Today was the day it shifted from conversations to commitment.
One of the biggest concerns for the new corner garden has been the budget. It can be difficult to get a community to buy into a project at the beginning when there’s nothing tangible yet. And of course, there’s always that lingering question: Will the people organizing this actually see it through?
That’s why I’m so grateful for our neighbor Jared.
He has always been so generous in sharing plants from his garden, first for the Birchwood Butterfly Corner and now for the (as yet unnamed) garden at the corner of Howard & Eastlake Terrace.
Bright and early, if a little chilly, Jared came over with 16 plants for the corner:
- Three each of Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea), Late Purple Aster (Symphyotrichum patens), Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), Smooth Penstemon (Penstemon digitalis), and Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
- Plus one Orange Coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida)
He didn’t just drop off the plants — he also pitched in, helping rake a mound of wood chips to prepare the soil and give the plants their best shot at survival. Then he headed off to tend to his own amazing garden (which I’m hoping to visit in the coming weeks!).
The next few hours were spent pulling up old landscaping fabric, figuring out the strategy for what plants go where, and then digging in. Lots of lovely neighbors stopped by to comment and share the history of the corner and their lives in Rogers Park.
After each plant was tucked in, it was time for watering. And where things got tricky. I had a watering can and a bucket for a future irrigation system, but no water source. Well, the new garden is feet away from the shores of Lake Michigan. But ever since a 2020 winter storm that ripped away the beach, it’s been tricky to get to the water. With my mobility issues, I never tried the climb down. But digging had limbered me up so why not give it a try. As I was just a few rocks away, I realized that I hadn’t thought through how I would use the waves to fill up the watering can.
My gardening style has always been what you might call chaotic. And faced with this dilemma, I made the chaotic decision. No matter what, I was going to get wet. And probably more wet than I planned if I tried to balance on a slippery rock. So despite my jeans and sneakers, I waded in. It still took more than a few waves to fill the can and then only most of the way. But it was good enough and my sneakers were starting to squelch. The weight of the full can actually provided some stability as I climbed back up and squelched my way to the garden. Later I walked down the block to where I live and filled the can all the way for a second watering. Note to self: a better hydration strategy is definitely needed.
In the coming days, I’ll put together a list of what the garden still needs and reach out to those who said on the community survey that they’d like to help.
More updates to come — and hopefully a name for the garden, too!
Birchwood Butterfly Corner 