Welcome to Tri-Cities Central, a twice-weekly newsletter highlighting local happenings in Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles and surrounding communities.
Get yours: subscribe here. Refer a friend: share this link.
Interested in advertising? Let’s talk.
Your spring gardening guide
This is Darryl, our sassy Banana Tree, progressing over the seasons.
If you’re a longtime TCC reader, you may recall that my wife and I are the proud parents of a banana tree named Darryl.
I love watching the yard and vegetable garden come to life each spring, but nothing quite matches the exhilaration of de-mulching Darryl and witnessing him bulk up faster than Sammy Sosa in the late ‘90s.
Anyway, as much as I adore Darryl, this piece isn’t about him — it’s about giving you tips and guidance for spring planting specific to the Tri-Cities area.
Read on for info about local seed libraries, the best timing for our hardiness zone, native plant grouping ideas, detailed planting instructions, and more.
SPONSORED CONTENT
☕ Fresh, house-made syrup: A small ingredient that changes everything.
Most coffee shops pour from bottles that have been sitting on a shelf for months. At Maple Leaf Coffee House in downtown St. Charles, every syrup is made fresh, in small batches, several times per week.
It’s all simple ingredients: water, sugar, and whatever gives it its flavor — whether that's vanilla bean, fresh fruit, or pistachio. No preservatives, no mystery additives. And they recently started making their cold foam in-house, too.
💥 Learn why (and how) Maple Leaf makes their syrup in-house. Pro tip: Maple Leaf also runs syrup-making classes (you'll see the next one here when it drops).
☑️ Community rallying: A 37-year-old Batavia mother of five died following a multi-vehicle crash on Randall Road last week, and the community has already raised well over $100K on GoFundMe to support her husband and young children. Get more details and contribute.
☑️ More housing proposed: If developers get the green light from St. Charles officials, a 29-acre site near Route 38 and Randall Road could become home to a new 306-unit apartment complex and a 167-unit senior living facility. Get the project details.
☑️ TIF tabled: Batavia officials delayed a public hearing on a proposed new downtown TIF district to allow more time for financial planning as major projects like the QT9 headquarters relocation and a planned apartment development wait in the wings.