Like professional athletes, Chicago-area gardeners can break the year into two distinct seasons, the on season and the off season. And like athletes, gardeners who want to play at the top of their game during the on season know better than to waste the off season.
If you want to garden like a champion next spring and summer, dedicate some time this winter to training and sharpening your game strategy. You’ll find enough resources at local educational institutions and horticultural centers, as well as on the Internet and in books, to keep your game sharp. Here’s a list of some of the best available:
Classes
Through its school, the Chicago Botanic Garden runs a year-round assortment of classes for gardeners and professional horticulturists at every level of experience. For the gardener hoping to develop some fundamental design skills, two of this winter’s classes are particularly appropriate. “The Victorian Flower Garden,” offered at the garden in Glencoe on Saturday, Jan. 22, will show how to create a bountiful, romantic look. “Multi-Season Interest for City Gardeners,” offered at the Lincoln Park Cultural Center on two Mondays, Jan. 24 and 31, emphasizes skills and techniques that maximize small city yards.
For information on these and other botanic garden classes, and on fees, call the garden’s education department, 847-835-8261. Besides its Glencoe and Lincoln Park classes, the botanic garden also hosts courses at Roosevelt University’s Schaumburg campus.
Most of College of DuPage’s horticulture courses are for professionals or future professionals in the plant industries, but some are tailored for home gardeners. They include “Introduction to Horticulture,” which will be offered on both Friday and Saturday mornings this winter; and “Landscape Design I,” offered Thursday evenings. The school’s winter term runs Jan.3 to March 19. To register, call 630-942-3948 after Nov. 23.
The College of Lake County offers both morning and evening courses in basic horticulture and shrub identification during its 16-week term that begins January 18. For information, call 847-543-2061.
At its North Campus, in Romeoville, Joliet Junior College has a trio of seven-week landscaping classes that is aimed at homeowners as well as professionals. One delves deeply into soil, the place every garden starts; the second centers on trees, shrubs and turf grass; and the third is about garden design and maintenance.
Dates for the classes were not certain at presstime, but the soils program was expected to begin in late January. Classes will be held Wednesdays, from 5 to 7 p.m., at the Romeoville facility, 1125 W. 135th Street. For dates, fees and registration information, call Kim Hacker, 815-280-7706.
Horticulture classes at the Morton Arboretum cover a wide variety of topics, from the general questions of home landscaping to the veteran’s specialties. Newcomers to home gardening will benefit most from “The Well-Designed Garden I,” in which students go step-by-step through the process of developing a master plan for their yards. It runs five Saturdays, Jan. 15 to Feb. 12, from 9 a.m. to noon, at the arboretum in Lisle.
The arboretum also has classes, many of them one session rather than several weeks long, on isolated topics like butterfly gardens, herbs, roses, vegetables and planting for winter interest. For information, including fees, on arboretum courses, call the education department, 630-719-2468.
Triton College’s Community Education offerings include a course for homeowners who like to garden, but not to be wedded to the garden. “Easy-Living Landscaping for the Home” is a five-week course that emphasizes low-maintenance and low-cost plantings. The winter term starts in late January, but dates for this course were not set at presstime. The class location is Oak Park-River Forest High School. For more information, call 708-456-0300, ext. 3500.
Also, call your nearby nursery. Several area nurseries offer plant seminars throughout winter and spring, usually at no cost.
The Internet
The Web boasts several good plant encyclopedias with various special features. One of the most useful for Chicago-area gardeners is the “Illinois’ Best Plants” section of the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Web site, found at http://bestplants.chicago-botanic.org. It’s well-arranged, easy to search, and illustrated with excellent photos. You can search a database of about 700 plants–with more added periodically–to make a list of the plants that best suit your site and conditions.
The Web site of a New York botanic garden is among the most helpful and easiest to navigate. At www.bbg.org, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden posts excerpts of many of the horticultural books it has published, as well as a guide to plants of New York. They don’t all grow here, so you’ll need to cross-check its references, but the information this site gives on plants is impeccable.
There’s a very good, elaborate and well-organized plant encyclopedia at www.gardening.
com, the garden site from Books That Work, a software publisher. Along with the encyclopedia, there’s also a landscape planning section that is relatively easy to work with.
The Garden Gate was one of the first garden-related Web sites to get popular with gardeners, and it’s no surprise why. The site, at www.prairienet.org/garden-gate, is loaded with insightful articles and links to many useful Web sites.
And check out this commercial Web site for good information on plants, garden-related articles, and merchandise: www.garden.com.
Books
Books for the studious gardener abound. Here are just a few that will start you out well:
“The Best Flowers for Midwest Gardens,” and “The Best Plants for Midwest Gardens,” both by Laara K. Duggan. Published by Chicago Review Press, both $14.95, “Best Flowers” 1996, “Best Plants,” 1998. These two excellent books are the results of a transplanted Californian’s struggle to find exciting plants for her garden in Iowa, where the climate and soil are similar to what’s in Chicago. The books provide a wealth of helpful information but are unfortunately low on pictures.
“The Midwest Gardener’s Book of Lists,” by Susan McClure ($17.95, Taylor Publishing, 1998). Also light on useful pictures, this book is nevertheless heavy on expert recommendations on such topics as trees for urban sites, perennials for severe shade, and plants for nooks and crannies.
“Easy Care Native Plants,” by Patricia A. Taylor ($35, Henry Holt and Co., 1996) is a great help for gardeners who want to do something eco-positive with their yards but need an introduction to native plants.
“The Border Book,” by Anna Pavord ($29.95, Dorling Kindersley, 1994) is one among hundreds of garden design books, but it stands out because it makes fine points of design such as foliage combinations and four-season planting accessible to the beginner. Pavord, a renowned English garden designer and writer, is a superb tutor at whose feet to study during the winter.
