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Go Green Des Plaines’ Native Garden Walk will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. this Sunday (Aug. 9) at five locations. The gardens are free to tour to learn more about how they are beneficial for insects, pollinators and birds, as well as air, soil and water.

The following garden descriptions were submitted by Go Green Des Plaines:

Colleen Fehrenbach – 1343 Henry Dr., Des Plaines

Several years ago, I started some plants by seed casting on the first snow of the year. Over time, I added free natives from other green people that wanted to trade. Maybe a third of my garden were starters from Pesche’s Native Garden Section in Des Plaines. Now I find myself observing all the birds, bees and butterflies with my husband while simply standing still and sniffing the sweet flower scents wafting through the air.

Kris Grant – 255 Cambridge Ave., Des Plaines

We lost a beloved 75-year-old Copper Beech tree, the queen of our backyard, in fall 2023. After we got over the shock, I realized…sun, garden space. I got to work early in spring 2024 digging out plants I wanted to save and combined them with natives. Now our backyard is about half garden and buzzing. On to the front yard. We dug out about 2,500 cu. ft. of soil to make a home for the Cardinal Flower, and lots of other rain garden natives. In fall of 2025 I needed to divide and move some exuberant growers from the back but I was really sick of digging so I lasagna-layered cardboard, newspaper and wood mulch to convert another big chunk of the front yard to garden. So now we have three young, mostly native gardens and a bench my husband made from our tree.

Mary Apcel – 330 Washington, Des Plaines

In the last 15 years or so, I’ve become more aware of the importance of native plants, and have added dozens of species to my gardens. All of the deciduous trees and shrubs were grown from seedlings (smaller holes to dig). My absolute favorite is the dwarf chinkapin oak in the back yard. It’s petite and stands guard over the pond and vegetable garden.

Barb and Dale Grooms – 481 Kinkaid Court, Des Plaines

We’re excited to showcase our native gardens again! A deep respect for nature drives our efforts to conserve water, reduce our carbon footprint to mow and water less, and create beneficial habitats for butterflies, bees and more! Check out our new additions for this year—a new rain garden to capture gutter downspout runoff, paw paw trees, serviceberries trees, royal catchfly flowers, and little blue stem grasses. We can’t wait to share what we have in the works for next year, too! See you soon!

Izaak Walton League – 1841 S. River Rd., Des Plaines

Izaak Walton League Chapter 206 (aka Ikes) is located between the Des Plaines River and River Road in Des Plaines. They are celebrating their centennial (1926-2026) at this location. Izaak Walton was an author who was born in England in 1593. He loved to fish and wrote several books. In 1922, conservationists in Chicago formed the Izaak Walton League to protect the natural resources for hunters and anglers. There are now more than 200 chapters across the United States working together to conserve and regenerate our air, water, soil and wildlife. Ikes earned their Conservation@Home designation after volunteers installed a native demonstration garden near the back door of the Jefferson house in 2025. This small but mighty garden has 30 different species of plants that are indigenous to this region. These are all plants that grew there on the former prairie land before it was a farm.

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