Friends of the Wildflower Garden
P. O. Box 3793
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Friends' Garden Projects - Current and Recent
at the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
Special Project Funding
The Friends have undertaken funding various projects over the years to benefit the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary. These projects are jointly worked out between the Friends and the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board (MPRB). Our Student Transportation Grant Program pays for bus transportation to bring school children from eligible Minneapolis schools to the Garden for a nature class. These projects are funded from annual supporter giving, other donations and memorials received by The Friends. The most recent funding years are shown below.
2024 Mission Program
Fencing: In September 2023 the Friends board approved allocation up to $100,000 for the replacement of fencing on the northeast side of the Wildflower Garden. This project replaces the aged 1946 fence with the type used by MPRB in the winter of 2022 when they replaced a fence section on the east side and continues from where the MPRB project left off and ends at the wrought iron fence at the back gate. The fence has been repositioned outward from the existing fence and incorporates into the protected area of the Wildflower Garden an area that is now relatively free of invasives, due to the work over past years by the Friends Invasive Plant Action Group (FIPAG) and Garden volunteers.
The fence project was bid in early 2024 but the bid was rejected as unacceptable. Bidding was offered again later in the summer and a bid of $95,500 was accepted by MPRB. Fence replacement began in late October and finished in November. Photo details Page.
Student Transportation: $3,000 was provided for the Student Transportation Grant Fund for bring children to the Garden this summer for a naturalist-led program. Minneapolis Schools sent 400 students in May, June and July.
Shelter and Kiosk: The Friends volunteers staffed both the entry Kiosk and the Martha Crone Shelter this season, the shelter for the 54th consecutive year. Staffing started on April 23rd. It worked differently this year. New volunteers were no longer restricted to the entry kiosk, could work in the Visitor Shelter to learn more about the Garden and to connect with staff. Up through October 1 over 45,000 people have been greeted at the Garden.
Bee Survey: A bee survey got underway in the Wildflower Garden in 2023 and concluded in the 2024 season. The Garden is doing this survey every 10 years to keep track of species and habitat changes. The Friends provided $5,000 toward the total $12,000 cost. Ten years ago 104 species was tabulated, keyed to what plants they visited. Once again, Dr. Elaine Evans of the U of M Bee Lab is conducting the survey.
For our educational mission, three issues of our newsletter, The Fringed Gentian™, will be published and distributed by email and twelve issues of our monthly Twigs and Branches™ mini-newsletter. Visitor postcards and bookmarks have been printed for visitors to take at the Shelter, hi-lighting the Friends and our mission. More patches are being provided for the Garden's Junior Ranger Program for young visitors.
Friends Invasive Plant Action Group (FIPAG): Our group held 20 work sessions this year beginning in the spring to work on garlic mustard removal. summer sessions for maintenance and planting final fall sessions on buckthorn removal, all in the stewardship area around the garden. The summer sessions involve planting shrubs, grasses and flowers in recently cleared areas.
Funding is provided for plants, seeds, supplies and tools. Widening the buffer path on the west side of the Garden was one effort and clearing and re-planting on the east side in the new work area around a pond is another special project. See the 2023 notes below for a description and photos of that area.
Below: The new FIPAG work area near a large pond. Part of the hillside has been cleared of buckthorn and some new planting started. Photo Jim Proctor.
Below: Minneapolis Parks Superintendent helps with Buchthorn removal at a fall FIPAG event.
2023 Mission Program
On April 3, the Friends Board of Directors approved using budgeted funds for the purchase of native shrubs and understory trees to be planted in the Volunteer Stewardship Area around the Garden in places that the Friends Invasive Plant Action Group (FIPAG) has cleared of Buckthorn, Garlic Mustard, Honeysuckle and other invasives. The areas were in the Maple Bowl and along the position of the new upland fence that was added in 2022.
Flowering plants and ground covers have already been seeded with seeds provided by the Friends. The native shrubs will not only anchor the exposed soils but provide shelter and food for the many birds that inhabit the area around the Garden. Clearance of the invasive plants provides a buffer zone for the Garden from invasive seeds.
Below: Overlaid on this 1967 winter aerial photo of the Wildflower Garden environs are the recent FIPAG work areas. The Maple Bowl outlined in yellow and the new area in red. Both areas show the small pool in the center of each. The white outline of the Garden has the upland fence in the approximate position following the 2022 expansion.
Below: This fall 2023 photo by Jim Proctor shows the new FIPAG work area. It is a small un-forested slope which sits above a small pond. This spot was obscured by a wall of non-native trees and shrubs including buckthorn, honeysuckle and Amur maple, which in this photo have been partly removed. In late Fall 2023 a large quantity of native seeds were purchased to seed this area. Both grasses and flowering forbs for all parts of the flowering season have been seeded.
Student Transportation: On April 3, the Board approved spending funds from the Student Transportation Grant Fund for bring children to the Garden this summer for a naturalist-led program. By the end of summer 12 classes had come to the Garden and transportation funding totaled $3,285.
Fencing: On September 25, the Board approved allocating up to $100,000 for the construction of a new perimeter fence in the upland area of the Garden that would connect the end of the new 2022 fence to the back gate. This plan would move the perimeter of the Garden outward and incorporate an additional area that has been subject to extensive invasive plant control by the Friends Invasive Plant Action Group and the Garden Legacy Volunteers over the last 10 years. the MPRB will handle the bidding and contracting process.
Shelter and Kiosk: For the first time since the Covid pandemic, the Martha Crone Shelter was open to visitors this season. The Friends volunteers staffed both the entry Kiosk and the Martha Crone Shelter. Kiosk volunteers interacted with 24,559 persons and in the shelter 16,701 spoke with volunteers and Garden staff, while out on the trails Garden staff met with another 8,428 visitors. This adds to almost 50,000 visitors who had a contact in the Garden, not counting those who visited without contact.
For our educational mission, three issues of our newsletter, The Fringed Gentian™, were published and distributed by email and twelve issues of our monthly Twigs and Branches™ mini-newsletter were published and emailed to our mail list. Outtakes from Twigs and Branches™ were printed and distributed at the Garden for visitors to take. The Sumner Library display project volunteers continued their work with a display that evolved as the seasons changed.
2022 Mission Program
During the year, the Friends Invasive Plant Action Group (FIPAG) sucessfully held 3 invasive plant removal events in the spring and 3 in the fall, all in the Stewardship Area around the Garden. 68 volunteers within the Friends Invasive Plant Action Group and Legacy Stewards invested 325 hours to remove buckthorn, non-native bittersweet, shrub honeysuckle and garlic mustard. Additional tools and supplies were purchased for FIPAG. Seeds were purchased for sowing the Maple Bowl area where the removal events took place [see graphic in 2023 section]. The Friends sponsored a Volunteer Appreciation Event for all Garden volunteers on October 31. Welcome Kiosk docent Volunteers greeted and assisted 6,850 visitors in the last 2 months of the season. Funds have been banked for the planned renovation of buildings in the Garden.
For our educational mission, three issues of our newsletter, The Fringed Gentian™, were published and distributed by email and twelve issues of our monthly Twigs and Branches™ mini-newsletter were published and emailed to our mail list. Outtakes from Twigs and Branches™ were printed and distributed at the Garden for visitors to take. The Sumner Library display project began in the spring with a seasonal display that evolved as the seasons changed.
2021 Mission Program
The Friends began reserving funds for our contribution to planned improvements to the Garden Shelter which will add space to better support staff and visitors. The majority of the funding will be provided by the MPRB. Planning and design in underway.
We also funded the following:
(1) Purchase of flowers, ferns and sedges for replanting areas of the Garden where needed or where renovation work is being done.
(2) Funding supplies needed by the Friends Invasive Plant Action Group (FIPAG) for their work in the buffer zone surrounding the Garden.
With Covid restrictions still in during the year it was not possible for schools to schedule Garden visits, thus no funds for Student Transportation Grants were expended this year.
Below: New plants ready for planting at the Garden. Photo - Jennifer Olson.
2020 Mission Program
Funding for 36 different species of flowers, ferns and sedges - total of 2,664 plants - cost $7,341.
Covid restrictions prevented schools from scheduling Garden visits this Summer and no funds for used from the Student Transportation Grant Fund.
2019 Mission Program
1. Completion of Phase II of the wetland boardwalk - Installation finished in April 2019. Final funding installment - $22,100. Full boardwalk project details here. Total Friend funding for both Phase I and Phase II was $148,000, with the MPRB funding a similar amount.
2. Planting project - 145 Native shrubs for the wetland and 124 for the upland in the intensively managed prairie garden areas (as result of invasive control 2015-2018) - $5,065 - PLANT LIST
3. Student Transportation Grant Fund; 780 student Garden visits. Cost $2,750
4. Friends Invasive Plant Action Group: $813 for tools and seedlings planted in the Maple Glen.
Below: Completed phase II of the wetland boardwalk. Photo G D Bebeau
Below: The boardwalk dedication on April 26, 2019. L to r: MPRB Commissioner Jono Cowgill; Friends' Board Member Pam Weiner; donor Tom Hoch, MPRB Commissioner Meg Forney; donor Mark Addicks; Friends President Kathy Connelly. Photo MPRB.
