Programs: Our first Zoom meeting was quite a success! On September 9, Cindy Crosby presented The Tallgrass Prairie: Grocery Store, Apothecary and Love Charm Shop. Members were able to see one another and chat on Zoom for a few minutes before the program, just like old times, but without the hospitality table! Cindy took us through nature’s shop and listed the various prairie plants and their place in nature’s general store, whether as toys, dyes, food, or love potions. Cindy is a Prairie Steward at Morton Arboretum’s Schulenberg Prairie and at Nachusa Grasslands in Franklin Grove, IL. She recommends a visit to either of these prairies to see native plants and wildflowers firsthand, and also recommends Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in Wilmington, IL. The more local Wolf Road Prairie is also of interest, as well as Kankakee Sands in Indiana.

• Books describing native plants and their uses, recommended by Cindy:
o Native American Ethnobotany, Daniel E. Moerman
o Medicinal WildPlants of the Prairie, Kelly Kindscher
o Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie, Kelly Kindscher
o Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: The Upper Midwest, Sylvan T. Runkel & Dean M. Roosa

• Our next Zoom program October 14: Barbara Collins, CBD and Hemp-What’s all the Fuss? Do you actually know the difference between cannabinoid, hemp and marijuana? Barb will walk you through the growing and vetting processes of each. Along the way, she will give many examples and common uses. Please be sure to respond to the evite in order to receive a Zoom link!

• Our field trips committee has more fall suggestions for self-scheduled outdoor activities:
o The Clare top-10-places-for-bird-watching-in-chicago/
o Trailside Museum September events
o West Cook Wild Ones is hosting Native Gardens Through the Seasons:A Virtual Walk on
Saturday, September 12. Tickets

• The new 2020-21 Club Directory is at the printer and will be mailed to your home soon. A warm welcome to the members who are new in the directory this year: Barbara Pagniucci, Judy Klem, Christy Bonstell, Erin Ptacek, Rachel Aubyrn, Snehal Mehta, John Egan, Nancy Van Der Griend, Barbara Dolan, Jan Westcott, Susan Elster-Jones, Madeleine Milan, Emily Hartung, Kathryn Humphreys, Mary O’Kiersey and Haruko Shino.

• Landscape Design School is scheduled for October: Garden Clubs of Illinois for information

• Lombard Garden Club will be hosting a preorder and pickup lilac sale at Lilacia Park on September 10 – 12, 2020. See Lombard Garden Club

• The National Gardener magazine, the official quarterly publication of National Garden Clubs, is now available free online. (It formerly required a paid subscription.) It’s full of useful and interesting articles. Please bookmark it and check it out.

• 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.

Stay safe and keep gardening!

Lisa Cederoth & Mary Ellen Warner, co-presidents