By Carol Cichorski, on August 30th, 2012  I’ve got two dahlia gardens for you to visit this September – and one is ours!
September 4th – Steve Meggos will have his garden open for your viewing pleasure.
September 25th – Mike and I would love to have you see our garden.
September is prime time for dahlias. They haven’t really liked our hot dry summer, but then, who has? Now they are starting to show their true colors – literally. We have some blooms; not as many as we’d normally have this time of year. The plants are also shorter than usual. I figured that having you over would give our dahlias a reason to kick it into high gear.
A garden that always is in high gear is that of Steve Meggos. You’d think his plants are on steroids. The Daily Herald calls Steve a Blooming Mastermind. He not only grows dahlias, he makes new varieties, like this one that is named Judy Meggos.
Details:
September 4th at 5 PM
Steve Meggos
6512 Fairfax Court, Carpentersville, IL
September 25th at 5 PM
Mike and Carol Cichorski
331 Forest View, Elk Grove Village, IL
Rain date Sept 26
By Carol Cichorski, on August 24th, 2012 I never thought about it before, but Garden Centers need to go shopping too. I want that job! It’s kind of like being the kid who wants to own an ice cream shop when she grows up, a seemingly natural choice for an ice cream lover. Well, wouldn’t it be great to be the kid who likes to dig in the dirt then grows up to spend your days and someone else’s money shopping for garden related items? Today was the day that Garden Center representatives got to do that (shop, not eat ice cream).
They also got to take gardening related classes of their own choice. That’s better than the mandatory algebra and geography classes of days gone by.
Plus they got to do both at Chicago’s Navy Pier. That is not your average shopping mall or school.
You might be wondering ‘What is this magical mystical experience called?’. It’s the IGC Independent Garden Center Show, which ran Tuesday through Thursday of this week. The Know2Grow Retail Conference is the world’s biggest education resource for garden centers. The show is in its sixth year, and included over 1000 vendors and 40 educational sessions.
I tried to walk the 5 acres of products as well as fit in a few extra speaking sessions that were run for us garden writers. Yes, as a member of Garden Writers Association, I got to go. My real life interfered, allowing me to attend just one day. The booths overflowed from Festival Hall into the hallways. They were booths with real garden related products. No Shamwow or window salesmen, just honest to goodness items you would find at a garden center.
Some products were certainly more fun to look at than others. Pots, plant covered puppies, garden decor … woohoo!
Trunk mats, display systems, plant tags … not so much excitement. You might disagree when you see the lovely lady below. There could be excitement at the trunk mat booth. There was even a booth for health insurance.
The day was about so much more than shopping. It’s tough being an independent garden center in a world of big box stores. I attended the keynote session by Corey Bordine. He knows how to make money. His family business had $24 million in sales last year. He also knows how to get a point across while being hugely entertaining. He tied his African safari trips to challenges in running a successful garden center. Note that I said successful. I can see why he was back by popular demand.
Garden centers need this information more than they need product. Product is easy to find. Staying in business isn’t. Among the available sessions were ‘Stand Out in a Crowded Marketplace’, ‘Does Your Merchandising Appeal to all the senses?’, and ‘Digital Marketing Success Stories’. After all, there is no point in throwing a great party if no one comes.
Speaking of great parties, IGC had that too. I passed on P. Allen Smith’s wine tasting and Dennis DeYoung performing the hit music of Styx. Having the opportunity to attend IGC was party enough for me. (See reference above to real life.)
My favorite product of the day? I’d have to say there were two.
First would be anything made by Garden Girl. Their clothing was oh so functional and oh so cute. There were flowered overalls and pants with pockets galore and inbuilt stretchies to make it easy to bend. They even have matching boots.
Second would be this whimsical caterpillar caddy hose, another entry in the oh so functional and oh so cute category.
If you are from a garden center and reading this, you probably already know that this conference helps keeps you in business. If you are a consumer, this is the kind of conference that keeps our shopping options open. Way to go IGC.
You are invited to come see our garden! We’d love to have you visit on Continue reading Where Do Garden Centers Go To Shop and Learn? IGC
By Carol Cichorski, on August 21st, 2012  I came home today to mud in my refrigerator. I can’t explain it, but there it was. It has been years since that has happened and it reminded me of soccer. Fortunately, not of mud-caked clothes, but a snack appropriately named mud.
I, of course, did what came natural. I took a picture of it. Wouldn’t you? After all, how many snacks look so perfect? A pot, a trowel, worms, and mud. Perfect. Granted, the mud is not of the garden variety.
Here is the recipe:
12 crushed Oreos (with or without the creamy inside)
1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix, prepared as per package directions with 2 cups milk
Gummy worms
The pudding goes in the bottom of the pot and the crumbled cookies and worms on the top. It’s just that easy.
You are invited to come see our garden! We’d love to have you visit on Continue reading A Recipe For Mud
By Carol Cichorski, on August 15th, 2012 It was getting a little scary there for a while. Would the heat put an end to my garden? If not, maybe the drought would. The grass was brown, and the plants were rather sad and flowerless. The flowers that dared showed their heads were often eaten by the Japanese beetles.
Still, my garden triumphed! We have especially high expectations for the dahlia gardens, which I invite you to come personally see on Tuesday, September 25th, from 5 PM till dark. We’re at 331 Forest View in Elk Grove Village, IL. It doesn’t look like much yet, but look at past pictures and you will really want to be here.
For now, here is the area we call the front 40. It has come back nicely.
I’ll even show it to you a little closer up.
And even closer.
The recovery is not complete, especially when it comes to the roses. The picture of the back 40 should have more roses, but they are still rather lacey looking thanks to those darn beetles.
Dolly Parton, in her expected exuberance, refused to succumb yesterday. At 9 AM she was displaying this bud.
By 4 PM, that bud was a full blown beauty! Abraham Lincoln said “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” Today, we rejoice.
You are probably looking at these pictures and thinking that perhaps ‘Low Maintenance Gardening’ should not be one of the topics I speak about. Ah, but it is. The parts of the garden you are seeing today wouldn’t exactly fit into that category, but many other parts of the yard do. Like the zinnia garden. It was pretty much plant it and forget it.
So though it has been almost no work, I have beautiful blooms like this one.
Is there more to see? Sure. Are there areas I have purposely not photographed because they look, well, yucky. Sure. But you’ll just have to come by on September 25th to find out.
Do you want to know what else is blooming in the August garden? To see what other bloggers have blooming on the 15th of every month, visit May Dreams Gardens – Bloom Day for our Garden Bloggers’ Bloom day entries.
By Carol Cichorski, on August 10th, 2012 Was Destination Garden Center #1 a bit too far for you? Perhaps Destination Garden Center #2 is more in your driving range. Woodstock, Illinois is certainly closer for Chicagoans than Nashville, Indiana. I’ll sweeten the temptation by making it a twofer. You know, a twofer. Two fer the price of one. Still not enough? Then let’s coin a new phrase and make it a fourfer. Two garden centers, a charming town square, and the Victorian house from the movie Groundhog Day. There. Now I have your attention.
Mike and I visited Gardens of Woodstock recently when we needed a few more items for our pond redo. Two things impressed me. The first was no surprise – the grounds are lovely. Take a leisurely stroll to see waterfalls, ponds, and plain old pretty. So pretty that you might want to hold an event there. Whether you are planning a garden club meeting or a wedding, their event room could be just what you are looking for.
For me, I like that they have planted what they sell. It’s always a plus when you can see a garden center’s plants in a natural setting. For example, when the tag says a hosta gets really big, seeing it really big helps you decide if that is the right plant for you.
The second thing that impressed me was a surprise, and that’s how healthy their plants looked. This summer’s heat and drought have not been kind, yet their plants were thriving. In August. Absolutely thriving. Absolutely worthy of taking home, so we did. In our typical style, we came home with a cartfull, or should I say carfull?
 Notice how I have followed my mantra of low maintenance by using a tree, a shrub, and three of a kind. Aren’t you proud of me?
I’d like to say that we went to Rich’s Foxwillow Pines afterwards, but I can’t. Sorry. Perhaps you can plan your day better than I was able to. If you are looking for a specimen tree or specialty hosta, Rich’s is the place to go. Rich’s has a Hosta Sale and Arts & Crafts Fundraiser coming up August 25th. I always like seeing Rich’s exhibit at the Chicago Flower and Garden Show. Look for Rich at the show in his trademark rocking chair.
Our visit to Woodstock is never complete without a drive past the lovely Victorian house from Groundhog Day. You may remember this movie where Bill Murray is repeatedly reliving Groundhog Day in Nowheresville, USA. The movie makers wanted you to think the town was Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Fooled you. It was mostly shot in Woodstock, Illinois. The house is now a bed and breakfast.
 Photo from the website of Royal Victorian Manor Bed and Breakfast You can even visit the Woodstock Town Square, where other scenes were shot. Here is the shot where Bill jumps out of the Opera House bell tower.
Don’t ‘plant’ this outing for a Sunday. Gardens of Woodstock and Rich’s Foxwillow Pines won’t be open. Go any other day, and you won’t be disappointed.
You are invited to come see our garden! We’d love to have you visit on Continue reading Destination Garden Center # 2 – Gardens of Woodstock and Rich’s Foxwillow Pines
By Carol Cichorski, on August 5th, 2012 I welcome you to ‘Zone 5 – Favorites on the 5th’. I post on the 5th of every month, redirecting visitors to a favorite posting relative to zone 5. This month we have two bloggers looking for inspiration to fill an area vacated by a large shrub. One of those bloggers is me. The other is Kylee Baumle.
Mike and I recently lost a Contorted Filbert (aka Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick, aka Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’). Curly had succumbed to Eastern Blight a few years ago, yet he stayed in our garden till the branches started breaking off. After all, when it comes to a Contorted Filbert, the curly branches are what it’s all about. In the picture below, Kevin has done a beautiful job of showing Curly in his best light.
 Photo by Kevin Penczak As is so typical in our world, this was part of what turned out to be a total pond redo. Just two days ago, we planted the Japanese Umbrella Pine and Carol Mackie Daphne. More on that later. The road from trimming a few forsythias to a total pond redo is a story unto itself.
I am not the first to lose a Contorted Filbert. Kylee lost her Harry and was faced with the same dilemma of a large open space. She and Romie built quite the trellis. The three dimensional dark trellis is a perfect choice against the light siding of the house. For more details on building the trellis, check out Dead Shrub? Problem Solved at Our Little Acre.
I’ve invited other zone 5 bloggers to join me for ‘Zone 5 – Favorites on the 5th’. If that’s you, please leave a comment so everyone will know you are part of the gang.
If you are a reader hungry for zone 5 sustenance, please follow the blogger’s links to feed upon their favorite postings.
By Carol Cichorski, on August 1st, 2012 
It begins – We have two dahlias blooming. From now till frost, the show will just get better and better. Mike has about 100 plants, divided into two gardens. He has told the plants to focus on growing big and strong by disbudding them till recently. Now its time to start reaping the benefits.
Soon, we’ll have so many flowers that I’ll be picking them almost daily. There will be so many flowers you won’t even notice I picked any. So many flowers that I could sell them at a Farmer’s Market, which is an idea I’ve entertained but not acted upon.
Mike gets to do all the work, growing them from tubers in the basement, hardening them off, and then planting them outside at the end of May. They are all staked and tagged. As they continue to grow, Mike ties the higher growth to the stake so the heavily laden flower branches don’t take a hit from wind and rain. It’s a labor of love.
He is experimenting this year with not using any fertilizer or mulch. I think he is really experimenting with how many weeds he can grow between the plants. He has put down some grass clippings, but I have to admit that a light layer of grass clippings does nothing to discourage weeds. Perhaps now that we’ve had some rain and will have grass to cut, he can add enough clippings to be of some value. Still, it won’t be my favorite look.
I can ignore the weeds and grass clippings. It’s kind of like his dresser top, which is a mess. (Don’t tell him I told you.) Not my problem so I just don’t see it. Hmmm, does that make the flowers his too? Nope. The principle I use for the flowers is ‘What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine too.’ He wouldn’t have it any other way.
Watch for our dahlia garden to be open for your viewing pleasure later this season. We haven’t set a date yet.
By Carol Cichorski, on July 26th, 2012 I could probably be more careful when I deadhead or cut flowers to take inside. Nah, that isn’t gonna happen. I’m just as likely to cut off the bloom-to-be as I am to cut off the bloom-that was. Take the coreopsis below, for example. See the pretty flower on the right, and the one that’s done on the left. There are just so many of those little stems in my way and there is bound to be collateral damage.
Not anymore!
John went on-line to get me these nifty little scissors for Mother’s Day. You might think that scissors are a boring gift. Not me. I’ve had my eyes on these for a while, but just couldn’t get myself to spend the $20 plus shipping. After all, I have scissors, scissors, and more scissors. That made them a perfect gift – something I wanted but wasn’t willing to buy myself.
I should have bought them a long time ago. These scissors live in my back pocket when I’m outside. The blades are only one and a half inches long, which keeps them away from the parts of the plant I don’t want to cut. They are 6″ long in total, and the handles are big enough to let me squeeze with some power for thicker stems. They are bright red, so I can even find them when they are not in my back pocket. Perfect!
The Joyce Chen package calls them a kitchen tool. Not at my house. Thank you Joyce Chen for your Original Unlimited Scissors.
By Carol Cichorski, on July 22nd, 2012  Some garden centers are worth going to just for the experience. Even if you don’t buy anything (like that would ever happen to me), you have got to see these places. The Flower and Herb Barn is one of those. Joann said that if we were going to go to Nashville, Indiana, we HAD to see this place AND have lunch there. You are not planning to go to Nashville, Indiana? Well that is mistake number 1. Fix it. Rolling hills, craft stores galore, and ice cream stores everywhere. What’s not to like?
A five hour drive from our suburban Chicago home and we arrived in cuteville, aka Nashville. The Flower and Herb Barn is nearby in Nineveh. It’s hard to find and just when you think its time to turn around, there it is. It didn’t look like much. What was Joann thinking? Oh, she was thinking all right. Thinking that I would love this place. I did.
Of course they have flowers for sale. Garden centers do that. They didn’t even have many compared to some of our large Chicagoland nurseries. What they had was my undivided attention, thanks to the ambience, a barn full of antiques and a charming little restaurant.
We did have lunch there. Again, Joann was right. The Farmhouse Cafe & Team Room is tiny, so tiny that the food was being prepared by two ladies sitting at a kitchen table in an also tiny kitchen. Nothing institutional about this place.
Of course, I did buy something – Turtlehead. It’s a shade plant that was on my hit list and they had a beauty. I also came home with a vase of wildflowers. I picked those as we enjoyed the scenic route back instead of the main roads. The wildflowers are still gracing my kitchen counter, in an old medicine bottle we had bought just days before while on our trip to the Smoky Mountains. But that’s another story, isn’t it? Tune back in for more on the flowers of the Smoky Mountains.
Also coming will be postings about two other garden centers that are worth the trip. You can head to Destination Garden #1, knowing that eventually I’ll tell you about Destination Garden #2 and #3.
By Carol Cichorski, on July 18th, 2012 I can’t take credit for the picture; it came from www.owned.lv. Yep, that’s Chicagoland this summer.
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