SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 1996

It's almost uncanny how interconnected some aspects of life can be. A day in a garden leads to an opportunity to promote the magazine which leads to a wonderful conversation with, of all people, a Chicago cab driver.

First, there is Pat Schiltz, a resident of a very horsey, tucked-away neighborhood in rural Wayne (as opposed to downtown Wayne). Pat put together something called the Country Garden Faire that featured her own and two other lovely gardens. In addition, more than 20 vendors provided the "faire" portion under two tents that Pat had installed for the occasion. Over two days, more than 1,200 people attended and after all the donations and barters for services were tallied, she had raised more than $8,000 for Youth With A Mission, a mission charity that her daughter, Marlise, is involved with. It was a first-class affair because she organized every last detail. She also had a wonderfully supportive cast of friends.

One of those friends is Jim Warren, who was so impressed that he came back after the hordes left and taped an interview with Pat for his radio program, "Prime Time America" (broadcast locally on WMBI-FM, 90.1, the Moody Bible station). At some point, Pat showed him the magazine. He found it interesting enough to schedule an interview with me and the collaborators on Gardens of the Heartland, (the book we featured in the July/August issue) author Laura Martin and photographer Allen Rokach. The broadcast was heard on the 4th of July on stations in 38 states that carry the Moody network.

Finally, the cab driver. Feeling relief that I hadn't gotten too tongue-tied during the interview, I flagged a cab, said hello and began to tell the driver, who was not of foreign origin, about how nice the Moody facility was and the program we had taped. "I listen to them all the time," he related, then amended it to when he wasn't driving the cab. We later discussed religious philosophy right down to his one admitted sin: "I like to listen to the dusties," he said. "I hope it doesn't come down to that when it's time for me to go to heaven."

Camaraderie is one of the great linking functions of gardeners. It's why we enjoy meeting many of you and exploring your gardens. As an example, Evanston gardener Evert Johnson requested (well, required) managing editor Carolyn Ulrich to arrive at his home at 6 a.m. to get the right light to photograph the garden. She reported she made it on time. Photographer Linda Oyama Bryan set an equally early appointment with apple grower Gene Yale, who was so accommodating that he took her to breakfast after the shoot. The results were worth it-both appear in this issue.

Evert Johnson came to our attention from another friend, Adele Kleine, who will always be known as "subscriber No. 1," the first person to sign on to what was then just an idea. Bruce Spangenberg joins our author roster with his look at why it's important to fertilize in fall, the second in a continuing series written for us by University of Illinois Cooperative Extension educators. And Alice Joyce found a city couple who take their composting seriously.

Finally, we would be remiss not to mention the contributions of our illustrators. Sandy Pechan makes her debut with a smashing apple cover, Pat Fisher helps us to visualize how to fertilize and what some lesser-known fruits look like, and the whimsical, tree-hugging Rodney Dangerfield comes from the pencil of art director Liita Forsyth. We hope you like the look, as well as the words, of this issue.