a detailed recap of the 2014 event.

The 16th Annual Bowmanville Garden Walk was held on July 12, 2014 and featured
20 residential gardens, three community gardens, our BCO GreenSpace and Mother Nature’s torrential rain.
The morning rain started just after we opened at 10 AM.
Garden Walk welcome tents weathering the morning rain storms
The set up team, Master Gardeners and welcome table huddled together and repeatedly pushed the water off of
the tents as one of our first guests arrived, Congressman Mike Quigley. He was glad to see we were open and
posted Bowmanville Garden Walk “rain or shine”. He then visited some of our gardens as the rain let up. After
the second wave of rain pounded us the weather
cleared and the remainder of the day was pleasant
and visitors kept arriving right up to 4 PM. This
year the Gateway Garden on Ravenswood was
restored with all the Vegetable Plot gardens and
many new trees on the railroad land. Deb and Laura
Petritsch, put the last minute touches on the
Westgate garden and BA Church cleaned up all the
weeds on the Berwyn parkway along the Korean
BBQ. Many Vegetable gardeners and volunteers
weeded and shaped the Bowmanville Garden and
Craig Hanenburg and Billy Kuczek tended the
BCO GreenSpace. Jean Niederman and Robert
Nicklas guided the Master Gardener judges through
Congressman Mike Quigley is one of the morning visitors in the rain
the neighborhood and Diana Leifer hosted the Master Gardeners for lunch.
This year the Bowmanville Garden Walk
had about the same attendance as last
year even with the flooding rains. We
also had two new sponsors, fifteen
program book advertisers and the
location map was printed on one side of
a flat fan sponsored by Jeff Graves of
NorthEdge Group, and Matt Mitchell
Insurance agency. Thank you Berwyn
Book Club for gluing all the handles into
the fans, our visitors navigated the
Wendy Fairchild and Rachel Gohagen at the Welcome Table
Bowmanville neighborhood and said the
fans also work well as a sun shield. Special thanks goes to Barry Kafka for his design and layout of the
program booklet. The Ask a Master Gardener table was busy answering questions and this year the table was
staffed by Andy Novak, Renatta Delfino
and Jackie Tanaka. The University of
Illinois Extension Master gardener
program has been a Garden Walk
partner for the past eight years and is an
important resource in Illinois for
promoting gardening and sustainable
food sources. The Master Gardener
review team (our judges) worked all day
and reviewed eight of our twenty
participating gardens. This year was
Ask a Master Gardener Renatta Delfino
remarkable because there were six Blue
Ribbon gardens (90 to 100 points) and two Red Ribbon gardens (80 to 89 points).
Pierre Poinsett, Patricia Morin and Reuben Rios
also gave their advice and ides to four of our
gardeners who requested a Master Gardener
Consultation.
Congratulations to Patrick Brandell for Best in Show!
Patrick Brandell was awarded the “Best in Show” Purple ribbon for his intimate patio garden. Our Master
Gardener review team noted that Patrick’s use of space, and found objects blended perfectly with his fountain
and the space is perfectly edited. His garden is located in a condominium building on Ravenswood Avenue, and
is a hidden oasis were every plant seemed perfectly placed and beautifully shaped.
Patrick Brandell his dog Darwin and Best in Show garden
Gardens are evaluated on various criteria including design, creative use of plants, and neighborhood
enhancement. A criteria system with 100 points possible is used to award the prize ribbons. The Master
Gardener review team may also award special achievment or special recognition honors, and this year there wer
three gardeners who were recognized.
Special First Time Awards
“Garden Design”
Jim Hannon on Bowmanville Avenue was awarded a Gold Ribbon for
“Garden Design”. Jim’s garden has many areas that create different outdoor
rooms and tranquil resting spots. There is a beautiful mixture of landscape
and container gardens.
Jim Hannon and his garden
“Best Neighborhood Enhancement”
Russ Klettke on Leavitt was awarded a Teal Ribbon for “Best Neighborhood
Enhancement”. Russ has an interior mixed variety garden and on his street
facing parkway he is building a garden where reclaimed concrete pieces are
used for structure and drainage
management.
Patricia Morin giving Russ Klettke his ribbon
“Inspiration Award”
Laura Moser on Farragut was recognized for her work as a new and developing gardener and for her front yard
shade garden. The Master Gardeners want to inspire her to learn more and continue developing her garden.
Laura Lynn Moser and Front shade garden
“Exceptional Volunteer”
A special Exceptional Volunteer thank you award was given to Robert
Nicklas. Every year Robert works as a volunteer for the Garden Walk and
helps with everything from setup, escorting the judges, delivering location
signs to putting up posters all over the neighborhood.
Craig Hanenburg thanks Robert Nicklas
8 Review Ribbons and 3 Special Recognition Ribbons were awarded in 2014 Garden Walk:
BLUE RIBBON (90 to 100 points)
Patrick Brandell
Maria E Velazquez
Maria R Velasquez
Shawn McCormick
Russ Klettke
Tom Kennedy & Leavett Wofford
RED RIBBON (80 to 89 point)
Joe Charles
Jean Losek
WHITE RIBBON (70 to 79 points)
There were no White ribbons awarded this year
GREEN RIBBON (69 points or lower)
There were no Green ribbons awarded this year
PURPLE RIBBON (Best in Show)
Patrick Brandell
TEAL RIBBON (Best Neighborhood Enhancement)
Russ Klettke
GOLD RIBBON (Garden Design)
Jim Hannon
``
The Garden Walk Awards Party! Thank you, Craig Hanenburg and Billy Kuczek for hosting the Awards
Party and making visitors feel so welcome to Bowmanville. Food, wine and deserts were enjoyed by all.
Craig Hanenburg, Reuben Rios, Patricia Morin
2014 Bowmanville Garden Walk Sponsors
The BCO thanks our sponsors for providing gifts and
services that make the event special.
Gethsemane Gardens for Best in Show and Best Photo prizes.
Home Depot for gifts card honorariums and the paint sticks used to create our location Map Fan
Jeff Graves NorthEdge Group and Matt Mitchell Insurance Agency for sponsoring the BCO summer
events and the Map Fan printing
Ben’s Noodles and Rice for food at the Awards Party
3e Marketing and Communications for Poster and large format sign printing
Mariano’s for the Exceptional Volunteer Thank you gift card
Garden Walk Color Program sponsoring advertisers:
Alamo Shoes
Amy’s Candy Bar
Dolce Casa neighborhood café
Fire Side Restaurant
K’s Dugout
Kopi Café Boutique Espresso Bar
Move with Maggie
Painted light Photography, Framing Gallery
Pauline’s Breakfast & Lunch
Piatto Pronto
T. Salon and Gallery
The O’Connor Hebson Group
Urhausen Greenhouses
Women and Children First
Congratulations to Nick Sell!
Winner of the 8th Annual Garden Walk Photography contest!
Visitors to the Garden Walk voted for
one of 21 different photos this year
and the winning photo is “Hiding
Place” by Nick Sell, his winning
photo will be used in the 17th Annual
Garden Walk next year on July 11,
2015. Nick is a student at ????
2 Runner up photos were
“A Bird in the Bush…” by Billy Kuczek
and
“Reflective Eggplant” by Teke Chhay