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Community Corner

Flowers to fill Lake Bluff's Village Green on Saturday

Lake Bluff Garden Club hosts 49th annual Mother's Day weekend plant sale.

Wildflowers, blue bells and good gardening advice will all be available at Lake Bluff's Village Green on Saturday (May 7). 

The Lake Bluff Garden Club will host its 49th annual Mother's Day weekend plant sale on May 7 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.. 

Garden Club member Veva Schreiber said she expects the donated plants to be the most popular at the sale. More than 1,000 are expected to be available.

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"They come from local people and local gardens. The plants are overgrown and that's why people like them; they're very hearty," Schreiber said. 

There will be a limited number of annuals available and pre-order forms were already sent out to area residents and past customers. 

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Also popular are the Bluebells, which Schreiber said people have come all the way from Barrington to make their own. 

Schreiber said although people have come from far away for the flower sale, it really is a community affair. 

"We're working a lot with the local businesses. I think one of the nicest things will be each business is giving out one flower to each customer," Schreiber said.

The flowers given away by the businesses can be made into bouquets by floral designer Loretta Stagen, whose daughter, Corinne Torkelson, is a member of the Garden Club. This is the third year Stagen will travel from Connecticut to volunteer at the market and create tied bouquets. 

The Garden Club's relationship with downtown businesses doesn't exist only once a year, though. Since 1967, the Garden Club has used part of its profits from the sale to help beautify the Village.

"After the third market in 1967, they had enough money that they wanted to beautify the downtown so they bought garbage cans. Since then we've gone from garbage cans to trees and sculptures" Schreiber said. 

Most recently, the Garden Club planted pansies in the central business district containers. In a Garden Club press release, chairman of the Village Planters committee Margaret Tomaselli said pansies were chosen for a special reason.

"We planted pansies for spring because pansies are like gardeners, a drop in temperature or showers makes no difference to them," Tomaselli said.

The club plans to replace the pansies mid-June with colorful hot weather annuals.

The Mother's Day flower sale is the largest fundraiser for the Garden Club each year. So far, they are planning two more projects for 2011, including an edible flower event with Inovasi in the fall and a Lake Bluff Cookbook. 

A raffle will also be held Saturday, featuring prizes from local businesses, garden products, beauty services, restaurant certificates and more.

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