Tun Rattan works in the garden alone, but when the time comes to enjoy the greenery, she welcomes anyone and everyone in the community.
Gardening was introduced to Rattan very early on in life. She grew up in a small town in India, which was approximately a four-hour drive away from the city of Kolkata in West Bengal, Rattan said.
While she was in middle school, her father’s garden became an outdoor workspace for Rattan’s love of plants. Her father’s garden consisted of a variety of flowers and vegetables.
Rattan planted additions to her father’s garden, which included 29 cacti varieties. Her creativity with plants in the garden proved worthwhile, as the garden earned recognition with an award, Rattan said.
“We were always involved with gardening,” Rattan said. “I just absorbed a lot of information without realizing it. We actually won first prize in the neighborhood garden contest. That was a great pride to us.”
When she was 26, Rattan and her husband immigrated from India to the United States. In 1984, River Forest was the first place she moved to, and she has lived there ever since, Rattan said.
Rattan’s garden has been featured twice on the Garden Walk, which is hosted by the Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory and the Garden Club of Oak Park and River Forest. The Garden Walk is an outdoor event that highlights local residential gardens and permits people to walk through to see them. Her most recent stint was this past season.
In 1999, Rattan participated in the Garden Walk for the first time, and the garden she displayed was a few years in the making. Rattan said her garden was in high demand to be featured, and she was asked to participate by the Garden Walk organizers multiple times.
“I had my front yard, which was absolutely gorgeous with flowers, and they kept asking me, and we had just added the extension to the house, so everything was dug up in the back,” Rattan said. ‘“So, I told them, ‘It’s not ready,’ and for about three years they kept asking me, and finally, by the third year I said, ‘Okay it’s ready.’”
Among the unique features in the garden is a section of white, fragrant flowers that Rattan said was her “moon garden.” White lilies and white roses were some of the plants included in this area. While creating the moon garden, Rattan said choosing the flowers proved challenging because of the local environmental conditions and climate.
“[The moon garden] was all white fragrant flowers, about 22 varieties that grew in Chicago,” Rattan said. “That was a challenge finding them, and that’s what was the focus of my garden at that time in 1999.”
Although her garden has only been featured twice in the Garden Walk, Rattan said her neighbors are always welcome to visit and enjoy the flowers and greenery. The appreciation she receives from neighbors for her hard work is something she values highly, Rattan said.
“I had people always walking through my garden,” Rattan said. “Their appreciation was much appreciated by me. People would walk through my garden, and they didn’t need permission. Everybody knew that.”
Like her father’s garden in India, Rattan’s garden in River Forest requires many long hours outside. Yet for Rattan, it is a labor of love.
“In the beginning it was a passion,” Rattan said. “It was a passion like no one’s business. I gardened for hours. I would be gardening from morning till evening. People would go out to dinner, drive back home and I would still be in my filthy clothes digging around …[I] longed for flowers.”
Being in nature is something Rattan said she enjoys because of the peace and quiet.
“You know the best thing about plants – they don’t talk back,” Rattan said. “That should tell you everything you need to know.”
Over time, Rattan said her routine and workflow has adjusted. Despite some obstacles, Rattan is determined to maintain her plants to a high standard.
“Over the years, I started developing arthritis, and I couldn’t really put that much effort,” Rattan said. “I decided to dig up all my perennials and change my garden to easy- growing shrubs or plants.”
Today, the garden landscape consists of many lawn ornaments and decorations that she designed by herself, Rattan said. Birdbaths reflect the colorful flowers; multiple types of rocks frame the landscape, and seashells of varying size fill the flower beds. These seashells were all collected from her travels abroad.
Outside of her time in the garden, Rattan works as a travel agent. She has visited about 45 countries and is always looking for new items to place in her garden while traveling.
Something Rattan said she enjoys as a gardener is allowing others to enjoy her plants. Every now and then, she will put free plants in her birdbath so neighbor could come a pick one up.
“Many people got a lot of plants from me, free for the taking, sitting in my birdbath,” Rattan said. “They knew that it was for them to take, as they wished.”
Seeing others share the same appreciation of plants that she has is one of the most uplifting parts for Rattan. Rattan said had friends with cancer who would choose to come and visit her garden for the peace and quiet.
“The greatest gratification came when cancer patients came to my garden,” Rattan said. “We would drive in and find them sitting in the wheelchair in my garden quietly, and we’d say ‘Hello’ and go in, and they would just enjoy and go when they wished to. And there were three of those cancer patients who came and enjoyed my garden. That was really gratifying thing to me because I thought they found solace in my garden.”