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| Wednesday Garden Night tonight 5-sunset New school families are especially invited to visit the garden and see what garden night is like. Many school families participate every week, though some are on vacation now. We’ll have the usual task list. There are many pleasant gardening opportunities for parents and children to do together. We’ll have a PlantID walk especially to learn the flowers in bloom in this time of the summer. And musicians are invited to serenade us while we garden or at the end! I hope they do! —- More thoughts from Mr. Leki: The days are passing and each passing day makes it less likely that the ecology program will return to Waters as we all have known it. I am still spending hours each day in the garden, with the help of neighbors and parents, caring for the vegetable beds and native plants. Our Saturday work mornings have been warm and wonderful, with a trace of sadness always nearby. I would like to recommence Wednesday evening workdays to engage more of our community and to get the garden in tip top shape. I will take time during each workday to lead plant ID tours with some of our other native plant experts. Many of our plants are very beautiful and many are very rare. It is good to get to know them, their curious ways, and needs. The mobile phone plantID apps are great for beginners, but most seem to enjoy learning our local Chicago native flowers with people and books. The garden community includes quite a few native plant experts (environmental science and biology professors, a former native landscaping crew training and management leader, and quite a few others with decades of experience.) We’ve been talking about how to tend the garden in the short term, with such uncertainty. They understand how rare and special Waters garden is and can share that knowledge with you, so more people understand why we protect it and how it’s important to the ecology program at Waters. We hope more people will want to learn how to care for this incredible garden. We will also try to have more music during the workdays, as we have in the past, to lift our spirits and keep us strong. People have asked how they can help, what they can do. Please keep reading the news as updates come. Other news articles are likely soon. Please spread this link so that people can get this newsletter or share our newsletters on social media and block clubs. I want to let people have time to learn what happened and have time to sort out the truth and notice where statements were misleading or worse, notice what incorrect assumptions have been made and reflect. Perhaps some will be unmoved by the new information, but they will need to think heavily about their reasons because others will question them deeply. Lets let them have a little time. The news is still coming out. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, see you in the garden. There’s lots of work to do! |
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