FOREST GLEN — An expanded Forest Glen Garden Walk will feature much more than just a few flowers and some greenery.
Fourteen private gardens and three community gardens will be showcased during the self-guided tour set to take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 27, organizers said. Seven gardens will be part of the tour for the first time.
In addition, nature-lovers can attend presentations from the University of Illinois Extension and Sav-a-Tree, a tree and lawn care company. Raffles and silent auctions will give attendees a chance to win gift certificates from local garden centers and businesses, organizers said.
A hospitality center will feature music, including a Nicaraguan marimba, and a French market hosted by a local Girl Scout troop will offer light snacks and garden-themed items for sale, organizer said.
A pedicab will take attendees from one garden to the next, organizers said.
The gardens featured on the walk will include rain gardens, koi ponds and English cottage-style gardens. The tour will also take participants by a variety of homes, including cottages, bungalows, ranch houses, Tudors, Georgians and Queen Annes, organizers said.
Gardens on the tour also feature carousel horses and lawns transformed into a fairy prairies, organizers said.
Organizers said they were working hard to to build on the success of last year's garden walk, which was attended by approximately 300 people from all over Chicago and the suburbs, eager to get a glimpse of the 550-home neighborhood residents like to think of as a nature-rich oasis tucked between two expressways and the Milwaukee District North Metra Line in the middle of the city.
The proceeds from last year's walk were used to fund the Forest Glen Community Club's third community garden near Elston and Leclaire avenues, adjacent to a new four-seasons themed mural, organizers said.
Advance tickets are $8 and can be bought online at forestglenchicago.org. Tickets at the gate at 5303 N. Laporte Ave. are $10.
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