Hyde Park Garden Fair Committee

 

Hyde Park Garden Fair Committee

a programmatic committee of Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference.

This page brought to you by Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference and HPKCC's website, www.hydepark.org. Join the Conference!

To Garden Fair's website. Chicagoland's largest and oldest continuing garden fair. Thanks for highly successful Fall 2007 sale!
Winter lecture series returns!

Spring Fair and Sale Friday and Saturday after Mothers Day. Fall Mum and Bulb Sale 3rd Saturday in September. Hyde Park Shopping Center Courtyard, 55th and Lake Park. Thanks to those who helped with the 2006 Fall sale. Next: 2008 Spring Sale, Friday May 16 9 am-6 pm, Sat., May 17 9 am-4 pm. For info, volunteering, gift certificates, special purchases call George Rumsey at 773 955-4455. At the Fair: Help Desk of experts.

The Garden Fair has been planting the formal garden in Nichols Park and other open spaces around the neighborhood. Proceeds also help support the work of the Conference.

Hyde Park Garden Fair Committee float in the 2005 4th on 53rd Parade and Picnic. MR Shaughnessy

Above, Hyde Park Garden Fair Committee float in the 2005 4th on 53rd Street Parade and Picnic. Mary Rose Shaughnessy. Below, at the Fall 2005 sale HPKCC board member Patricia Morse touts the latest iris and other bulbs and (left part of right photo) Marianne Smigelskis discuses mums and bulbs with 5th Ward Alderman Leslie Hairston.

Trish Morse of the HPKCC Board touts bulbs. Marianne Smigelskis discuses bulbs with 5th Ward Alderman Leslie Hairston.

Meetings, Conferences, etc.

May 16, 17 of course the Spring Garden Fair!

May 16, Thursday, 7 pm. 57th Street Books and Experimental Station present Wendy Johnson, Gardening at the Dragon's Gate. At Experimental Station, 6100 S. Blackstone.

Garden Fair Winter Lectures Ready Members for Spring

From the March 2008 Conference Reporter. By Jane Ciacci

In January and February, gardening enthusiasts braved snow and freezing rain to attend four well-received presentations in the annual Garden Inspirations lecture series:

  • Carolyn Ulrich, Editor, Chicagoland Gardening, and a member of the Garden Fair Committee, spoke about year-round color in the garden;
  • Anna Viettel, Coordinator of School Gardens, Chicago Botanic Garden, gave an introduction to organic gardening;
  • Shawn Kinzette, Area manager for Care of Trees, spoke about trees and shrubs for our area and how to care for them;
  • Bruce Tammen, founder and conductor of the Chicago Chorale, spoke about guerilla gardening, in small or unexpected spaces.

don't miss next year's series! If you have suggestions for topics for next winter, please send them to rumsey@aol.com.

In the meantime, get ready for the 40h Annual Hyde Park Garden Fair, to be held this year on May 16-017 (always the weekend after Mother's Day) from 9 to 6 and 9 to 5 in the Hyde Park Shopping Center courtyard.

Getting Started with Organic Gardening

Anna Viettel's Green Gardening session fo the Garden Inspiration series offered a lot to think about in advance of the growing season. In keeping with the Conference's interest in issues of environmental sustainability, here are some of Anna's recommendations.

Feeding the soil to create the best soil ecosystem and build soil health is the most important thing we an do for our gardens.. If we think of fertilizer only as plant food, we're missing the point.

Worm composting is a year-round way to make compost with kitchen scraps, and can be done indoors. The end product is worm castings, which are as effective as commercial plant food. A mix of 50% worm castings and 50% coir is a very good seed starting medium, which relieves us of the need to buy potting coil and vermiculite.

Succession planting and soil rotation will also help build the soil. If we plant the same thing in the same place every year, there is a risk of infections, such as rust. Each plant pulls a different spectrum of minerals etc. from the soil. Organic/sustainable growers rotate their plants from bed to bed.

Companion planting allows plants to support each other biologically, structurally, and by providing shade. Plant compatible plants as close together as possible, and intercrop varieties that work together. For example, tomatoes, basil and borage are a great combination. Heirloom tomatoes will taste better next to basil. A trellis of cucumbers correctly positioned beside the lettuce will offer shade during the hottest part of the day, and weeds will have trouble getting started in the shade. When you don't have weds going to seed you'll have a lot fewer weeds next year.

In permaculture, annuals and perennials are combined to get some of the effect of rotation, even though perennials can't be rotated.

Use insects to create a beneficial backyard ecosystem with support from natural sources. Plant to attract beneficial birds and insects, or (depending on the situation in your garden) release insects such as ladybugs, green lacewings, or praying mantises, which wil eat all pests. In winter, piles of leaves, sticks and shrubbery provide a habitat for "beneficials."

To explore the field further, Anna recommends the following:

The New Organic Grower, by Elliot Coleman, et al (1995).

Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening, by Louise Riotte (1998, this is the "bible" or companion planting).

The Permaculture Way: Practical Steps to Create a Self-sustaining World, by Graham Bell (2005, goes well beyond gardening concepts).

The Rodale Book of Composting: Easy Methods for Every Gardener (1992).

Rodales' Illustrated Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, by Anna Kruger (2005).

How to Grow More Vegetables and Fruits, by John Jeavons (2006).

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Garden Fair winter Lecture series returned and was well attended.

From December 2007 Conference Reporter: Brighten Your Winter with Garden Lectures. By Trish Morse

When the clouds hang low with the threat of snow and the wind whips cold off the Lake, it's time to think "Gardens!"

The Garden Fair Committee of the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference will sponsor four talks on gardening, Tuesday evenings in January and February at 7:00 P.M. in the meeting hall of Augustana Lutheran Church, 5500 S. Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago.

Last winter's lectures--on gardening in small spaces, native plants, growing vegetables on windowsills, and roses--were a refreshing reminder of spring in the dead of winter. And they inspired many experiments--including the tomato that lived in my kitchen window this summer/

On January 15, Carolyn Ulrich, Editor of Chicagoland Gardening (www.chicagolandgardening.com), Hyde Parker, and Garden Fair Committee member, will launch the series. ?She'll show us how we can have "Continuous Color" all summer long. Her photos promise to be a great relief to the grey of January.

Anna Viertel of the Chicago Botanic Garden School of Gardening will inspire us to dream of the great taste of organic produce and the pleasures of "Green Gardening" (January 22). Better yet, she'll give us the practical know-how to tackle sustainable gardening in an urban environment.

In the cold of winter, it's great to remember what it's like to kick back with an iced tea in the shade and relish th play of the summer sun through the leaves overhead. In spring, sh urbs all over Hyde Park/Kenwood thrill us with explosions of color. A representative from The Care of Trees will speak on "Woody plants for the City Garden" (January 20 so we can grow our own shade and produce our own spring fireworks.

On February 5, the series will conclude by training us in "Guerilla Gardening." For those of us who think we don't have a space to garden, we'll learn to "Make the Most of Overlooked Spaces" from Bruce Tammen. Though he is far better know as the founder and conductor of the Chicago Chorale and earlier the choral conductor at the University of Chicago, he also is renowned as a talented guerilla gardener right here in Hyde Park.

For details, see hydeparkgardenfair.org or call (773) 288-3716.

Fall Bulb & Mum Sale: Green All Year Not Just a Dream

by Joy Rosner, for August 2007 The Conference Reporter

On one of those rare fair days in late January or early February, I walk outside and my winter weary eyes are greeted by the thrilling sight of snowdrops in bloom! I now that thre will be more snowy and gloomy days, but hope again fills my heart and my dreams of green all year is not just a dream. Ah, you say, but what about the days from the first deep freeze to the first snowdrops.

Join us at the Bulb & Mun Fair Sale on September 15, 2007 at the Hyde Park Shopping Center Courtyard between 10 AM and 4 PM to fulfill the answer to a year of green. The Bulb & Mum Fair is sponsored by the Hyde Park Garden Fair Committee, which also sponsors the ever-popular Spring Garden Fair Sale the Friday and Saturday after Mother's Day.

To get you from that first deep frost to spring when the first bulbs appear outside, we will have bulbs to force inside including those wonderful fragrant Paperwhites and cactus and succulents perfect for dry winter houses.

True, it will be a case of delayed gratification after we plant our bulbs until we see the snowdrops, iris (both miniature and bearded), crocus, scilla, hyacinths, muscari, daffodils, tulips, alliums, and lilies and the many other bulbs we offer. But we will have--for instant gratification--fall blooming Crocus sativus (new this year) and Colchicum (in white this year for the first time), which wil bloom in just a few weeks (or days) after you plant them. Think how lovely it is to spend those last beautiful days of summer and early fall in your garden planting. At this time the soil is so easy to work.

We, of course, can also see instant color with the many hundreds of asters, chrysanthemums, and pansies available at the Fair for your garden and porches. available too wil be grasses and those perennials like anemones and toad lilies that can be planted in th fall. Do not forget those charming flowering kales!

Here are a few more of the bulbs we will have for the first time this year: The Crocus and Hyacinth Department will have the Crocus sativus mentioned above. The Daffodil Department will have Large Cupped Raspberry Ring, with lovely large white petals with a red edged yellow cup; the Double Wave; and the tiny Jonquilla New Baby which, like its name, is a tiny sweet yellow daffodil. The Forcing Department will have Value Packs of Ziva--the sweet fragrant paperwhite as well as other paperwhites. New to the Specialty Bulbs Department are the pink delicate Corydalis solida, three new bearded tall Iris, the Asiatic Lily White Horse, and Muscari comosum. For the first time, the Tulip Department will have the white species Tulip Lady Jane, the Darwin Orange Bowl with its show-stopping heavily streaked yellow bowl, and thee Triumph tulip Rajka--red with pink edges.

We will have other new bulbs, and many of your old favorites--some in "Value packs," larger numbers in a bag for a a bargain price.

So join us at the Fair. We are there to help you decide what the right bulbs will be for you, when and where to plant tem, how to force bulbs for winter color, and how to have Green through the year!

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Garden Fair Schedules 48th Annual Plant Sale

by Trish Morse [HPKCC board member][From the April 2007 Conference Reporter]

Though the wind is howling off the lake, the Hyde Park Garden Fair is just around the corner—May 18 and 19, 2007.

Gardeners this year have been anticipating the Garden fair since January and February, when the first annual “Garden Inspirations” lectures were held in the Augustana Lutheran Church meeting hall. Though the weather was anything but cooperative, gardeners from all over the city were indeed inspired to think of sprig—and ask lots of questions of the expert lecturers.

One of the great things about the Hyde Park Garden Fair is the wide range of departments—from exotic house plants to practical vegetables, from the long-lived shrubs and roses to the summer-long burst of color from the annuals, from the highly hybridized specialty plants to the native plants and wild flowers. The “Garden Inspirations” covered the gamut and got me itching to try new things.

Carolyn Ulrich, editor of Chicagoland Gardening magazine, launched the series with a slide shop show on “Beautiful Small City Gardens.” Not only was it refreshing in January’s snows to see those blooming oases, but it was also informative to see how a small space could be transformed by thinking vertically as wee as horizontally and by using a large variety of plants. It was interesting to see large containers on rooftop patios sustaining shrubs and perennials as well as annuals and grasses. Trellises defined spaces and provided privacy but also supported hanging baskets and climbing roses. One very tiny garden was a four-season wonder with its mixture of bulbs, shrubs, grasses, water garden, and annuals with a tiny curved path that provided different “vistas.”

The second lecture, “Landscaping with Native Plants” by Pat Armstrong, who is a field biologist, ecologist, and restoration expert and runs Prairie Sun Consultants, also opened horizons of possibility. Her experience teaching at places like the Morton Arboretum, the Chicago Botanic Garden, and the College of DuPage, showed in her fascinating and informative slide show about native slide show about native plants of Illinois. She had been forewarned that Hyde Park gardeners deal with a lot of shade, so she brought many suggestions—such as wild ginger for a great shade groundcover, mayapples for their interesting leaves, woodland phlox for soft spring bloom, and of course the spring trilliums and shooting stars. Even more fascinating were slides of her house and yard in Naperville, which she had converted into a prairie—including her garage roof. She showed how a yard could be filled with color and interesting foliage year round. Blazing star, rattlesnake master, prairie smoke, butterfly weed, native coneflower, and native beebalm—they all were lovely but also attracted many kinds of butterfli9es and birds. The native grasses moved in the breezes and looked terrific in winter. Compared to her neighbors with their bland green lawns, she has a yard that doesn’t waste water, requires no pesticides and fertilizer, and heals the planet.

Betty McCarthy, who mans the Information Booth at the Hyde Park Garden Fair, brought her expertise and long personal experience to “How to Grow Vegetables in Containers.” Her demonstration of just how easy and accessible vegetable gardening is was fascinating. Any sunny windowsill will do! And it doesn’t cost much since even very large tin cans will work to grow even tomatoes. It was inspiring to learn how easy it is to set up a drip irrigation, what kind of soil (and soilless mix) to use, how to have many crops on one window sill, and what types of tomatoes work well. She helped the eager audience understand just how to get started. Best of all was the tiny tomato she gave to each member of the audience to take home through the arctic blast. There should be many more windowsill and back porch farmer exploring the vegetable section this year.

Container gardeners also got great advice from Greg Stack, of the University of Illinois Extension, when he spoke on roses that could survive the howling winds and cold temperatures here in Hyde Park/Kenwood. He had a wonderful slide presentation on all types of roses—from 10-foot giants to hardy miniatures. He explained the difference between species roes (wild, gangly but hardy), rugosa roses (some of the best for winter hardiness and reliability), Old Garden Roses (developed before 1867 when the first hybrid tea rose was developed), floribunda and grandiflora roses. He pointed out for really tough places that Canadian Explorer roses have been developed for extreme hardiness. Though most roses need the sun, he pointed out a few that can handle light shade, like the floribunda “Iceberg.” There might be fewer blossoms, but the white blossoms glow. He also pointed out how to think of roses for their winter interest since many have beautiful hips. His tips on pruning and planting were much appreciated.

So, now the Garden Inspirations of winter have turned into a shopping list for the Hyde Park Garden Fair.

48th Annual Hyde Park Garden Fair. Friday, May 18, 9:00 – 6:00; Saturday, May 19, 9:00 – 4:00. Hyde Park Coop Shopping Center, 55th Street and Lake Park. www.hydeparkgardenfair.org.

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Chair Lesley Bloch thanks community, says why the sale is worthwhile.

To the Herald, May 30 2007.

This year's fair was a great success to the degree that we sold out of almost everything. The weather was perfect throughout the 3 days of plants-a-blooming around the fountain at the shopping center. Our volunteers, as usual, were ideal schleppers of plants, price stabbers, and department aids. Most of the shoppers cooperated with our stringent rules about no unlabeled shopping carts allowed on "the floor." Hopefully, our new service of instant "I take checks" lessened the pain of waiting in line at the busy checkout table.

Not wanting to leave anyone out, we must thank the Hyde Park Shopping center management team, the Coop, th security officers, neighborhood businesses, the volunteers, and all the plant shoppers. We are now anticipating our big 50th anniversary in just two more years.

During the summer, be sure to glance at our gardens to see your money at work. Currently we are planting and caring for the formal beds and meadow in Nichols Park, the 54th Street garden on the south border of Spruce Park, the planted containers in front of businesses on 57th Street and at the far end of 53rd street, and the garden on the corner of 53rd street and Lake Park Avenue. And don't forget that proceeds also help support the ongoing community activities of the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference.

Now remember to water and deadhead those plants!

Bulbs, Mums, and Answers at the Fall Garden Fair

From the September 2006 Conference Reporter

By Joy Rosner

This time of year I always ask, "Where have spring and summer gone, why do they always seem too short, and why does winter seem so long?" But I know that I can extend the summer and see signs of spring early by shopping at the Hyde Park Garden Fair Committee's Annual Bulb and Mum Fair, which will be held September 16, 2006, from 10 am to 4 pm in the courtyard of the Hyde Park Shopping Center.

Over 11,000 bulbs of 154 varieties are available, including some of which can begin to bloom in late January and early February (dependent on snow cover), those which bloom in the spring, those which bloom though the summer, and some which bloom in fall. Also for sale are hundreds of colorful blooming chrysanthemums in lovely hues, asters in blues, pinks, and purples, multicolored pansies, and other fall perennials.

The Garden Fair members will be there to answer your questions, and to help you decide on just the right bulbs and plants for your gardens, to give you suggestions of how and where to grow them, to demonstrate how to force the bulbs for inter flowering in your house, how to defy those tulip- and crocus-loving squirrels, and how to have a spectrum of color throughout the seasons.

The bulbs offered at the sale are of top premium size and the prices are comparable or less expensive than those in online, catalogs, or garden shops without your incurring the cost of gas or shipping. We also have value packs that give you a larger number of bulbs at a lower cost per bulb.

Some of the new varieties include in Daffodils: "Sagitta" which has a large trumpet which is yellow with an orange trumpet, "Mistify" which is an orange trumpet, "Love Call" which has a split trumpet with white petals, and a yellow and orange trumpet, "Flower Parade," a double flower with yellow and orange trumpet, and "Taurus," a truly unusual split trumpet daffodil with a heavily ruffled pink cup and white petals; in Tulips: "Paul Sherer" which is a single late, very, very dark purple tulip, "Herman Emmink", a double late tulip of flaming orange, "Synaeda" which is a lily shaped tulip which is red with yellow edges, "China Town" which is pink, rose-mauve an green with variegated foliage, and "Yellow Spider" which is a double late tulip with spiky petals (one of our two bad hair day bulbs this year); in Crocuses: "Yalta" which is a lovely purple and white flower appearing in April; and in Specialty Bulbs (our department which includes many different varieties of bulbs): Allium "Fireworks" which has yellow, pink, an white flowers that look like fireworks (or can be considered the second of our bad hair day bulbs), Fritillaria meleagris pallidiflora, which is a dainty multi-flowered yellow or ivory miniature fritillaria with multiple bell-shaped flowers, Iris "Savannah sunset," a bright orange tall bearded iris, Lilium OT "Boogie Woogie," a white and creamy yellow lily with a pink edge which is an outstanding combination of the heavily scented oriental lily and the earlier flowering sturdy trumpet lilies, and Muscari "Dark Eyes," fluffy cone of cobalt blue flowers with a lacy edging of pure white which does well in considerable shade.

Enjoy these first-time bulbs and some of your old favorites too. We will also have numerous assortment bags of bulbs so that you may try out a variety of bulbs of each type such as rock garden tulips, greggii tulips, princess tulips, viridiflora tulips, rock garden narcissus, butterfly type narcissus, hyacinth assortments, and muscari mix.

The Hyde Park Garden Fair, a Committee of HPKCC, is comprised of volunteers dedicated to making our neighborhood beautiful and a better place in which to live.

There will be no preorders, but you may call me at 773 241-6943.

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A Hyde Park Tradition for 47 Years: V0lunteering at the Garden Fair

HPKCC Conference Reporter, Winter 2006. By Trish Morse

One Friday when I was in graduate school, I was walking to the shopping center for groceries, lost in the fog that long hours in the library give off, when I stumbled upon a bright mosaic of flowers that filled the Hyde Park Shopping Center courtyard. It was the perfect solution to burn off the fog and remind me that it was indeed spring. Soon I learned to look for the bright yellow signs in shop windows as a sure sign of spring in Hyde Park/Kenwood--as sure as the warblers swarming over Wooded Island on their long migration north. I learned to look forward to the weekend after Mother's Day.

Later I found that volunteering at the Fair was an even better antidote to long hours stuck in the office, staring at a computer. A few hours helping to unload trucks alongside others or putting prices on plants before work on a Thursday made the day so much nicer, having met new people and helping to create that brilliant mosaic of flowers. Serving as an adder-upper, helping people check out with their "loot" meant chatting with all kinds of people, all excited about some find--a perfect fuchsia in a hanging basket for the back porch, an heirloom tomato, or a Jacmanii clematis, just the right color for someone's new backyard.

Having worked at the Garden Fair for quite a few years, I wanted to know more about it, so I recently talked about the Fair with Bam Postell, who had served as the chairperson of the Garden Fair for 23 years, from the 1970s to the 1990s, and who still brings her infectious enthusiasm to the Fair every spring and fall. Though in March her garden is a row of blooming violets on her apartment window-sill, she pours over catalogs, looking for the interesting and unusual plants. Her love of flowers shows in the new painting over her fireplace--the flowers may be a bit abstract, but they'll never need watering!

The Garden Fair is a major fundraiser for the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference, helping to fund the special forums and the other committees of the Conference, such as the Schools Committee and the Transit Task Force. But it's not just a fundraiser. The Garden Fair is part of the original mission of the Conference--to get people to connect with their neighborhood in the face of urban renewal and changing times. It was part of the effort to get everyone to fix up their property. And I can vouch that there's nothing like weeding a small patch of flowers by a busy sidewalk to start conversations with your neighbors!

The oldest garden fair in Chicago, it began as a plant exchange among avid gardeners in the late 1950s, but that excluded people with nothing to exchange, so it quickly shifted to seeking out plants from far-flung suppliers in the rural and ex-urban distance and bringing them back to the neighborhood. By the early 1070s, the Fair really expanded to provided something for everyone--perennials, of course, for those with access to a patch of ground, but also annuals for containers for those with balconies, herbs for cooks with sunny back porches, and even rare and unusual houseplants for those whose gardening is in a bright apartment window.

I suspect most of us volunteer for the same reason. As Bam says, "I came along and fell so in love with it." Bam recalls that she didn't know anything about gardening until she bought a house in Kenwood in the 1960s. "The first spring, things started to come up in the yard and I was fascinated. a friend came over to give me advice. That first six-pack of petunias just hooked me totally."

There are lots of ways to volunteer and help the Conference while getting a start on spring. There's unloading the trucks and helping to setup, but even after years, I get a kick out of it. When a grower drives in from far out of the city, early in the morning, and that back end opens up to a wall of color, it's like unwrapping a mystery present! Working to get the flats priced and out on the floor and the other departments organized provides it own satisfaction. As Bam says, "The best moment is Thursday night when it's all set up and your 're ready to go home. It's all perfect and it's complete. It's so colorful."

In the early days, the Garden Fair Committee would pick up the plants in their own station wagons. Bam recalled one Thursday, sending her husband out to pick up an order of plants to a grower that had been working with the Garden Fair for years. She waited and waited, until hours after she thought he should be there, he showed up with the car filled with plants. "Where were you?" she demanded. "What could I do," he replied. "I got there and he'd made pancakes for me." And they were wonderful pancakes.

I love getting connected to the natural world, but that can be a complication too, when the sale has only a few days to set up and sell out and raise money. One year, a truck didn't make it until Friday. their farm road fords a stream, and though it was nice in Hyde Park, heavy rains in Indiana had washed out the road, stranding the truck. Another year, a shipment of herbs didn't arrive. The grower had an old wood land glass greenhouse. he called up that Thursday morning to tell Bam that there'd be no herbs. In the night, a deer had broken through the glass and in its frantic search for an exit, it had trampled everything to shreds. This sounded alarming! So I asked Bam if the Garden Fair had ever had a bad season. "No! And isn't that remarkable? If one day is rainy, the other is wonderful. Sometimes we have to protect the tender plants from a cold night. But even in the rain, people come and have a good time."

Volunteering as an adder-upper or a helper in a department during the Fair itself is a great social occasion. As Bam says, "It's just like a bazaar. The old customers walk in and it's 'hello, hello. Its the most beautiful Fair ever!" It's always a delightful social experience. That's one reason I adore it. There isn't anything controversial about it."

Volunteering is also a great way to learn more about plants. There's always something to learn from the experts because plants are always changing. Earlier in the spring, the captains of departments and people who assist them go on expeditions to the far-flung growers to find what's new and in good shape for this year. As Bam says, "I love going on the trips. I love finding stuff. You go to a place and they have all kinds of new stuff and you learn from them. One fun thing about going on the trips is discovery. And it's very fun early in the year to go in to the greenhouses and just smell earth and flowers and also discover new varieties."

One look in a thick gardening catalog makes it clear that there's a bewildering selection out there. Bam remembers when there wasn't much selection. "When we were first doing it was before gardening as a big craze hit. The grower would have one variety, but now they're hybridizing like crazy, bigger bloom, more for the city gardener, more varieties. Always improving stuff. Now it's very hard to find a grower who will grow some of the old-fashioned things like forget-me-nots and bachelor buttons." The prairie gentian, for instance, started as a prairie wildflower but then got discovered by growers in Japan, who bred it to be shorter with big bell-like flowers. Now the hybrid has returned home as something new. The same happened with goldenrod and German growers. "Even something like basil. There used to be large leafed basil and small leafed basil, but now there's globe basil, and Thai basil and cinnamon basil and purple basil and red basil.

Luckily for those of us with small gardens and less time, the chairs of the departments research the new varieties and know the growing conditions here, so they do the hard work for the gardener and are most happy sharing their expertise. I've learned so much! I've talked myself into it--I can't wait for the weekend after Mother's Day!

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Garden Fair Mourns Loss of Three Members

HPKCC Conference Reporter, Winter 2005. By Bam Postell

In 2004 the Garden Fair Committee lost three outstanding members, each of whom will be missed for many reasons.

Catherine "Kit" Klinger, one of our longest serving members (since 1970 at least), died last April. Kit has been a stalwart on countless buying trips, particularly for the Annuals Department. In recent years, though she pared back her activity a bit, she always worked the whole day of setting up (the hardest day) regardless of the weather, because she wanted to see things done right. She was always in good cheer, and at parties she was a mean shot with a water pistol. What a combination!

Just before Christmas we lost Mary Milner, who was head of the Vegetable Department and fall mums and chair of special projects, plus a member of other special tasks in running the committee. Mary's loyalty to the event and to the people involved was enormous. We will all remember how she swung in to help any part of the Fair--she was thinking of the event as a whole, and as a shopkeeper herself she wanted the customers to see the beauty of it and to get what they wanted. Shoppers will remember her in the colorful flannel shirt printed all over with vegetables that she wore to every Fair.

The day after Christmas, the tsunami in Sri Lanka cruelly took away one of our newer, but beloved members, Tamara Mendis. Tall, graceful Tamara worked in House Plants, particularly orchids and tropicals, but she was always ready to help any other part of the Fair that needed it. Tamara was always cheerful, funny and busy, and at the same time serenely self-contained. She was a blessing to be around.

we are an aging group, and while we nurse our hurt over these human losses, we have to enfold more volunteers who love the event as we do, and find ways to continue producing the best event in Hyde Park.

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The Spring Flower and Plant Sale takes place 2nd weekend of May (Friday and Saturday), the Fall Bulb and Mum Sale takes place the third Saturday in September.
In the Courtyard of the Hyde Park Shopping Center, 55th and Lake Park (Resource Center compost is located north of 54th Pl. by Potbelly's at the spring sale.)

The Hyde Park Garden Fair can help fulfill your garden plans. If you are dreaming of a big, beautiful garden, you can pre-order flats of annuals or pots of perennials, large numbers of hanging baskets or geraniums, and beautiful vines, trees, and shrubs. Phone 773-947-8313 to pre-order- spring sale only. Gift certificates are now available- Marianne at 773 667-5839. Call Sue at 773363-4368 or Barbara 773 324-3929 to volunteer for the day(s) of the sale or for setup days, especially the day before the first day.

The Garden Fair website and this website are looking for accounts of what's in bloom, from bulbs to trees, annuals to perennials to covers, around the neighborhood, visible to passersby.

Click here to visit the home page of the Hyde Park Garden Fair Committee website.

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The Garden Fair float at the 4th on 53rd Parade 2004 Garden Fair float at 4th on 53rd Parade, 2004
Formal Garden in Nichols Park, one of the Garden Fair's respnsibility The Garden Fair's float at the 2004 4th on 53rd Parade. Nichols Park formal garden, one of the responsibilities of the Garden Fair.

About the Fair, its offerings, and its history

There are 10 diverse plant departments and 1 non-plant department. In early spring the Garden Fair Committee visits nurseries to hand-pick over 50,000 plants, emphasizing varieties suitable for city gardens—for example, those that are shade tolerant or fit into smaller spaces or on porches and patios. Experts are on hand at the sales from the departments. Certain supplies such as mulch are also available at the Spring Sale.

Flowers set up for one of the Garden Fair's annual salesThe proceeds from the Fair help to support the Hyde Park/Kenwood Community Conference and to beautify Hyde Park-Kenwood neighborhood through various gardening projects. One major project is design, purchase, and planting formal gardens at Nichols Park north formal garden. Another is planting and paying for maintenance of the plot at the city parking lot at 53rd and Lake Park. The Garden Fair at one time planted and maintained the Berm along 55th Street and they helped choose the present plantings maintained by the University under a maintenance contract.

Teachers and other individuals may apply for grants to use plants for public projects such as parkway and street corner plantings. Plants and bulbs are donated directly to churches, synagogues, schools, hospitals, and other non-profit organizations, as well as money and plants for sidewalk planters along the main commercial streets.

The Garden Fair Committee has had an impressive 45 + year existence,the first sale having occurred May, 1959. (Before that of the Botanic Garden- and it's a tad bigger.) The Fair's founders included the respected environmental activist and Hyde Park Herald editor Lee Botts. Pam Postell was president for many years into the mid 1990s. It is an affiliate program committee of Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference. HPKCC is grateful for the help for its programs (and others programs) provided by the Garden Fair from proceeds from the sales- and of course the many who buy the plants!

In short, the Garden Fair Committee manages two large annual fairs and designs, plants, and maintains several neighborhood gardens. To many other projects the Garden Fair Committee members donate their time, talent, money, and labor, including the Nichols Park Wildflower Meadow.

President: Lesley Bloch, 773 947-8313. HPKCC contact/liaison: George Rumsey , Top


On the Road with the Garden Fair!

From the Spring 2005 Conference Reporter. By Bam Postell

This is the time of the year when Garden Fair members start snorting like old fire horses. "It's time to go on trips!" We put together the mid-May event, starting a month before, by scouring a list of some 20 greenhouses to locate their best offerings for this year. Some may require just a survey, followed by a list for later delivery; at some we actually "pull" the items we want and have them set aside. A small percentage of these set asides will be pilfered by other buyers (they can't be locked up), but we get at least 90-95% of what we pulled.

Each place has a different character. Owners have become old friends over the years. we know what kinds of things they are likely to specialize in. Some are innovators, some are not. And they develop and change their ways of doing business. Sometimes a place closes, someone dies or retires, or they get so successful that they no longer want to do business with a pesky, demanding group who want everything in bloom and delivered on a certain day. With one old suburban place we have been doing business with for 35 years, we are now with the second generation. With another (a nationally known geranium specialist), we started in their old greenhouses which still had concrete benches, and now visit their new state-of-the-art facility with all kinds of automatic controls and rolling benches.

What we do on our trips is to gather up the best we can find in each category. If it can't be found at the right stage of development and quality, we don't have it that year. Since each department (annuals, perennials, baskets, etc.) keeps very careful inventories, each one knows what sorts of things it is looking for and how many, so its crew will be on the lookout for specific items, but at the same time we all know roughly what other are looking for too, and will make sure other departments know what we have see. "Clara, there are blooming clematis in House #17!"

Some growers do perennials only; others will grow annuals in flats, geraniums and other potted plants, and hanging baskets, for instance. But one will make up attractive mixed planters, one will try unusual annuals or make sure to grow the latest improved varieties, one will grow vegetables and herbs as well. We know where we will find instant gardens in planters, or the fullest baskets, or new varieties of veggies.

Over the years we know which growers can be trusted to send us their best stock from an order list we give them, and from which we nee to literally "pull", that is, pick up and set aside, our own choices, for delivery on the day before the Fair. With annuals, that means eyeballing what we see so we can judge if the flats will be just right for the sale dates--neither too short and unbudded nor too tall and floppy, and definitely in bloom. We learned the hard way that shoppers simply will not buy from a label alone, no matter how healthy the plants; they must see the flower in bloom. The same goes for hanging baskets--they must be at their peak. Even perennials whose bloom time is later in the summer will not sell like those that are budded or in bloom on the sale days. This means that a lot of trips must be made in the last 10 days, and plenty of people must go on them to do the work and keep t he records, so caravans must be arranged and whole days planned complete with lunch plans, water, sun hats, comfy shoes, and raingear. These days call for a lot of walking and bending, but they re fun too--the spirit of the chase keeps us eager. There are always new varieties we've never seen before, always something wonderful in the next polyhouse. The fragrance of a polyhouse full of blooming petunias is heady.

As we run out of members who can give a whole day to this, we wonder how we can do the job with people who are just as eager, but who have jobs they cannot juggle and families to take care of. Somehow we find a way. One car full will not stay for the whole day, but will go back to the city as soon as their particular department has finished its survey and pulling. Some trips can be made on Saturdays. The spirit of the Garden Fair is catching, and once caught, people will do amazing things....Join the fun of handling beauty in many forms.

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Feature from the Autumn, 2004 Conference Reporter:

The Garden at 53rd and Lake Park: An 18-Year Garden Fair Project

By Leslie Bloch, Garden Fair Chairperson

Way back in 1986, the city of Chicago proposed to totally concreted the 53rd St. Lake Park corner. Norah Erickson, a gardening advocate and an active member of the Committee, immediately realized this idea had t be nixed. The spot was perfect for a small public garden. The Garden fair committee agreed to take it on. Within several years (with the support of then-Alderman Tim Evans), the garden grew with an extension going around the corner on Lake Park. Graced with flowering shrubs and well tended perennials the garden thrived for many years.

Norah and Bill Erickson devised an ingenious system of connecting soaker hoses to water the entire garden by sections from the faucet on the side of the building which now houses Hollywood Video. It was possible to shut off the water to any one of the three sections so that another could receive a gush of water. The two of them spent many hours enriching the soil, planting additional perennials and cultivating Norah's beloved sunflowers. Bill acquired a trash can, which he beautifully decorated with painted multi-colored flowers. A hand-painted marker, followed by a steel marker, were set deep into the soil to identify the garden's sponsor. After ten years of devoted service, and many awards, Norah gave it up in order to concentrate on the garden bordering the edge of Spruce Park on 54th St.

The care o t he garden became the responsibility of the committee. Members worked diligently to maintain it as best they could over several years, taking turns weeding, planting, watering, and picking up the wind-blown trash. Unfortunately it was never as consistently beautiful as it had been when the Ericksons nurtured every plant. Water was a big problem. The hoses had been pierced by accidental trowel punctures, resulting in a loss of pressure. Mere trickles of water here and there simply weren't sufficient for good care. The summers were scorchers. None of numerous watering strategies worked. Hoses were stolen. The faucet was destroyed over several winters by cars mistakenly backing into it. The garden had become a chore, and embarrassment.

But now as we look back on the successful Summer of 2004 with perennials selected by the Committee and a glorious Fall of blooming mums from the Bulb and Mum Sale in September, we can honestly say the garden is once again a delight to behold. Thanks to Angela Smith, the director of Executive Suites at Aegis Properties, Hyde Park Bank, and the bank's lumber, the faucet has been repaired and provided with an indestructible steel cover. George Franklin of S&G Franklin installed a Toro watering system. Arrangements were made with the SECC Flower Power project for regular watering during the Summer. And best of all, the Committee hired Roy Powell to care for the garden two afternoons a week. Our recent planting of bulbs for plants in the Spring will lead the garden into another successful season.

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Vegetable Growing Basics for Container Gardening

Guidelines abstracted from material from Betty McCarthy's Garden Fair lecture February 7, 2007

Light requirements:

Temperature preferences (soil)

Suggested Container sizes

Special consideration of location

Selection of available books (sample)

Container Gardening for Kids. Ellen Talmage. Sterling. NY: 1996

Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers. Edward C. Smith. Storey: 2006

Gardening in Containers. Alvin Horton, ed. Ortho Books:1984

Movable Harvests: The Simplicity and Bounty of Container Gardens. Chuck Crandall and Barara Crandall. Chapter, Shelburne, VT: 1995

The Bountiful Container.... Rose Marie Nichols McGee and Maggie Stuckey. Workman P, Ny:" 2002

The Edible Container Garden: Growing Fresh Food in Small Spaces. Michel Guerra. Fireside of Simon & Schuster. NY: 2000.

Selection of websites for general information - do a simple search for lots more.

Cornell University: soil less mix: http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/chemung/publications/container-growing-amending-soil.pdf; suitable vegetables with seed sources and ratings: http://vegvariety.cce.cornell.edu/

University of Illinois Cooperative Extension service: www.uiuc.edu and search "yard and garden," "food and nutrition."

Federal: start with usda.gov/gardening. National Agricultural Library at lincolnnal.usda.

Others: www.gardenlist.com (given as "gradenlist.com"). www.gardenforever.com (esp. for those with aging and disabilities). www.gardenweb.com/forums (specific and interactive).

Selection of vegetable seed and plant catalogues

Burpee. 300 Park Ave., Warminster PA 18991-0001. 1-800-888-1447, www.burpee.com

Cook's Garden, The. PO C030 Warminster PA 18974, 1-800-457-9703, www.cooksgarden.com. Esp. for salad greens, culture, recipes.

Johnny's Selected Seeds. 955 Benton Av, Winslow ME ? 1-88-564-564-6697, www.Johnnyseeds.com. Envir and socially responsible, excellent selection of seeds, herbs, flower, many organically grown. Cultural info.

Kitchen Garden Seeds (John ScheepersJ). 23 Tulip Dr, PO Box 638, Bantam Ct 06750-0638. 1-860-567-6086, www.kitchengardenseeds.com.

Le Jardin du Gourmet. PO Box 75, St. Johnsburg Ctr VT, 05863-0075. Good but small selection incl. edible flowers, in very small inexpensive packets.

Nichols Garden Nursery. 1190 Old Salem Rd NE, Albany OR, 97321-4580, 1-8-422-3985, www.nicholsgardennursery.com. Herb specialists, wine-making, seeds guaranteed to be untreated, website has blog.

Park Seed Co. 1 Parkton Av, greenwood SC, 29647-0099, 1-800-845-369, www.parkseed.com. Includes certified organic. cultual info.

Renees Garden Seeds. Online only www.reneesgarden.com. Was "Shepherd's." Delightful, wide range, good cultural.

Richters. 357 Highway 47, Goodwood Ontario LOC IAO Canada, 1-905-640-6641, www.richters.com. Outstanding herb, rest small but choice.

Territorial Seed Co. PO Box 158, Cottage Grove, OR, 97423-0061, 1-800-626-0866, www.territorialseed.com. Wide array, excellent cultural.

Totally Tomatoes. 334 W. Stroud St., Randolph, WI, 53956, 1-800-345-5977, www.totallytomato.com. But some seeds, plants, peppers, eggplant, salad vegetables.

[And here is an additional suggestion from a reader: ForFarmers.com
URL: http://www.forfarmers.com/
Description :ForFarmers.com is a marketplace for buying and selling various breeds of garden, landscape, fruits, horticulture, flowers, plants, seeds, crops, vegetables as well as agricultural jobs and a wide range of services.]

[For as starting bibliography on organic gardening, see above:]

Gardens of Hyde Park page. View more gardens

Parks/Other Parks and Open Space. LILAC. Lake Park Corridor

Suite of park photo galleries- index in the Park News web home for Jackson, Osaka, Nichols, Midway.....

Green, Growing events and announcements in Green Resources and Calendar including info on gardening volunteers, the Mayor's Landscape awards.

See park and green links in Parks/Other Links.


The Fall 2003 Mum and Bulb Sale

Garden Fair Sale in full force Garden Fair Spring Sale
Garden Fair sale Garden Fair Committee and HPKCC volunteers

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