It has been said that ‘Gardeners dream bigger dreams than Emperors.’ Mike and I resemble that accusation. It started out simple enough when Mike, his Mom Ardie, and I visited the Chicago Flower and Garden Show. We came home with a few bulbs, and hopes for a modest zone 5 first year garden.
Soon, a plan for growing our wedding flowers began to form. Our pile of gardening books from the Elk Grove Village library grew. Our pile of dirt grew. Tonga (alias Mike) moved timbers to set the raised beds in place. Our expectations grew. By the day of the wedding, Ardie was able to create baskets of ivy for the tables, and my friend Lynn (despite blood poisoning) succeeded in adding flowers from the yard.
The wedding was just the beginning. The next year we moved so I could have a larger yard. Unfortunately it came with a smaller house. We’ve been working on both ever since. And in the 23 years of our marriage, we have truly become gardening addicted. Mike is past president of the Central States Dahlia Society, and for several years I was president of the Elk Grove Garden Club. I speak regularly for local garden clubs and for the Chicago Flower and Garden Show, often managing their seminars on-site.
We have both learned a lot during the trek. For example, gardening is a learned skill. You don’t have to be born with a green thumb. We’ve also learned that it is time for us to do less work, and we’ve made some progress in figuring out how to make that happen. How wonderful that I have someone who shares the work as well as my joy!
Join us in our gardening adventures as we bloom where God has planted us.
For an introduction to our garden, please join me here. Or join Mike in the Dahlia garden.
I have so much fun speaking for Garden Clubs. Topics include ‘Creativity in the Garden’, ‘Low Maintenance Gardening’, ‘Dahlias, Living Fireworks’, ‘Favorite Things’, and ‘Low Maintenance Gardening‘.
Carol Cichorski
Elk Grove Village, IL
ccichorski@outlook.com
