2026 UPCOMING EVENTS
Agenda
6:00-6:30 PM – Social Hour with Refreshments
6:30-7:00 PM – Club Business Meeting
7:00-8:00 PM – Presentation
Township of Schaumburg building at One Illinois Blvd., 1st Floor, Hoffman Estates, IL
March 5, 2026 – Design with Color for Lasting Impact
Discover how to use color to create stunning landscapes. You will explore how to use color strategically to create harmony, highlight focal points, and add year-round interest. Learn simple, effective strategies for creating seasonal palettes, plant pairings, and design highlights that boost curb appeal.
Diane Smith is the owner of the Perennial Professionals, a landscape design and installation company. With 28 years of hands-on experience, Diane blends practical design principles with an artist’s eye, helping homeowners transform their landscapes. Her work emphasizes thoughtful plant selection, dynamic color choices, and solutions that work with the natural conditions of each site. Diane also teaches at the Chicago Botanic Garden, where she enjoys making landscape design accessible and inspiring for gardeners of all levels.
April 9, 2026 (New Date) – TBD
May 7 – I’m Not Really a Garden Expert, I Just Play One on the Radio
Mike Nowak speaks on a wide range of gardening issues – why we need to rethink our attitudes regarding insects, why pesticide is usually the worst response to a garden problem, why weeds always win, why fertilizing is overrated, why a lot of garden design is overrated, why some garden design could help, why expensive plants are easy to kill, why there’s no such thing as a native garden yet it’s still important to grow native plants, and why folks sometimes do the weirdest things in the name of gardening.
Mike celebrated 25 years talking about gardening, the environment and green living on his program. Before going “strictly internet,” Mike hosted programs on WGN Radio and several others. He was co-host of the local TV program Dig In Chicago. His award-winning column was on the pages of Chicagoland Gardening Magazine. In 2014, he published his first book, Attack of the Killer Asparagus and Other Lessons Not Learned in the Garden. He is also a popular speaker on the garden club circuit.
June 5, 2026 – 🪴 ANNUAL PLANT SALE 🪴
We will have our annual plant sale on Friday, June 5 from 7am-1pm at the Schaumburg Farmer’s Market (190 S. Roselle Road, Schaumburg). Members will offer locally grown plants from their own gardens as well as some grown from seed. There will be a wide variety of sun and shade plants including perennials, annuals, dahlias, grasses, hostas, vegetables and herbs. A limited number of native plants like milkweed and coneflower will be available to help support our pollinators. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Schaumburg Township Food Pantry.
August 6, 2026 – MEMBER FORUM – Ask Our Experts
Get answers to those pesky questions you’ve been asking yourself. Maybe you don’t know where to start, or don’t have time to research, or get conflicting information, maybe it pops up once a year & is gone again. This meeting will give members a chance to pick the brains of our gardening experts on an array of topics.
September 3, 2026 – To Be Announced
October 1, 2026 – To Be Announced
November 5, 2026 – To Be Announced
December ??, 2026 – MEMBERS ONLY HOLIDAY PARTY
