Wednesday, June 25

Garden impressions

A look at the 2008 Kankakee Kultivators’ Garden Tour

Take several hostas and blend them with a few daylilies and impatiens; add some spectacular container plantings, an ornamental grass or two, and maybe even a heritage rose. What do you get?

Six remarkably unique and personal gardens!

I’m always amazed at the way every gardener adds his or her own personality to the spaces they tend — and never more so than during the 2008 Kankakee Kultivators’ Town and Country Garden Tour. While the plants used in each were similar (after all, there are only so many species that do well in our climate), the outcomes were as different as the gardeners themselves.

Tim and Judy Ziemer
Take Tim and Judy Ziemer, for instance. When they’re not at work, you can usually find them tending their three and a half acre plot in rural St. Anne. Both are avid gardeners and it shows. Together they have filled their country spaces with flowers, shrubs and trees — enough to provide blooms nine months out of the year (including more than 2,000 hostas). The couple also uses handmade crafts, antique wagons and bicycles, and old mailboxes (a nod to Tim’s job with the U.S. Postal Service) to accent their garden. The result is warm and welcoming, just like the two of them.

Joseph and Cheryl Kucer
The Bradley garden of Joseph and Cheryl Kucer is truly ‘for the birds.’ Three years ago, these lifetime gardeners made the decision to turn their suburban lot into a sanctuary for local wildlife. By using only plants that provide food or shelter, they have created a tranquil, understated and relaxed atmosphere for themselves and the local flora and fauna.

Tom and Eileen Dandelles
From the twinkling white lights strung through wild grape vines to the upholstered, under-the-stars seating, Eileen Dandelles and her husband, Tom, have created spectacular outdoor living spaces using container gardens, window boxes and in-ground beds. Plants in this Kankakee garden are used as decorating elements that are artfully combined with fabric, hardscapes and indoor decor to create a chic and sophisticated ambiance.

Grant and Candice VanVoorst
Candice VanVoorst figures she inherited the garden gene from her mother. As a child, she remembers watching her mom cultivate her borders and beds. But when Candice and her husband, Grant, moved to their current home in Limestone — a five-acre oak savanna complete with a dry sand hill — she chose a natural theme for her own garden. Candice and Grant tamed the look by adding collections of evergreens, both needle- and broad-leaved, in strategic locations. Punches of color come largely through the use of container plantings, especially along the cozy, private patio at the rear of the house. And, if the vocal stylings of the local songbirds are not sufficient, the couple can call upon the pair of domesticated finches they keep in an embellished cage on their front porch.

Eldon and Rose Day
I’ve never met Eldon and Rose Day — they were off touring other gardens on the walk while I was visiting theirs in Limestone — but I like them already. Their garden is filled with roses and petunias and a picket-fenced vegetable patch. It’s homey and comforting and welcoming — like a visit to Grandma’s house. It’s apparent that family is an important element in the couple’s life because they’ve tucked a memory garden honoring Rose’s parents into one corner of their yard. At its center stands a yellow ‘Butterflies’ magnolia in memory of Rose’s mother.

Ron and Annette Kurzejka
And, oh my gosh! What can I say about Annette Kurzejka’s River Bluff garden? I guess just that it’s as wacky and wild and filled with personality as she is. And why not? She’s created every inch of it herself — from clearing brush with a chainsaw to grading limestone paths and painting everything that would stand still long enough — including a grouping of logs — purple. It is exuberant and quixotic and filled with fun at every turn — and there are lots of turns!

EDITOR’S NOTE: If you’d like to view photos of each of these six gardens, visit the Ornamentals & Edibles photo gallery.

An award winning writer and features editor, Mary Ellen Smith blends her 17-year-long career in journalism with a life-long love of gardening. As a Master Gardener, she has tried her hand at growing everything from coreopsis and calycanthus to peanuts and pears.