The Prized Gardens Of St. Cloud

This Minnesota town northwest of Minneapolis/St. Paul boasts two very different — and equally lovely — public gardens.

By Bill Vossler

In 1990 Bill Clemens of St. Cloud, Minnesota, offered his wife a gift of roses — actually, more than 1,000 rosebushes on a plot of land he purchased across the street from their home. He donated the land to the city of St. Cloud, hired a full-time rose gardener, and endowed a $1 million trust fund to take care of the garden in perpetuity.

Thus was born the Virginia Clemens Rose Garden, dedicated to the woman Bill loved, a lady who suffered from multiple sclerosis for many years.

Bill expanded the rose garden into five additional side-by-side gardens on seven acres, to Virginia's delight. The preserve is in a two-block-long lot across from their house, near another city park area called Munsinger Gardens. Virginia enjoyed the gardens, and observing their construction as well, before she succumbed to the disease in 1998.

Clemens Gardens and Munsinger Gardens together include approximately 18,000 plants; vivid flowers; original growth; gushing fountains; cast-iron planters; red-brick pathways; a wedding area; and more. Together they are considered one of the finest municipal gardens in the nation. They are similar, yet different; yin and yang.

As locations go, the town of St. Cloud is perfect for travelers headed to St. Paul for FMCA's 80th International Convention this summer. It is along Interstate 94, a main artery leading to the capital city, and approximately 75 miles (an hour and 20 minutes) northwest of St. Paul.

From Sawmill To Garden

Munsinger Gardens is situated on 14 acres along the eastern bank of the Mississippi River in southeastern St. Cloud. It was undeveloped until 1889, when the J.H. Andersen sawmill was built there. The mill was soon abandoned in 1897 after two fires, and in 1910 the city of St. Cloud began acquiring land in the area for a park. In 1926 the Campfire Girls planted a grove of Scotch and Norway pines there, trees that shade much of the 14-acre site, now part of the larger Riverside Park.

Real development of the gardens began in the 1930s during the Great Depression, as the Works Progress Administration provided federally funded labor for public projects. The concept was to use "government rustic" style, meaning workers followed a "use whatever you could find to save money" approach. Thus the Lily Pond was lined with rocks from the riverbed near Popple Creek, while the excavated dirt was piled nearby and turned into a rock garden. Today calla lilies grow in the Lily Pond, fed by water from a natural stone fountain, and the rock garden is covered with a profusion of red salvia, although it held pink geraniums for a couple of years. Stone steps lead up across the rock garden.

A hemlock tree shades the area, and hostas with white or purple blooms at different times of the year grow in profusion. Coins tossed into the pond and a nearby wishing well are collected as donations to Munsinger Gardens. Window boxes filled with flowers dot the top edge of the cement pond as well.

Visitors can sit around the pond in solitude and shade on granite benches donated as memorials and admire the restored oxen head adornments at the mouth of the fountain. You might attempt to identify at least five plants that thrived on this river floodplain in the 1880s and still grow in Munsinger Gardens today: a variety of hostas; double orange daylilies; smartweed; golden glow; and gas plant.

Giant oak trees dot stretches of green grass, which sets off a garden full of red flowers between the Lily Pond and a gazebo. A rainbow of plants with different-colored flowers, such as wax begonias, impatiens, black dragon coleus, and cordyline dracaena, stand out. Today the Lily Pond is used just for growing plants. A variation of carp thrived in the pond for a while until someone (or some critter) fished them all out.

Walkways also were built by WPA workers, as were an original greenhouse and tourist cabins. Today the walkways remain, including a red brick path and a special path of square granite pavers originally used to form streets in St. Cloud. A greenhouse (though not the original one) is used to grow all the plants that flower lovers come to see each year in Munsinger Gardens.

As you may have guessed, this is mostly a shade garden, with its hostas and ferns. Munsinger Gardens also has a number of yellow flowers not normally found, such as kirengeshoma, a yellow, bell-shaped flower with thick, fleshy petals; ligularia Othello, with goldenrod-yellow, daisylike blooms (often mistaken for rhubarb because of its dark red stalks and large leaves); and Carpenter's cup, a 7-foot-high plant with sunflower-like yellow flowers and thick leaves that hold rainwater — thus the name of the plant.

Geese, ducks, and other waterfowl can be observed on the Mississippi River from a comfortable perch in the gazebo, or on granite benches or wooden swings along the pathways. In 1938 this flowering portion of Riverside Park was named in honor of Joseph Munsinger, St. Cloud's first park superintendent.

No Sleeping On These Beds!

The first flower beds were rectangular, and later Munsinger created beds in different shapes, such as diamonds, stars, and hearts. Today the beds are all naturalistic and follow the lay of the land. Only one heart-shaped bed survives, greeting visitors at the northern entrance. The gardens contain a wide assortment of perennial plants and annual flowers, and every month from May through October reveals something different. Workers here coordinate colors with existing perennials and add annuals for a shot of color in the spring.

Munsinger Gardens has been a popular spot for weddings and wedding photos, but after seven weddings occurred there on the same day (causing traffic jams of cars and people), a new Special Events area was built, which must be booked in advance. Like the rest of Munsinger Gardens, this space is bursting with flowers, both in the ground and in decorative cast-iron pots.

Another attraction at Munsinger is the Music in the Gardens series, in its ninth year this summer. The series showcases local talent, and Sunday afternoon concerts are free.

A nursery worker at Munsinger Gardens was quoted in the St. Cloud Times the gardens: "It's kind of like everybody's backyard. It's what people would do if they had the time or money."

Gardens That Love Built

Whereas Munsinger Gardens is 14 acres of rustic, shady, and informal sights along the Mississippi River, Clemens Gardens is seven acres of formal Europe basking in the sun. It's located a half-block away from Munsinger on top of a hill.

As advertising literature states, "The flavor of European gardens comes alive along this stretch of Kilian Boulevard. The six gardens that make up the Clemens Gardens offer a feast for the senses, especially for the eyes. Savor the sweet-smelling roses. Gaze at the explosions of color set off by the various shades and hues of green. Be surprised by the interesting shapes formed by the gardeners' creative trimming of various small trees, hedges, and bushes."

Though the six different plots are reminiscent of European formal gardens, they showcase North American plants, and roses especially. Perhaps it is no coincidence that Virginia Clemens' middle name was Rose. The 1,100 rosebushes, which bloom at the end of the block across from the Clemens' house, include floribundas, free roses, hybrid teas, shrub roses, and grandifloras. A bronze memorial to Virginia Clemens is located on the east side of the garden. More than 70 hybrid tea rose cultivars include Shining Hour, Purple Tiger, Midas Touch, Opening Night, Fragrant Memory, and Grand Finale.

Five Other Areas, Too

Next to the rose garden is the Rest Area Garden. A gift shop and rest rooms are located there, as is one of the tallest outdoor fountains in Minnesota: the three-tiered Renaissance Fountain with Cranes, which features a replica of a sculpture of Hebe, cupbearer to the gods. Flowering clematis and rose vines are prominent on trellises, as well as on a resting deck.

The Formal Gardens was created as an extension to Munsinger Gardens, and a place to grow sun-loving flowers. Its centerpiece is the Windsor Court Fountain, a two-tiered affair with bronze bathing swans.

The White Garden is just what it says — a spot filled with white flowers, inspired by Sissinghurst Castle's renowned White Garden in Kent, England. Baby's breath and white lilies are some of the flowers found here. Occasionally, volunteers of different colors sprout, but they're transplanted after they bloom.

The Perennial Garden is full of hardy plants that can survive Minnesota's long winters. The 12-foot-tall fountain in the center is patterned after one found in Columbus, Georgia.

Yet another fountain, the Three Graces Fountain, is the centerpiece of the Treillage Garden. It's a spot accentuated with various bronze sculptures. The treillage, or trellis, is 104 feet long with a central dome 24 feet high. Four single-color gardens of red, yellow, blue, and purple surround the trellis, which was inspired by Virginia Clemens' love of Claude Monet's French Impressionist garden paintings.

Although Munsinger Gardens and Clemens Gardens have distinct histories and showcase different plants and flowers, they are still very much the same: rare places of horticultural variety where people hungry for beauty can feast their eyes.

Further Info

The gardens are open daily 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. from spring through fall, and admission is free. For more information, call (320) 255-7238 or visit www.munsingerclemens.com.

For ideas about other things to see and do while in St. Cloud, contact the St. Cloud Convention & Visitors Bureau at (320) 251-4170, (800) 264-2940; www.stcloudcvb.com.

Camping

For additional listings, consult your favorite campground directory or FMCA's Business Directory, published in the January and June issues of FMC and online at FMCA.com.

St. Cloud Campground & RV Park, C6982
2491 Second St. S.E.
St. Cloud, MN 56304
(320) 251-4463
(800) 690-7045
www.stcloudcampground.com