Minneapolis has a garden that has been teaching the city how to grow roses for more than a century — and it is completely free to wander. On the northeast shore of Lake Harriet, the Lyndale Park Rose Garden spreads across about an acre and a half of Lyndale Park, with neat paths, labeled beds and the sparkle of the lake just a short stroll away.
The garden was the idea of park superintendent Theodore Wirth, who proposed it in 1907 as a place of beauty that would also be instructive, showing residents which roses could thrive in Minnesota and how to cultivate them. The first roses were planted in the spring of 1908, making this the second oldest public rose garden in the United States. Its original layout of 62 rectangular beds has remained essentially unchanged ever since, and in 1946 it was chosen as an All-America Rose Selections test garden. At the top of the garden stands the Heffelfinger Fountain, a bronze and marble fountain imported from Florence, Italy, and donated in the 1940s.
Today more than 3,000 rose bushes fill the beds, with tens of thousands of blooms at peak season, from mid-June into early fall. Every plant is labeled, so visitors can note the names of favorites for their own gardens. Admission is free, and a visit combines beautifully with the neighboring Peace Garden, the Thomas Sadler Roberts Bird Sanctuary and a walk around Lake Harriet. It is one of the sweetest, calmest corners of Minneapolis — proof that a good idea planted in 1908 can keep blooming for everyone.
Photo: Sharon Mollerus via Wikimedia Commons
