Lisle’s Garden Gait returns for 22nd year featuring five private gardens and a public park
The Lisle Woman’s Club is hosting its 22nd annual Garden Gait on Sunday, June 9, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The garden walk will highlight five private gardens and one public park.
In addition to the viewing of the homeowners’ gardens, the club also sponsors a craft fair and basket raffle featuring many of the local businesses.
The raffle baskets include such items as a dinner with the local fire department, gift cards to local restaurants, and include donations from retail businesses. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 the day of the walk.
Painter’s Pallette
One area to focus on in this garden landscape is the dry bed the owner designed and built, alongside the driveway, to alleviate floodwaters and create a rock garden effect. It is her hope that someday there will be a retention pond on Lacey Avenue to alleviate the flooding.
The second highlight is the “Painter’s Pallette” arrangement in the yard, which replaced an old playset, which was literally the only thing in the yard when she moved in. While the garden doesn’t have any heirloom plants, it does have transplanted from the gardens Jo designed at her former business in Naperville, including hellebores, diervilla, variegated euonymus and a variety of hostas.
Pollinator’s garden
The owners moved into their house in the summer of 1985 and have lived here for almost four decades. They started working on the yard the following year by removing huge evergreens that surrounded the house as foundation plants. A few years later, they had the front yard retaining walls and deck built. One of their favorite features in their garden is the front yard fountain and garden. This feature was added for their 40th anniversary. The plants and flowing water draw birds and pollinators all day long and it’s lovely to sit on the front deck and watch and listen to the birds. The woodland path has so many of their favorite plants and something is always in bloom. The hellebores start blooming in February or March and the Autumn Bride heucheras are still drawing pollinators in November.
Tiers of flowers and plants
While it may be hard to believe, these owners only began working on their garden in the summer of 2022. They found themselves busy with their three sons and only added a small garden in front prior to this time. The garden that you see today was put in when one of their sons lost interest in the garden that he had put in for his son and he decided to move it to his current home. He proceeded to move a couple of thousand bricks to this home and began the process of transporting the bricks and plants (via a rented truck) to his yard and began the slow process of establishing a new garden. This new location provided unique challenges and opportunities to capitalize on since their home sits top of a hill and overlooks two of the park district’s ponds. The decks overlook all of their gardens, along with the park district ponds, which provides a beautiful view for them.
Herbs, veggies, and flowers
This property already had a mature fruit tree orchard planted in the early 1990s and grapes on trellises that went nearly the full length of the yard behind the garage. The homeowners have lived on this property for 21 years, but over time they have migrated to more “June” plants being in bloom. They began working on their garden that very first year of ownership. The raised beds on the patio are full of herbs and peppers for cooking, only steps away from the kitchen to help them remember to water daily. They grow various types of peppers to eat, and the husband will smoke or dry them to make his own dry rubs and spice mixes. He regularly adds fresh thyme, chives, oregano, lemon grass, etc. to dishes he creates. They eat outside nearly every day in the summer and enjoy picking new herbs to try or starting them from seed.
Koi pond and garden
These homeowners have lived in this current home since 2002 and began working on their gardens immediately after they moved in and have been working on them ever since! The best feature of their garden is a koi pond and the surrounding area, which includes many of the plants that have been added since moving here. They originally planned their pond to be smaller, but after a few years it was decided to enlarge it so they could enjoy the beauty and peace their pond brings even more. One of the provisions they made was to make it dog friendly, as their dog would always try to get into the ponds to swim. A decision was made to stop trying to keep the dogs out and decided to make, what comes natural to any dog, a dog-swimming, friendly pond with entrance and exit points for them.
For information on the event and ticket selling locations, visit lislewomansclub.org/garden-gait.
Lisle Woman’s Club is a 501(c)(3) organization and this event supports philanthropic projects and scholarships for graduating seniors.
Lisle Woman’s Club Garden Gait
Where: Starts at the Museums of Lisle Station Park, 921 School St.
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, June 9
Cost: $20 presale at local businesses or $25 on day of event. Tickets for sale in Lisle at Bicycles Etc., 6460 College Road; PoundCake Bakery, 4730 Main St.; The Stone Center, 2127 Ogden Ave.; Tina’s Closet, 4745 Main St., Unit 105; UPS Store, 1042 Maple Ave.; Wild Birds Unlimited, 1601 Ogden Ave. and Yarns Untold, 6476 College Drive, as well as Anderson Bookstore, 5112 Main St. in Downers Grove.