St. Daniel Landscaping Update: October 2025:
Coming soon: Work will begin this fall to replace dead and dying trees and shrubs around the two church buildings with native, low-maintenance plants. We need contributions to complete this final planting project; we are about $10,000 short of our goal. Please click here to donate. Every donation helps! . Click here to see our updated Landscape Plan.
Work completed in the past year:
· Summer 2025 planting: Thanks to a generous donation by one of our parish families, we renewed the landscaping along Loop Road. This beautiful new garden is a wonderful welcome to our campus for parishioners, visitors, and passersby. Designed by a landscape architect, all plants are native to Illinois and should need minimal care after they are established.
· Spring 2025 planting: Partially funded by individual parishioner donations, we replanted the north and west berms with many new native trees and bushes. Please walk or drive around the campus, and please volunteer to help water if you are able.
· Early spring 2025 planting: Thanks to a grant from the CRTI (Chicago Region Trees Initiative), we received 15 trees and 10 bushes, all native, to replace lost ones on the north berm. Thank you to the
volunteers who helped with planting and watering.
· Early spring 2025 pruning: An arborist from the Morton Arboretum came to St. Daniel and taught us optimal pruning. We spent about a month pruning existing shrubs and bushes that had not been pruned in decades.
· Fall 2024 planting: Replacement trees and shrubs were planted in the far southwest area of the property. These are native trees and shrubs that will restore the oak Savannah, the same ecosystem as the Danada Forest Preserve. We are required by Wheaton code to have dense screening around
the parking lot. After 2 1/2 years of removing invasive species and weeds, we are now slowly replacing the many trees and shrubs that were killed by buckthorn.
Parishioners can help by:
1. Volunteering to help:
a. Donating to our landscaping fund to help restore and maintain our grounds. You can write a check to St. Daniel with “landscaping” in the memo line or use the QR code on the landscaping page of our website. We still need to purchase replacement trees and shrubs to complete our 5-year renewal project, and we are approximately $10,000 short. Over 50% of our trees and 75% of our bushes were lost to invasive species, and more are unsalvageable due to previous improper pruning. Please follow this link to the parish landscaping page, where you can find the landscape architect’s plan, price quotes, map of lost trees, etc. Any contribution is much appreciated. Click here to contribute.
2. Contributing your time:
a. Help with watering. Volunteers water once a week for 1.5 to 2 hours; the total watering time for the team is over 40 hours per week. Detailed instructions are provided, and your first volunteer shift will be with an experienced Greenskeeper who will perform the watering with you and ensure you are comfortable.
b. Greenskeepers Ministry: We have a great team of about 20 regular Greenskeepers who prune, weed, and keep God’s house in beautiful condition. There is no minimum commitment or physical activity level. All help is appreciated and is greatly needed in year four of our five-year renewal.
3. Donating to our landscaping fund to help restore and maintain our grounds. You can write a check to St. Daniel with “landscaping” in the memo line or use the QR code below. We need a lot of
replacement trees and shrubs to meet the minimum City of Wheaton ordinance; over 50% of our trees and 75% of our bushes were lost. Please follow this link to the parish landscaping page where you can find the landscape architect’s plan, price quotes, map of lost trees, etc. Any contribution is much appreciated. Click here to make a contribution.
4. Drive or walk around the campus regularly. St. Daniel is your church, so become familiar with the entire property. Send any suggestions to the Kuhny family at lkuhny@outlook.com. Click here for the Zone Map.
5. Volunteer on an “action day” such as Mega Mulch or spring/fall cleanup. Our next ACTION DAY is Saturday, June 28, 2025 from 8:00am until 2:00pm. Whether you can come for an hour or the entire day, your help is greatly needed and appreciated.
It is critical that we take good care of our church, which is God’s house. It needs to be welcoming and well-tended. Our goal is to create an attractive landscape, not an award-winning one. We are focused on environmental stewardship, community engagement, and native, sustainable plants.
History: The periphery of the parking lot, zones 1-11 and 20-28 (see map), had not been maintained for approximately 10 years. This is a huge area, over four acres, with a berm that is required by City of Wheaton code, and it must be heavily landscaped to provide screening. Work to remove invasive species, primarily destructive buckthorn, started June 2022. Planting of zone 20 occurred in 2024, and 2025 will include planting on the north and west berms as well as along Loop Road.
Damage from invasive species: There is a multitude of invasive species in our area. Buckthorn, from Europe, has killed off about 54% of our trees and about 75% of our bushes. See 1993 landscape plan marked with tree/bush fatalities in purple. Click here for the handout. Burdock and thistle, both vegetative weeds, have killed off most of our groundcover.
“Nature can no longer repair itself.” Jim Kleinwachter, Conservation Foundation
