How did you spend your weekends this fall? Raking leaves for hours and preparing your home’s exterior for winter weather, or enjoying quality time with your family at sporting events, school activities and holiday parties?

For buyers of single-family club homes at Midlane Club in Wadsworth, the answer is the latter. Why? Because club-home residents enjoy year-round maintenance-free living.

“Autumn is an important time of year for lawn and landscape care. It not only takes a lot of time, but it’s also hard work,” said Jim Chittaro, chief financial officer and co-founder of Naperville-based J. Lawrence Homes. “In addition to the obvious task of raking leaves, there is also a lot of prep work to ensure a great-looking lawn and beautiful plants and bushes for the following year.”

For example, the landscaping team at Midlane Club will fertilize a homeowner’s lawn in the fall with the nutrients it needs to survive the winter, reseed any portion of the lawn that may need it and continue regular mowing until the first frost.

“It’s important that the grass is well-trimmed when the first frost comes. This helps prevent burn spots in the lawn, which are dead patches that can appear if new growth wasn’t trimmed and then killed by a freeze,” said Chittaro. “And a fall feeding helps the roots remain strong throughout the winter.”

Another important task is tending to all the plants and bushes, which includes pruning perennial plants and protecting them from the cold.

“This is often referred to as putting plants to bed for the winter,” Chittaro said. “It entails trimming any dead portions of plants to prevent rotting and plant disease, as well as protecting the plant soil from the cold with a thick layer of mulch. Many plants will also receive one final feeding for the year as well.”

Trees, too, need extra TLC in the fall, noted Chittaro. “Much of the damage sustained by trees in the winter comes from not getting enough water through the hardened ground. Maintaining the proper late-season watering schedule helps trees to collect enough moisture to keep them strong all winter,” he said.

The result of all this fall labor is a beautifully landscaped exterior come spring and summer, said Chittaro. “Residents enjoy yards that look like they have been cared for by a professional landscaping team because, well, they have been.”

With the recent cold spell that swept through Chicago, many buyers are already thinking beyond the fall, and John Wozniak, president of J. Lawrence Homes, added that winter is also a wonderful time to call a maintenance-free community like Midlane Club home. “The streets, driveways and sidewalks are all plowed and shoveled, right up to each front door,” Wozniak said.

As such, Midlane Club residents likely will have no problem finding ways to spend all their extra free time while someone else takes care of these exterior-maintenance chores, noted Wozniak.

“Instead of spending a Sunday afternoon raking leaves or shoveling snow, club-home residents can gather family and friends at the community’s clubhouse to watch football or host a party in style with the clubhouse lounge and on-site kitchen,” he suggested.

Located on the site of the Midlane Country Club, just east of Interstate 94 on Yorkhouse Road, Midlane Club includes amenities such as an 18-hole golf course – once home to the Illinois Open; a driving range; tennis courts; and a clubhouse with a swimming pool, fitness center and multiple gathering areas.

Midlane Club offers eight floor plans including both ranch and two-story designs. Priced from $249,900 to $339,900, homes range from 2,019 to 3,354 square feet and have up to four bedrooms, two to three baths, attached two-car garages and basements. Homes come standard with nine-foot first-floor ceilings, oak railings, tray ceilings in master bedrooms, 42-inch maple kitchen cabinets, double ovens and double-bowl vanities in both the master and hall baths.

To visit Midlane Club and its newly decorated models, take I-94 to Grand Avenue and head east. Continue to Route 41, then turn left. Follow Route 41 north to Delany Road and turn right. At Yorkhouse Road turn left. Proceed west to Monterey Lane and turn left. The sales center is located at 3028 Monterey Lane. For more information call 630-281-4730 or visit www.JLawrenceHomes.com.