Stephanie Franklin’s foray into gardening started with a rather simple and small plot of dirt.
“We had bought a house here in Hyde Park that was located on a half lot,” she related. “There was this little patch of yard in the back that looked bad. I didn’t know what to do with it–even weeds wouldn’t grow there.”
She hoped to beautify the yard and, not knowing much about gardening, traveled through the neighborhood “looking for ideas.”
Within a short time, Franklin was hooked by what she saw.
“Every garden I visited was so pretty and so fragrant,” she said. “It was delightful.”
More than a decade later, she still is enamored with gardens. Now, though, she is somewhat of an expert on the subject, to the point where she helps with a number of gardening projects around Hyde Park and Kenwood.
For the last 10 years, Franklin has been a member of the Garden Fair Committee of the Hyde Park/Kenwood Community Conference, a neighborhood association. Members of the conference have designed and maintained a number of gardens in the neighborhoods.
“We try to add a little charm and beauty to the community,” said Franklin, a conference member and the chairwoman of the committee’s annuals department.
The group is well-known for its annual Spring Garden Fair, a fundraiser that was scheduled for this past weekend at the Hyde Park Shopping Center, East 55th Street and South Lake Park Avenue.
“The fair is such a splash of color and activity that it’s impossible to miss if you’re in the community,” said Franklin, who began helping with the event five years before she joined the committee.
Work on the fair begins a couple of months prior to the event. Members visit wholesale growers that are a couple of hours away in Indiana and Southern Illinois. The bulk of the trips take place the last two weeks before the fair.
“At the wholesalers we select the colors and sizes and the quality of the flats (of flowers),” Franklin said. “We handpick them so people can enjoy their shopping here. We are looking for evenly grown flats and we are watching for plants with one or two blossoms beginning to open.”
The day before the fair, most of the plants and other merchandise arrives at the shopping center.
“There are house plants, perennials, annuals, herbs, wildflowers, ground covers, hanging baskets, and so on,” Franklin said. “The trucks pull up and you have to unload everything. We form lines and carry everything over to whichever `department’ they belong in.
“Everything then gets put on the ground, gets sorted and gets priced. It’s then put out for display and arranged. Each individual plant gets tagged with a price and a name.
“I started out helping in the herb department and I remember early on that many of the herbs would only have one name tag per flat, so you would have to write a name tag for each individual plant package.”
During the fair, Franklin assists customers.
“In the beginning I didn’t know much,” she said. “Someone would say, `I’m looking for something to go in a window box’ and I would direct them to a department with window box-type things. There are also tables where volunteers add up purchases before the customers take them to the cashier–I’ve also done that.”
Now, she can offer customers a bit of gardening know-how.
“My particular expertise about plants is their fragrance,” she said. “When we’re selecting plants for the annuals department, I’m always looking for fragrant ones. For example, some pansies are fragrant and some aren’t–frequently yellow or orange pansies are more fragrant than other colors.”
Franklin also helps with several community gardens, the most notable being several beds in Nichols Park, East 53rd Street and South Kimbark Avenue.
From spring to fall, she hosts a Weeding Wednesday in the evenings.
“People can come and help weed and prune and whatever it is that needs to get done,” she said. “It’s informal and anyone who wants to come and help is invited. We usually have six to 10 people show up.”
About once a month, she organizes what she calls “a major workday” on a weekend to care for the gardens. “We get about 20 people who show up for that.”
The conference plants and maintains more than 1,000 perennials and about 100 or more annuals.
“The perennials come up early in the season and bloom during different seasons–we have a peonies bed that blooms in June and day lilies that bloom throughout summer,” Franklin said. “The annuals are nice because they provide color most of the summer, but those we have to replant every year because the weather kills them.
“One of the things we try to do is get some of the same (perennial) plant in different varieties in the same box, such as heuchera and columbine. We also have some shrubs in each box, such as lilacs and roses, and blue fescue ornamental grass.”
One of the rewards of her work, Franklin said, is knowing that her gardens will continue to bloom and brighten the community for years to come.
“We have two lilac trees out in the (Nichols Park) garden and they’re just gorgeous–they have a knock-your-socks-off fragrance,” she said. “And thinking of those being there for the next 50 years or more is really neat.”
Those who work with Franklin say she is typical of the spirit found in the members of the Garden Fair Committee.
“What I think is so special about Stephanie is her attitude about the gardens and the community, and how important it is to her that we all work together,” said Lesley Bloch, chairwoman of the Garden Fair Committee. “She is supportive and caring–she is there for us.”
“Stephanie is a volunteer who works very hard and has a love for her work,” said Mary Milner, a committee member.
About 40 committee members help maintain several gardens around the communities, such as a mini-arboretum at East 53rd Street and South Lake Park Avenue and Harold’s Garden in East End Park, on the west side of 5200 S. Lake Shore Drive. The latter is named in memory of the late Mayor Harold Washington, who lived nearby.
About 100 volunteers also help with the spring fair and a smaller fall event, the Bulb and Mum Fair.
Franklin was born in Minneapolis and spent her early years in Baltimore. She moved with her family to a north suburb while she was in 2nd grade. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Chicago, and decided to move to Hyde Park because she liked the neighborhood.
She taught basic English for four years at Thornton High School in Harvey and then worked several years as an administrative assistant at the U. of C., predominantly in the dean of students’ office.
She met the man she would marry in a Hyde Park bookstore, the now-closed Woodward. They married in 1964.
In 1973, Franklin and her husband, George, a social worker, quit their jobs and started a home-remodeling business that is based out of their home.
She is on the board of directors of the Hyde Park/Kenwood Community Conference and the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club.
“Living in Hyde Park is very much like living in a small town. The people are friendly and a lot of people are involved in the community,” Franklin said.
“That’s another reason I like being part of the garden committee. I like being with people and working together to make this a nicer place to live.”
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For more information on Hyde Park/Kenwood Community Conference, call 773-288-8343.
