To commemorate its 100th anniversary, the Lake Bluff Garden Club looked to its past and paid for new gardens at Lake Bluff Middle School.
The gardens were dedicated at the school on Wednesday morning at an event featuring club members and school officials.
“(The club’s) first project was beautifying the former East School,” said Club Member Daun Roth. “It was directly to the east of Lake Bluff Middle School.”
The club actually formed in 1917 but went on hiatus as members helped out with the World War I effort.
“In 1923, they had a resurgence and their first civic project was taking plants from their own gardens and planting them at the old East School,” Roth said.
Originally called Lake Bluff School, the building was torn down in summer 2011 according to the District 65 website.
“Because it was the first civic project the Garden Club did, we thought we would do another project with the school system,” Roth said.
The Garden Club paid Mariani Landscape of Lake Bluff $5,000 to design the gardens, said member Joan Harrington. The club, school staff and students also offered input.
“They asked for something that would be easy to maintain,” said Garden Specialist Abbey Oscarson. “The kids wanted to attract pollinators. You can see bees in the gardens.”
Indeed, a few bees were buzzing around coneflowers, calamintha and echinacea plants as the gardens were dedicated.
“Before this, it was easy to miss the entrance to the building,” said Principal Nathan Blackmer. “Now we don’t have that problem. It’s a beautiful entryway and now the gardens are up to snuff with the inside of the building (which was renovated in 2016).”
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