Richard Tilley featured in Chicagoland Gardening magazine

Chicagoland Gardening magazine's "The Hands-On Gardener" column featured Richard Tilley in their last two issues. Tilley, Our Urban Times' English Gardener, was featured with a how-to on tool sharpening and another about growing plants from seed.

The tool sharpening story takes the reader through a 12-step how-to in Chicagoland's November/December 2011 issue and seed propagation is in the January/February issue.  While you can read all about his tips and tricks, you can experience them yourself in March in Wicker Park.

As part of the Wicker Park Garden Club's winter educational programming, Tilley and Doug Wood will be delivering two sessions of the Plant Propagation from Seeds and Cuttings workshops on March 3.  On March 31 the Tool Sharpening workshops will have Tilley joined by Jim Angrabright, Denise Browning and Susan Fontana. Both sets of workshops will be held from 10 a.m. to noon with the second session from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Pre-registration is required. Cost is $15 per workshop with proceeds going to support the Wicker Park Garden Club's year long activities. RSVP via

Born in Wellingborough, England, Tilley not only starts all the bedding plants for his massive garden in his basement but also includes some special plants for the Wicker Park Garden Club's annual May Plant Sale. Lucky are the early Plant Sale shoppers who scoop up his brugmansia plants at bargain prices.

He not only plants from seed, plants the plants then maintains them during the outdoor growing season, but he tracks them in a database that he designed several years ago.  As described in the Chicagoland's "Seed Man" article by Carolyn Ulrich, "...with a click of the mouse he can summon forth the data on his 2011 eggplants and find that he planted Burpee seed in 4-inch pots on April 27, that they began to germinate on May 8, the germination rate was 80 percent and he began to harvest on August 14."