Window Box meeting on March 5th

Join the Northtown Garden Society for their next meeting on Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 7:00 PM. Neighbors Ann Glapa and Jo Stavig will give a slide presentation called "Beautiful Window Boxes All Year Long". Please note that the meeting will take place at the Northtown Public Library 6435 N. California. There is plenty of street parking.

And, check out Jo's website, Urban Prairie Planters with window boxes cleverly named after our local streets. That's one of her custom container styles (the Washtenaw, I believe) in the photo above.

West Ridge Bungalow Worms

Last Thursday we had a full house at the North Town Library to listen to our garden panel speak. (Thanks again to David, John, Chris and Kim -- you all rocked our landscaping worlds, and Kim, I will never forget your "parsley around the roast" description of the typical Chicago front yard evergreens!)

There was a lively discussion of all things green, but when John mentioned worm composting I didn't hear much of a response.

At the risk of never having anyone accept a dinner invitation to our house again, allow me to introduce you to the smallest and hardest working members of our household -- the worms.

I first learned of worm composting via this great online booklet offered by the Shedd Aquarium.
Later, I met up with Master Composter Ruth Melulis who set me up with my first little colony of Red Wigglers. They've been living happily in our pantry even since.

See that grey plastic bin? That's it, right next to the rest of our recycling containers. That's where they live. They're not messy or smelly, and in the winter it's definitely more convenient to slip food scraps to the worms than walking them out to the compost bin.

Come on neighbors, if New Yorkers can do it, so can you.

Dreaming of spring...

Bungalow Garden and Landscape Design meeting this Thursday

Greetings Bungalow Neighbors,
Our first meeting of the year is on February 19 (Thursday), 7:00 p.m. at the Northtown Public Library, 6435 N. California Ave. We have a stellar panel of landscaping and garden design experts who will be talking about designing for small bungalow yards/gardens, and answering our questions:

Panel:
John Eskandari is the Buyer/Manager of the Trees & Shrubs department at Gethsemane Garden Center in Andersonville, where he shares his passion for woody plant material with clients. John is also an instructor at Northwestern University’s Landscape Design & Management program, teaching classes on Sustainable Landscape Design and Succeeding with Plants.

Chris Gent's beautiful West Ridge bungalow garden, complete with ponds, was featured on a past Northtown Garden Society Garden Walk. Chris is a registered Landscape Architect and works as Deputy Director of Planning and Development for the Chicago Park District.

David Gianneschi currently works as a horticulturalist for Hoerr Schaudt, and is known for his talent in creating distinctive planting designs that harmonize with the design intent of a landscape and the bio-region of the site. David's career has also included freelance landscape design, workshop presentations for the Historic Chicago Bungalow Association, and serving as Technical Advisor for HGTV's "The Seasoned Gardener".

Kim Kaulas (Kim Kaulas Inc., Landscape Design and Installation) has designed many gardens in West Ridge and neighboring areas, and is a popular speaker with garden groups on topics such as year-round landscaping and small space gardening. Kim has taught at the Chicago Botanic Garden for many years, and will be teaching a new course on 'Bungalow Garden Design' for the Botanic Garden at the Lincoln Park Cultural Center later this year.

Please join us for this special evening, and be sure to bring all your bungalow garden questions!
Jo & Maribeth, WRBN Co-chairs