With COVID-19 restrictions continuing to ease throughout the state, the Oak Park Conservatory announced it has fully reopened to visitors, with no registration required.
With the facility reopening, officials are also planning to again offer various programming, including its annual succulent and cacti sale July 30, Year of the Butterfly events July 10 and Aug. 14 and its master gardener help desk.
For more than a decade, the conservatory has partnered with the university to have its master gardeners on-site, which includes upkeep of the plants and assistance to local residents.
“We have so many volunteers here at the conservatory,” director of horticulture Patti Staley said. “We have the Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory that provides volunteers to us, but we also haver a really great relationship with the University of Illinois extension and their master gardeners.”
The master gardeners are a group of adults of all ages with a passion for gardening and have been trained to meet the constant demand for horticultural consumer information for locations all over the state of Illinois.
At the conservatory, 615 Garfield St., the master gardeners help with caring for plants in the building’s three indoor showrooms, assist with events and programs and even lend a hand at the Park District of Oak Park’s other properties, including the Cheney Mansion, 220 N Euclid Ave.
“We use them in our parks and have a strong group of volunteers,” Staley said.
Perhaps the most noticeable service provided by the master gardeners is the “ask the master gardener help desk,” which began in 2018 at the conservatory.
Gardeners from the community could come in on Tuesdays and speak directly with a University of Illinois master gardener to get advice, identify problems and receive answers to issues they may be having in their own gardens.
“That’s a really good opportunity and people like to take part in that,” Staley said. “Sometimes you can get really frustrated with what’s going on [in your home garden] and need to bring in your sample of a leaf or plants and have someone look at it to see what’s going on. I joke with some of the master gardeners that these are therapy sessions more than anything. People need to vent about what’s going on in their gardens.”
The help desk also offers a free repotting service, where the master gardeners will help replant a guest’s plant into a larger container, if needed.
While the COVID-19 pandemic and related shutdowns caused the “help desk” to take a hiatus with its in-person services, Staley said the master gardeners continue to help out via email.
“We are anxiously awaiting for when the University of Illinois will be able to bring that back here,” Staley said. “Since COVID started, everyone was turning to gardening when they were stuck at home and wanted to connect with nature. The horticulture and garden industry just boomed. The emails have been great, but nothing can replace the in-person experience.”
While the Oak Park Conservatory waits for the return of its in-person help desk, gardeners who wish to ask a question of the master gardeners can email [email protected].
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“There’s still a lot of people who don’t know about the service and are really surprised when they find out,” Staley said. “There’s not a lot of ‘ask the gardener’ help desks around.”
In addition to the return of the master gardeners, Staley said other conservatory favorites, like offering children’s birthday parties, are expected to be offered again shortly.
The Oak Park Conservatory, which is free to the public, attracts more than 50,000 visitors annually. The public can visit the conservatory from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.
Twitter: @steveschering