Spend The Day Among Flowers And Butterflies On The BAPA Garden Walk

CHICAGO — Whether you’re a dedicated gardener seeking new information, a hobby gardener looking for ideas, or a plant lover longing for a day among flowers and butterflies, you will find innovation, inspiration, and just plain fun at the Beverly Area Planning Association’s 5th Annual Beverly/Morgan Park Garden Walk, Sun., July 21, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Garden Walk begins with check-in at the Edna White Community Garden, 1850 W. Monterey Ave., Chicago, where people are welcome to walk among the beautiful plantings and observe butterflies and bees. All Garden Walk tours must begin by 1 p.m. The event is self-guided by vehicle, locations are spread throughout the community.

The gardens being showcased on this year’s Garden Walk are located throughout the historic Beverly/Morgan Park neighborhood. Each stop is distinctive for its style, variety of plantings, design components, and unique beauty. Tastings and experiences will be offered at garden locations.

Featured 2024 Gardens

Edna White Community Garden, is the first stop on the Garden Walk where all participants can find advance ticket check-in and day-of sales and a visit through this outstanding community garden. Established in the 1990s, it was created and is tended by volunteers who are committed to providing a beautiful space to gather and grow.

An artist who is also a gardener has worked for over 15 years to create a stunning Living Sculpture Garden of evocative hardscapes blending harmoniously with the unique variety of the landscapes. The garden features multiple "rooms," including a patio/deck area, a circular sunny grassy area, a shady area filled with a variety of evergreens, and a fenced in orchard/vegetable garden featuring raised beds filled with herbs, berries, and a stunning variety of roses and climbing perennials

Behind a modest looking house is a Hidden Garden that includes a sunny swath of native pollinators, and raised garden beds dedicated to all manner of vegetables and herbs – two of the garden beds are connected to the elevated club house, and planned, planted and tended by the kids – an a pretty stone patio outfitted with a built-in grill and mini-fridge.

The 2023 Chicago Bungalow Association Garden Award-winner is a Fantastical Garden filled with eclectic garden architecture, whimsical décor, and abundant plantings in the ground and in pots that create a riot of color and visual appeal. The gardeners have been tending their space for three decades, adding fanciful new and found objects to their fairy gardens, and unusual plants and shrubs to the back, side and front yards.

At the Small Spaces|Big Garden, composed of economically and ecologically planned small spaces on a standard City lot. Most of the plants in the front yard were divided from plants in the back yard, gifted from the yards of other gardeners, or planted from seeds. Companion planting helps herbs, produce and flowers to flourish.

At the Nature’s Palette Garden, the gardener, an artist whose work reflects the subtle textures of nature, has created a masterwork of vintage structures, a bountiful vegetable and herb garden, and lovely garden beds where unusual trees and ornamental shrubs embrace a particular selection of perennials chosen for color, texture, and design.

When the gardeners moved into their historic home in the 1990s, the expansive property was a blank slate. It took a lot of planning, planting, hard work and time to create this Lifestyle Garden where the lavish plantings now provide a perfect backdrop for leisure and entertainment from morning to night.

Inspired by the Chicago Botanic Garden, the Hilltop Heritage Garden was planted with many distinct areas populated with a wide variety of mature plantings in beds that range from wooded shade to blazing sun; joyously naturalized to creatively contained. The garden attracts bees, butterflies and birds – this year’s special guests are house wrens who wing and sing every morning and evening.

A charming Victorian cottage where the front and side yards are beautifully planted with a variety of exceptional rose bushes, perennial pollinators, trees and shrubs, has a back yard that transports visitors from the city to a Woodland Retreat. The unique garden is an oasis of t rolling hills built from rocks and boulders; gurgling waterfalls and busy ponds filled with koi and edged in ferns and native shade plants; and wondrous evergreens, pines and ornamental trees.

Experiences at the gardens include tastings of Twisted tea, wine and alcohol-free beverages; bite size snack tastings; live music; information and free raffles from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and Garden Club of Morgan Park Beverly Hills; and more.

Join BAPA on Sunday, July 21, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the 5th Annual Beverly/Morgan Park Garden Walk. There is no rain date. To purchase tickets or sign up to volunteer, go online to bapa.org/garden-walk/. Tickets for current BAPA members are $30 in advance; advance tickets for non-members are $35 and day-of tickets are $40. Purchase advance tickets online at BAPA Garden Walk through July 20. A list of addresses will be provided when you check in at the Edna White Community Garden.

Thank you Beverly/Morgan Park Garden Walk Sponsors: Mike Haggerty Buick GMC, Davey Tree, County Fair, Beverly Bank and Trust, Michele Pettiford @ Properties, Original Rainbow Cone, Buona Beef, Beverly Companies, Guaranteed Rate/Bob Thompson, Bespoke Fence, PRS Professional Real Estate Services, State Farm Insurance/John Harrell, Smith Village, Keir Foot and Ankle Specialists, Franconello, Beverly Hills Animal Hospital, 19th Ward Youth Foundation, Southtown Health Foods and The Beverly Review.

~ Contributed by Grace Kuikman, BAPA