Northbrook Garden Club - About Us

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SCHOLARSHIP:

We award a scholarship is awarded annually to a Glenbrook North High School senior majoring in horticulture, landscape design, botany, biology, forestry, conservation or environmental concerns.  Contact us for more information and how to apply.

ANNUAL PLANT SALE

Our popular plant sale in May has over 2,000 plants and generates funding for scholarships, educational programs and projects. Members provide perennials from their gardens and home grown plants and vegetable starts for the sale.  We also have a huge selection of nursery grown native plants to support sustainable gardening. Experienced and Master gardeners provide advice and gardening tips to customers tailored to their specific site needs. This is a big commitment for our club and members are encouraged to be involved by volunteering for this event in some aspect of the plant sale planning and on the event days. Many hands make light work.

A COMMUNITY GARDEN 

Our maintenance of a public garden - Blue Star Memorial Garden - provides opportunities for our community to learn and share gardening and planting techniques during spring and fall cleanups of the sites, and with weeding throughout the season. Members are encouraged to participate and non-members are invited too. Email us to find out more about events at Blue Star Memorial Marker Garden, 2490 Dundee Road, Northbrook, west of the Post Office near Coastguard Park (April thru November).

YOUTH PROGRAMS

We host occasional hands-on youth programs focused on how to grow native pollinator plants from seed. Contact us if you are working with a youth group or in a school for more information.

NORTHBROOK PUBLIC LIBRARY

We co-sponsor programs with the library on incorporating natives into our landscapes for beauty and resilience, and to provide natural habitat for insects, amphibians, and birds.

EARTH DAY or WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

We participate in Northbrook's annual environmental sustainability event and shares seeds, plants and gardening tips.

VILLAGE OF NORTHBROOK FLAMINGO FRIDAY/NEW RESIDENT EVENT:

We distribute milkweed saplings and other plants to new residents. 

SHERMERFEST FALL FESTIVAL

We participate in the Northbrook Historical Society's fall festival at the Village Green. Members provide fun activities and expert advice. 

MONARCH PROJECT

NBGC initiated the "Let's Make Northbrook a Monarch Way Station Program" which received support from the village. We support the state and national MILKWEED FOR MONARCHS project and since 2010, we have distributed over 1,000 milkweed plants at our events. 

Mailing Address: Northbrook Garden Club, PO Box 474, Techny, IL 60082 

The Northbrook Garden Club (NBGC) was founded on September 20, 1949. As the club grew in membership, it joined The Garden Clubs of Illinois and the National Garden Clubs and continues to actively participate in both. We are a community of gardeners that provide opportunities to learn, participate in community service, and meet other gardeners. 

Our club has been a vital part in establishing plantings for the Village, the Fire Department and the Park District throughout the years. The NBGC assisted in establishing the Children's Sunshine Garden at the Leisure Center and in 2017 the NBGC helped design the patio garden at Sportsman's Country Club. In 2019, in partnership with the Northbrook Historical Society and the Northbrook Park District we participated in a project to preserve heritage peonies that were relocated from private property to many parks throughout the Village. 

Our environmental contributions to stewardship of the native environment included preservation of a local prairie site and including a wide range of hard to find native plants at our annual plant sale. We participate in the Village of Northbrook's Earth & Arbor Day festivities and initiated the "Let's Make Northbrook a Monarch Way Station" program to help save the Monarch butterfly. We have supported local schools in establishing organic gardens, environmental conservation and educational programs including planting milkweed. We provide educational programs for the Northbrook community to promote sustainable gardening

Continuing Education is a vital part of the club's membership. Monthly programs and workshops are planned throughout the year to share the best practices in all aspects of gardening, horticulture and sustainability.

Members can participate in the four schools of study sponsored by Garden Clubs of Illinois (GCI) with short courses in Landscape Design, Environmental, Gardening and Flower Shows.

Our rich history of award winning projects, the annual plant sale , educational programs, and civic beautification has laid the foundation for the our Garden Club's future as it strives to meet the objectives of its charter "to stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening, to encourage the artistic use of flowers, to aid in the protection of native trees, plants and birds, and encourage civic plantings".