Growing a garden to call home
Garden

Growing a garden to call home


The lush gardens at the Midland Condominium Association, 723 Hinman Ave. in southeast Evanston. Credit: Wendi Kromash

The Midland Condominium Association, at 723 Hinman Ave. in southeast Evanston, is home for 27 families. The nearly 100-year-old building is also home to a vibrant, colorful and visually interesting garden.

The garden is locally renowned, so much so that next year it will be one of the featured stops on the Evanston Garden Tour.

The garden extends from Hinman Avenue east into the courtyard area that serves as the communal point of entry and departure for every homeowner.

This labor of love is nurtured and tended by many people, but one central figure is Stuart Katz, former president of the condo association and currently the de facto head of the building’s garden committee.

Stuart Katz and Ingrid Koepcke are key players that helped develop the gardens at their home, Midland Condominium Association, 723 Hinman Ave.. Credit: Wendi Kromash

Katz and Ingrid Koepcke, an active member of the garden committee, explained to the RoundTable how the garden came to be, what it takes to maintain annually and how it’s used by their neighbors. 

Katz, one of the two remaining original owners from when the building was converted to a condominium, said the original garden was very straightforward: a succession of yews planted around the perimeter of the inner courtyard. 

Several years ago, prepandemic, the yews started dying and needed to be removed. It was an opportunity for the building association to start over and design a garden the owners wanted.

Katz downloaded Internet garden photographs and shared them with the committee. All those at the meeting preferred the same photo. With that visual image as a starting point for general inspiration, Nature’s Perspective Landscaping was contacted and submitted a proposal to remove the yews and expand the width of the garden.