The appearance of a huge number of cicadas in June hasn't stopped swarms of gardeners getting their gardens ready for the 12th annual Southland Community Garden Walk this Sunday.
Organized by the South Cook chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women, this year's walk will be bikeable, with all the gardens falling within a seven-mile loop. What's more, each garden was designed, in some cases over decades, and maintained by the homeowners themselves.
Their labour of love has been put to the test, particularly this year, by regular incursions of insect dive bombers.
“You had to remember to keep the mouth closed,” explained Flossmoor gardener Jim Lewis, “otherwise the bugs would fly in.”
“It was chaos,” said Sue McCarthy, also of Flossmoor, “I had to make a lot of cicada condoms (that's what I called the webs), so I did a lot of sewing that I don't normally do.”
Towering conifers and catalpas shade the front porch of Jeff Stevenson's Flossmoor home, a pollinator haven that's part of this year's Southland Community Garden Walk. (Laura Bruni/The Daily Southtown)
McCarthy never anticipated the scale of the outbreak, even though he had experience working as a Master Gardener with the University of Illinois Extension Service 17 years ago.
“We weren't expecting the damage from the grass,” she said, “and that didn't happen last time.”
Fellow gardener Ann Mitchell of Flossmoor agreed that the cicadas are complicating things.
“It's certainly made gardening more difficult because I thought I would wait to mulch until the pests were gone,” she says. “It's crushed my time frame.”
Their cicada-free gardens now invite visitors for a stroll through the gardens. To commemorate Flossmoor's 100th anniversary, six homes are being built in the village, along with the Betsy Pruitt House in Homewood.
Pruitt's garden is the epitome of a labor of love.
“When we bought this house, there were 3-foot-tall white rocks on all four sides,” she says. “I removed 400 grocery bags' worth of rocks myself.”
Betsy Pruitt's garden, one of the highlights of this year's Southland Community Garden Walk, features several roses purchased from her favorite local grocery store. Bright flower pots decorate Pruitt's back deck. (Laura Bruni/Daily Southtown)
Pruitt's local grocery store also sold a surprising number of garden essentials.
“I planted a little rosebush that Jewel has – red, yellow and white,” she said.
Terry Gillespie, who has lived in her Flossmoor home since 1988, similarly has a history of gardens incorporating plants with long histories in the area.
“The year we retired – '97 or '98 – we were on tours of new construction,” she said, adding that she and her husband, Bill, began working with the village arborist. “After we retired, we burned down the prairie so we could get free plants and rescue plants. People who love it here love it, but there's no one who doesn't. I don't miss them.”
Mitchell feels similarly attached: “Almost all of my plants have meaning because they connect me in some way to family and friends.”
Flossmoor resident Beth LaRocca said gardening really is a family affair, explaining that her thrifty sister provided many of the vintage accents that dot the yard and plant shed. A new purple door complements the color palette of her garden.
Ann Mitchell's garden in Flossmoor will be featured during Sunday's Southland Community Garden Walk. It features raised vegetable beds, native pollinator plants and a cheery Adirondack chair made by her husband, Dale. (Laura Bruni/The Daily Southtown)
“I'm drawn to purple, not on purpose,” she said. Lewis echoed the sentiment, but with a different result.
“I don't care about matching colors; I just like it,” he said with a laugh. His Flossmoor backyard also features water features, a homemade bridge and a potted sequoia. “Sequoias grow three to five inches a year, so if I live here for 20 years, they could get pretty big.”
McCarthy succinctly describes herself and her fellow gardeners who have braved long periods outdoors during cicada season.
“My neighbours think I'm crazy,” she says, “but it's my mental illness that keeps me from going crazy.”
The 12th annual Southland Community Garden Walk will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on July 14. Advance tickets are $25 and can be purchased at Art4Soul and Ebel's Ace Hardware in Homewood or Gypsy Fix in Flossmoor. Same-day tickets will be available for $30 at the Homewood-Flossmoor Park District's Goldberg Center (3301 Flossmoor Road, Flossmoor) and include a map and GPS directions.
Proceeds from the event will benefit Respond Now and Aunt Martha's Health and Wellness.
Laura Bruni is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
