The Weed Ladies of the Naperville Heritage Society are currently holding their spring sale at the historic Daniels House at Naper Settlement.
Dried and silk floral arrangements for sale
The sale, which runs through Friday, May 5, features a variety of arrangements using dried and silk flowers. Admission to the sale is free; visitors just need to let staff at the visitor center know they are there for the sale.
“All the proceeds of the funds that we do raise during the sale goes back to the Naperville Settlement and that money gets put back into a lot of the funds that help create the programs for the children on the grounds,” said Deborah Riegler, a member of the Weed Ladies.
Sale hours are 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Who are the Weed Ladies?
The Weed Ladies are a long-standing part of Naperville history.
“The Weed Ladies have been in existence since 1969, so if you do the numbers, it’s about 54 years. It’s a great group of women that we have here,” said Riegler.
It was borne out of a group of ladies who were looking for a way to raise funds for the newly formed Naper Settlement. With their early arrangements consisting of “weed bouquets,” or dried flowers and grasses sometimes picked from alongside roadways, they were dubbed the “Weed Ladies” by one member’s husband…and the name stuck.
The ladies work out of Naper Settlement’s Daniels House.
“There’s about 20 of us, and we do all our work upstairs in our work room and all the designs get done. We also do special orders and special custom orders,” said Riegler.
Multiple Weed Ladies sales throughout the year
The group holds sales each year in the spring, fall, and early winter. But members of the public can also stop by the Daniels House from April to October to do a little shopping, or place one of those custom orders.
Always looking to grow their group of volunteers, the Weed Ladies are proud and passionate about the design work they do.
“I think my favorite part is showing my creative side. I worked my whole life in the financial industry. And once I started with the Weed Ladies designing for them, it just, you know, brought the whole artistic world opened up for me. So I really love it. It’s great,” said Riegler.
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