By Carol Cichorski, on March 7th, 2011 How is it that you see this at the Chicago Flower & Garden Show?
and this?
and this?
 All very explainable.
The dog is part of the CABRA cake decorating contest. Three preview cakes were on display, in anticipation of the Sunday March 13th competition. The finest cake decorators in the Chicagoland area will gather at the show to compete in the Chicago Areas Retail Bakers Association’s (CARBA) annual competition. Alliance, A Piece of Cake, Bleeding, Heart, Central Continental, Creative Cakes, Deerfield’s, Dinkel’s Fleckenstein’s, Kirsten’s, Danish, Piece-a-Cake, Roeser’s, and Swedish Bakeries will compete.
Real dogs were on-site as well. They were at display garden #29, ‘Time for Some…Dog Gone Fun , where trained agility dogs romped, were petted by the children, and were generally adorable.
The rooster is similar to the chickens from not one, but two, chicken coops at the show. One was at display garden #18, Conservation at Home: The Sustainable Yard. In this garden, presented by The Conservation Foundation, which protects land, habitat and water in Du Page County, you’ll see many ways to build conservation values into home life and the home garden, from native plants to wind turbines to recycled pavers, solar power and geothermal heating and cooling. Look for rain harvesting and composting, and making mead — the ancient, intoxicating brew that starts with honey. Speaking of animals, from time to time there will be demonstrations on worm composting and beekeeping, as well as raptors. Stop by and you may see the very impressive owls (raptors) that we saw.
You can save two dollars a ticket by purchasing on-line at JULIE. I purchased and printed ours just before we left home. Be sure to take the tickets with you. We had to come back for ours — they were not very useful when left on the printer. We got there early enough to park on-site, only $14 dollars with the $10 discount. The $14 discounted price was also available at the overflow garages located at 460 East Illinois and 403 East Grand, both 1 block from Navy Pier. Stop at the Garden Show ticket both to validate your parking ticket.
Oh, and about the tiger picture. This little stuffed toy was lost. Hopefully, it was also found by the child who lost it.
By Carol Cichorski, on March 2nd, 2011 Spring is coming! I can feel when I’m out walking with the dog. The birds are singing, the geese are flying, and my fingers are not frozen. It just feels different, doesn’t it? I better get moving with what looks good in my yard in winter before I run out of winter. So we’ll do a two-fer today. You know, two-fer the price of one – hardscaping and Rose of Sharon.
Lets get hardscaping out of the way. See that cast iron table and chairs under the pines? Lovely in the winter. And the pines have up-lights. Even lovelier. Moving on to the Rose of Sharon.
I didn’t really expect much from Rose of Sharon in the summer, let alone in the winter. Its one of those shrubs that everyone has. Average, typical, expected. It does not have to be so.
Usha gave us several that self-seeded in her yard, and they went into our so-called vegetable garden for a several years. I started cutting off the extra branches till I had just one stem. By the time I moved the Rose of Sharon to more decorative spots, these fast growers actually looked like trees.
In winter, anything that snow can rest on can look good. That’s a Rose of Sharon.
Anything that hangs onto things that used to be green is good. That’s a Rose of Sharon.
And a tree that blooms in mid-summer is good. That’s a Rose of Sharon.
As a reminder of what we are missing this time of year, here is the same area in the summer. I am so ready!
This is an installment in the OhWhatAWednesday series, where I dare to take on the task of finding something in my garden that looks good even during a Chicago winter.
By Carol Cichorski, on March 1st, 2011 The month of March, per Edith Holden’s “Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady” …
As in the Roman year, so in the English ecclesiastical calendar used in 1752, this was the first month, and the legal year commenced on the 25th of March. Scotland changed the first month to January in 1599. This month was called Martiua by the Romans, from the god Mars, and it received the name ‘Hlyd Monath;, ie. ‘loud’ or ‘stormy month’, from the Anglo-Saxons.
And from the collection of poetry Ms. Holden has been kind enough to share with us …
The stormy March is come at last,
With wind, and cloud, and changing skies,
I hear the rushing of the blast,
That through the snowy valley flies.
Ah, passing few are they who speak,
Wild stormy month! in praise of thee;
Yet, though thy winds are loud and bleak,
Thou art a welcome month to me.
For thou, to northern lands, again
The glad and glorious sun dost bring,
And thou hast joined the gentle train
And wear’st the gentle name of Spring.
And, in thy reign of blast and storm,
Smiles many a long, bright, sunny day,
When the changed winds are soft and warm,
And heaven puts on the blue of May.
Title: March
Author: William Cullen Bryant [More Titles by Bryant]
Whereforth cometh the inspiration to wax poetic? From Gardener’s Muse Day, where Carolyn Choi invites bloggers to share our favorite poems, songs, verses and quotes about gardening on the first of the month.
By Carol Cichorski, on February 24th, 2011 Oh dreary winter. Oh lack of green. Oh snowy driveway. Oh bundled up to the hilt. Oh wait … we were in Kauai. Oh sunny day. Oh lush greenery. Oh valet parking. Oh swimsuit and sandals. Oh yes!
And I get to write about it on in a winter gardening series because I used ‘Winter’ and ‘Garden’ in the title. No matter that the garden wasn’t officially my zone 5 back yard. It was a garden, I was in it, and I live in zone 5. So there. Let’s get on with sharing my wonderful memories of our trip last week.
 Here we are at the Marriot in Lihue. Not your basic hotel. Not even your basic Marriot. More your grand and grander Marriot. It was indelibely impressed upon us before we even got to the buildings. Our red convertible, with the top down, felt right at home as it traversed the lush greenery of the long and winding entryway. We later learned that the 800 acres of the property have had 50 years to mature. Well done. My garden should be planned with such forethought.
 We barely left the Marriot the next day. How could we when the pool looked like this? It’s one of the biggest in Hawaii, and it was magnificent. Notice me there in my swimsuit. NOT! And immediately across from the pool was Kalipaki Beach, which turned out to be one of my favorites. Not that we played volleyball there. We could have. We would have … 10 years ago. Now, we enjoyed the view created by the cove, and were happy to eat our breakfast there.
 Yes, we certainly had our share of fine island cuisene at only the best places. Here I am at Eggberts for breakfast, which actually was good, and not a budget breaker. Duke’s was another place we liked, with a real island atmosphere, and it was right on our beach. Keoki’s Paradise had enough atmosphere for us to go to twice in one week. If you go to Kauai, watch for farmer’s markets and sunshine markets. Get the papaya. And whatever the hairy red one is, get that. You don’t even need to know it’s name (I don’t). Just get it. Fruit and a sandwich from the Deli and Bread Company and you’ll be set. Helps make up for the cost of the sunset dinner cruise and luau.
We didn’t just eat though. After all, I had to look good in that swimsuit you didn’t see me in at the pool. We hiked the Na Pali Coast on the Kalalau Trail. Yep, an 11 mile hike. Slippery, wet, rocky, up a mountain. How about that picture? Worth the climb! Did I mention we only did the first half mile?
 The helicopter ride was amazing. We don’t spend that kind of money without thinking twice. Maybe three times. Many parts of Kauai can only be seen by boat or helicopter. Kauai has mountain ranges, a major canyon, and waterfalls. For example, the waterfall you saw in Jurassic Park, and the one from Fantasy Island. The terrain may be like none you’ve ever seen. To really get the feel of the island’s beauty, take a look at the Blue Hawaii Kauai video.
 If you are jealous at this point, don’t be. Instead, look forward to someday when you can go there too. Aloha, and mahalo Kauai.
This is an installment in the OhWhatAWednesday series, where I dare to take on the task of finding something in my garden that looks good during a Chicago winter. Even if that means I have to take my garden to Hawaii.
By Carol Cichorski, on February 16th, 2011  Looking for a lovely winter garden? Look no further. Here I am in mine. Well, mine sort of. Its mine till we get back on a plane from Kauai. Hawaii’s idea of winter is not exactly the same as Chicago’s idea of winter. Think sand, surf, sun, and snorkel. Snorkel was our ‘S’ word today. Note the absence of the ‘S’ word of snow. A significant absence I might add. We do not have an absence of the word sunburn. Mike has that one.
I’m going to take some liberty here as I file this article under Work Less. Hmmm … maybe not a liberty at all. I definitely qualify for the Work Less category right now, as I couldn’t work less right now no matter how hard I tried. If I did try to work less, then I’d be working harder, which would take it right out of the Work Less category. So I won’t.
I’ll just move onto the letter ‘L’, as in its late now and we have a Luau tomorrow.
Aloha!
This is an installment in the OhWhatAWednesday series, where I dare to take on the task of finding something in my garden that looks good even during a Chicago winter.
By Carol Cichorski, on February 15th, 2011 Here’s a new one for me – Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. A bunch of garden bloggers post on the 15th of each month, with the common topic of posting something that is blooming right then and there. If you’ve been following my zone 5 winter series OhWhatAWednesday, you already know I’ve been posting each week on something that looks good in my garden during the winter. Yes, I’m taking liberties with the word ‘blooming’, and interpretting it as ‘what looks good’. Winter aesthetics is about so much more than the bloom itself. Wanna see me really go out on a limb with interpretation this week? (The answer is yes.) Check out tomorrow’s OhWhatAWednesday.
I could have used Garden Bloggers Bloom Day a few years ago when my garden traditionally looked rather un-bloom-full during July, just when we’d be having our garden walk. I could have seen what looked good in other gardens in July, and then planned appropriately for the next garden walk. An opportunity to go shopping!
So where would I have looked for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day? And where can you look for it? At www.MayDreamsGardens.com.
By Carol Cichorski, on February 9th, 2011  20.2 inches of snow and I’m out there taking pictures of my garden. Interestingly enough, I’m not much of an indoor gardener. Yes, there are a few plants inside, which is not a good thing for them under my care. My eyes search outside, even this time of year. No, we can’t eat Saturday morning breakfast on the back porch. So this picture is a bit of a tease. The lovely scene, complete with dahlias, would be typical over the summer.
What we can do is eat inside, looking out at the winter wonderland. This great big birdhouse was a present from Mike this Christmas. We need something this big if you are going to see it from far away. Scale is important, and a big garden needs hardscape with big impact. A really big birdhouse has been on my list for years. Problem is, so many that we’ve seen aren’t meant to weather a Chicago winter. This one was made from barn wood. If it can survive years as a barn, I’m fully expecting it to survive as a bird barn too. I was anxious for Mike to put in a post out in the back 40. He is not quite so anxious. Perhaps, just perhaps, once the ground isn’t frozen?
This is an installment in the OhWhatAWednesday series, where I dare to take on the task of finding something in my garden that looks good even during a Chicago winter.
By Carol Cichorski, on February 5th, 2011 Here it is. Our main dahlia garden in February …
Oops, my mistake. Here it is. Our main dahlia garden in February … Continue reading The Dahlia Garden In February
By Carol Cichorski, on February 2nd, 2011 A little bit of snow doesn’t stop flowers from blooming in Chicago. Official snow measurement so far is 17″, and that may be all as the sun is shining. 
Almost no snow in some areas, huge drifts in others.
Can’t open my front door.
Earlier today…
Ok, so it’s not quite as bad as that last picture makes it look. I couldn’t help myself.
Happy snow!!!!!!!
This is an installment in the OhWhatAWednesday series, where I dare to take on the task of finding something in my garden that looks good even during a Chicago winter.
By Carol Cichorski, on January 26th, 2011 I distinctly remember saying ‘Well, it’s your garden too, so buy it. I don’t have to like every plant we have.’ What was I thinking?!?!?!?! I was not so much thinking as being the voice of inexperience. I was the one looking at the scrawny pot of zebra grass, fully expecting it to turn into not much of anything. WRONG.
Fast forward a few years. I distinctly remember saying ‘There was an end of season sale on grasses. I bought 16 of them!!!!!!!!’ I may have been inexperienced when I made the first statement, but the 2nd one proves that I am teachable.
Grasses have become a mainstay in our yard. They offer unsurpassed winter interest, are beautiful whether snow covered or not, they are likely to offer shining seedheads on a sunny day, and billowing plumes on a windy day. The zebra grass we brought home many years ago has grown, as you can see below.
 This plant has been divided many times, and it will be due for division again this year. An overly large planting of zebra grass will grow around its outside rim, and have an empty donut hole in the middle. Dividing grass is not a task for the weak. Mike attacks the roots with his saws-all. The only other care it needs is a severe haircut in the spring. Cut it down as far as you can in March. It’s grass. It will grow back. Like most grasses, zebra grass needs full sun.
Here is how ours looked back in 2003. You can see the distinctive stripes that make a name of zebra grass ever so appropriate. So when you see these sad looking scrawny plants at the nursery this spring, don’t hesitate. Buy one, or buy 16. It’s grass. It will grow back.
This is an installment in the OhWhatAWednesday series, where I dare to take on the task of finding something in my garden that looks good even during a Chicago winter.
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