Wild Things 2025

Darien Garden Club does not fit the stereotypical garden club mold.  This club enjoys not only the social aspects of the organization, but we also enjoy learning about and supporting nature and the environment. We have 100+ adult members, and our DGC Sprout youth club includes 17 families with 35 young children.

Support for Pollinators:
DGC established several public pollinator gardens in community parks, senior residences, local library, and several at our meeting home, St. John Lutheran Church. We continue to maintain these spaces and use them to educate the public on the importance of pollinator habitat.

DGC provides all ages education via annual outreach events:
- Seed Exchange
- Pollinator Party
- Birding Experience Event
- Oaktober Celebration
- City Nature Challenge education

Darien Garden Club volunteers organize and provide education via several service projects:
- Garden Therapy at three senior facilities
- Planting and sharing at local schools
- Native seed collection and distribution
- Educational tabling at community events such as Darien's Arbor Day Celebration

Monthly meetings for our adult and youth clubs often cover environmental and nature subjects.  In the last few years DGC adult meetings had the following themes:
- Cicada emergence
- Climate change
- Argonne National Laboratory; Engaging the Region’s Innovation Ecosystem
- Bringing back pollinators
- Water features to attract wildlife
- Planting Natives
- Oak recovery.
- Native understory trees and shrubs
- Good Bugs in the Garden
- Fungi in the garden
- Backyard habitats
- Hummingbirds
- Intro to IL prairies
- Biomimicry
- Winter tree ID
- IL invasive species
- Permaculture

Our recent youth monthly meetings included:
- Monarch migration
- Owls
- Rain recycling
- Pollinators
- Reduce, Recycle, Reuse
- City Nature Challenge community science
- Cicada Celebration
- Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl education
- Composting


Recent Awards:
Darien Garden Club received the Pollinator Protector Award from the DuPage Monarch Project in 2023 and have been the recipient of several Garden Clubs of Illinois Inc. and National Garden Clubs Inc. awards related to our projects. DGC was named GCI "Garden Club of the Year" in 2024.

DGC plants for the future:
Darien Garden Club held large environmental themed symposium events titled Spring Gardening Inspiration in the past. We are making plans to celebrate our 25th year with a return to that format in 2026.

Our leadership, committee chairs and members are committed to our mission:

The Club was founded to encourage a nurturing environment where new and experienced gardeners, nature lovers, environmentalists, and anyone interested in horticulture can meet to share their experiences and get support from those who have similar interests.

Our purpose is to encourage an interest in gardening, increase knowledge and promote respect for the natural environment and to cultivate friendships with like-minded people. 


DGC is making a difference and supporting Wild Things!