Happy Birthday Chalet!

Jennifer Polanz

Chalet Landscape, Nursery & Garden Center in Wilmette, Illinois, turns 100 this year, and to celebrate, the third-generation run operation has many events and activities planned over the course of 2017. It started earlier this year by introducing its Legacy Tree program, offering how-to tips and health recommendations for trees to make them last another 100 years, as well as offering a line of exclusive dedication trees with certificates of commemoration to families with babies born this year.

It hosted a huge birthday party celebration in March, and has big plans for Earth Day and Arbor Day this month, as well as a community ice cream social in July and a Bulb Festival in September. Holiday events in November and December will round out the celebratory year.

“For a century, we’ve been part of the Chicago-area North Shore community, but even more importantly, this community has sustained us,” says current owner Larry Thalmann II. “They welcome us into their yards, gardens and homes every day through our services and products. Like trees and landscapes my grandfather first planted for families here, true growth comes with strong roots and careful tending. We think 100 years is a good start.”

Larry’s grandfather, Lawrence J. Thalmann, started the company at L.J. Thalmann’s Architectural Landscaping in 1917. The name changed to Chalet in the 1940s when he bought a Swiss-style restaurant and relocated the building to the Wilmette intersection of Skokie Boulevard and Lake Avenue. The operation has grown to include a growing farm in Salem, Wisconsin, and a landscape division in North Chicago.

You can read more about the history of the company at chaletnursery.com under the “About Us” tab.

Congratulations to Chalet and here’s to many more years ahead! GP