April 2025

Dahlias: Living Fireworks

Dahlia expert Carol Cichorski grows about 500 dahlia plants each year. Mike, her husband, is a past president of the Central States Dahlia Society. Carol shared her passion for dahlias and taught us to how to cultivate our own showy summer display.

Growing Terrific Tomatoes

Mark Lyons, a.k.a. “The Garden Troubadour”, is a master gardener and educator. Nothing compares to the flavor of a fresh, home-grown tomato! Mark will show us all the secrets to successfully grow mouth-watering, tasty garden fruit in our own backyard or container garden.

Gardening for Life

Our home gardens have the potential to benefit the larger ecosystem while providing year-round beauty. This presentation will introduce some ideas from permaculture to help incorporate native plants for biodiversity, manage stormwater, save energy, and more. Our guest speaker, Judy Speer, promotes healthy ecosystems by teaching ecological restoration and permaculture with Small Waters Education, a nonprofit organization based in northern Illinois.

How to Care for Dahlias and Other Tubers Through Fall and Winter

Garden expert, Ken Benson will teach us how to preserve our Dahlias, Cannas, Elephant Ears, and Begonia tubers in Fall through the Winter, so they thrive year after year. Ken is a landscape architect and was the host of cable TV’s Landscaping with Ken Benson (1992-2000). He was also a board member of Chicago Flower and Garden Show 1998-2008.

Growing Degree Days: Using Heat to Defeat Pests

Horticulturist Sharon Yiesla, owner of Sharon Yiesla Horticultural Services will describe the ways heat influences the development of both plants and insects. This useful information allows us to better manage insects pests and limit their damage to our plants. Sharon has worked as a Horticulture Educator with University of Illinois Extension in Lake County and teaches classes at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Butterflies of the American Prairie

Guest speaker Doug Taron, PhD., is Chief Curator Emeritus at the

Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and lead of the Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network, which engages citizen scientists to collect data on local butterfly populations. His presentation explores the butterfly species of NE Illinois, their life cycles, and ecology, with special emphasis on the relationship between caterpillar food plants and habitat.  His stunning digital images showcase local species from urban environments, prairies, wetlands, and woodlands and covers conservation efforts undertaken at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago.

Big, Bold Perennials

Heather Prince, a horticulturist lecturing with The Morton Arboretum, Chicago Botanic Garden, and Olbrich Botanical Gardens, will inspire our springtime garden dreams with ideas on

bold, bodacious perennials. The secret to a stunning garden design is a variety of plant layers. Heather will review some dramatic perennials and teach us to create layers of color, height and texture in our gardens.

Planting for Pollinators

David Brooks from Spring Valley Nature Center, Schaumburg gave a presentation on some of the native perennials and annuals you can plant to encourage and host pollinators in your garden.