Updated Tour Date -
Sunday August 2nd, 10 am to 2 pm
Due to the rainy forecast for Saturday this weekend’s yard tour is being held on Sunday at the same time. Check back here Friday afternoon for an updated list of sites and addresses, along with a Google Map.
Visit your Deerfield neighbors and the Deerfield Historic Village and get great ideas on creating a native pollinator garden, a fun fairy garden, and foodscaping your yard with veggies and fruit.
See rooftop solar, EV chargers, and electric yard gear, get home composter and curbside composting info, ID native bumblebees, and learn about backyard chicken keeping right in town!
Don’t have time to visit them all? Visit as many as you like at your own pace.
FREE! No reservation needed. KID FRIENDLY–esp for petting zoo chicken lovers!
This year, we feature eight sustainable yards:
Deerfield Historic Village, 450 Kipling Place, Deerfield
Come and see the wonderful transformation at the Deerfield Historic village after U of I Extension Master Gardeners came together to renovate the native plant gardens and veggie and herb gardens. After removing invasive and aggressive non-native plants such as Buckthorn, creeping bellflower, non-native thistles, and ditch lilies, they embarked on restoring multiple areas of the village. Visit the new apple orchard planted with borage and tall verbena amidst the rustic remnants of a historic wagon. Visit the Ott log house with ferns and native flowers on a few sides and a fantastic fenced veggie garden on the other–complete with the 3 sisters of corn, beans, and squash, a companion planting learned from Indigenous people. The Sack house, the former honey maker’s house, has new native plants such as indigo, New Jersey tea,
Joe pye weed, red bee balm, and coneflowers. The Luther house has restored herb plantings including sage, caraway, and parsley, as well as asparagus and horseradish. The front sign showcases a carpet of Pennsylvania sedge and little bluestem grass, and the lovely blooms of royal catchfly, swamp milkweed, yellow coneflower, New England aster, and gentian.
Don’t forget to gaze up at the gorgeous, mature oaks and shagbark hickories gracing the site.
*Ask the members of the Deerfield Area Historic Society and master gardeners about the challenges and rewards of this renovation project.
Vicki’s Yard, 838 Warrington, Deerfield
Vicki’s serene backyard is a lovely spot to sit and watch birds and pollinators come and go. An avid birder, Vicki designed her garden with a pleasant mix of native plants, including swamp milkweed, butterfly weed, coneflowers, golden alexander, Joe Pye weed, and rattlesnake master, as well as pollinator friendly plants like ornamental onion and catmint. She has been adding a multitude of native species in the last year to support our native pollinators, including a back fence line of young cup plants for a tall row of vivid yellow blooms that will draw in loads of bees, butterflies, and birds.
Sit on the back patio and catch the lovely scent from common milkweed mixed between the grasses. A delightful sunny cottage style garden in the back corner features roses, cosmos, coreopsis, and coneflowers. Don’t miss the fairy garden tucked into the corner, complete with a sweet tizzy of fairies hiding amongst the soft leaves of ferns and hostas. Alongside the house is her George Washington kitchen garden which is also a great reading nook.
*Ask Vicki about the Great Backyard Bird Count and how she protects birds from window strikes
Amy’s Yard, 454 Margate Terrace, Deerfield
The 4th season of the native plant, shrub, and tree takeover in all corners of the yard has yielded maturing beds with flowers to share and loads of pollinators, fireflies, and birds to enjoy. Blazing star, blue lobelia, cardinal flower, purple poppy mallow, obedient plant, milkweeds, many grasses and sedges, purple coneflowers, bee balm, asters, goldenrods, lanceleaf coreopsis, turtlehead, Culver’s root, native phlox, and royal catchfly are some of the native plants here.
The yard is mostly sunny with a wetter, low lying area that has been transformed from a stone filled parking strip to a rain garden oasis fed by downspouts and rain barrel overflow.
The once invasive yard taken over by Buckthorn is now replaced with native shrubs and trees such as serviceberry, witchhazel, wild plums, ninebark, blue beech, chokeberries, nannyberry, elderberry, and young oaks. Non-native privet is slowly getting replaced by native shrubs.
Come to the backyard to meet the chickens! Feed them snack seeds, pet their soft feathers, and see their fresh eggs. A vegetable garden using veggie and chicken poop compost has a beautiful and functional new trellis and fence being built that is surrounded by pollinator friendly flowers. Bumblebee visitors are plentiful, and she is learning to ID the type with the help of Midwest Bumble Bee Observers. See solar panels which “fuel” electric vehicles and lawn equipment and so much more!
*Ask Amy and Chris about how they steward our local Berkeley Prairie, part of the Lake County Forest Preserves.
Joe’s Yard, 216 Greenbriar Dr, Deerfield
Joe’s yard offers another glimpse of a variable sunlight type of yard many of us have and features a mixture of plants that thrive in both a sunny front yard and a shady backyard. He grows 4 varieties of tomatoes from his own fermented seed. Native plant species include three varieties of milkweed, cardinal flowers, Joe Pye weed, blazing star, coneflowers, asters and goldenrod. A variety of shrubs and trees provide backdrops for the plants and give a tiered landscaping effect. 6 oak saplings continue to grow and thrive. Two passive compost containers provide an opportunity to use kitchen scraps, vegetation and old leaves to provide a half dozen containers of annual compost. The rain gutters allow water to flow into the yard to support several rain garden areas. Joe is phasing out gas powered yard equipment, and using battery powered electric leaf blower and weed wacker.
*Ask Joe about caring for his oak saplings nicely planted by hard working squirrels.
Pat’s Yard, 1901 Oakwood Road, Northbrook
Head just across the Deerfield border and you will not be disappointed to see this mature perennial garden lovingly planted since 1979. Pat is an accomplished gardener in all areas: veggies, annuals, and perennials, focuses her plantings on food for birds and insects, and has greatly expanded her native plantings to over 60% natives in the last few decades. You will see many species of plants here, including Joe Pye weed, swamp milkweed, a lovely native rose archway, native woodland plants, and pussy willows. Visit and see the growth of her oak saplings which support about 500 species of caterpillars (aka bird food!) based on Dr. Doug Tallamy’s research. Come to see her “soft landings” creation under a tree as it has filled in over the last few years, and learn how these softened areas are so much better for insects and other animals than turf grass. She uses low spots and routs gutters to wisely planted rain gardens brimming with color and wildlife.
*Ask her how she is supporting plants and wildlife well beyond her yard by growing 5 species of plants to obtain seed for Somme Preserves.
Edson’s Yard, 1156 Deerfield Rd, Deerfield
Go to Edson’s yard to see what can be accomplished in only a few years! He has a farmer’s market of tomatoes and peppers in pots along the garage, with more veggies such as broccoli and carrots in raised planters behind it.
A large honey locust tree was struck by lightning and needed to be removed, which opened up the backyard to a lot of sun and an expanding native pollinator garden with mountain mint, coneflowers, prairie coreopsis, prairie dropseed grass, Bradbury monarda, goldenrods, and butterfly milkweed. He built a stone walkway winding through the native garden space reusing stone material from the back fenceline. Homegrown garden art and fairy features add a sweet whimsy and personal touch. We can’t wait to visit in coming years to see how the yard progresses! He would love to have native garden space take over the front yard too.
*Ask Edson about his critter protection for bare root and seedling plants.
Note: Park on side street East of house on Woodward Ave.
Camilla’s Yard, 812 Pine St, Deerfield
Now in the 3rd growing season, Camilla’s sunny front gardens are bursting with color and life from the native plants that pollinators love, like purple coneflower, swamp and common milkweed, bergamot, queen of the prairie, anise hyssop, and butterfly weed. The front garden got even sunnier with the loss of a few trees, and now also has a small rain garden leading from a downspout with Gray’s sedge, great blue lobelia, Joe Pye weed and little bluestem. A free little library is stocked with books for children and adults about nature and gardening. The parkway swamp white oak was purchased through Deerfield’s 50/50 tree program three years ago. The back garden is a restful, shady retreat with a sea of lush ostrich ferns blended with hostas and spring blooming native plants such as Solomon’s seal and wild ginger, and the delicate, lovely Pennsylvania sedge. Ask Camilla how she manages mosquitos on her property without pesticides. Next, meet the 150 year old grand dame: the magnificent American elm.
*Ask Camilla how she is caring for the health of her elm as they continue to be threatened by Dutch elm disease.
Jina & Brett, 1440 Montgomery Drive, Deerfield
Stroll through a beautiful woodland oasis filled with art, song birds and pollinators. This yard is a master class in integrating native vegetation to meet a modified suburban landscape.
In the front, a low lying area is planted with wetland and wet mesic prairie species. The portion south of the driveway features a gradient going from wetland emergent species in artificial ponds with iris, cattail and bulrush and transitions to a wet mesic prairie featuring Joe Pye weed, Indian plantain and various asters.
North of the driveway the restoration includes a wet mesic grassland mix of big bluestem, indian grass and prairie cordgrass. The front yard upland features native shade tolerant species such as black cohosh, woodland sunflower, culver’s root, false sunflower and solomon seal under a canopy of river birch. The natural shade from the river birch reduces household heat in the summer months without growing so large as to shade the solar panels that energize this home and its vehicles. The side yard prairie is incorporated into the house’s septic treatment system. Low amounts of nutrient rich water are dispersed underground across the field providing some unique habitat reminiscent of Lake and Cook Counties marsh-like origin. This prairie is dominated by glade mallow and punctuated by towering cup plants and purple stemmed angelica.
Across the bridge you will find another site of restoration. The elm and ash canopy has largely been killed off by pests and disease; the ensuing buckthorn monoculture was removed. See how the area has evolved over the last several years since being seeded with native woodland grasses and flowers. Some existing highlights on the other side of the bridge are a wild raspberry and currant grove, large bushes of elderberry and an ephemeral pond composed of fowl manna grass that facilitates the breeding of spring peepers and chorus frogs in the spring.
*Ask Jina and Bret how they’ve integrated nature with structure using principles of the iconic design ethic of Frank Lloyd Wright.
