Pollinator garden becoming reality in Pingree Grove

A pollinator garden with more than 50 varieties of flowers and plants to attract bees, birds and butterflies is becoming reality after much planning in Pingree Grove.

Contractor Cal and Shan's Landscape and Design, of Woodstock, started work Monday on the 55-by-70-foot garden south of Wester Boulevard, west of Reinking Road, about 50 yards from the village's community garden. The work will finish this week and planting will be done by May 30 by volunteers and members of the park advisory committee, committee member Steve Van Wiel said.

There will be hydrangeas, honeysuckle, day lilies, catmint, black-eyed Susans, lilacs, night sage, cone flowers, purple aster and much more. Some plants will bloom this year, with hopes for a full bloom next year, Van Wiel said.

"We tried to balance how wide and the height of the plants so we can take advantage of the views," he said. "There are some really nice views out there of the sunset and the natural area."

The $22,000 project is funded by a $10,000 environmental grant from ComEd and the nonprofit Openlands, and $12,000 from developer D.R. Horton, which gave $40,000 to the village as part of its last annexation agreement, Village Manager Dean Frieders said.

The village received the environmental grant in July 2018, when the plan was to create the pollinator garden as part of a larger project for a park with a playground, shelter and dog area at the entrance of the Kane County Forest Preserve. The proposed location for the pollinator garden, however, was less than ideal, driving up costs for building and water access, Van Wiel said.

Van Wiel's son Kristian, a senior studying architecture at the University of Cincinnati, helped with the final design approved by the village board last month.

"Hopefully, the plants will take roots and won't need much maintenance once they become mature," Van Wiel said.

The project to build a park at the entrance of the forest preserve hasn't been abandoned, but the village is focusing on long-term financial sustainability before taking on discretionary expenses, Frieders said.