Hundreds of garden aficionados throughout the Chicago area will be converging on Southeast Evanston Saturday for the biennial housewalk conducted by the Garden Club of Evanston.
Hundreds of garden aficionados throughout the Chicago area will be converging on Southeast Evanston Saturday for the biennial housewalk conducted by the Garden Club of Evanston.
For the past several weeks, club members have been exercising their flower-arranging talents to create spectacular floral arrangements as decorations in four architecturally significant homes in the city.
To build suspense, as well as to throw off the paparazzi, the exact locations of the homes is not disclosed until the day of the walk. But a peek at the club’s website gives particulars on how and where the general public can obtain tickets to the event.
But here’s a hint: The homes on the walk are just a brief stroll from the multi-acre garden that was tended by Mrs. Daniel Burnham, one of the club’s most notable founding members. Her estate stretched from Burnham Place to Dempster Street and Forest Avenue to the lake when she accompanied a group of prominent Evanston women to a nearby home in 1915 to organize the club.
Shortly after the club was founded, its members prevailed upon Northwestern University to set aside a plot of ground on its campus that is now tucked beside the Technological Institute, upon which the club planted a Shakespeare Garden to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the great bard’s death. The garden was designed by noted landscape architect Jens Jensen and today serves as a beautiful backdrop to a number of North Shore weddings.
It was called the Shakespeare garden because it features many of the plantings mentioned in his writings, although today it contains much more that thrive better in the Evanston climate.
In 1937, the ladies took up stewardship of a wildflower garden at the base of the Grosse Pointe Lighthouse, which today also includes a nature trail. They also maintain a butterfly garden there.
The proceeds of the housewalk and its accompanying boutique help the club to maintain these gardens, in addition to helping to finance a number of other projects In the fields of education and conservation.
Photo: Yes, that’s a pheasant in the centerpiece of the dining room table at one of the houses on the walk. Mrs. James Staples, a club member, applies finishing touches to her creative work.