Garden Walk offers access to local gardens of all sizes

It’s a sign that summer has finally returned when the Garden Walk comes to town. The walk, sponsored by the Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory and the Garden Club of Oak Park & River Forest, takes place on Sunday, June 28 and features seven private gardens in Oak Park and River Forest, as well as two public gardens.

Proceeds from the walk benefit the missions of the two organizations. The Garden Club uses their proceeds to fund yearly scholarships for OPRF graduates headed to college to major in horticulture, conservation, environmental studies, forestry, landscape design or botany. FOPCON employs their proceeds to support projects that benefit the Oak Park Conservatory, including educational and recreational programming for children and adults.

Many motivations for local gardeners

Rhonda Ditzel is an Oak Park gardener whose garden will be included on the walk. When she moved to south Oak Park in 2010, her garden was a blank slate.

“Everything was straight-lined. I just wanted to soften things,” she says. 

She began by using rocks to outline curving garden beds. “We didn’t have a lot of money then, so we started getting plants from my mom and neighbors,” she says. 

Those hostas and lilies took off and filled in her garden. Years later, when a big tree fell in their front yard, they had more funds to address the changing needs of an area that now gets a lot more sunlight.

Ditzel, who does all of her gardening herself, says that she began to incorporate some favorite plants, like Coral Bells, which provide texture and color. 

She says much of her gardening skills have been gained through trial and error and notes that you can’t be afraid to move plants. “Year after year, you start learning more and more,” she says.

In River Forest, Realtor Tom Honeycutt became an unexpected landscape designer when he and his wife moved from the city to a house in the suburb in 2020. 

“We never really had a yard, coming from the city, and then Covid hit. Our house came with a sprinkler system, so I decided to start working on the yard,” he says.

Before long, the neighbors started noticing the new guy who was working in his yard five hours a day. New friendships became a welcome side effect to his hours designing his yard.

Before long, Honeycutt was offering his landscape designs to a select group of friends and neighbors — one of those neighbor’s homes will also be featured on the garden walk.

Honeycutt, who used to own an aquarium business, says he likes to think of his plants as “land corals.”

He works to create dimensions and groupings and he loves to include rocks in his work. After losing a large tree in the front yard, his wife suggested they add a patio to the area. Now, he has more ways than one to be outside and connect with his neighbors.

One of the public gardens on this year’s walk is the United Lutheran Church Memorial Garden in Oak Park. Working with designer Leaf & Spade, the church’s garden committee began working on the space in 2025.

Ruth Prescott, who chaired the committee, says they were inspired by a former pastor who suggested creating a memorial garden at the church.

“We all decided that the front of the church would be much more welcoming if we made it a community space,” she says. 

Today, there are winding pathways and benches to sit and enjoy nature. Illinois native plants fill the space. A historic piece of the church’s original steeple adds a sculptural element.

Three people have been interred in the garden, and a family donated a tree in honor of their deceased daughter, making the space a haven for contemplation.

The garden was a recipient of a grant from West Cook Wild Ones, and Prescott says their help designing with native plants has also made the garden a spot to observe bees and birds.

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