District of Highland Park with a presentation on Native Habitats and Managing Invasive Species, the launch of a book club, and the addition of many new members. We ended our season with our annual Backyard Botanicals Sale on May 30th. We exceeded all expectations with the variety and number of plants from members' gardens and from gardens of our friends. Weather was perfect. Set up display welcomed many early shoppers of serious gardeners and new gardeners. Our experienced garden members as well as Master Gardeners were available to help. With a minimum of expense, our sales and donations exceeded past sales! Recognition of our hard work was extended to all.

GARDEN CLUB OF INVERNESS

The Garden Club of Inverness concluded its membership year with a festive Summer Garden Party held in June, marking the end of a productive and engaging season for its members. During the Spring Luncheon in May, the club introduced new officers and committee chairs, ensuring strong leadership and fresh perspectives for the upcoming year. The club organized a variety of programs throughout the year, including educational presentations such as “The Singular Life of a Solitary Bee” and “Women in Natural History.” In addition to these, members participated in nine special events, including a trip to the Morton Arboretum for an outdoor art exhibit, and a floral arranging workshop held prior to Easter. Members actively contributed to community gardening projects and provided garden therapy at a local nursing home, demonstrating their commitment to service and the well-being of others. The Club’s annual Holiday Luncheon was a significant fundraising event, generating $10,500 to support student scholarships in environmental fields, furthering the club’s mission to promote environmental education and stewardship.

GARDEN CLUB OF LAKE ZURICH

The Garden Club of Lake Zurich is excited to kick off its 2026–27 program year with a full slate of engaging fall programs. This season’s topics include turtles, dahlias, fall migrations, and a special holiday tablescape presentation. We are also pleased to welcome a growing number of new members—many joining us through our annual plant sale or through the warm outreach of our current members. Following a successful spring plant sale, members have been hard at work tending to the Ela Public Library gardens, enjoying a delightful members’ garden walk, and participating in several tours throughout the summer. As the season begins to wind down, members look forward to gathering for our annual Fall Harvest Dinner. This cherished event brings us together to share dishes from our garden bounty, enjoy camaraderie, and reflect on both the challenges and successes of the past growing season. During the evening, we will also recognize members celebrating milestone years with the Club. For more information on our Club or upcoming programs, visit or contact us at gardencluboflakezurich.org or find us on Facebook.

GRAYSLAKE GREENERY GARDEN CLUB

Grayslake Greenery Garden Club is having a very busy year. We added native plants to our plant sale this year and had record results, enabling us to increase our scholarships from 1 to 3. We planted and care for beds at the local library and senior center, and wrapped up the season for Garden Therapy for our seniors. We had our summer picnic in June, ”Grayslake in Bloom” Garden Walk in July and Flower Show with Wauconda Garden Club in August. Our programs and yearbook will be ready for our meetings September through May. Somehow we will also fit in a field trip or two. Find out more on ouR website,

www.grayslake gardenclub.org.

KENILWORTH GARDEN ARTS CLUB

Kenilworth Garden Arts Club continues to meet our members’ goals. For example, our membership drive has successfully added new members, all of whom have backgrounds that enhance our philosophy of community engagement through gardening and philanthropy. Adding members has in turn led us to develop better ways to provide members with a comprehensive orientation. We continue our support of the Joseph Sears Grade School raised gardens program. We provide maintenance of the school’s gardens during the summer months. In addition, we have had two wonderful educational events that stress the art of floral and garden design. In one group event we practiced floral watercolor painting and in another the art of creating centerpiece arrangements. These activities and others help provide members with a sense of club affiliation and fun. In terms of community affiliation, we represent our club on the Kenilworth Beautification Committee. Our current activity is the planning of the Kenilworth Combined Garden Clubs Meeting for 2027.

LAKE BLUFF GARDEN CLUB

Lake Bluff Garden Club gave their village's train station a fresh new look this spring by redesigning the Blue Star Memorial Garden. The village’s Public Works crew removed gnarled, 20-year-old yews, prepared the beds for planting, and LBGC members filled the garden with beautiful native forbs and grasses. The plants were in place just in time for a season full of village-wide observations honoring the 250th anniversary of the USA. The club planted wild geranium, wild petunia, columbine, purple coneflower, black-eyed Susan, butterfly weed and prairie dropseed. All species are native to Lake County, except for sedum. The plants coordinate with the Lake Bluff business district plantings, creating a connected pollinator habitat and wildlife corridor through the village’s downtown area.

LINCOLNSHIRE GARDEN CLUB

The Lincolnshire Garden Club will have a fall cleanup for the Blue Star Memorial Garden, in September, in which many members participate. Our member volunteers also work alongside the residents of the Riverside Foundation and the Women’s Residential Services to put in gardens which are producing a bounty of vegetables and flowers for them to enjoy. At each facility the residents do an excellent job caring for the gardens throughout the summer creating a welcome place to relax and gather for themselves, visitors and workers. Our “Walk in ‘The Shire’ ”, a popular summer garden walk, has been a great way to engage and educate new members and the broader community. We hope you will join us next year to enjoy the elegance and artistic creativity of our hosts. Come September we will be starting a new year of great educational programs so look on our website for meeting topics, dates and location, then plan a visit. We continue to combine friendship and love of adventure through group travel to both national and international destinations. On our next trip a dozen intrepid members will be exploring Italy, around Cinque Terre. Buon Viaggio. Be sure to bookmark our website https://lincolnshiregardenclub.com/home to stay abreast of our programs and other activities.

TOWN and COUNTRY GARDEN CLUB

The Town and Country Garden Club of Libertyville enjoyed a very busy and productive spring and summer. We kicked off the season in April by celebrating Arbor Day with a guided tree walk through Cook Park and planting our annual spring containers throughout the city. For Memorial Day, we honored our country’s upcoming 250th anniversary by styling our civic planters with a vibrant red, white, and blue flower theme. Later in the summer, we gathered in August for our Memorial Tree Dedication. We were honored to have the Mayor of Libertyville speak at the event as we came together to remember the past club members who dedicated so much of their time and talent to beautifying our community. Our annual Hidden Gems Garden Walk was another success this year. Visitors enjoyed touring five exceptional local gardens, browsing unique pieces from nature-themed artists, and picking up helpful resources on native plants from the Wild Ones of Lake County. Thanks to the success of the walk and a competitive pool of over ten applicants, we were thrilled to expand our scholarship program this year, increasing our impact from one single scholarship to three, for a total value of $3,500. As we look toward the fall and winter months, our civic planting team is preparing to transition the town's planters into autumn arrangements, followed by festive evergreen winter themes. We also have a great lineup of educational programs planned for our members. In the coming months, we will explore the unique plants and landscape of Iceland, learn about the top ten herbs to grow at home, and gather for our annual holiday luncheon, where members will have the chance to craft their own custom seasonal arrangements. Looking even further ahead, organizational planning is officially underway for both the 2027 Garden Walk and our major 75th club anniversary.

WAUCONDA GARDEN CLUB

Wauconda Garden Club had a successful plant sale in May, and partnered with Grayslake Greenery Garden Club for a flower show in early August. The Garden Club continues their regular visits to Alta Rehab, where members plant flowers for the residents as well as doing hands on crafts with them. The Main Street planters will be getting ready for Fall after a glorious growing season. Last year the club participated in the town scarecrow contest and are hoping to do so again as well as carving pumpkins, filling each with a live plant and distributing them to local businesses and government offices.

WHEELING GARDEN CLUB

Wheeling Garden Club has had a busy start to 2026. In February we seated two new officers, our president and treasurer. In March we started flower and vegetable seeds with the guidance of our master gardeners. We learned about seed viability and how to determine what percentage of seeds would sprout. The club maintains three locations in the village. The Blue Star Memorial was made ready and looked fantastic for the Memorial Day celebration. In the “Kitchen” Garden, behind the museum building, we grow herbs, garlic, rhubarb and flowers that can be used in the home. We hope to provide a pleasant visual experience as villagers drive by this area. Our activity at the Indian Trails Public Library is a joint venture with the library, overseen by our master gardeners. One of our annual activities, “The Giving Garden”, provides children the opportunity to learn about seasonal vegetables, planting, tending a garden and harvesting. Our club donates all produce from our library garden to the Wheeling Township Food Pantry. Last year we donated several hundred pounds of vegetables. In July, we participated in a club “yard sale” to promote the reuse of gardening items and décor. Money from the yard sale was used for maintaining our community projects. 2026 finds our club off to a great start and we are excited about continuing to be a valuable organization to our members and our community.

WINNETKA WEEDERS GARDEN CLUB

Winnetka Weeders Garden Club commemorated our 90th anniversary as a club in 2025. We are enjoying a year of learning and civic service in 2026. Programs on the 2026 calendar include presentations on vegetable gardening, flower arranging, container gardening, and more. The popular annual Tablescapes event and a hands-on winter wreath making program will be featured in the fall. Weeders help beautify the Village of Winnetka by tending gardens at the Winnetka Public Library and the Winnetka Train Station.