The quote by philosopher Cicero, which appears in the event program, seems to say it all: “If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”
It seems only fitting then, that one should help raise funds for the other. The Hinckley Friends of the Library will host Hinckley’s fourth Garden Walk in the Country from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 18, rain or shine. Funds raised by the garden walk will benefit technology improvements at the library.
Participants can visit six residential properties to explore their gardens.
“All of them are in town this year. In the past we’ve had at least one that’s been out in one of the subdivisions or rural areas. But these are all in town,” said Shirley Wilhelmsen, member of the Garden Walk Committee. “As a matter of fact, three of them you could walk to, park your car in one spot and walk to all three of those.”
This is the fourth garden walk presented by the Friends of the Library.
“We only do it every three years,” Wilhelmsen said.
“All of the garden walks in the past have been drought years. The first year was not a drought, exactly. They were painting the inside of the water tower, so we were restricted with the water we could use,” she said. “It was fairly dry that summer, but the gardens ended up looking very nice. But this year, we had two and a half inches of rain (one) night, so I don’t know if they’ve had to water but maybe once all summer. Quite different.”
New this year is the participation of three master gardeners from the University of Illinois Extension in DeKalb County. Suggested by previous garden walk participants in a follow-up survey, the master gardeners will be available to answer gardening questions throughout the event, Wilhelmsen said.
Bright yellow signs will direct attendees to the homes on the walk, with information about each garden detailed in a booklet. The selection committee of three tried to get an assortment of gardens this year, she said.
One garden has previously been featured in the walk, and there is one property that had been featured in the past but now has a new owner that made changes.
Another garden features about 300 hosta plants, she said. The back of the property has a steep slope, and the owner has more than 100 boulders at the bottom with the hosta plants filled in.
“It’s kind of a surprise garden to me,” she said. “You can tell from the road that things are nice, but you really can’t see the extent of the garden until you’re actually in the back. That one’s really cool.”
Another featured garden is a new property, she said.
“They didn’t start their garden until seven years ago, and they had nothing but grass when they started,” Wilhelmsen said. “He is a landscaper, and they have a lot of different trees…”
Unique garden decorations are included in another garden on the walk, Wilhelmsen said.
“What I’ve been told, is the house was part of the house next door in years past, and they divided the house and moved this one over,” she said. “So his lot is not very big, but he does phenomenal things.”
That garden, she said, features a lot of “really cool” decorative garden items, including cast iron streetlights from Champaign-Urbana, granite balusters that once bordered Grant Park and a cast iron fence.
“So he has a lot of different decorative items that make it really interesting,” she said. “It’s a great place to drive by any time of year, because he changes with the seasons.”
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The garden walk also features a raffle with prizes including a fairy garden, a tricycle planter, a garden-themed basket and a wooden toolbox filled with hosta plants. A book on Illinois gardening is a door prize.
Typically the event draws between 85 and 100 attendees, Wilhelmsen said. Tickets can be purchased in advance for $12 at the Hinckley Library, or on the library’s website. Same day tickets, which cost $15, will also be available at each of the garden sites.
Wilhelmsen said the Friends of the Library is considering moving the next garden walk to earlier in the summer.
“We’re going to get feedback from the people who are in it whether they thought Father’s Day weekend would be better,” she said. “We’ll ask them how their yard looks, whether they would be ready.”
Cichon is a freelance reporter
Hinckley’s 4th Garden Walk in the Country
When: July 18
Where: Residential gardens
Tickets: $12 advance; $15 same day
Information: 815-286-3220.