NOVEMBER/DECEMBER
1998
How
was your gardening year? From all the reports
we gathered, it was a pretty good growing
season, tomatoes doing so well that many folks
said they were sick of them by late summer.
My
gardening highlight was a trip to San Diego
for the annual meeting of the Garden Writers
Association of America. It is a great area
for gardening because of the mild climate
but what was one of the most striking sights
was the wholesale disappearance of open space
as suburban sprawl gobbles up acre after acre
of prime farmland. One could make the same
argument for the Chicago area. It almost begs
the question as we lurch toward a new century:
if we are going to plow under our best farmland
for housing, shouldn’t the homeowners
feel an obligation to return something to
the food chain by growing some vegetable crops?
Vegetable gardening is not as decorative as
other types of gardening. How can we make
it attractive enough for a new generation
of gardeners so that it becomes an integral
part of their home landscaping?
One
of the big challenges facing the GWAA is a
program called Plant A Row for the Hungry,
a national outreach to help feed hungry Americans.
The program has grown steadily for the last
three years and it now needs some kind of
structure beyond being a committee within
the organization. We’ll spend the winter
tinkering with it and hope to roll out a major
national campaign next spring. If you’re
already planning next year’s vegetable
garden, think about planting an extra row
to donate to a local food pantry.
Closer
to home, we have bid farewell and good wishes
to a valued member of our team, Liita Forsyth,
the visual genius who took the table scraps
we called art and made a magazine out of them.
She has moved on to bigger and better things
and we wish her nothing but the best. The
good news for us is Terri Wymore’s promotion
to Art Director. Terri has excelled in many
areas of the magazine and is the design brain
behind our website (which received a Destination
Illinois web-site award in July). This is
her first issue at the helm.
In
this issue, you will find our annual gift
guide, this year written by Cathy Maloney.
We subject one brave soul to the Hardware
Show each August at McCormick Place to find
the best and brightest new products. Perhaps
it’s just coincidence that we’ve
had a different writer each year—or perhaps
it’s the intimidation factor of trying
to see everything in that huge hall. Cathy
did yeoman’s duty and her efforts show.
We
also bring you practical advice on growing
a blooming windowsill along with a sidebar
on the peripatetic Elvin McDonald, who can
coax bloom from an amazing array of plants.
Elvin was recently inducted into the Hall
of Fame of the GWAA, an honor I had the distinct
pleasure to present. I’ve known Elvin
for 15 years and have always been amazed at
his zest for gardening. Now if he would loan
me a bit of his green thumb…
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