She's Got Irises Aplenty

Today, feast your eyes on the peach, deep purple and yellow irises in Donna Marchand's yard. Following , Marchand is the second gardener Patch is profiling this week in honor of National Garden Week in Northbrook. 

The village declared the week of June 5-11 as National Garden Week in recognition of the efforts of the Northbrook Garden Club. Founded in 1950, the Garden Club was built around the basic ideals of service and civic beautification.  Its members have created public gardens throughout the village, including those by the Historical Society building, the fire departments and park district buildings. 

Read on for the story of club member Donna Marchand, and click through the photo gallery at right for images of her garden. 

Gardening Keeps Her Up At Night

Avid gardener Donna Marchand joined the Northbrook Garden Club five or six years ago. 

“I’d heard about the club, but I worked downtown and I didn’t have time to get involved,” she says. “But I loved gardening. I would come home from work some days, skip dinner and be out working in the yard until it got dark. My husband threatened to buy me a miner’s hat with a light on it,” she laughs.

Since Marchand started her own business from home setting up computer accounting systems for small businesses, she left her downtown job.  And with less travel time, she was able to join the club and soon became its treasurer.

“I’ve worked a lot on the next to the post office on Dundee Road,” said Marchand. “I go every week for a couple of hours to help maintain the garden. It’s really beautiful and it’s amazing how many people don’t really even know it’s there.”

Northbrook’s Blue Star Garden was established by the Garden Club at least ten years ago. It’s part of The Blue Star Garden Program, which the New Jersey Council of Garden Clubs founded in 1944 to honor service men and women of World War II.  The National Council of State Garden Clubs adopted the program and began the Blue Star Highway, where large metal blue star markers were placed along the highway across the country to mark garden locations. 

When she first got into gardening, Marchand admits that she started out with hostas in her yard because they were the easiest to grow. Now, however, she has at least 50 different varieties of flowers and last year won Best in Show at the Garden Club’s annual flower show for her indoor prayer plant. 

“It’s actually at the Library right now on the first floor,” she said. “That’s another one of the things we do as a club—we take houseplants to display at the library and rotate them every month.  Last month we had three varieties of spider plants.”

Marchand said what she has learned through the Garden Club—particularly about perennials—has transformed the way she gardens.  

“I find I really don’t buy as many plants as I used to,” she said. “We exchange plants between the members and they’re usually hardy varieties that do well here. I fill in with some annuals, but I don’t use nearly as many as I used to because I now have all these great plants that come up year after year.”

Check back Friday for a profile of Sue Adams, a former art teacher who fell in love with the design elements of gardening. Or click back to Monday's profile of .