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Chalet Landscaping, Nursery and Garden Center was featured in Forest & Bluff Magazine (July 2009) in a beautifully photographed article written by Evangeline Politis. The article mentions some of Chalet’s many awards like the four Excellence in Landscape Gold Awards and the Judges’ Award for being the best in Illinois 2009 from the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association. Another award mention was the Revolutionary 100 National Award given to the outstanding garden center in the country - Chalet.

Chalet’s craftsmanship is displayed near Forest & Bluff Magazine in Lake Forest on the fertile land of Walden Lane, once part of the McCormick estate, where it’s said the legendary family once had their garden. The owners of the newly constructed Italianesque villa on the estate valued the importance of having a garden and hired Chalet in 2004 to install a landscape to mirror the style of their home.

Senior landscape architect Robert Milani and project designer Troy Ripley were recruited for the job and the article details some of the problems the team encountered. The land needed to be drained in order to sustain the 1,000 Green Velvet Boxwoods planted on the land, so an extensive drainage system had to be installed throughout the property. Precision was another issue, since there were already gardens and a fountain outside, so anything Chalet added needed to be parallel. To ensure accuracy, they used laser equipment through the house. Ripley said, “When you want to have absolutely straight lines, it is not as easy as it may sound a lot of the time, curves are actually easier to create.” The house still gets weekly treatment from Chalet including pest and fertilizer management. Perennials get groomed and potted annuals get soil replacements to stay thriving.

Both designers have been with Chalet for a long time and reflect on their projects. “One of the benefits about working here is we don’t have a ‘look’” said Milani. “We don’t create the same type of design for every house. It’s very site-specific, which is great because it gives us a lot of design autonomy.”

Chalet recently launched its own Expert Selection line of landscape solutions, designed for Midwest soils and climate. The line includes grass seed, fertilizers and organic potting soil, mulch and compost, as well as locally grown Chalet Farms plants.

Read more about Chalet’s landscaping services and product line.

Learn more about Forest & Bluff Magazine and contact them for a July 2009 issue to see pictures of Chalet’s work at the old McCormick estate.

Tony Fulmer made a visit to WGN Midday News on June 1, 2009, with some helpful spring garden tips. He recommends pulling the leaves off the bottom of tall roses to avoid blackspot and increase air flow (wear gloves lest ye get thorned!). He recommends growing tomatoes and burying them deep inside a pot so they root long and sturdy stems. Avoid fertilizing tomatoes with nitrogen, though, since it’ll cause them to grow more vines and leaves at the expense of flowers. Geraniums may prove difficult to some because they’re often mixed in with other flowers, but require less water to thrive. Tuberous begonias, on the other hand, need lots of shade, so it might be best to plant them indoors. For those who like quick results, grow peonies - they bloom in only a few weeks. Don’t worry about the ants, they don’t do any harm, they just like the sugary secretion at the end of the buds.

Tony Fulmer of Chalet Landscaping, Nursery and Garden Center made a visit to WGN Midday News on Mar. 30, 2009 for a short, live segment on “things you can do in the garden right now!”

It was raining and cold that day, but Fulmer said there are several things people can do to get a jump on spring gardening. The first thing to do is to plant some spring color: pansies, violas, primrose, ranunculus, stocks which are frost hardy and ready to enjoy. Cold hearty vegetables also thrive in early spring weather such as lettuce and swiss chard.

In April, put out the salad bar: cabbage, peas, spinach, lettuce, carrots, beats, chard and radishes. Keep in mind to look at the dates on the packages.

If you’re looking to weed, consider a corn gluten meal based product. It’s organic and it works not by inhibiting weeds from germinating, but by stopping the formation of roots. When applied, weeds will germinate and topple over since it has no foundation. This product has a soil expectancy of five to six weeks, so a second application will secure season-long control.

See the video for more advice from Tony Fulmer of Chalet at WGNtv.com.

The Lurie Garden and Chalet Landscaping appeared together in an article on the website of Perennial & Nursery News, Apr. 2009. The five acre Lurie Garden in Chicago’s Millennium Park was the inspiration for Chalet’s Top Ten Winning entry in the 2008 Perennials Marketing Contest sponsored by Plant Publicity Holland and the Perennial Plant Association.

Freya Wellin, perennial manager of Chalet Nursery, who achieved an outstanding display, said “I wanted to use an inspirational garden to show how to think differently about designing with sustainable perennials… As something to emulate, Lurie Garden, a public green space in downtown Chicago, fit the bill. The garden mixes natives with cultivated perennials to create a lovely meadow-like feel, while still being a controlled planting.”

To reach the display, Chalet customers had to walk through a metal archway surrounded by a variety of arborvitaes - similar to the experience at The Lurie Garden, which echoes Chicago’s classical architecture. Freya explains, “The body of the display was made up of one and three gallon potted perennials put in wedge shape display beds. each bed had two or more types of grass interspersed with three or more flowering perennials. The taller grasses were placed on the side of the display with the shorter ones in the middle which created vistas similar to those at The Lurie Garden.”

Both The Lurie Garden and Chalet also appeared together in the March/April 2009 issue of Chicagoland Gardening.

Roy Diblik, one of the leading plants-men in the United States, was featured on page 30 of the magazine, where they give a brief biography including the fact that more than 18,000 of his plants are in The Lurie Garden, where he worked closely with the gardens’ Dutch designer Piet Oudolf. Now an advocate for sustainable public landscapes, Diblik has also designed gardens for The Shedd Aquarium, the Art Institute of Chicago, College of DuPage, Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, the Village of Fontana (in Wisconsin) and the Grand Geneva Resort & Spa in Lake Geneva.

Several of Chalet’s spring events appeared on page 77 in the magazine, including Favorite Spring-Flowering Shrubs, Vegetables 101, Plant of the Week Introductions, New and Under-used Perennials, Planting Perennial Communities (Apr. 9 or 10), Using Containers in the Landscape (Apr. 16 or 17), and Spring Lawn Care (Apr. 23 or 24).

Tony Fulmer of Chalet Nursery was featured on WGN News at Noon’s “Lunchbreak” segment on Jan. 26, 2009. He brought with him several types of orchids, which make beautiful gifts for a loved one on Valentine’s Day. Among the orchids, he brought Phalaenopsis “Moth” orchids, Symbidians, Lady’s slippers, Bromeliads, “Flaming sword” orchids, and air plant orchids.

See Tony Fulmer of Chalet live in the WGN studio.

Horticulturalist information specialist at Chalet, Jennifer Brennan, took a stab at some of the myths about planting tactics and jack-o-lanterns in an article titled: “Not so spooky: Stories from the garden” by Deborah Donovan in the Oct. 26, 2008 issue of the Daily Herald. Bloodroot or sanguinaria not only sounds scary, it’s toxic too. Oddly enough, it was used commercially in toothpaste and mouthwash. If one were to accidentally swallow a small amount, they might want some purple coneflower nearby. Purple coneflower is attributed to healing properties such as reducing fever and boosting the immune system. If one swallowed a lot of bloodroot, on their way to the hospital, they may want to pick up a handful of meadow rue, which the Lakota would burn, then run their hands through the smoke for good luck. Dressing wounds might be a good idea for people, but it’s not always the case with plants. When pruning a tree or if it’s wounded, it’s a myth to coat it with tar or pruning paint. Doing so could trap bacteria and fungus, so fresh air sometimes really is the best option.

Brennan says jack-o-lanterns come from Irish folklore. An Irishman named Jack played a trick and made the devil promise not to take his soul when he died. God wouldn’t take his soul either, so he ended up wandering the world. He found his way around by using a carved turnip as a lantern for his candle. When the Irish came to America, they found pumpkins much easier to carve.

For more myths and mysterious tid-bits, view the complete article here.