Publications & Sites 
Elmwood Park walk highlights busy and lazy gardens
A stone path with a little growth offers access to corners of the garden of the Maurar's during the Elmwood Park Garden Club Garden Walk Saturday, July 14th. | Dan Luedert~Sun-Times Media
Article Extras
Updated: August 20, 2012 10:49AM
ELMWOOD PARK — Lisa Wolfe was eager to show off her garden to friends and strangers Saturday, part of the annual garden walk.
Wolfe turned her back yard on 1600 block of 77th Court in Elmwood Park into a summer relaxation and entertainment area. A fountain gurgles pleasantly in the corner while an outdoor dining area is set up a few feet away.
The southern part of her back yard is lined with beautiful plants and takes pride in the fact that they are easy to maintain. She’d rather be enjoying her back yard than doing a lot of digging.
“I’m a lazy gardener,” she said. “Everything I plant comes back (the next year).”
Her home was one of 11 homes showcased July 14 as part of the Elmwood Park Garden Club’s Garden Walk. People paid $5 to see the hard work the homeowners put into their gardens.
Milanne Bancroft of Oak Park, along with Tom Castleberry of Elmwood Park, Linda Petrush of Roselle and Thomas Radigan of Brookfield came together and were already impressed by what they had seen and only had visited the first two houses along the walk.
“It’s an amazing use of space,” Bancroft said about the homes of 7800 block of Schubert Avenue.
Kathy Wolter-Modelli is one of those two who has turned the back and north side of her home into a flower and vegetable garden with other plants mixed in between. She is growing tomatoes, basil, and red and yellow peppers.
She started gardening because of her neighbor, Marcia Glodzik, whose home is also in the walk.
“It’s truly relaxing,” she said about gardening. “It’s truly self-satisfying. When you’re done you can go outside on the swing, have some wine and relax some more.”
Pat Foreman of Park Ridge and her friend Linda Rollhauser of River Grove both are avid gardeners and came out to admire other people’s work and pick up some ideas.
“We enjoy our garden walks every year,” Foreman said. “We go to three or four of them.”
Lynn Poep, who showed off her back yard on the 2200 block of 78th Avenue, said people enjoyed looking at her wildflowers. She is a member of Elmwood Park Garden Club and helped organize the event.
At around noon on Saturday she said they had 50 visitors, many traveling to each home on foot.
Angela McClain who lives in Elmwood Park derived a lot of inspiration from the garden walk. “I love it because I get ideas,” she said.
Her friend, Marisa Santangelo of Elmwood Park agreed. “You see something and say ‘I can do that in my space.’”
