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Community-minded gather at Garden of Good Hearts
BY MARGE HOLS
Columnist
Gardeners from all over the country are
gathered at the University of Minnesota's St.
Paul campus this week for the American Community
Gardening Association conference.
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MARGE HOLS
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A vine-covered pergola lends height and structure to
flower borders at the Garden of Good Hearts, a community garden on St. Paul's West Side.
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On their tour of community gardens today is the Garden
of Good Hearts, which brightens St. Paul's West Side
with a delightful combination of flowering crabapple trees, shrub roses,
bulbs and colorful perennials.
Planted in 1993 by members of the Riverview Garden Club, the garden
transformed two privately owned vacant commercial lots at Congress and
Wabasha streets into a community treasure. To supply,
plant and maintain the garden, club members draw on a rich mix of community
resources, including a unique program called Minnesota Green.
"Thank goodness for Minnesota Green to help us get all these
plants," says garden club member Ella Thayer, who volunteers for the
difficult job of keeping the garden in shape. "They are enormously helpful.
We pay just $45 a year, and every time they receive a plant donation, they
send an e-mail to all participants. I write back that I want plants and go
pick them up."
This year's haul from Minnesota Green enriched the garden with 40 pots
of tulip, daffodil and lily bulbs donated from the Marshall Field's and
Bachman's Flower Show. Eight flats of perennials came from Bailey Nurseries
in Newport,
including crested bellflower, daylily, penstemon
and sedum.
Operated by the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, Minnesota Green
has coordinated distribution of plants and supplies for community gardens
statewide for 18 years. The program was
started through the initiative of the St. Paul Garden Club, which brought
the director of Philadelphia Green to St.
Paul in 1987 to inspire city, state and business
leaders to begin a similar program.
"What gets me so excited about Minnesota Green is community
building," says Vicky Vogels, program
coordinator. "We're supporting so many interesting projects for youth.
We're getting donated plants to them, but they're the ones who plant, water
and weed. Whether it's a beautification project or growing produce, the
whole community benefits."
This year, 135 groups are participating in Minnesota Green, including
garden clubs, public-housing projects, cities, neighborhood groups and
individuals. They maintain 270 gardens in public spaces. By paying $45,
they gain access to seeds, plants, rock, timber and other donated materials
valued at about $100,000 a year.
Among St. Paul gardens benefiting from
Minnesota Green are Mears Park and Rice
Park downtown, Farm in the City at
Lexington and Concordia avenues, Swede Hollow
Park on Dayton's
Bluff and Totem Town Community
Garden in the Battle Creek neighborhood.
Major donors to Minnesota Green are Rainbow Foods stores and Burpee Garden Products Co. for seeds, and Bailey
Nurseries, Hennepin Technical College
in Brooklyn Park
and area nurseries for plants.
"Donors can also be individuals making changes in their
garden," Vogels says. "We send people
to their home to dig plants and bring them to the horticultural society for
distribution. Individuals also donate large houseplants, and one person
even donated a greenhouse."
At the Garden of Good Hearts, one challenge is finding plants that will thrive
in a dry environment, says Thayer, who retired last fall after a career as
secretary to Mayor George Latimer and three city council members. As we
toured the spacious garden last week, she watered a shady bed of ferns and hostas with a hose hooked up to a fire hydrant.
"We tried growing small annuals along the borders, but it was
impossible to keep them watered," says Thayer. What does work are big, bold plants arranged in large drifts. Dozens of
tall red cannas in a circular raised bed provide an eye-catching
centerpiece for the garden. Woodchip paths wind through large, curving beds
of daylily, goldenrod, oxeye, phlox, plume poppy, shrub roses, tiger lily
and yarrow. A pergola covered in Virginia creeper adds height and structure
at the garden's entry.
"Project Explore kids from Humboldt High built the pergola 10 years
ago," says Thayer, who encourages young people to work and learn in
the garden and sometimes sweetens the offer with cookies and soda pop.
Young volunteers come from the Youth Farm and Market Project, 4-H Program,
garden club families and neighbors. Ramsey County Sentence to Serve adult
crews provide monthly maintenance help.
As we took in a long view of the garden from across Wabasha Street, Thayer reacted with
surprise. "I always have my nose in the dirt and all I see is
weeds," she says. "I never viewed the garden from across the
street before. It looks spectacular!"
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