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Summary of Martha Crone's
Annual Reports

 Martha Crone  
 
       

During Martha Crone’s tenure as Garden Curator, she made annual reports to the Board of Park Commissioners. These were brief, usually one typed page, and she set out what she considered to be the major highlights of the year. She usually mentioned the climate of that year, specific bloom highlights, the quantity and type of plants set out that year, brief comments on Garden visitor levels and how the Garden fills in a most useful function of education and relaxation. Finally, it was her opportunity to communicate what she considered pressing needs that the Park Board could fulfill. As she was expected to be at the Garden six days per week, all season, these reports were really her major opportunity to speak to Park Management. There was no telephone in the Garden until two years before her retirement.

 

  

Here, for most years, is a culled list of highlights taken from Martha’s reports. The link on the year number takes you to a full year history.

1933: Martha completed the work started by Eloise Butler of planting the area around the Mallard Pool. (Fig 1)
1934: Very cold April, ice on the ponds yet on the 27th. Dedication of the Bulter memorial tablet on May 4. Martha reports a large increase in the number of bird students visiting the Garden as the Garden was becoming known as a sanctuary for birds. Also Dr. Thomas Roberts (author of the two volume 1932 work Birds of Minnesota had donated a set of colored bird engravings which Martha displayed on the walls of the “cabin”. These were a hit with visitors. She brought in a large number of Fringed Gentian and was experimenting with growing them from seed as the plant is biennial.
1935: A year of ample moisture after the long drought of the early 1930s. Planted 36 small Kentucky Coffee Trees. A number of these still grow along the west path of the Woodland Garden between guidebook stations 10 and 14. 1,019 plants set in. Large "Hen of the Woods" found. Martha and Gertrude Cram are robbed in the Garden.
1936: Deep snow on opening day. Drought returns in the summer. No rain mid June to Aug. 15. Hottest July on record. Twenty six bird houses were set out plus 682 plants despite the heat.
1937: A year of adequate moisture. Martha sets out close to 1000 new plants to replace those lost to drought, and a large clump of rare Ram’s-head Lady’s-Slipper (Cypripedium arietinum) reestablished itself and bloomed beautifully. She states the need for an adequate fence for the garden as the old one is run down.
1938: A new fence is installed around the Garden. Large groups of school children are bused in from the public schools. She requests that the Garden should remain open at least until Oct. 15th, so visitors can enjoy the fall blooms and foliage. Up to now, the Garden has always closed on September 30th.
Eloise Butler at the Mallard Pool
  
  Fig. 1. Eloise Butler on the bridge at the Mallard Pool.
Photo Minnesota Historical Society MH5.9 MP4.1 r354		  
 
1939: Martha mentions that restoration work was done on The Great Medicine Spring, just outside the Garden, and that a spring has been tapped in the Woodland Garden on the west shore of the large open pool in the bog and that it supplies a good flow of water. (Fig. 3)(Note: Over the years this pool would fill with silt. See 1947 and '48 for more detail.) For the first time, the Garden closing date is extended to Oct. 15th.
1940: Martha reports that six varieties of Lady’s-slipper bloomed in the Garden, The oldest tree in the Garden, a giant white oak, estimated to be 700 years old, was removed as it had become a hazard.
 1942: Like 1941, this was another year of abundant moisture. On May 24th, a Sunday, 5,000 visitors came to the Garden, following the publication of an illustrated article in the Minneapolis Tribune.
1944: She reports what a pest Jewell-weed (fig. 2) has become and that a program for removal has to be started. The new Upland Garden addition becomes reality. (see separate paragraph on that in the main article on Martha Crone). Hummingbirds are in abundance around the office where vials of sugar water had been set out.		  
Spotted Jewelweed
Bog pool in 1950
  
Fig. 2 Jewell-weed (Impatiens biflora) one of two species threatening to take over the garden. Photo: Friends of the Wild Flower Garden, Inc. Fig. 3. The open pool in the bog as it looked on May 27, 1950. Photo: Minnesota Historical Society, #1410, Martha Crone Collection. Photo by Martha Crone.  
 
1945: Martha sets out 4,000 new plants in the new prairie area, including bringing in some native soil to support a few of them. Two thousand feet of new paths are made. (Fig. 4) A Jewell-weed removal program was completed to restrict the pest to just a few spots.
1946: A new path is made which winds through the bog (the current path today). (Fig. 5). She notes the great effort provided by Clinton Odell in helping the Garden. 8,343 new plants were set out.
1947: Lady’s-Slipper are down to four species. A city water system, connecting at Chestnut and Xerxes, was brought into the Upland Garden to supplement the natural supply. It would be 1964 before the supply was extended to the Woodland Garden. Martha had the bog pool enlarged and two more dug out.
1948: She sets out 8,003 new plants and is thankful for the city water supply as this was a dry year. The pools dug in 1947 were enlarged so more aquadic plants could be introduced and visitors could see the pools close-up from the new bog path. Gardener Ken Avery reported several times in the early 1960s the need to dig them out. Eventually, they were left to silt in and today there is no open pool in the bog area.
1950: Martha introduces the first Garden Brochure for a Self Conducted Tour. She begins to put together a set of color slides of Garden plants that she could use for illustrated lectures about the Garden. The set eventually comprises 4,000 slides.
1951: She adds another 500 slides to her lecture collection and gives an illustrated lecture to 12 different groups - 629 people. A request for a telephone is made to the Park Board. This request was not fulfilled until 1957.
1952: She references the success of the brochures with 10,000 distributed in 1952. More slides are added as Martha has decided the set should contain one on every wild flower in the Garden. She notes the Formation of The Friends of the Wild Flower Garden, Inc. and the continuing work of Clinton Odell. Lectures given to 27 groups - 1,606 people.
1953: Martha makes available Garden plant lists, which were sold for 10 cents each to visitors. 26 lectures given - 1,512 persons.
1954: She refers again to the need for continued help in the Garden, as development is neglected without more work time. The dam at the end of the Mallard Pool (fig 6.) sustained some kind of upheaval damage and she requests repair help. She lectures to 16 groups - 1,006 persons.		  
New Paths in the Upland Garden
The new path in the bog
  
Fig. 4. The newly laid out Upland Garden as it appeared on July 29, 1950. Photo: Minnesota Historical Society, #1724, Martha Crone Collection. Photo by Martha Crone. Fig. 5. The new central path in the bog as seen on Sept. 16, 1948, two years after completion. Photo: Minnesota Historical Society, #497, Martha Crone Collection. Photo by Martha Crone.  
 
1955: The season begins with the discovery that the office had been broken into during March. (Fig. 7) The Garden receives a substantial gift from the Minnetonka Garden Club to create a fern hill in an undeveloped part of the Garden. The dam problem has not been fixed. (Fig. 6). Lectures given to 24 groups - 1,302 persons.
1956: She begins work on the Fern Hill, setting out 2,160 plants. Although a foot of snow covered the Garden on April 1st (somewhat like 2008), the growing season proved to be one of the longest as there was no further frost until late October. A subsequent lack of snow caused much plant loss in the Garden the next year. She again requests a telephone for the Garden. Martha was awarded a Bronze Medal for achievement in horticulture from the Minnesota State Horticultural Society. Lectures are given to 14 groups - 720 persons.
 1957: A telephone finally is installed. Work continues on the Fern Hill with an additional 308 plants set out. Lectures given to 15 groups - 1,148 persons.
1958: The Fern Hill project ends up with 2,843 plants set out, All purchased for the $775 received from the Minnetonka Garden Club and The Little Minnetonka Garden Club. She notes the death of Clinton Odell on June 4th. Her tally on plants set out in the Garden during the last 12 years is 40,999. Lectures given to 13 groups. This is her last report to the Board of Park Commissioners.		  
Mallard Pool Dam
Garden office in 1955
  
Fig. 6. The dam at the end of the Mallard Pool as it looks today in it's repaired state. Photo: Friends of the Wild Flower Garden, Inc. Fig. 7. The Garden office in the fall of 1955. Photo: Minnesota Historical Society, #4804, Martha Crone Collection. Photo by Martha Crone.  
     
Reference:
Annual Report of the Garden Curator to the Superintendent of Parks (until 1945) thereafter to The Board of Park Commissioners. 1933 to 1958. Martha Crone Collection. Minnesota Historical Society.		 Other related pages:
Martha Crone - 2nd curator
Then and Now in the Garden - photo history
History of the Martha Crone Visitors Shelter		  
 
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