Rooted in beauty: How two gardeners are enriching life at King-Bruwaert House

Nestled on 35 tranquil, wooded acres in Hinsdale/Burr Ridge, King-Bruwaert House (K-B House) is a luxury senior living community where nature, friendship, and purpose flourish side by side.

Joan Holland and Emmy King live next door to each other in The Woods, a neighborhood at K-B House of large Georgian-style cottage homes. For them, gardening isn’t just a pastime. It’s a calling, a legacy, and a way of enhancing life for themselves and the entire community.

Emmy and her husband, Robert, moved to K-B House from their home in Burr Ridge six and a half years ago. Joan moved from her home in Hinsdale, six months later. “God put us next door to each other,” Joan said, referring to their shared passion for gardening.

They are not just gardeners. They’re stewards of the land, co-chairs of the resident landscape committee, and visionaries who see the grounds as more than scenery — they see it as soul-nourishing sanctuary.

A garden with generational roots

Both Joan and Emmy brought more than furniture and boxes when they moved to K-B House. They brought gardens — literally. Emmy transplanted blooms and greenery from her former home, a three-acre property with rich horticultural history. She transferred 27 carloads of perennials, many of which had been passed down through generations. Some of those plants had originally belonged to her mother and grandmother

After selling her home to a builder, Joan received permission to return and collect her plants. Over a three-year period, she said, “I brought over items that had been passed down through generations. Some that I’ve transplanted were from my mother’s gardens,” she shared.

The living heirlooms now thrive across the K-B House campus, continuing a living legacy.

Beautifying a beautiful place

Ki-B House is already known for its stunning natural setting — wooded trails, peaceful ponds, manicured lawns and abundant wildlife. “The most wonderfully unique feature of K-B House is its location on the beautiful grounds,” Joan said. “To me, it’s such an enhancement to the quality of life we have. It benefits us physically and nourishes the soul.”

While professional landscape services maintain the property, Joan and Emmy go a step further. As landscape chairs, they help identify areas that could benefit from additional care and coordinate with other garden-loving residents to make those improvements. One standout project is the pollinator garden, now in its third year. Designed with native plants, it attracts bees, and butterflies.

“We actually think of the entire property as a pollinator garden of sorts, but this was intentionally planted,” Joan noted.

Gardening as a way of life

For Emmy, gardening is second nature. “My mother and grandmother were very serious gardeners, so I grew up with gardens,” she said. “It’s hard work, but it keeps you in good shape and healthy. It’s important to be out and doing things — to keep moving.”

She’s seen how gardening can spark community too. “A lot of times, we’ll be out there, and residents stop and join us,” she said. “Every garden is almost a community garden.”

Joan agrees. “For me, a big part of the appeal is being able to do what I want, when I want, and when I have time,” she said. “It’s better to me than going to a lot of meetings.”

Their passion is contagious. When Joan and others learned that K-B House’s major expansion, The Gardens independent living apartment homes would be built on land full of perennials, they took action. “A cast of people dug them up so as not to let them go to waste,” she said. “We identified other areas on the property to clear and planted them there.”

Enriching life at every level

Gardening is only one dimension of the vibrant life offered at King-Bruwaert House. Joan appreciates how intentional the community is about enriching residents’ lives — physically, emotionally, socially, spiritually, and intellectually. “No one could possibly participate in everything offered,” she said, listing exercise programs, TED Talks, concerts, and more. “The life enrichment team seriously makes sure we have activities in all those areas.”

But for Joan and Emmy, there’s something uniquely fulfilling about the time spent with their hands in the soil. It’s more than a hobby; it’s heritage, connection, and joy.

Through their work, the grounds of King-Bruwaert House have become even more beautiful and the campus is a tribute to lives well-lived … and still blooming.