From Weed Patch to Community Garden
The Midtown Greenway is a 5 mile biking and walking trail in south Minneapolis. It first opened about 15 years ago, converted from an old railroad corridor. Not too long after, the patrons of Vera’s Cafe decided to turn a nearby patch of weeds along the Greenway into a garden. Happily, we were able to visit this garden as part of the 2016 Garden Bloggers Fling in Minneapolis.
The eponymous Vera, Vera Register, is the late mother of the cafe’s owner. The cafe is now closed, but Vera’s Garden still provides joy to Minneapolis walkers and bicyclists. Its first plants came from Vera Register’s home garden, along with the home gardens of cafe patrons. 
Vera’s Garden is a collaborative citizen’s project, supported by the generosity of individuals, businesses, community groups, and government agencies. Some plants were obtained through the Minnesota Horticultural Society, which collects free plants from individuals and businesses and distributes them to community projects.
Diane Latham, whose garden I wrote about here, is a big supporter. She donated 350 of her own Irises and other plants, and arranged for additional contributions from elsewhere.
Boulders were donated by the city sewer department and a local construction company, and trees came from the Hennepin County Tree Trust. Volunteers keep the space looking good.
Vera’s Garden, like the Greenway, is below street level. You can reach it by staircase. Here are the flingers arriving on the July morning when we visited.
The garden mixes perennials, vines, woody plants, and annuals – I like those tall flowering tobacco plants in the right of the picture.
The garden was bursting with flowering Bee Balms (Monarda didyma) when we visited.
Paths of wood chips were soft underfoot.
I like the combination of the Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) and the yellow Yarrow (Achillea millefolium).
Here’s another view from one of the bridges over the Greenway.
Benches were also donated. I like those yellow Hollyhocks on the right – I think they must be Russian Hollyhocks (Alcea rugosa). They’re supposed to be more resistant to rust disease.
An upscale housing development forced some change on Vera’s Garden, but they have figured out how to be good neighbors for each other. While some of the garden was lost, the new development provides water and storage space to Vera’s Garden volunteers.
Do you have a favorite community garden where you live?
I always say, “If I had a backyard yard, I’d hardly ever leave home,” so having a plot in a community garden is a blessing for me. In fact, I have two. One, a block from the beach near where I live in southern California and another with a beautiful ocean view, Ocean View Farms, also nearby. And gardening year around, to boot!
If I lived in an apartment I would definitely have a plot or two in a community garden.
This garden isn’t one I remember from other Fling blog posts. It is truly lovely and the story about how it was put together is inspiring. Thanks!
It’s definitely a feel good gardening story. Btw, it looks like my comments on your blog are still going into the spam folder.
I love community gardens, they give me hope for mankind (and womankind!). Canberra has a lot of green space thanks to wonderful Chicagoan city planner, Walter Burley Griffin. Community gardens are also popular, especially as the inner city develops and more people live in high rise apartments.
The open space in Canberra is fantastic. I loved visiting the city a few years ago. City Beach, near Perth, West Australia, also has an interesting layout, with inter-connected green spaces running for miles. Both make for great places to walk.
Thanks Pat, I loved the layout of Perth, and Cairns also has lovely walking trails and cycle paths in the city.
I have not heard of Griffin, I’ll have to find out more about him.
Griffin and his wife Marion Mahony worked for Frank Lloyd Wright…I must do another post on them..
I love hearing of this kind of community effort.
Gives you a little more faith in the future, doesn’t it?
such a great idea to have an entire community upkeeping a garden!
I agree.
This sounds a great project; great that the new housing is able to help and not just destro what was there.
Yes, things aren’t always so amicable.
I like this idea of community garden, Jason. Looking at your photos I see wonderful Purple Coneflower, so nice! Here in Saint Petersburg we often see ‘green yards’ between huge new houses, where neighbors grow many bushes and perennials, donated from their own gardens.
That is good to hear. I hope to visit St. Petersburg again some day.
I like the fact that the garden was continued after the cafe closed, and that the development has compensated for the lost space with water and storage too. I recently saw a report about a community garden in a car park of a former DIY store. Everything is in recycled containers, and the handful of constant volunteers ask anyone passing by to join in and help them eat all their produce. They even have a mobile kitchen, compost heap, and compost ‘facilities’!
A garden in an old car park (or as we say, parking lot) – brilliant idea!
This garden illustrates the very best of communities and gardeners. It looks absolutely lovely. Incidentally, I think I’d like to go to a fling. Is there just one a year?
There is just one a year. The next one is June 22-25 in Washington DC – not so far from the UK! It would be great to see you there, here’s a link. http://gardenbloggersfling.blogspot.com/
How lovely and so nice that it was all created by community volunteers.
I think so, too.
What a unique and jam packed garden it is, lovely. The comradery and pleasure this garden brings to the community is all a big plus.
I think so, too.
Community gardens add so much, in terms of community spirit as well as greenery. There are no true community gardens in our little village in Quebec but the town itself and all the merchants (all 6 or 7 or them!) use flowers extensively. We also have an annual prize for the best garden as seen from the street. It’s not meant to be competitive as much as to encourage people to make the whole area look beautiful. And it works!
My own garden is designed to be viewed from the street. That’s part of the fun of gardening.
That’s a great idea. I wish we’d do the same along our rail beds that run through town.
There are a lot of vacant urban spaces that would benefit from this kind of effort.
You were wise to save these cheering posts of the Fling for the dark days when we need them.
Plus, there isn’t much going on in my own garden this time of year.
Our Master Gardener group is involved in several local community gardens. When we were in Ireland, I was walking around Limerick and came upon a wonderful community garden. It had murals, veggies and flowers, places to sit, and a beautiful iron fence around it. They are a wonderful way to pull the community together.
The kind of thing we could use more of.
How inspiring. There are so many generous and encouraging threads to Vera’s community garden. It is cheering to hear about.
It is, isn’t it?
Communities can be such a powerful force when just a few visionaries get things going in the right direction. The trail itself is wonderful. Adding the garden was inspired.
You just need the right kind of commitment and a little leadership.
How inspiring, the things people can do if they put their mind to it. Good on the patrons of the old Vera’s cafe and all those others who are making such fantastic things possible, I applaud them all. I did enjoy this.xxx
I too admire people who can pull others together to accomplish this sort of project.