Garden: Hidden Treasure
Text by Janice Bradshaw
Photography by FocalPoint Photo Club
Follow the signs in St. Cloud that take you to the park along the east bank of the Mississippi River. There you will find the Munsinger-Clemens Gardens.
Stroll the shady worn paths lined with colorful flowers and shrubs. Find a seat on a granite bench under the tall Scotch pines and savor the serene river view.
Visitors have enjoyed the flower borders at the historic Munsinger Gardens since the early 1900s. During the Depression Era, elaborate flower beds with rock edging were constructed on these fourteen acres.
A lily pond dug at the site of a natural spring splashes water from a fountain. Stone troughs once used to water horses now overflow with coleus and impatiens plants. A tradition continues to have a wedding photo taken on the salvia hill where the bride’s white dress shines against the bright-red flowers.
Up the hill, on an additional nine acres above the informal Munsinger Gardens, radiates the Clemens Gardens. This formal layout, built in the 1990s, showcases an elaborate display of flowers in the European style. Through the generosity of funds from the Clemens family, six distinct gardens have been developed that stretch along a symmetrical, three-block axis.
Bold colors of pink cosmos, gold coneflowers, and purple sage create brilliant displays along the red brick walks. The White Garden, modeled after the famous white plantings at Sissinghurst Castle in England, exhibits pale blooms and silver-gray foliage.
At the garden’s center stands the magnificent Renaissance Fountain with Cranes—one of the tallest in the Midwest. Streams of water spray from their beaks five tiers high, creating soothing sounds and a cooling mist on a hot day.
Even though the gardens may see a thousand visitors a day, the spacious grounds never feel crowded. From the sweet-smelling Rose Garden to the Treillage Arbor Garden on the opposite end, every view is exhilarating.
The next time you are driving by and see the signs for Munsinger-Clemens Gardens, pull over and enjoy the sights of one of the premier gardens in the Midwest.
In the beginning . . .
The Clemens Gardens began as a gift of love from neighbors Bill and Virginia Clemens. They purchased a nearby vacant lot and gave it to the City of St. Cloud to use. After hearing The Granite City Rose Society wanted to build a rose garden there, they donated funds to purchase more than one thousand roses.
When Bill saw the joy the roses brought to visitors and especially to Virginia, who was wheelchair-bound with multiple sclerosis, he continued to give enthusiastically to develop more gardens along Kilian Boulevard. Virginia picked out the first cast-iron water fountain featuring cranes that set the theme for the rest of the gardens.
As the gardens expanded, Bill set up an endowment fund to to pay for gardeners to keep the flowers blooming into the future.
A new memorial has been erected in the entry area honoring Virginia and Bill Clemens and their contributions.
When you go . . .
Free admission!
Gardens open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
[ No dogs allowed ]
Directions and information:
www.MunsingerClemens.com