The Men’s and Women’s Garden Club of Minneapolis plants and maintains two gardens at Lyndale Park. MWGCM volunteers work in cooperation with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) under the Park Stewards Program.

Mixed Border Garden

     This broad meandering garden is an artfully designed mix of shrubs, perennials, and annuals. Volunteers from the club create the design, plant, and maintain the garden. Their goal is to display new cultivars of low maintenance, hardy plants that homeowners can dependably plant in their own yards. Shrubs, small trees, and perennials are donated by the MWGCM, annuals and perennials are provided by the MPRB.

     The garden is divided into small areas or bays featuring plants with unique texture and leaf color that give all season interest. Annuals add summer color. Drought tolerant plants needing minimal watering are grown, and leaf mulch is the only fertilizer. No chemical pesticides are used. Volunteers weed and groom weekly throughout the growing season.

     The club’s Arbor Day event is now refurbishing the shrub border east of the Mixed Border Garden, replacing the invasive shrubs with garden-worthy and native varieties.

Native Garden

     In 2015 members of the MWGCM were given the opportunity to develop part of the Minneapolis Park Board's 'pollinator garden' to the west of the mixed border garden in Lyndale Park. It started as a 60' strip to be planted with Minnesota natives, and has grown both to the west and to the north. A transitional area made up of both native plants and general garden plants is also being developed between the mixed border and the native bed. The group works there most Wednesday mornings from April through October, and meets monthly in the winter for garden conversation and planning.

History

     The Men’s and Women’s Garden Club of Minneapolis, formerly the Men’s Garden Club of Minneapolis (MGCM), has a long history of supporting Lyndale Park. In 1952 MGCM planted 200 crabapples trees to celebrate the club’s 10th anniversary. After a severe tornado struck the park in 1981, MGCM assisted with a new design for the Arboretum area of the park (located south of Roseway Road), donating and planting almost 100 new trees. Since 1982 MWGCM annually sponsors Arbor Day plantings in either the Arboretum or the Roberts Bird Sanctuary.

Lyndale Park, Minneapolis

Roseway Road at Dupont Avenue South (King’s Highway)

Across Roseway Road from the Lake Harriet Rose Garden