Past Events

In this interactive presentation, food blogger and cookbook author Emily Paster will cover five ways to preserve your garden harvest from canning to freezing to drying and root-cellaring. Emily will offer an in-depth description of water-bath canning, a versatile and accessible method of home food preservation suitable for many common fruits and vegetables grown in home and community gardens. You will also walk away with Emily’s “Freezer Cheat Sheet” which demystifies the process and benefits of freezing local and home-grown…

Every garden club should have someone raising Monarchs, Bob Erlich will show us how. His powerpoint presentation will educate and inspire us as he details the lifecycle of the Monarch and shows how easy it is to turn our gardens into a sanctuary. He will bring free Milkweed seeds and plants depending on their availability. Bob has lectured since 2009 at Chicago area garden clubs. He is a volunteer at Oak Lawn Park District Monarch Festival and designs Monarch Way…

Dolly Foster is a landscape horticulturist, master gardener, certified arborist, and avid butterfly gardener. Her garden at home is a Monarch Way Station where she raises Monarch and Swallowtail butterflies. At our meeting, Dolly will talk about host plants that will attract butterflies, and show us how to plan a garden that will provide food and cover for caterpillars. She will also talk about the caterpillar/butterfly lifecycle. This is an integral part of planning a butterfly garden. Residential butterfly gardens…

Cindy Crosby is an author, Master Gardener, natural history instructor, and former wilderness ranger with the National Park Service. She is a current steward supervisor for the Schulenberg Prairie at the Morton Arboretum and also at the Nachusa Grasslands (a Nature Conservancy site with bison in Franklin Grove). Illinois' nickname is "The Prairie State." Listen to stories of the history of the tallgrass prairie as you discover its amazing plants and creatures—from birds to bison. Discover plants that work well…

Mike and Carol Cichorski ‘found’ dahlias 18 years ago and their lives have not been the same since. Each year in February they plant tubers in their basement and grow about 300 plants. About 65 of these go into their own garden. Carol is a a blogger at www.OhWhatA.com and speaks regularly at the Chicago Flower and Garden Show. Mike is past president of the Central States Dahlia Society. He will share their dahlia passion and tell us how we…