The Garden Club of Oak Park and River Forest Established 1917
June 2020 Newsletter
Hello Garden Club Members!

• Meetings: March 11 was our last face-to-face meeting before park district buildings closed and we were ordered to stay at home due to COVID-19. It seems forever ago, but let’s keep gardening until we can meet again. Our gardens can bring a bit of beauty, joy and peace to ourselves, our families, our neighbors and our world, even if our garden is just a pot of flowers on a balcony.

• Our meetings will begin again in September as scheduled. The Programs committee will try to find flexible presentations that may allow us to have “virtual meetings” for the beginning of next Garden Club year if we are not able to meet in person.

• Most or all of the cancelled 2020 Garden Walk homeowners promised to participate in next year’s walk. Thank you to Gina Sennello, Sue Boyer and the GW committee for all their hard work and preparation which will streamline planning for next year’s event.

• We missed our much-beloved May Luncheon and summer Tea this year, but if circumstances allow, there may a social event in the fall. The decision will be made later this summer.

• PLANTCEDES: If you are interested in being notified when a neighbor has extra plants to share, or if you occasionally have extra plants yourself, please directly contact Gloria Backman at plantcede@gmail.com to join her email list.

• The new Garden Club Board has been meeting by Zoom for the last two months. New ideas include developing a Garden Club logo/seal and a FaceBook profile page.

• Our most recent Civic Beautification project is now complete: the gardens of the Oak Park Art League at 720 Chicago Avenue. Please stop by and visit when you have a chance. Thank you to Elaine Allen for spearheading the effort.

• For summer reading and learning, Joan Meister, Civic Beautification/Environmental co-chair suggests: READING THE LANDSCAPE OF AMERICA by May Theilgaard Watts, beautifully written and self-illustrated with simple-to-follow drawings. May was the first staff naturalist at the Morton Arboretum, and after retirement she led the movement to convert abandoned railroad rights-of-way into the Illinois Prairie Path. May was a scholar, teacher, poet and artist and defender of native plants. Available to order through The Book Table or other outlets.
Stay safe and keep gardening!

Lisa Cederoth & Mary Ellen Warner, co-presidents