Events

2026 Calendar

July 9-10-11,  2026  

2026 Midwest Regional Hosta Society Convention  Madison  WI

July 21, 2026 - Tuesday -  Monthly Meeting

Location: Charles and Rayo Boursier's Garden, 2300 North Main Street, East Peoria IL

See specific directions below before using this address in your GPS!

Time: Tour gardens 6:00 p.m.

Meeting Begins: 6:30 p.m.

Description: We bought our home in December of 2012, then spent the next 4 months moving ourselves here from Portage, WI.  The home and property had been neglected and largely abandoned for years, but its bones looked good. We then spent much of the first 5 years doing repairs, replacing windows, new roof, etc., and encouraging the mice and snakes that had taken up residence here to leave.  It’s a mid century, Usonian type home that deserved to be saved. We hadn’t gardened much, but did bring some hostas and ferns from our home in Wisconsin, and have gradually added a few at a time through the years. We’ve learned about clay soil, deep woodland shade, deer and woodchucks. The property is challenging with small pockets of sunshine and large variations in soil and elevations. There are multiple gardens here featuring ferns, flowers and, of course, hostas. We both had a vision about what this place could become.  With perseverance and a lot of hard work, in the words of our son, Julius, “it’s starting to look like a garden”. We hope you enjoy this hidden gem in the dark woods we call Avalon.

Program: May Bach, Master Gardener, “Fall Cleanup, Keeping Beneficial Insects in Mind”

Directions:We live at 2300 North Main Street on the bluff directly across from the East Port Marina. North Main Street is also known as Caterpillar Trail, IL 116, 150 and 24. We are halfway between the I-74 and McClugage bridges -about a mile and a half from either bridge (IF YOU USE GOOGLE MAPS TO FIND US IT WILL TAKE YOU TO THE GATED CONDOS BY THE MARINA).  

If you are coming Southwest on North Main Street, go past the light at Mariners Way (associated with Jonah’s and Stoney Creek Hotel) and get in the left lane. Pull into the highway median at access road 5 and prepare to make a U-turn.  Wait for a break in the traffic. Make the u-turn. Turn right on the next driveway, just past the mailbox. Drive up the concrete drive on the right (there’s an old gated brick driveway ON THE left).  Balloons will be on the mailbox. 

From I-74:  Take the North Main Street exit.   Go northeast on North Main St. (toward Dixon’s or Jonah’s). Go about a mile and a half, just past access road 5. Take the very next driveway on the right. The driveway comes up fast, given the speed of traffic, just after the mailbox, so use your turn signal early.  There is just enough room to get out of the lane of traffic alongside the guardrail. Look for the balloons on the mailbox marked 2300.  There will also be a CIHS sign by the entrance.

See preview photos below:

August 8, 2026 - CIHS Van Trip to the Chicago Botanical Garden

Cost: $55 per person - (Admission to the Chicago Botanical Garden not included)

You are encouraged to become a member of Luthy Botanical Garden. Your membership there will allow you to enter this and many other botanical gardens throughout the country for one year!

Register before July 1st to have your name in a drawing for a free membership to Luthy Botanical Garden! 

Location: Meet at ICC East Peoria Campus - Horticulture Building Land Laboratory Parking Lot G

Leave your car at ICC for the day. 

Time: Vans (15 passenger) leave promptly at 7:00 AM   Return approx 7:00 - 8:00 PM

Bring a sack lunch or plan to eat the the cafe at the Chicago Botanical Gardens. 

We plan to stop at Woldhuis Farms Sunrise Greenhouse in Grant Park IL on our way home.

Chicago Botanical Garden Website:  www.chicagobotanic.org 

Sunrise Greenhouse Website: www.woldhuisfarms.com 

Please return your registration by July 21st to Karen Hofstetter, 22223 Grosenbach Road, Washington, IL 61571. If you have any questions, you may call or text Karen @ (309) 740-6094 or E-mail rkhofstetter@juno.com. Please include in the envelope your check to CIHS for $55/person for in your party riding the van. 

Click on file below and print the registration form: