Front Gate of Eloise Butler

The Friends of the Wild Flower Garden

Martha Crone Shelter
 
Dedicated to
Protecting, preserving and promoting
The interests of
The Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
And Bird Sanctuary
 
 
   
Want to know more?
Please click on the links to the left to obtain more information about The Friends, their mission, opportunities for volunteering, how to become a member and for other information about this unique garden and its history.
Seasonal Views of Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
The Hemlock Grove
Prairie Scene
Left: The Hemlock Grove. Right: Upland Garden in August
 
The Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary, the oldest public wildflower garden in the United States, is a part of the Minneapolis Parks System and is owned and managed by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. The Garden, located within the boundaries of Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a 15 acre site comprised of cultivated but naturalistic, woodland, wetland, oak savanna and prairie environments, with 2/3 rd's of a mile of unimproved pathways and a rustic shelter where educational materials and guidebooks can be found.

A Seasonal Poem

Tossing his mane of snows in wildest eddies and tangles,
Lion-like March cometh in, hoarse, with tempestuous bearth,
Through all the moaning chimneys, and ‘thwart all the hollows and angles
round the shuddering house, threating of winter and death.

But in my heart I feel the life of the wood and the meadow
Thrilling the pulses that own kindred with fibres that lift
Bud and blade to the sunward, within the inscrutable shadow,
Deep in the oak’s chill core, under the gathering drift.

 

Taken from “Earliest Spring” by William Dean Howells 1837-1920

Cardinal and Sparrows
Who are you guys! (Larger)
 
Spring Birding
 
Pussy Willow
 
Bridge in the Bog
Early Spring in the Garden - by former curator Martha Crone
 

New and Updated Postings

Secret Life of Winter

My Life and Death as a Tree

Gertrude S. Cram

Early History of the Garden - 1907

Historical Highlights - Spring
10, 25, 50, 75 & 100 years ago

 

 
© 2010 Friends of the Wild Flower Garden, Inc., P. O. Box 3793, Minneapolis, MN 55403. www.friendsofthewildflowergarden.org or www.friendsofeloisebutler.org. All articles and photos are the property of the Friends of the Wild Flower Garden Inc. unless noted otherwise.  

Last site update: 6 March 2010. Pages on this site will view best at screen width resolutions of 900 pixels or higher.

 
 
 


The Wild Gardener
Martha Hellander's
book on Eloise Butler


Membership renewal now available online


Presidents Letter


Garden Curator's Recent Notes


Education
Special student transportation grant program for Garden visits


Current Newsletter (PDF Format)