By Carol Cichorski, on September 29th, 2012 
We are having a wonderful fun-filled autumn. So much so that I’m a bit behind on getting these Pioneer Day pictures posted. As you may have read in my last posting, I had quite the to-do list this last week. I love crossing things off my to-do list; however, maybe I should just put a great big smiley face next to Pioneer Day instead of crossing it off my list. I don’t think I ever want Pioneer Day off my list, though I am glad it’s now almost a full year till it rolls around again.
Pioneer Day is the event where the Elk Grove Garden Club has a Scarecrow Factory. We helped families make 120 scarecrows this year. We could have made more, but we ran out of clothes. Lauren even went home to raid her father’s closet. We also took apart sample scarecrows that we’d made just so we could have more supplies. That included some scarecrows that came from my own house. Yes, my front lawn is scarecrow-less. I do expect to resolve that issue this weekend when the family is all together. I literally had to buy scarecrow supplies myself this week so we can do that.
Next year’s supplies have already started coming in. I’ve hit a few garage sales, and Sarah brought over two boxes of silk flowers. Lucille is cutting the stems to make the flowers right-sized for adorning lapels and hats. Maybe I was premature to think I even could mark Pioneer Day off my to-do list. Around here, there is always another Scarecrow Factory on the horizon.
I’m not the only one who looks forward to it. We definitely get repeat customers. You saw Danaan’s picture, didn’t you? It’s a picture of Danaan last year and this year at Pioneer Day. We had others who came back and also found their picture from a past year in the collections we had hanging from the trees. I love that.
Sandy and Sarah Ortiz are repeat scarecrow builders who thoroughly enjoyed the experience. What creativity! They were on-site for a few hours making memories, I mean scarecrows. Ok, both.
Here are some other pictures that exude the family fun and creativity that come with scarecrow making.
By Carol Cichorski, on September 24th, 2012  As the day of an event draws near, it becomes time to reprioritize. You know what I mean – If the relatives are coming over for a visit, the plan to really clean the house eventually turns into ‘oh well, they’re family’. That’s what can make an impromptu visit so easy – no expectations and you just go with the flow. We’re somewhere in-between right now.
Tomorrow is the day we open our garden for you. We had a lovely weekend for working in the yard. Lovely. Lovely. Lovely. It felt so good to be out there. Mike even took a vacation day today to accomplish more. Not everything of course, but more.
When I first started planning this, I thought we might even morph the pile of bricks into a patio. Not gonna happen. So you have to promise not to look at them.
Up until Saturday, I thought we might touch up the mulch. Not gonna happen.
With the threat of frost the last few mornings, we wake up afraid that our dahlias will have frozen and died. Not gonna happen. That’s the optimist in me talking.
The pond is running, the dahlias and zinnias are still fighting it out, and it’s pretty out there. I love my garden!!!
Mike is outside already and just came in with the ‘What were you thinking?’ question. I had starting trimming the bushes between our house and Tom’s. The bushes are taller than me and they now have a Mohawk. All because I got the trimming partly done, then cut the cord. Accordingly, he inherited the job. Please compliment him on how nice they look.
We also played with marbles.
No, we didn’t really play Hungry Hungry Hippo. But there are some of you out there who know what I’m talking about. Come by tomorrow to see. We’re at 331 Forest View, Elk Grove Village, IL. 5 PM to dark.
By Carol Cichorski, on September 21st, 2012 It begins! I have some great pictures to share with you from Elk Grove Village’s Pioneer Day. I still need to sort through them, so for now I offer you just this one. Well, just these two. Or does it count as one because both pictures are in one. I’m so confused.
We had pictures from past Pioneer Days hanging from the trees. Danaan Sutton found his, so you are seeing Dan last year and Dan this year. I’m told he is already planning for next year.
More to come!
You are invited to come see our garden! We’d love to have you visit on Continue reading Pioneer Day – The First Scarecrow Picture
By Carol Cichorski, on September 15th, 2012 It seemed like my zinnia bed had a chance of beating Mike’s dahlias. But preseason performances can be deceiving. Take the Bears for example. They looked pretty poor this week, but we Chicagoans know they are going to the Superbowl.
The big question at our house this preseason was whose garden was going to the Superbowl of September? After all, Mike’s dahlias were short and rather weak, and not even blooming when we expected. The heat this year was excessive, and his key player, water, was on the no-show list. Plus Mike likes to experiment with his team, as in lets go ‘au naturale’, skipping most of the fertilizing this year. For a while, it looked like we were going to have to rely on my zinnia bed for massive color.
It was war! My zinnias v. Mike’s dahlias.
 
After all, pink is pink, right?
WRONG!!!!!
The dahlia garden began to produce decently towards the end of August.
The dahlia garden getting better now as it hits its prime. I, of course, didn’t take a picture of the parts that are still suffering from the heat stroke. I’m going to show you what looks good. If you want to see what doesn’t look good, you are going to have to show up in my yard. Details on that in just a bit.
It has become evident that Mike’s dahlias were going to put up a fight. Some of the new players he acquired this year are serious competitors. Take Drummer Boy, for example…
And Sorbet…
Alright already, I admit defeat. The dahlias win, and rightly so.
If you’d like to see dahlias for real, you’ve got options:
- Mike and his Dahlias will be at the Elk Grove Library today, September 15th, from 10 AM – 3PM.
- You can hear Mike talk about Dahlias at the Elk Grove Library on the 18th. He’ll be presenting for the 7 PM meeting of the garden club. Where Mike and I go, dahlias are bound to go as well, so we’ll bring some.
- You can go to the Chicago Botanic Gardens on September 22nd & 23rd for the CSDS Annual Show.
- You can even visit our garden on September 25th from 5 PM – dark. We live at 331 Forest View in Elk Grove Village. The rain date is September 26th.
- One more chance – Mike will be at the Chicago Botanic Gardens on October 2nd for the 7 PM meeting of the North Shore Gardeners. Yes, I’ll come too and bring the flowers.
Congratulations on the victory. Well deserved.
And oh yes…Go Bears!
Do you want to know what else is blooming in the September garden? To see what other bloggers have blooming on the 15th of every month, visit May Dreams Gardens – Bloom Day for our Garden Bloggers’ Bloom day entries.
By Carol Cichorski, on September 11th, 2012 
Doing something over-the-top nice for someone is so much fun. It is especially fun when they aren’t expecting it. Linda expected us to come over to clean up her garden a bit. She didn’t expect us to come with 2 carfuls of plants. She did not expect her yard to be transformed. I bet she didn’t even expect my grandkids to be so darn cute. I’m sure she also didn’t expect cancer 5 years ago, or to be in home hospice now.
We gave her a memorable day. Odd how those things work; it became a memorable day for all of us too. I’m hoping that she will be outside in the lovely September air soaking up the weather and the prettiness. Yes, I said prettiness. Prettiness really is a word that aptly describes Linda’s transformed garden. It is now filled with mums, fall annuals, Black-eyed Susans, Guara, and Michele’s outstanding flower filled urns. Her roses are trimmed and Creeping Charlie is much less evident.
The Elk Grove Garden Club and one of the members, Pat Palmer, were kind enough to pay the bill for the plants. The two huge overflowing planters came right from Bob and Michele George’s yard. And the work came right from our hearts.
Mike and I arrived with the plants. My son John arrived with his family. He and Heather have two children. They provided the cute factor. Completing the crew was Linda’s husband Bob and her daughter Shawna.
The parade of plants began. I don’t know who enjoyed that more, Linda, or me.
You know how kids can get crabby after a while? We don’t! At least not this day. Smiles abounded. Allie helped me move dirt. A lot of dirt. Most of it to the dog’s water bowl. Oh well.
Cameron helped give Grandpa Mike a push in the right direction.
There were tree branches and bushes to trim, weeds to pull, and fun to be had. Linda was even up to being outside with us the whole time. We were all amazed by how much we accomplished in such a short time. It was one of those days when everything just went right.
There was a bonus for Allie. Shawna let her take home some Barbie dolls, a huge stuffed animal, and a pink boa.
The bonus for the rest of us was a super good feeling of time well spent with family. We had made some nice memories as well as a beautiful garden for Linda to enjoy this autumn.
By the end of the day, Cam was ready for a well deserved nap, and so were we!
You are invited to come see our garden! We’d love to have you visit on Continue reading We Made Linda’s Day!
By Carol Cichorski, on September 5th, 2012  I welcome you to ‘Zone 5 – Favorites on the 5th’. I post on the 5th of every month, redirecting visitors to a favorite posting relative to zone 5. Today we will travel back in time to a day when families played together. A day when a fun family activity did not require an IPOD, and IPAD, or an IANYTHING. A day when you could see farm animals, make a scarecrow, and watch a cannon being fired.
STOP!
We don’t have to travel back in time to do that. We have to travel forward in time. Fast forward to Sunday, September 16th, 1:00 – 5:00. That is when the Elk Grove Historical Society sponsors one of my favorite events, Pioneer Day.
I help run he Elk Grove Garden Club’s Scarecrow Factory that day. We supply everything but the creativity and the cute kids. Pay us a little more than the standard $7.00 fee and I wouldn’t be surprised if we could supply the creativity and the cute kids too. I can’t promise they’d be as cute as these two, but we could try.
Oh, ok. You can come without a kid. But you still can’t handle the glue gun. We reserve that privilege for (questionable) adults like Don Kerstin.
A requirement of Zone 5 – Favorites on the 5th is that I show where you can take advantage or past postings, mine or someone else’s. I get to consider this posting an entry into Favorites on the 5th because we’ve been part of Pioneer Day for years, and I’ve posted more scarecrow ideas than you can shake a broomstick at. Most sites don’t have a whole tab devoted to scarecrows and pumpkins. Mine does! It has a Scarecrow and Pumpkin tab that has 228 postings. Yes, 228 postings. Postings with pictures like the Door County broomstick scarecrow pictured here.
If you want ideas for scarecrows and pumpkins, you can come to me. Come to me here on-line, or come to me on September 16th at the Elk Grove Historical Museum Campus at 399 Biesterfield Road. Either way, you’ll have some good old fashioned fun.
You are invited to come see our garden! We’d love to have you visit on Continue reading Zone 5 – Favorites On The 5th – You Can Make A Scarecrow With Us
By Carol Cichorski, on August 30th, 2012  I’ve got two dahlia gardens for you to visit this September – and one is ours!
September 4th – Steve Meggos will have his garden open for your viewing pleasure.
September 25th – Mike and I would love to have you see our garden.
September is prime time for dahlias. They haven’t really liked our hot dry summer, but then, who has? Now they are starting to show their true colors – literally. We have some blooms; not as many as we’d normally have this time of year. The plants are also shorter than usual. I figured that having you over would give our dahlias a reason to kick it into high gear.
A garden that always is in high gear is that of Steve Meggos. You’d think his plants are on steroids. The Daily Herald calls Steve a Blooming Mastermind. He not only grows dahlias, he makes new varieties, like this one that is named Judy Meggos.
Details:
September 4th at 5 PM
Steve Meggos
6512 Fairfax Court, Carpentersville, IL
September 25th at 5 PM
Mike and Carol Cichorski
331 Forest View, Elk Grove Village, IL
Rain date Sept 26
By Carol Cichorski, on August 24th, 2012 I never thought about it before, but Garden Centers need to go shopping too. I want that job! It’s kind of like being the kid who wants to own an ice cream shop when she grows up, a seemingly natural choice for an ice cream lover. Well, wouldn’t it be great to be the kid who likes to dig in the dirt then grows up to spend your days and someone else’s money shopping for garden related items? Today was the day that Garden Center representatives got to do that (shop, not eat ice cream).
They also got to take gardening related classes of their own choice. That’s better than the mandatory algebra and geography classes of days gone by.
Plus they got to do both at Chicago’s Navy Pier. That is not your average shopping mall or school.
You might be wondering ‘What is this magical mystical experience called?’. It’s the IGC Independent Garden Center Show, which ran Tuesday through Thursday of this week. The Know2Grow Retail Conference is the world’s biggest education resource for garden centers. The show is in its sixth year, and included over 1000 vendors and 40 educational sessions.
I tried to walk the 5 acres of products as well as fit in a few extra speaking sessions that were run for us garden writers. Yes, as a member of Garden Writers Association, I got to go. My real life interfered, allowing me to attend just one day. The booths overflowed from Festival Hall into the hallways. They were booths with real garden related products. No Shamwow or window salesmen, just honest to goodness items you would find at a garden center.
Some products were certainly more fun to look at than others. Pots, plant covered puppies, garden decor … woohoo!
Trunk mats, display systems, plant tags … not so much excitement. You might disagree when you see the lovely lady below. There could be excitement at the trunk mat booth. There was even a booth for health insurance.
The day was about so much more than shopping. It’s tough being an independent garden center in a world of big box stores. I attended the keynote session by Corey Bordine. He knows how to make money. His family business had $24 million in sales last year. He also knows how to get a point across while being hugely entertaining. He tied his African safari trips to challenges in running a successful garden center. Note that I said successful. I can see why he was back by popular demand.
Garden centers need this information more than they need product. Product is easy to find. Staying in business isn’t. Among the available sessions were ‘Stand Out in a Crowded Marketplace’, ‘Does Your Merchandising Appeal to all the senses?’, and ‘Digital Marketing Success Stories’. After all, there is no point in throwing a great party if no one comes.
Speaking of great parties, IGC had that too. I passed on P. Allen Smith’s wine tasting and Dennis DeYoung performing the hit music of Styx. Having the opportunity to attend IGC was party enough for me. (See reference above to real life.)
My favorite product of the day? I’d have to say there were two.
First would be anything made by Garden Girl. Their clothing was oh so functional and oh so cute. There were flowered overalls and pants with pockets galore and inbuilt stretchies to make it easy to bend. They even have matching boots.
Second would be this whimsical caterpillar caddy hose, another entry in the oh so functional and oh so cute category.
If you are from a garden center and reading this, you probably already know that this conference helps keeps you in business. If you are a consumer, this is the kind of conference that keeps our shopping options open. Way to go IGC.
You are invited to come see our garden! We’d love to have you visit on Continue reading Where Do Garden Centers Go To Shop and Learn? IGC
By Carol Cichorski, on August 21st, 2012  I came home today to mud in my refrigerator. I can’t explain it, but there it was. It has been years since that has happened and it reminded me of soccer. Fortunately, not of mud-caked clothes, but a snack appropriately named mud.
I, of course, did what came natural. I took a picture of it. Wouldn’t you? After all, how many snacks look so perfect? A pot, a trowel, worms, and mud. Perfect. Granted, the mud is not of the garden variety.
Here is the recipe:
12 crushed Oreos (with or without the creamy inside)
1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix, prepared as per package directions with 2 cups milk
Gummy worms
The pudding goes in the bottom of the pot and the crumbled cookies and worms on the top. It’s just that easy.
You are invited to come see our garden! We’d love to have you visit on Continue reading A Recipe For Mud
By Carol Cichorski, on August 15th, 2012 It was getting a little scary there for a while. Would the heat put an end to my garden? If not, maybe the drought would. The grass was brown, and the plants were rather sad and flowerless. The flowers that dared showed their heads were often eaten by the Japanese beetles.
Still, my garden triumphed! We have especially high expectations for the dahlia gardens, which I invite you to come personally see on Tuesday, September 25th, from 5 PM till dark. We’re at 331 Forest View in Elk Grove Village, IL. It doesn’t look like much yet, but look at past pictures and you will really want to be here.
For now, here is the area we call the front 40. It has come back nicely.
I’ll even show it to you a little closer up.
And even closer.
The recovery is not complete, especially when it comes to the roses. The picture of the back 40 should have more roses, but they are still rather lacey looking thanks to those darn beetles.
Dolly Parton, in her expected exuberance, refused to succumb yesterday. At 9 AM she was displaying this bud.
By 4 PM, that bud was a full blown beauty! Abraham Lincoln said “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” Today, we rejoice.
You are probably looking at these pictures and thinking that perhaps ‘Low Maintenance Gardening’ should not be one of the topics I speak about. Ah, but it is. The parts of the garden you are seeing today wouldn’t exactly fit into that category, but many other parts of the yard do. Like the zinnia garden. It was pretty much plant it and forget it.
So though it has been almost no work, I have beautiful blooms like this one.
Is there more to see? Sure. Are there areas I have purposely not photographed because they look, well, yucky. Sure. But you’ll just have to come by on September 25th to find out.
Do you want to know what else is blooming in the August garden? To see what other bloggers have blooming on the 15th of every month, visit May Dreams Gardens – Bloom Day for our Garden Bloggers’ Bloom day entries.
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