Beautiful Gardens
There are some spectacular private gardens around the Twin Cities. We discover several each year in our Beautiful Gardens contest. From October to April, we'll bring you into one Beautiful Garden a month.
Minnesota 'saint' gardener uses plant sales to transform lives of youngsters in Tanzania
Roseville nurse and her plant sales support a school that is raising a nation in Tanzania.
Retired wrestling coach creates a garden of bountiful blooms in St. Cloud
After the self-taught horticultural expert retired as St. John's University's longtime wrestling coach, he became its landscape manager.
St. Paul garden features landscaped living rooms – one in the center of a pond
A small St. Paul backyard boasts various spots for relaxing — including one in the center of a pond.
Minnetonka garden has many moods — and a winning design
A Minnetonka garden is a study in contrasts, from rugged native plants in front to manicured, formal "rooms" in back.
Beauty secrets and shortcuts of an artfully composed garden in St. Paul
A mishap inspired a St. Paul woman to create — and refine — her artfully composed garden.
Couple create a European-style garden paradise in Waconia
Inspired by living overseas, a couple created a European-style paradise in Waconia.
Beautiful Gardens: Secret garden grows in unlikely setting in Eagan
An Eagan couple transformed a small "useless space" in their backyard into an enchanted retreat.
Dellwood yard is for the birds — and certified by National Wildlife Federation
It took a pair of Dellwood gardeners years of hard work to transform their suburban lot into a wildlife sanctuary, with restored wetlands surrounding two ponds. Now it's a paradise of blooms and habitat — and one of our Beautiful Gardens winners.
Japanese garden in Minneapolis is steeped in perfection
An Asian garden that fills a front yard in Minneapolis took one couple on a journey from (A)mateur to (Z)en.
Beautiful Gardens winner: Artistry amid the cornfields in Shakopee
A Shakopee couple transformed a piece of farmland into a fertile oasis of hosta and other perennials.
Beautiful Gardens: Shoreview couple's haven is 'our treasure to share'
A Shoreview couple welcome guests to their whimsical cottage garden, which beckons with waterfalls, a playhouse and flea-market finds.
A Medford, Minn., garden so nice, they planted it twice
When a hands-on couple decided to build a new home on their Medford farmstead, they dug up their plants and rebuilt the garden, too. "Hundreds of plants … hostas … daylilies. Any perennial I had, I moved," Cyndi Maas said.
Beautiful Gardens: Edibles take starring role at hilltop garden in Northfield
The ingredients for the homemade hors d'oeuvres and desserts at a Northfield couple's recent cocktail party were locally sourced — harvested from their vegetable beds, which sit on a picturesque hilltop with a panoramic view overlooking the Cannon River.
From Minneapolis to Northfield, here are our most beautiful gardens
This year's winning gardens in our annual Beautiful Gardens contest run the gamut, from a haven for wildlife to an oasis for grandkids.
Gallery: Beautiful Gardens winners
Here are reader-submitted photos for the winners in the Star Tribune's annual Beautiful Gardens contest.
Ex-science teacher has formula for beautiful garden
A retired high school teacher capitalized on her scientific curiosity, passion for arborvitae and summer breaks to make a barren lot beautiful.
Bloomington garden designed by nature
By taking a survival-of-the-fittest approach, a Bloomington woman is creating a free-flowing, ever-changing garden where nature is in control.
Beautiful Gardens: Plymouth couple create an Asian-inspired haven
A Plymouth couple turned an unfortunate incident into inspiration for a garden transformation.
Beautiful Gardens: Elysian couple create a path to tranquility
Gardeners Dan and Nancy Engebretson regarded an unfinished, weed-infested walking path as an opportunity, not an eyesore. So they planted what has become a mini-arboretum that draws people from the neighborhood.
Minneapolis couple's garden is a feast for the eyes – and table
A couple joined forces to create a pair of distinctly different urban gardens – a productive front-yard plot and a tranquil back-yard retreat.
Beautiful Gardens: A fanciful landscape in a small lot
A Minneapolis couple didn't let a compact city yard stop them from creating a fanciful landscape of waterfalls, shade and sun beds, and even a hobbit house.
Edina couple collaborate on ambitious collection of plants, plots
One garden was not enough for Barb and Charlie Green of Edina. But unlike some gardeners who expand to create more of the same, the Greens are always game to try something different.
Beginner's luck for gardeners in Andover
Self-taught gardeners transformed their suburban back yard from green turf into a colorful oasis to become winners of our Beautiful Gardens contest.
Beautiful Gardens: In this urban oasis, no grass is allowed
A St. Paul couple have achieved the improbable: a lush, low-maintenance garden that fills every square inch of their yard.
Formal vegetable garden in St. Paul is beautiful, productive
St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood is a long way from the French countryside. But Eileen and Bill Troxel have managed to create a little slice of Provence in their back yard.
Beautiful Gardens: Two Plymouth gardeners create place of peace
Two Plymouth gardeners combine their love for roses and waterfalls into a lavish landscape.
Marcia Fluer's beautiful garden in Golden Valley
Marcia Fluer, of TV news fame, now gets her hands dirty in her Golden Valley garden, a collaboration with her husband, a train hobbyist.
Beautiful Garden: A garden plotted, planted to be at one with nature
Starting with a blank slate 15 years ago, Diane Erdmann crafted spaces that fit in with nature – and the neighborhood. She calls her sloping south Minneapolis back yard "a mix of architecture and 'let it happen,' " with volunteer plants strewn throughout.
Art background creates a painterly garden
Schooled in art, a gardener relies on what she learned to create beauty in her own back yard.
Beautiful gardens: A labor of love
A Champlin couple transformed their back yard from a sandbox to the setting for their wedding reception.
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Beautiful gardens: A storybook garden
Starting with a patch of Irish moss, an Edina couple created a fanciful garden worthy of any Hobbit's house.
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Growing a sense of place
Beautiful gardens: For the past two decades, a Minnesota couple have been creating a massive, European-influenced shade garden in their suburban yard.
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Just like grandma used to grow
A granddaughter's sprawling cottage gardens honor the two grandmothers who passed down their cherished plants and wisdom.
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Garden reflects gardener
A self-taught gardener paints her exuberant landscape with a free but disciplined hand.
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From novices to know-it-alls
The Shannons of St. Paul scaled a steep learning curve to create their "collector's garden," which features specimens from around the world.
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A steep learning slope
Self-taught gardener Tricia Frostad created an eye-popping display in her front yard and a series of streams in her hilly back yard.
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Tending a dream
A design-savvy gardener fulfilled her vision of creating a beautiful landscape -- one worthy of a special event.
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They aren't afraid of change
Kevin Blaeser and Cooper Hipp have created a gorgeous haven in Golden Valley, but they're constantly working to enhance it.
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Partners in planting
The Fribergs of Roseville are tireless gardening overachievers. They host tours, they volunteer, and they're active in multiple clubs. And, oh yeah, they still find time to tend their awe-inspiring landscape.
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The constant gardener
An ambitious green thumb and her helpful husband team up to tend a winning garden in Lake Elmo -- and to collaborate on a humorous his-and-hers gardening book.
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Carefree cottage gardening
A Brooklyn Park yard evolved into a haven for the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees.
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Garden is urban oasis
Drawing on his rural roots, a south Minneapolis gardener creates a country-inspired haven in the heart of the city.
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Couple display the art of gardening
A creative couple rely on a unique form of organic design to turn their front yard into an award-winning destination.
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Her garden became his inspiration
Jennifer Baldwin Peden was the star in the garden. Her husband, Tom, was waiting in the wings -- until a touring show took her away and inspired him to pick up where she left off.
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Back-yard bouquet
A Bloomington woman interweaves old-fashioned coneflowers, flowering shrubs and flagstone walkways to turn her turf-covered suburban back yard into a massive cutting garden.
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Where the wild things are
Animals flourish among the flowers and foliage in a suburban landscape that's part garden, part wildlife sanctuary.
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St. Paul city garden is front and center
A learn-as-you-go gardener transformed a small city lot into an imaginative, innovative garden.
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Park place in Edina
A do-it-yourself Edina gardener transformed an overgrown yard into a parklike setting with a string of intimate, inventive gardens.
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Apple Valley garden has its roots in WWII labor camp
The fragrant phlox spilling down the slope of Lucy Pacieznik's back yard in Apple Valley have their roots in a forced labor camp in Germany, where her Ukrainian mother first held her as a newborn in 1943.
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