Nurseries & Other Stuff You Should Know
by Rommy Lopat

ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED: 1997 Spring

Garden Ornaments & Other Hand-Made Stuff I Like

• Referred by landscape designer Janness Abraham (Crystal Lake, IL), I went in search of Anderson Concrete Products, 340 N. Illinois St., Crystal Lake, IL (815) 459-2137. Ooo! Ooo! A funky little out-of-the-way establishment that deserves your business -- great designs for concrete urns, benches, bird baths at too-low prices. I loathe the birdbath designs found in many garden centers, so I was ecstatic to find a classic bird bath for our new garden. And owner Joan Anderson must be a gardener--she gave me two little painted concrete ducks to take home to my girls. Why? Just cuz.
• Lovely baskets, including that great L-shaped basket designed to sit on stairs and collect stuff that men and kids never, ever carry upstairs are being woven by the Basket Buddies (Jane Herner and Barbara Vejvoda), (815) 675-9514. Their baskets are on display at Trumbel's Pottery (Dave Trumbel, owner and master gardener), Richmond, IL (815) 678-3562.
• Fantastic hand-crafted brooms of all sizes, including the handles which are made of sumac, sassafras and other locally-collected wood are being crafted by This Is Home (Trudy Sander), PO Box 331, Antioch, IL (847) 395-6121.
• Painted floorcloths and furniture are at The Wooden Canvas (Rolf and Barbara Wagner), 5610 George St., Richmond, IL 60071 (815) 678-4423. I keep saying that I'll make a floorcloth, but I'll be saying that all the way to my grave. In the meantime, I'll buy a far better product at their shop.

Tools for the Gardener

I was on the phone with landscape designer Harriet Kelly (Libertyville, IL) and while complaining that I had bought (yet another) useless bulb digger from "The Daffodil Mart", she recommended ordering a 3" auger from Power Planter, 149 N. Market St., Paxton, IL 60957 (217) 379-2614 (phone & fax).

Garden Stuff for Small Spaces

Sydney Martin is a city dweller and a city gardener, and she wanted to find balcony-sized furniture, lug-it-to-the-park-easily picnic equipment, and small space garden tools, furniture, and ornamentation. Finding it wasn't easy, but it is now! How about a baker's rack that folds up? Or balcony-sized chairs and tables that are portable? Her 30 pp. catalog has it all--over 100 items for the space-constrained. Send $2 to The Intimate Gardener, 4215 N. Sheridan Rd., Chicago, IL 60613-1620 or call (773) 472-7066.

Nurseries to Know About

• Ion Exchange is a native plant and seed nursery located in Harper's Ferry, IA. They offer a very extensive seed list, and sell flats of prairie plant "plugs" for very reasonable prices. In addition, they have a marvelous list of native plant books for sale. And if you really want to commune with nature, go visit. This 266-acre farm is nestled just 6 miles upstream of the Mississippi and Effigy Mounds National Monument, and over a mile of the Yellow River flows through the property, which is adjacent to 1,000 acres of State-owned land. Owners Howard & Donna Bright will rent you a modern cabin ("the Ion Inn") on a weekly or daily basis--and you can bring your horse, for there's a corral and trails just outside the door. Call (319) 535-7231 [hbright@means.net] for a catalog or Inn-formation.
• If you ever get to the excellent Lowell, IN Farmer's Market, look for Ladies of the Prairie ("Economical Perennials and Other Garden Inspired Handcrafted Gifts"). Maxine and Rick Schafer sell 6- or 9-pack perennials, but the really fun news are some of their other wonderful items: bags of edible flowers; hand-crafted baskets; hand-woven table linens, and watercolors of flowers--supply your own and they'll have it painted by local artists! Give them a call at (219) 696-9212 [mes@netnitco.net]. This nursery was recommended to me by TWG subscriber and The Herb Gardener author Susan McClure (Valparaiso, IN).

News for the Wholesale Crowd Do you know these wholesale perennial suppliers? Good catalogs!

• Woodstock Perennial Gardens (Diane & Kurt Glave), 614 Raffel Rd., Woodstock, IL 60098 (815) 334-8705.
• Golddigger Perennials (Linda Rosquist, formerly of Flowerwood Nursery), 5007 Marengo Rd., PO Box 54, Harvard, IL 60033 (815) 943-0822.

TWG subscriber Judith Kempen, who works for Jiffy Products (Batavia, IL) wrote that The Planter's Palette (Winfield, IL) and Deerpath Nursery are her favorite local nurseries. I hadn't heard of Deerpath, so manager Steve Valentine filled me in. Deerpath Nursery is primarily a wholesale grower (but if you wanted to buy at retail prices they wouldn't shoot you), located on 50 acres at 2 S 311 Deerpath Rd. in Batavia, IL (630) 879-0120. They sell woodies, especially 6-8" caliper trees. Check it out.

Moments in Momence: A Bistro that Gardeners Should Know

TWG subscriber Helen Vandeburg (Western Springs, IL) read that I'm going to take the family on some garden-related road trips this summer. One of those places is the area around Crete, IL, which I've heard is fast becoming a new antique haven. Just in case I don't make it there, heed Helen's recommendation and proceed from Crete to Momence, home of the IL Gladiolus Festival (early August) and Van Drunen Farm, the second largest chive farm in the country (yes, you can visit). There in Momence, Helen writes, among the corn fields you will find a French bistro: Dionne's. It requires reservations (815) 472-6081), but while you wait for your table, you may stroll through the gardens outside. Bon appetit!

Dioramas on the Net If you're up for a little cyber-travel, go to http://www.chias.org and view photographs of the spectacular dioramas formerly housed at the Chicago Academy of Sciences. If you've never seen these 3-D artworks, you are in for a treat. [TWG Editor: These dioramas were the place I first began to understand the prairie.] These life-sized exhibits depict natural landscapes and native animals as they would have appeared around 1880 in the Chicago region. Before they were dismantled to accomodate the rebuilding of the Academy, the dioramas were painstakingly photographed. It is these photos that you will find on the Web, and they have been cleverly connected to captions containing driving directions so explorers can travel to actual locations in the Chicago region similar to ones depicted in the dioramas. The dioramas were originally created in 1914.

Join The Wild Ones and Receive Their Excellent Handbook

The Wild Ones is such a cool group! If you join this not-for-profit for $20, you will receive an excellent, excellent Handbook about the natural landscaping movement. Full of "How-To's" (remove vegetation, plant a prairie or woodland, etc.) and plant lists, words of wisdom and encouragement. It's worth $20 all by itself. For a local chapter near you, contact the Milwaukee chapter @ PO Box 23576, Milwaukee, WI 53223-0576.

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