Gardens galore as Elmhurst club sponsors annual walk
Visitors can take a walk on the wildflower side Sunday, July 9, when six private, residential gardens and a gardening project at York Community High School welcome visitors to the 22nd Annual Elmhurst Garden Walk.
"Most of the gardens are done by the homeowners. We have a couple done by landscapers," said Donna Fredrickson, president of the Elmhurst Garden Club, the event sponsor.
Fredrickson said ticketholders for the self-guided tour will receive a map directing them to the garden locations, where garden owners will be available to answer questions. The tour is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The high school gardens are a collaboration that began three years ago between Elmhurst Garden Club members and York students.
"We got involved because the teachers wanted to start a garden at York," Frederickson said.
"The Elmhurst Garden Club were mentors for the (York High School Garden) club," said Andrew Bendelow, one of several of the school club's faculty advisers. "They're kind of the brains of the operation."
Bendelow said the York gardens began with vegetables.
"That has since evolved into nine raised beds there," he said.
The project has expanded into three gardening sites at the school. Most recently added was what's called a "pollinator garden" or "butterfly garden" that contains plant life that attracts and sustains butterflies and other pollinating insects, he said.
"It's in a space created with the construction of a new academic building," Bendelow said. "Our Elmhurst Garden Club mentor looked at that space and saw great opportunity to enliven it."
Fredrickson said the walk also will feature a Garden Faire in Wilder Park, which runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., where about 40 vendors will sell perennials, annuals and garden art.
The walk and fair raise funds for club scholarships granted to students currently enrolled in college and pursuing studies in horticulture, environmental sciences, landscape design, biology or botany, she said, through the Mildred Hartney College Scholarship Fund.
A total of about $15,000 in scholarships was awarded in May, she said.
In addition to the Hartney scholarships, proceeds from the walk help fund the Elmhurst Park District, the Elmhurst College Arboretum, the York Community High School Garden Club, the Ray Graham Garden at the Elmhurst Learning Center, scholarships at the Elmhurst YMCA, Elmhurst Cool Cities and decorations at the Elmhurst Public Library, Fredrickson said.
A new feature at the Garden Faire this year will be the Children's Monarch Fest, which is co-sponsored by the Elmhurst Garden Club and the Elmhurst Cool Cities Coalition, an environmental group. Fredrickson said there will be educational exhibits, live butterflies, crafts, face painting, and plants for sale that help with butterfly conservation efforts.
If you go
What: Elmhurst Garden Walk and Garden Faire
Where: Wilder Park, 175 S. Prospect Ave., Elmhurst
When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, July 9, for gardens; until 4 p.m. for Garden Faire
Tickets: $15 in advance, $20 on event day
Garden Faire admission: Free
Info: http://xlerators1.esiteasp.com/elmhurst_garden_club/home.nxg