Longtime Westchester resident Nicki Antes jumped to adopt a garden bed on the Westchester Boulevard median closest to the Community Center park.

It’s where her brother, who died more than a year ago at age 39, always loved going to play floor hockey and baseball.

Now an “In memory” plaque stands in the soil of a perennial garden that includes a knockout rose bush, the Russian sage that will bloom lavender-blue flowers, and hearty feather reed grass.

Twenty-four more such garden beds, adopted for $150 each, are in the works for the island on the full length of Westchester Boulevard, from Cermak Road to the Eisenhower Expressway. The first batch was planted July 13, the second batch Sunday and the remaining is set to be completed by the month’s end.

The plantings are part of the Adopt-a-Garden program of the Westchester Community Image Council, a nonprofit group of volunteers working to enhance the appearance of the village.
Antes, 44, lives on the other side of the village, away from the boulevard, but her two sons go to the Community Center frequently.

“I always like to look at it when I pass by. It’s so pretty,” she said. “I never imagined this garden with this big plaque, and just think when the plants are more full and colorful next year.”
She said she’s so pleased with the garden bed that she’s considering adopting an additional one and dedicating it to herself and two sons.

“It’s a nice dedication, especially for the people who have been here so long who’ve put so much time and dedication into this community. You’d want to feel proud,” said Antes, who’s lived in Westchester for 40 years.

Resident Barbara Lucchese, 70, dedicated a plaque to her parents who built a home on the boulevard 49 years ago, where Lucchese continues to live.

Flowers and plants adorned Westchester streets in the 1920s and ’30s, and flowers reportedly also were planted along the Westchester Boulevard median in the 1950s or ’60s, but not since then. 

At the first planting July 13, an eighth-grader helped sweep dirt off the street. Volunteers brought a plaque for a garden to the home of an elderly woman who donated it to show her before securing it in the ground; and they set it facing her house so she could see it from her window.

Jim Lange, president of the Image Council, said the group is overwhelmed by the success of the program.

“We’re astounded at how the community stepped up on this,” he said.

The group obtained a water tank with a pump to use when necessary, but Lange said the hearty, drought-tolerant plants should be established by spring, and will then rely on rainfall. The Image Council is primarily in charge of maintenance, and weeding will be minimal because the areas will be mulched.

The roses are expected to bloom all summer; the sage that will blooms July through fall; and the Karl Foerster grass blooms June through fall.