Pottawatomie Garden club's 15th walk features 5 gardens in St. Charles

The Pottawatomie Garden Club will be “Celebrating Gardens In Bloom” on Saturday, June 26, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The garden walk is normally held every other year and features gardens around the St. Charles area.

According to Diane Conn, the club's historian, the first walk open to the public was in 1959, followed by another the next year. It wasn't until 1995 that the club consistently held garden walks for the public. This will be the club's 15th garden walk.

Proceeds from the garden walk are used for community beautification, education and other philanthropic projects.

This year the garden walk will feature five gardens on the east side of St. Charles.

In the Seney garden, located in the historic Pottawatomie area of St. Charles, you will find an English inspired garden border running along the east and west sides of the yard. A brick patio is surrounded by shade annuals and perennials. If you love roses, there is a raised rose bed as you leave the garden.

With their backyard overlooking the Pottawatomie Golf Course, the Raschkes' garden features a beautiful pool, fireplace, fire pit and pizza oven for outdoor entertainment. All of this is surrounded by lilacs, hydrangeas, birch and crabapple trees.

After reading an article in a garden magazine featuring woodland gardens, Lynne Allicino decided that her property was a perfect setting for one. As you wander by the stream and waterfall, you will see that her dream of a woodland garden has come to fruition.

At the home of Dave and Sherri Rinker, the Little Kids Free Library might be your first clue that a children's book author lives here. Wandering deeper into the garden, you'll see whimsical, child-minded touches mixed into traditional gardening areas that feature a rock “river,” where ceramic koi fish swim, a small fairy garden, a children's tea area and a tribute to Peter Rabbit.

In the Salvati garden, you can meander along mulched paths bordered by a variety of shade and sun loving plants in the native woods and open areas, and enjoy a woodland patio surrounded by butterfly and prairie flower gardens.

At the Salvati home, you will also have an opportunity to shop at the Garden Gate Boutique, where many unique garden-related items will be for sale. This year the boutique will also feature a “Christmas in Summer” section.

Tickets for the Pottawatomie Garden Club Garden Walk are $15 in advance or $20 the day of the walk and are available at the following merchants: Blue Goose Market, Blumen Garden in Sycamore, Heinz Brothers, Scentimental Gardens in Geneva, Shady Hill Gardens, The Growing Place in Naperville, Townhouse Books and Cafe and Wasco Nursery.

Tickets and information are also available at www.pottagardenclub.org.