TANGLETOWN GARDENS’ 2024 GARDEN & ART TOUR
Garden & Art Tour Map & Guide
Thank you for attending the celebratory return of our Garden & Art Tour for this 16th Year! Enjoy a day of art, nature and design as you explore this year’s collections of distinctive gardens in and around South Minneapolis.
WELCOME!
It is our pleasure to welcome you to the 2024 Tangletown Gardens’ Garden and Art Tour.
We are thrilled to bring back this beloved event and share it with you! This year we are excited to be showcasing distinctive gardens in and around our own South Minneapolis neighborhood and in Edina. This wonderful group of diverse gardens offers inspiring examples of different gardening styles in both large-scale and small, urban settings. Today, the gardens will also serve as galleries displaying work by an array of local artists.
Please wear your tour button! Your button is your ticket and gains you entrance at each garden.
Bathroom facilities are available at Tangletown Gardens and Wise Acre Eatery but are not available at other garden sites. Please plan your stops accordingly.
A Tangletown Gardens team member will be available at each garden to assist with questions.
TIMELINE
9AM-3PM Garden & Art Tour
4-7PM WiseBurger Pop-Up/Reception
Pick up your tour map at Tangletown Gardens beginning at 9AM. While the gardens are numbered, you may choose your own adventure and visit the gardens in any order.
We invite and encourage you to wrap up the day back at 54th & Nicollet and join us for a festive, end-of-day reception featuring our own WiseBurger pop-up menu, a cash bar, and live music by local band, Theyself.
GUIDE TO THE GARDENS & ARTISTS
1) THE GARDEN OF CATE CURRY & TIM MULCAHY
4401 East Lake Harriet Parkway, Minneapolis
The Curry/Mulcahy garden unfolds before you, a cohesive whole, but with a diverse mix of plants and dedicated spaces for playing, relaxing, and entertaining. Each area has a focal point with unique pops of visual interest that bring a fresh perspective as you move around the property. Throughout the garden are mature elements that are respectful of the stately home, intertwined with unique perennial combinations of textures and colors, as well as plants for pollinators and wildlife, edible plants, and the bright highlights of annual leaves and blooms. The family moved to the house in 2017 and, since 2020, Tangletown Gardens has worked with Cate and Tim to develop and nurture the landscape. The space has evolved from a mostly green yard to a diverse mix of textures, colors, and dimensionality. The design utilizes a wide range of trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals, which create calm, welcoming spaces for humans, bees, butterflies, and birds. It is easy to enjoy watching the gardens evolve from season to season and year to year. Cate and Tim celebrate the consistency of color and interest over the life of the garden, noting that something is always growing, blooming, or bearing fruit. Cate is not afraid to push the boundaries of traditional plant selections, experimenting with marginal varieties that are becoming hardier in Minnesota as our climate warms. Tim takes pride in tending to the fruits and vegetables and being able to use them in home-cooked meals. The garden has been a wise teacher, and Cate notes that spending time in her garden has shown her the beauty of nature and its interconnectedness, that nature grounds us even in an urban environment, and that even small, simple changes can transform spaces.
2) THE GARDEN OF BETH DORSEY
4108 Bryant Ave South, Minneapolis
Reminiscent of an artist’s studio, Beth’s garden is a study in color and texture. She draws inspiration from nature and the environment, but also loves to pair interesting and unusual plants that might not often be found together, creating moments of surprise and inspiring roguish whimsey. Nestled throughout her property are clusters of her handmade pottery, filled with her impressive collection of unusual succulents. Beth spends as much time outside as possible in the summer, using her space for eating, relaxing, and doing art. She hopes visitors will take note of the variety of the plants in her garden, and spend time taking in their different colors, shapes, textures, and structures. Beth says her garden has taught her that “living things change and evolve, nothing is captured in time.”
ARTIST: Beth Dorsey (Printmaking & Ceramics) WEBSITE
3) THE GARDEN OF SANDRA & DOUG MANGEL
4100 Bryant Avenue South, Minneapolis
The Mangel’s garden has been Sandra’s passion project for over 50 years, and her creativity, dedication, and vision is apparent. Immaculately tended and nurtured, the garden is a perfect reflection of the Mangel’s charming 1912 cottage-style home. No space is wasted, with lush perennials filling every corner, colorful flowers dancing in waves and mounds, beds punctuated by elegant trees and shrubs, and just the smallest suggestion of a front lawn - more of an accent to the garden beds than the traditional grass expanse you might imagine. The garden winds its way around the house, and visitors will enjoy the transition from the sunny blooms of the front yard into the quieter and shadier, but just as lush, courtyard area in the back. Sandra says she often enjoys a cup of early morning coffee on the deck before she sets out to work in the gardens for the day, and that the Mangel’s love to spend time on their back screen porch overlooking the patio gardens, dining and entertaining friends. Sandra’s inspiration comes from a lifetime of experience, drawn from books, magazines, catalogs, nurseries, garden friends, garden tours, and garden clubs. She also prides herself on being a U of M Master Gardener. While ninety-nine percent of the plants are perennials, she enjoys a few annual blooms as well as seasonal edibles like tomatoes, herbs and strawberries. “I find a sense of purpose, gratitude and pride in gardening. It's where my body, mind and spirit interact to co-create with nature. It feeds and soothes my soul,” notes Sandra. She hopes that visitors to her garden take away an appreciation of nature, beauty, life and creation. For Sandra the garden inspires a sense of wonder and of hope, patience, tolerance, rebirth, and internal peace.
4) The Garden of Tom & Nancy Erickson
3305 East Bde Maka Ska Parkway, Minneapolis
When the Erickson’s moved to their house in 2017, they undertook a complete assessment of the garden, its landscape features, and primary elements. Working with Tangletown Gardens, they retained some of the original strong foundational elements, and introduced color, texture and visual interest throughout the property, ensuring the landscape was beautiful in every season. The Tangletown team helps the evolution continue each year, as perennials mature, new opportunities emerge, and color is infused into the landscape with creative combinations of annuals and accents for the changing seasons. Visitors should spend time wandering through the entire property and viewing the gardens from every angle. Each view evokes a fresh sense of the spaces and how they come together as a whole. Of note are the two large boxwoods, the ever evolving tiger eye sumac, “hedges” of astilbe and turtleheads, mature weeping Japanese cypress, and hundred year oaks. The garden reflects the comfortable mix of formality and informality of the house, creating spaces that are both beautiful and welcoming. Mature gardens reveal the change and beauty in renewal as they go through cycles of growth and change, such as losing a beloved tree to a storm. When the garden suffers wounds, and then regenerates, it teaches us, bringing an initial sense of loss only to be followed by the resilience in healing, new growth and opportunity.
5) THE GARDEN OF PATTI FROEBER & MARK WILSON
4062 Sunnyside Road, Edina
Visiting the Froeber/Wilson property is like stepping into the secret courtyard of a European villa. From the red Spanish tile roof to the serene poolside terraces, the garden sweeps you away from Minnesota and off on a whirlwind holiday. Trees play a central role in the landscape, as well as the clean architectural shapes of the raised garden beds and tidy hardscape elements that blur the line between house and garden. Patti and Mark have been creating the vision for their property since 2017, with their first photos of tree inspiration taken at Tangletown that year as they toured the farm on the back of a tractor driven by Farmer Dean. Since then, they have been collecting trees and shrubs, and continuing to fall in love with the kaleidoscope of green hues found in nature. The garden is executed in a refreshing palette of white and green, allowing texture to take center stage and individual plant specimens to stand like living sculptures. Patti muses, “Just how many tree varieties and shades of green are there? Too many? Or just too many to count?” She notes that the garden has taught her “to slow down, to live in the moment and to be intentionally attentive to family and friends. And gratitude, lots of gratitude for the gift of Farmers.”
6) THE GARDEN OF JOANNA & MAREK KOKOSZKA
6601 Interlachen Boulevard, Edina
When the Kokoszka’s began gardening at their home in 2019, their backyard was an empty slate filled with invasive buckthorn plants. Tangletown Designer Matt Brooks and the Tangletown Landscaping team removed the weeds and brought the Kokoszka’s vision to life, designing and planting a serene wooded glade filled with thousands of plants. The garden curves gently through the property, drawing the eye around wide swaths of perennials that are anchored with original sculptures collected by the Kokoszka’s. Each year Joanna spends countless hours planting lush borders of annuals, ensuring an additional pop of color that balances the seasonal changes of the more mature plantings. She enjoys her time working to nurture and maintain her garden, both the physical aspect of working in the garden, and the satisfaction when her plants do well. Her mother and daughter also often join her in her gardening endeavors. For Joanna, gardening is a sensory experience, and she delights in noticing the pleasures of the garden around her such as how the morning light highlights different plants, and the gentle fragrance of the lilies. She hopes visitors to her garden will feel calm and relaxed, enjoying a contemplative stroll through the landscape.
ARTISTS:
David Collins (Woodturning)
Guest Vendor: Isadaore Nut Co.
7) THE GARDEN OF ARIANNE & MICAH BALDOMERO
5316 James Avenue South, Minneapolis
A natural extension of the Baldomero’s living space, their garden is bright, bold, and full of life, just like their family is. The front and back yards are their playgrounds, where they spend quality time with their young children, enjoying games, outdoor activities, family dinners, and hosting guests. The backyard includes a cozy patio, and room for Micah, who is an enthusiastic cook, to prepare homemade pizza and grilled foods. These areas are perfect for both relaxation and fun, offering a balance between lively play and peaceful moments. The Baldomero’s have been shaping their outdoor space since 2019, and they note that each season offers new lessons and opportunities to grow, both for the plants and for themselves as gardeners. Gardening has taught them the importance of patience and perseverance, as it's a constant process that requires ongoing care and attention. Arianne enjoys learning and experimenting with different plants and techniques, and over the last few years has begun starting annual flowers from seed, such as zinnias, cosmos, and celosia. She credits Tangletown Gardens as a major source of inspiration, as well as her innate love of bright and bold colors. “Tangletown Garden’s stunning use of color and innovative plant combinations inspire me to experiment and bring my own garden to life with a similar vibrancy. The blend of their artistic approach and my personal love for vivid colors has significantly shaped the way I design and cultivate my garden.” As visitors move through the garden, they should take note of the vibrant flowers bursting with the vivid colors that Arianne loves, however, they should also appreciate how foliage plays a crucial role in the garden’s design, especially with regards to perennials. While eye-catching annual flowers are a beautiful staple in the garden, the Baldomero’s have intentionally balanced their design with attractive foliage and texture to provide year-round interest. The interplay of different leaf shapes, sizes, and colors creates a dynamic visual experience and enhances the garden’s overall harmony.
ARTIST: Mike Carlson (Stained Glass)
8) THE GARDEN OF CLAUDE & LAUREL RIEDEL
5133 Bryant Avenue South, Minneapolis
Over 37 years, the Riedel’s have shaped their small urban lot into a serene oasis evoking the feeling of being “Up North” without ever leaving the city. The garden has evolved with help from Betty Ann Addison of Meech, Glen Ray of Masterpiece Landscaping, and most recently Stephen Kung of Urban Oasis. Ray helped the Riedel’s find their signature style, artfully filling the space with large boulders and conifers. The Riedel’s conifer collection has continued to expand, and they have been honored to have received the Conifer Garden award from Metro Blooms for their work. The garden now encircles the entire house, giving the illusion that the grey and red Craftsman style home is nestled in an alpine landscape, not located in south Minneapolis. As you enjoy the space, notice how you feel stepping between each “room”. Lounge in the front sitting area, and peek through the Jack Pine. Walk the driveway into the shady forest overhang, and enter the backyard's deep tranquility. Complete your stroll in the lush north side wildflower garden, full of summer blooms. An urban hideaway, the backyard has been host to quiet meditation, bird watching and special parties, invoking an ambiance of Northwoods Zen. But the Riedel’s also enjoy sharing their space with passers-by, and the front garden is host to a Little Library, a small dinosaur-themed play area, and a seating area, facilitating easy conversation with neighbors. The Riedel’s enjoy maintaining their space together, and the garden has taught them patience, flexibility and the beauty of inspired design.
9) THE GARDEN OF JACKIE & DAVE JUST
5236 3rd Ave South, Minneapolis
When the Justs purchased their home a decade ago, their landscape was a simple cluster of day lilies, a lilac bush, and a few ferns that had migrated over from their neighbors’ yard. Over time, they have developed their space into the comfortable and beautiful outdoor living space that you see today. They went from planting simple items themselves, like zinnias and potato vine with their young children, to working with Tangletown Gardens to develop a cohesive landscape plan, to now enjoying the fruits of their labor as their garden has matured. As their children have grown, they have been able to think less about what might get destroyed by a soccer ball and more about what colors and textures bring them joy. Inspired by Jackie’s career as a florist, the garden is filled with an excellent cut flower selection. Each year, Jackie picks flowers and foliage that are complementary and work together in a way that tells a story, similar to how she would create a bouquet. For example, instead of choosing a disjointed rainbow of dahlia varieties, she chooses an ombre of colors that will play well together. Jackie loves to experiment with annuals, and each year brings new plants to love, but some favorites for the Just’s this year include the bright green grasses like Carex Everillo, the orange/red of the Santa Cruz Begonia, the dahlias along the south side of the house, and the playfulness of the papyrus. Most of their time is spent in the backyard, quietly enjoying a relaxing evening in the swinging chairs, creating excellent meals in their outdoor kitchen, or hosting friends. Cooking as a family is something they all enjoy, so making sure they could extend that experience into the garden with their outdoor kitchen was important to them. Some of their favorite memories include making pizzas in the backyard with fresh ingredients from the garden. See if you can spot Pesto Perpetuo from Tangletown Gardens. This high oil content basil is a perfect topping for wood fired pizza, plus it doesn't go to flower quickly like most basil, and the small leaves on upright stems makes it a visually interesting plant to include in the garden. When the Just’s are hosting guests, they can open the three back fence doors to the driveway where there are vintage, tuck-under, swing-out seats which appear as if by magic, transforming their space front private retreat to dynamic entertaining area. The seats provide a great view of the garden and truly unique way to make the most of the Just’s cozy city lot.
10) THE GARDENS OF WISE ACRE EATERY & TANGLETOWN GARDENS
5401 Nicollet Avenue South, Minneapolis
The garden beds on our little corner campus showcase some of our very favorite annuals orchestrated in a very “Tangletown” way. Created with a fresh vision each year, the boulevard gardens and containers exemplify our passion for unique plant pairings and bold design.
ARTISTS:
Miracle Galston (Creatively Unearthed Jewelry)
Michael Peuschold (Painting)
Heather Boschke (Buddha Birdie) WEBSITE
Guest Presenter/Event Partner: Minnesota State Horticultural Society
Tobie Miller (Ceramics) WEBSITE
Dean Engelmann (Photography) INSTAGRAM
