The ‘Invincibelle Spirit’ These unique, pink Annabelle hydrangeas will be part of a special honorary bed planted at Proksa and the flowers will be available to purchase as donations.
Maybe they'll eat thier peas if they've grown them.
Children's Garden
PROKSA PARK GARDEN CLUB invites parents to bring their kids to the Children's Garden in the northeast corner of Proksa Park. Kids and parents learn to plant, weed and harvest vegetables and flowers.
Every Saturday 10am to 11am
June 2 through September 29
Parents must stay with the child.
Clover's Garden Center now has a new Location!
Clover's Garden Center is a family run business, with a unique concept in seasonal presentation. At fifteen Chicago area locations, they arrive each spring to offer a spectacular display of the highest quality flower and vegetable plants. For over thirty-five years Clover's has earned a reputation as having the tradition of unsurpassed quality and excellence for local gardeners and their communities. This leadership in garden retailing is based on the longstanding reputation of the Kuehnle family. For over fifty years they have been at the forefront of providing Chicagoland with the finest quality bedding plants from a family of farms in Michigan.
Visit their new location!:
Berwyn / North Riverside Location
7401 W. 25th St
North Riverside
(708) 788.0243 www.cloversgardencenter.com
PROKSA PARK GARDEN CLUB - 2012 CALENDAR Proksa Park Garden Club is sponsored by the Berwyn Park District. The Club meets every third Monday in the Community Room at 3001 South Wisconsin, at 7:00pm. Occasional special functions are held elsewhere and will be posted on our webpage. Club members are encouraged to volunteer to help design, create and maintain ten gardens in the Park. Gardens include: a Butterfly Garden, Native Plant Garden, a Children’s Garden and other general plantings. The Club also sponsors the Planting Pride in Berwyn contest each year.
May 21 Monday
Refreshing a Tired Garden and Tired Gardener presented by Beth Botts, noted Chicago Garden writer
June 18 Monday
Gardening with Children and Family presented by Debbie Kong, Forest Park gardening educator.
July 16 Monday
We tour the park and review all the plantings. Each of the area leaders presents some special info about their area.
August 20 Monday
Annual Potluck in the Park
September 17 Monday
Planting Pride in Berwyn awards ceremony
October 15 Monday
Spring Bulbs The talk discusses various types of bulbs, rhizomes, corms, and tubers and how to use them in the landscape - combined with shrubs, etc.presented by Doug Wood, Leader of the Wicker Park Garden Club
November 19 Monday
"Winter Outdoor Evergreen Containers and Window Boxes", a demonstration presented by Deborah Cullen, Master Gardener. She will present several of her creations as door prizes.
December 17 Monday
Annual Holiday Party
Planting Pride in Berwyn 2012
The Berwyn Park District and the Proksa Park Garden Club are sponsoring its sixth annual Planting Pride in Berwyn Contest, Curb Appeal. This year’s contest entries will include three home’s landscape that can be viewed from the curb. Emphasis will be on creativity, sustainability and practicality. Don’t wait to enter your home or your neighbor’s home!
Proksa Park Garden Club members will be identifying the attractive home and judging will take place during the month of July.
An awards ceremony will be held at the Proksa Park Activity Center on Monday, September 17 at 7:00pm. An award of $100 and a plaque will be given to each of the three winners.
New Officers
Welcome to our new officers! President - Paul Lucas and Treasurer - Mary K. Christopher
Planting Pride in Berwyn 2011
The Berwyn Park District and the Proksa Park Garden Club's fifth annual Planting Pride in Berwyn results are in! Check out the winning submissions below!
Volunteers Needed!
Hey Volunteers: save a session at the gym and get some fresh air! From April 1 to the end of October, we work in the gardens on Wednesdays from 6:00pm to sundown and Saturdays from 9:00am – 12:00pm.
Hort Thieves Alert
We have been experiencing an increased amount of thievery and vandalism.... chopped off sunflowers, plants dug out, tomatoes stolen, etc.
Please keep an eye on this. On the other hand there is a continual stream of persons visiting the gardens and expressing appreciation for them!
The Victory Garden Revival: Getting Started in Your Own Backyard by Pamela Price
Over the last few years, the notion of reviving the old Victory Garden concept has gained traction online and in the mainstream media. Cultivating one’s own food as our grandparents once did—and thereby ensuring its safety, quality and availability for our families—is both nostalgic and practical in an age where food security and safety issues are top-of-mind.
Prominent authors and activists such as Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver and Alice Waters have helped fuel interest in the revival. They’ve argued that homegrown food is both more delicious and, well, “green.” Likewise, the EatTheView.org initiative to put a vegetable garden back on the White House lawn has inspired many folks.
And then there’s the economy…and a deep hunger for less expensive food. Nightline recently ran a well-received story about the resurgence of backyard gardening in these tough financial times.
Ultimately, just like WWI and WWII-era efforts, the current revival’s success will hinge not upon high-profile endorsements or government programs but upon the muscle and moxie of ordinary home gardeners like you and I.
The potential for more involvement in every American community is tremendous.
Will you do your part? Will you join the revival?
It’s really quite easy, you know.
The first days of the growing season are upon us in many parts of the country. Whether you opt to simply rename your existing garden or start a new one, know that the act of growing food for yourself is one of self-sufficiency and environmental stewardship. In giving your current garden the “Victory Garden” badge, you connect your own efforts with the nation’s horticultural history in a compelling way.
Not only do we need you to plant your veggies this spring, but we also need you to nurture and encourage other gardeners to join you. And that’s a surprisingly easy undertaking in this, the Information Age.
For me, this revival is “Victory Garden 3.0”. I use that term because it references the two earlier movements in American history while giving a nod to one of the distinguishing features of the current movement, the dynamic role technology is playing in its spread. And you can use your own computer to seed the concept with your friends and neighbors.
Some Victory Garden 3.0 ideas:
Blog about your own gardening efforts.
Forward links to articles and blogs related to Victory Gardening to your family and friends.
Email your local newspaper editor and suggest they write about your garden and tie it to the larger nascent revival.
Join online groups such as Horticulture’sCo-Horts Forum that are dedicated to your particular region and chat up the concept.
If you’re using Twitter, join the Twitter for Victory Gardens group and use the #twitter4vg hashtag for relevant tweets. Also, participate in “#twitter4vg Tuesdays,” when the Victory Garden chat is amplified considerably.
Want to go a bit further and really get your hands dirty?
Start a community garden in your neighborhood. School and workplace gardens cultivate community and enable in-person connections. In fact, during earlier Victory Garden efforts, schools and businesses of all sizes were essential to the education of home gardeners. Today it’s no surprise that faith groups are turning to gardening not only for the grassroots fellowship but also as a means to providing food for less-fortunate souls.
Whether or not the Victory Garden resurgence creates a lasting impact on our individual wallets and our collective sense of self-sufficiency remains to be seen. Without your help, though, the odds of success drop considerably.
In short, America needs you…right now…gardening for victory.
Join us.
Pamela Price promotes the Victory Garden revival on her blog, Red, White & Grew.
The Proksa Park Garden Club is sponsored by the Berwyn Park District and was organized in Nov. 2004. For further information call Wil Rutt, President at 708 484 9728, or Dorothy Lucas at 708 7491370. There are no dues and membership is not limited to residents of Berwyn.
homegrown food is both more delicious and, well, “green.” Likewise, the 
