12 Great Rivertown Gardens

Listening to music in a garden on the banks of the Mississippi By Pamela Eyden is a taste of heaven at St. Cloud’s Munsinger Gardens. Photos courtesy of gardens and volunteers

any people find gardening Munsinger and now-mature Scotch and Norway relaxing, but isn’t it even Clemens Gardens were planted by Girl Scouts soon after, more relaxing to visit a gar- Riverside Drive S.E., St. Cloud, Minn. and in the 1930s the WPA built stone- M 320-257-5959 den where somebody else has done all lined paths, a lily pond and a rock the work? Fortunately, there are many The historic Munsinger Garden sits fountain. outstanding and unusual gardens in on the banks of the Mississippi River. Munsinger is an informal cottage-style Upper Mississippi river towns. Try to The city bought the land where a saw- garden. The adjacent Clemens Garden visit several this summer. mill used to stand, in 1915. Groves of is a formal garden filled with color- ful, sun-loving annuals. There’s a garden with 1,100 kinds of , a white garden, and a 24-foot dome cov- ered with clematis, roses and morning glories. “We are friends with our neighbors, who like to walk through on their way to restaurants and shops, and with the many canoers who come through. The garden is near a hydropower dam, so paddlers use the garden to portage,” said garden supervisor Nia Primus. “The staff keeps watch for people pad- dling from the Headwaters to the Gulf to hand out ‘care packages’ of granola and snacks.” In June, July and August Munsinger serves root beer floats at Sunday after- noon concerts near the river. On July 16 there’s an art fair. Tulips beckon visitors to the Munsinger Gardens. Admission is free.

36 Big River Magazine / May-June 2015 Bakken Museum Gardens 3537 Zenith Avenue S., Minneapolis, Minn. 612-926-3878 Four gardens surround an English Tudor-style mansion that houses the Bakken Museum of Electricity, which is devoted to an exploration of electrici- ty — think electric fish, magnets, Fran- kenstein’s lab and a theramin, the first electric musical instrument. The Medicinal Garden, with its for- mal, geometric pool and arbor, was inspired by medieval gardens connect- ed to monasteries or medical schools, that grew supplies of herbs and medic- inal plants. The Dakota Native Plants Garden occupies a natural wetland that still filters water that runs into near- by Lake Calhoun, as it did when the Dakota Indians lived in the area. There is also a Heart Healthy Garden and a The 100-year-old dome at St. Paul’s Como Park Conservatory allows abundant light for eye-popping Green Energy Art Garden. sunken gardens. Admission ($7 adult, $5 senior or child) includes admission to the muse- um. On the second Saturday of the climbing wall, bouncy house and lawn month admission is free. games for the kids. A Japanese Lantern Lighting Festival is on August 23. Marjorie McNeely Admission is free, but a $3 donation Conservatory at Como Park is suggested. 1225 Estabrook Drive, St. Paul, Minn. 651- 487- 8201 Hotel de Ville The Como Park Conservatory, built in 305 Main St., Alma, Wis. 1915, is one of the few ­remaining glass- 612- 423-3653 domed, Victorian-style gardens in the The walled gardens behind the Hotel U.S. The 65-foot-high c­ entral dome de Ville Bed and Breakfast on Alma’s houses tall palm trees and is flanked Main Street were inspired by owner by a sunken garden for seasonal flower Daniel Kordiak’s trips to Europe. They shows, a wing for tropical plants used are bounded by a terraced 27-foot in foods and medicines, and a cool, stone wall with miniature boxwood moist fern room planted with ferns of hedges, a formal garden, a fountain all sizes, from tiny to tree-size. The and seven bronze sculptures. Visitors conservatory also has a special collec- are welcome to enter through the Fire tion of bonsai trees. and Ice ice cream shop on Main Street. The conservatory is celebrating its This summer Kordiak plans to build 100th anniversary this year with a live- a 12-foot wall on the south side of the ly calendar of events. garden with two turrets reminiscent of “We’re going to party all summer,” Germany’s Neuschwanstein Castle. Stop in Alma, Wis., for a restful retreat behind promised Tina Dombrowski, horticul- Admission is free. Hotel de Ville on Main Street. ture manager, starting with a ribbon cutting for the new Centennial ­Garden, Prairie Moon Nursery quinine, indigo, butterfly weed, plan- designed to feel like a garden from 100 32115 Prairie Lane, Winona, Minn. tain and dozens more. They garden on years ago — an outdoor room bound- 866 - 417- 8156 a landscape scale. Tours are available ed by hedges and anchored by a central Prairie Moon is a native plant nursery to groups if they call ahead and make fountain. The party kicks off June 19 that specializes in growing and harvest- arrangements, but please don’t drop in. to 21. ing seeds from plants that are indig- Plants are only sold online and through On Wednesday evenings from June enous to the Upper Midwest — big the catalog. 17 through August, visitors are invit- bluestem, bunch flower, water hem- The annual open house will be held ed to bring picnics for “groovin’ in the lock, blue joint grass, Kankakee mal- Saturday, July 11, from 1 to 4 p.m. garden,” with music for adults and a low, tall larkspur, spiked lobelia, wild Admission is free.

May-June 2015 / Big River Magazine 37 Left: Butterfly weed lights up the prairie at Prairie Moon Nursery. Below: Prairie Moon staff members out standing in their field of echinacea.

Dubuque and There are concerts in the garden Bellevue Butterfly Garden Botanical Gardens every Sunday afternoon from June 11 Bellevue State Park, Bellevue, Iowa 3800 Arboretum Dr., Dubuque, Iowa to the end of August. The rose festival 563-872-4019 563-556-2100 is June 20. The one-acre, open-air garden was This 56-acre arboretum and garden Admission is free. designed to attract butterflies with nec- is funded entirely with donations and tar plants for adults and host plants for maintained by more than 300 dedi- Linmar Gardens caterpillars. About 60 species of but- cated volunteers working with a single 504 S. Prospect St., Galena, Ill. terflies visit each year. Most are local paid staff member. 815-777-1177 residents. The grounds include a formal This 3.5-acre private garden sits on Migratory monarch butterflies pass English garden, knot garden, rose gar- a rocky hill overlooking downtown through, usually in September. Mon- den, herb garden, woodland and prai- Galena. It includes annuals, perenni- arch Watch recognizes the garden as rie wildflowers, and grasses, as well as a als, hostas, grasses, daylilies, a brook, a “monarch way station,” because it collection of special . The hosta pond and a 25-foot waterfall. A sunk- includes a variety of milkweeds to sup- garden is world famous, with more en garden occupies the ruins of one of port this beleaguered butterfly. than 2,000 plants of many different the first African-American churches in The garden has a pond and is sur- colors. The Midwest Regional Hosta Illinois. rounded by cottonwoods, hackberry, Society Convention will have a show Call for directions. Tours are $10 cherry and trees. It is adjacent there July 9 to 11. for adults, $8 for seniors. to a three-acre prairie preserve, also

Thousands of hostas luxuriate in the shade at the Dubuque Arboretum and Botanical Gardens.

38 Big River Magazine / May-June 2015 Above: The tree-lined Grand Allee invites visitors for a stroll at Vander Veer Botanical Gardens in Davenport, Iowa. Left: Both human and winged visitors enjoy Bellevue, Iowa’s, Butterfly Gardens.

used for research and education. A net- The arboretum has an work of pathways allows easy explo- award-winning collection ration. The best time to visit are calm of 400 species of dwarf sunny days in late July and August. conifers. Director of pro- Admission is free. gramming Margo Han- sen explained, “Some are Seed Savers just six inches tall. Some 3094 N. Winn Rd., Decorah, Iowa are weeping. Some grow 563-382-5990 along the ground. They This 890-acre farm has a mission to have many different col- conserve and promote America’s cul- ors and shapes, with some turally diverse but endangered garden unusual cones and twisted and food crop heritage for future gen- needles.” There is a grove erations by collecting, growing, and of Alberta that imi- Dwarf conifers abound at the Bickelhaupt Arboretum in Clinton, Iowa. sharing heirloom seeds and plants. tates a miniature forest. Many thousands of heirloom garden Admission is free. varieties are maintained here. There are also demonstration gardens, a her- Vander Veer Botanical Park Quad Cities Botanical Garden itage orchard with antique varieties of 215 W. Central Park Ave., Davenport, Iowa 2525 4th Ave., Rock Island, Ill. fruit trees and many old grapes from 563-326-7818 309-794-0991 the collection of famed grape breeder The 33-acre Botanical Park sits at the This garden, established in 1998, has Elmer Swenson, a modern visitor center center of the Vander Veer Park Historic an indoor tropical plant atrium, out- and an Amish-built barn. District, which was listed on the Nation- door gardens, a children’s garden with Admission is free. al Register of Historic Places in 1985. a child-sized model of the Mississippi Visitors may stroll from the conser- River, an educational greenhouse and Bickelhaupt Arboretum vatory to the stone fountain along the more. Special collections include spring 340 S. 14th St., Clinton, Iowa Grande Allee, under an arcade of shade irises, summer day lilies, chrysanthe- 563-242- 4771 trees. The park grounds include gar- mums and ornamental grasses, as well The 13-acre arboretum on the grounds dens and fountains like those popular as an open air butterfly garden that of a once-private house hosts many spe- in Europe in the 19th Century. attracts all kinds of pollinators. cial collections and displays more than The garden’s theme this summer Admission for adults is $6, seniors 2,000 trees, shrubs, p­ erennials and is “enchanted park,” and will feature $5, youths 6-15 years $4, 2-5 years $2, wildflowers — all manicured, with a fairy realm, gnomes, dragons and a and under 2 years free. F 8 many vistas, a creek and a bridge. The troll bridge, with a free educational garden was privately funded for 45 field guide. Pamela Eyden is news and photo editor. years and was recently donated to East- Admission is free. ern Iowa Community College.

May-June 2015 / Big River Magazine 39