26th Klehm Garden Fair is June 1 & 2

26th Klehm Garden Fair is June 1 & 2

By Peggy Werner

The 26 th annual Garden Fair Weekend at Klehm Arboretum & Botanic Garden will supply gardeners with the supplies and inspiration they need.

Sponsored each year by BMO Harris Bank, the event will take place 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, June 1; and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, June 2, at the arboretum, 2715 S. Main St. More than 100 vendors will be sell annuals and perennials, trees and shrubs, vintage goods, garden art and repurposed items.

“This is our big showcase and the perfect time of year to see plants blooming everywhere,” says Klehm Executive Director Alexander Mills. “It’s a great community event that people love attending to kick-start the season,” he says.

Items will be sold inside the Visitor’s Center, at the Garden Pavilion, and throughout the grounds. A food court lat the Fountain Garden, with a large tent for seating, will feature Cantina Tacos, Nothing Bundt Cake, Veebo’s Woodfire Pizza, Lulu’s Roasted Corn, Happy Stix, Anjan’s Eats, Mama Mia’s and Wee-Be- Poppin Kettle Corn; Prairie Street Brewing Co. will provide beer and wine.

Visitors are encouraged to enjoy the 155-acre arboretum to see a wide variety of flowing crab trees, lilacs, woodland wildflowers, saucer magnolias, tree peonies, tulips, azaleas, viburnums, coneflowers, Bolero poppies, cleomes, and Japanese tree lilacs.

Garden Fair is the not-for-profit arboretum’s largest fundraiser. Each year, about 6,000 people attend and spend time on the paths viewing 500 labeled trees, shrubs and wooded plants. Many of the annual and perennial flowers are labeled as well, including the collection of more than 75 hostas, about 100 species of daylilies, and many varieties of peonies.

Mills, who began his work as executive director in 2018, attended the Garden Fair as a visitor last year.

“I could feel the excitement in the air and it’s exactly the right time of year for the event,” he says. “There’s definitely a ‘buzz,’ as people are looking for things to buy and ways to improve their gardens, and are talking with people they know or meet at the fair.”

Didier Greenhouse has a booth at Garden Fair every year. Shelby Butler says the business will offer a wide variety of plants and hanging baskets.

“This is a way for customers to see what we grow and visit our one-stopshop for everything for the garden in a beautiful setting,” she says.

Butler has worked at Didier for 47 years and, in that time, became a wife, mother, and grandmother of six. As a nurturing person, she enjoys watching plants sprout from seeds or grow from cuttings into spectacular vegetation because of adequate car. She says it gives her a sense of pride and a rewarding feeling.

Jon Carlson of J. Carlson Growers, Inc. will also be at the Garden Fair, offering trees, shrubs and perennials, including many unusual species like weeping spruces and pines and various Japanese Maples. The fair is a wonderful opportunity for people to ask questions, he says.

“Spring is when people have all the enthusiasm to buy new plants and our job is to educate them on what to plant where and how to care for what they buy so they can get the best results,” he says.

For example, because of our recent severe winter, many types of boxwood shrubs have dying leaves and people are asking what to do. Carlson suggests trimming back the brown spots and waiting to see if new growth appears before replacing the whole bush. “There are a lot of varieties of boxwoods and some are hardier than others and some are more adaptable to this climate,” says Carlson.

Lisa Key says Gensler Gardens has participated in the Garden Fair for 15 years. The business will bring to the fair more than 500 hanging baskets, 100 varieties of perennials and a large selection of annuals, all offered at a discount.

“We enjoy seeing our customers, Klehm staff, and area vendors in a fun and relaxed setting that draws people from a wide area,” Key says.

As Klehm director, Mills is working to introduce more and more people to Klehm so they can enjoy the grounds, events, programs, classes and volunteer opportunities.

Today’s arboretum began with Landscape Architect William Lincoln Taylor, who established the land as Rockford Nursery in 1910. Many of the rare trees on the grounds are the result of experimental plantings by Taylor. The Klehm family bought the nursery in 1968 and maintained the land until 1985, when it donated the nursery to the Forest Preserves of Winnebago County, with the stipulation it remain an arboretum.

Garden Fair admission is $8. Children 12 and under free. Klehm members get free admission when they show their membership card at the gate. Discounted $5 tickets are available at Broadway Florist, Gensler Gardens locations, J. Carlson Growers, The Landscape Connection, Meridian Nursery, O’Fallon’s, Pepper Creek Flowers & Plants, Rock Valley Garden Center, Highcrest IGA, Didier Greenhouses and Village Green. Advance tickets are also available at the Klehm’s Visitors Center and will be sold on May 17th at the Rockford City Market. ❚