Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Annual Report FY2023

Farm at the Arb Apprentices

Brownson Arebojie and Scott Merth plant vegetables in the

Foodscape garden at the Myers Education Center.

Photo by Cory Ryan

A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

In Fiscal Year 2023, the Arboretum welcomed a record-breaking 591,463 visitors to the Arboretum to enjoy the beauty of the 1,200-acre landscape and to connect with and learn from nature in so many ways.

In turn, the Arboretum community welcomed me as I arrived in early May to take over for former Director Peter C. Moe who retired in 2023 after nearly 50 years of service at the Arboretum. Thank you, Pete, and thank you to the Arboretum staff, volunteers, members, donors and the Board of Trustees for the warm welcome and support through this transition.

It’s your commitment to the Arboretum that allows us to continue to grow our visitorship, connecting with more people than ever before and helping the next generation of gardeners, horticulturists and naturalists to explore and care for plants and to learn the importance of preserving the natural world.

All of this is made possible by the Arboretum’s foundational commitment to research and education. In 2023, the Arboretum’s combined education programming reached 37,651 learners of all ages and interests ranging from Pea Pods for Preschoolers all the way to adult classes that explored the natural world through art making, horticulture and mindfulness.

It is this clarity on the value of education and the necessity for robust programming that connects people, plants and the planet that paved the way for the opening of the Burton and Virginia Myers Education Center in the summer of 2023. The new center, located at the Farm at the Arb, is a culmination of these values, with designated work space for Adult Education and University of Minnesota Horticulture Extension staff, as well as vegetable gardens and indoor and outdoor kitchen spaces to connect people with the experience of growing and cooking food — all the way from plant to plate.

We are incredibly proud of what we have accomplished in the past year and are energized by new opportunities to continue to learn and grow together in the coming year. Thank you for your partnership. We are truly grateful for your commitment to the Arboretum.

M ISSION STATEM ENT TO WELCOME,

INFORM AND INSPIRE ALL THROUGH OUTSTANDING DISPLAYS, PROTECTED NATURAL AREAS, HORTICULTURAL RESEARCH AND EDUCATION.

ANDREW GAPINSKI Executive Director, University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

Andrew Gapinski

On the cover and above: The Foodscape and the Living Grass Patio connect the space between the historic Red Barn and the Myers Education Center at the Farm at the Arb. Photo by Katie Knapp

The Arboretum’s mission is rooted in education

Walking through the gardens and grounds of the Arboretum, it’s easy to experience a sense of wonder at the beauty and complexity of plants — and nature as a whole. Wonder quickly turns to discovery as visitors engage with the landscape unfolding before them, learning about the plants and collections from fact-filled interpretive signs as they walk by engaging displays.

For Tim Kenny, Director of Education at the Arboretum, that’s just the beginning of what he hopes is a lifelong connection to nature, cultivated right here at the Arboretum. “We want to meet people where they are and provide them with many opportunities to learn in a wide variety of formats,” said Kenny.

From the aforementioned “walk-by learning” available to the nearly 600,000 annual visitors of the Arboretum all the way to the in-depth Master Gardener training

program — whose statewide headquarters are located in the new Myers Education Center — the Arboretum nurtures learners along all stages of the continuum of learning, with a special focus on the natural world.

The mission and vision of education at the Arboretum is to provide programming that “supports greater wellbeing for plants, for people and for the planet” and creates “rich and diverse experiences that connect people of all ages with the living world and with each other.”

With more than 60 instructors teaching across a wide variety of subjects, including Gardening and Horticulture, Art, Health and Wellbeing and more, thousands of curious learners had the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and understanding of nature at the Arboretum in 2023.

This emphasis on education, research

and discovery is foundational to the Arboretum. Inspired by the need for cold-hardy plants suitable for growing in a rugged northern climate, the idea for the Arboretum came to fruition in 1958. Plant breeding research began at the Horticultural Research Center (HRC) — located just 1.5 miles west of the Arboretum — even earlier, with the HRC leading cold-hardy plant breeding efforts in the region since the early 1900s.

From the development of the first apple at the HRC, all the way to inspiring the next generation of horticulturists and naturalists through robust classes and programming, the Arboretum is rooted in education. Thank you to those who participated in, taught or donated to education programming at the Arboretum in Fiscal Year 2023. Your involvement makes a difference!

by

Photo

Randy Gage

Growing to Lead intern Sajdah Sharriff waters plants with a participant of the Children’s Garden in Residence Program — a 7-week summer garden program facilitated by the Arboretum in partnership with local youth-serving organizations.

BY JEFF ISEMINGER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

You can find that inscription on a memorial brick in the Arboretum’s Maze Garden Plaza. It was given in 2014 by Nancy Webster and her husband, Chuck Webster, who died last year.

“We chose those words from the opera ‘Madame Butterfly,’ which Chuck and I saw twice,” said Nancy with a smile.

The poignancy of tears to earth to flowers flows through Nancy’s life and her fourdecade relationship with the Arboretum. She has taken the word memorial — from the Latin memorialis, “serving as a reminder” — and made it bloom.

“When we lived in Edina, I would plant flowers in our yard in memory of friends,”

she said. “It brought me peace.”

She and Chuck established a bench in the Wildflower Garden in honor of his mother, and later Nancy added another bench in that garden in memory of Chuck.

The two benches sit across a woodland pond from each other. One nestles in a bower, and the other is rimmed with ostrich ferns — the setting so silent you can hear the rustling of maple leaves.

Nancy also has been a strong, consistent supporter of the Arboretum’s Growing Good Youth Garden Program. Growing Good works with partners to help young people grow and maintain communitybased gardens.

“I’ve always liked children,” said Nancy, who started her career as a kindergarten teacher in Edina, “and I appreciate how they benefit from growing things.”

Here’s one of the beauties of Growing Good, she added: It’s not a one-and-done, because you can start at age 6 and, if you wish, stay until you’re 22.

So why has Nancy chosen to support the Arboretum in so many ways?

“Oh,” she says with excitement in her voice, “there are so many classes to take, it’s part of the University with lots of research in areas such as apples — and it’s open year-round.”

“So I encourage people to join!”

Nancy Webster’s connection to the Arboretum has deep roots and is helping future generations to grow.

Photo by Elise Bremer

Julie Weisenhorn, Associate Extension Professor and Educator, shows off freshly planted strawberries at the Foodscape garden in front of the Myers Education Center.

The Burton and Virginia Myers Education Center brings together people, plants and the planet

Mingling among the kale and tomato plants of the newly planted Foodscape last summer, Arboretum and University of Minnesota Extension staff and volunteers celebrated a historic milestone. Located across from the Tashjian Bee and Pollinator Discovery Center and next to the historic Red Barn at the Farm at the Arb, the Burton and Virginia Myers Education Center was officially opened in early summer 2023, bringing to fruition the shared vision of the Arboretum and Extension Master Gardeners.

The Myers Education Center serves as the headquarters for the Arboretum’s Adult Education Programming and the Extension Master Gardener Program and Extension Horticulture Educators, creating a shared space for communication, collaboration and — as Tim Kenny, Director of Education at the Arboretum, puts it — “for magic to happen.” The space also provides a dedicated venue to connect with and engage the public on topics ranging from backyard vegetable gardening

and food preservation to climate adaptation. The dream of a space that would bring these distinct but deeply interconnected facets of the University together at a shared table was long in the making, and wouldn’t be possible without the support of Mary Myers McVay and her sister, Martha Myers Head. The sisters' parents, after whom the building is named, instilled a lifelong love of learning — and horticulture — in their daughters, which coalesced in McVays’s decision to support the construction and

Photo by Cory Ryan

endowment of the new “farmhouse'' at the Farm at the Arb with a significant contribution provided by Head. With this generous gift secured, the groundbreaking ceremony was held in the summer of 2022, and by the summer of the following year, the building was officially open.

Located at the heart of the Farm at the Arb, the Myers Education Center is a hub of activity, featuring offices and meeting spaces for staff, a state-of-the-art Kitchen Classroom and an innovative and edible 5,000-square-foot Foodscape garden

that surrounds the building.

The Foodscape features plants prized for their looks and their flavor and was designed by Julie Weisenhorn, University of Minnesota Horticulture Extension Educator, in collaboration with Extension Turfgrass Educator Jon Trappe and Arboretum staff and was planted with help from a team of Master Gardeners.

This unique landscape is a living canvas that provides visitors with ideas for growing their own food in a creative, sustainable and beautiful way. The garden

features four distinct demonstration gardens including an Edible Front Yard, a Living Grass Patio, a Vegetable Garden and a pollinator- and people-friendly Meadow for Sharing.

Inside the building, the spacious Kitchen Classroom creates even more u

The Burton and Virginia Myers Education Center blends seamlessly with the pastoral landscape surrounding it, including the historic Red Barn, which has stood on the site since 1920. Photo by Cory Ryan

opportunities to educate and inspire learners about the link between plants and the food we eat, further advancing the mission of Education at the Arboretum to connect people, plants and the planet.

New culinary programming will focus on cooking with food grown on farms much like in the fields surrounding the Myers Center. With the arrival of renowned Twin Cities Chef Beth Fisher, Culinary Programmer and Instructor for Adult Education, classes on cooking with locally grown ingredients are heating up at the Farm at the Arb.

Fisher’s career in the restaurant industry includes opening farm-to-table restaurants as well as extensive culinary teaching

— Beth Fisher, Culinary Programmer and Instructor

Chef Beth Fisher demonstrates the many uses of beets in the Kitchen Classroom in the Myers Education Center during the annual Field Fest celebration at the Farm at the Arb.

Photo by Katie Knapp

experience, making her a perfect fit for the role and the new space. “I think I was put on Earth to feed people. I didn’t realize I could do this as a career until I was in college and then I just went after it,” said Fisher. “It’s a very exciting time for the Farm at the Arb to have this kitchen come to life.”

The powerful combination of the Kitchen Classroom and a suite of brand new cooking classes developed by Fisher is a culmination of many unique facets of the Arboretum, incorporating produce from plants developed through the coldhardy plant research of the Horticultural Research Center as well as cutting-edge crops, such as perennial wheatgrass Kernza, grown at the Farm at the Arb. Fisher said having the kitchen in close proximity to the food makes it easier for people to see the bigger picture: “We develop the apples, we grow them, we sell them and now we’re able to have people come here and learn fun ways to use them in the kitchen.”

Without the addition of the Myers Education Center, these individual strengths might have remained siloed, but united, serve to further advance the mission of Education at the Arboretum.

To those who engaged with the Arboretum by taking a cooking class, becoming a member or donating to make the vision for the Myers Education Center a reality, thank you! Your engagement makes it possible for the Arboretum to continue to connect plants, people and the planet.

FINAN C IAL REPORT

July 1, 2022 –June 30, 2023

University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

92% of the Arboretum’s operating revenue was raised through philanthropy, endowment earnings and sales.

Expenses

87% of the Arboretum’s expense went to program support including horticulture, research and education.

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Foundation

The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 23-7081057) that secures and manages philanthropic support exclusively for the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. The Foundation reimburses the University of Minnesota for operating expenses, capital projects that are managed by University of Minnesota Capital Project Management and fundraising expenses paid on its behalf.

CHANGE IN NET ASSETS $6,210,246

*The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Foundation received a capital funding donation of $25M in FY23 that is not represented in this total. The funds are projected to be

2023 ARBORETUM HIGHLIGHTS

The Horticultural Research Center debuted Kudos®, a brand-new apple.

The Arboretum welcomed nearly 600,000 visitors.

Arboretum staff partnered with 1, 439 dedicated volunteers.

Our Youth and Adult Education programming engaged more than 35,000 participants.

42 rare plant populations were relocated through the MN PlantWatch program.

Thank You to Our Donors

Contributions $5,000

$5,000,000+

WEM Foundation

$1,000,000–$4,999,999

B.J. Dahlberg

Cathie Briggs

Delores Isaacson

US Department of Commerce/Economic Development Administration

$500,000–$999,999

Michelle & Jim Brunn

Scott Fisher

USDA NIFA Gus Schumacher

Nutrition Incentive ProgramProduce Prescription Program

$100,000–$499,999

Alan Branhagen

Carmen & Jim Campbell

Michael & Julie Carr

Lori Johnson & James MacKay

The Longview Foundation

James MacKay & Lori Johnson

Minnesota Landscape

Arboretum Auxiliary

Jill Mithun

Craig Moody & Andrea Fell-Moody

Jane Sumi

The Toro Company

$50,000–$99,999

American Public Gardens Association/U.S. Botanic Garden/Chicago Botanic Garden's

Windy City Harvest

Andersen Book Trust

Richard & Sue Anderson

Lee Biersdorf

Linda Brammer

Don & Barb DeCramer

International Paper Foundation

George Jacobsen

Jeff Land

Roger & Nancy McCabe Foundation

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Ruth A. and Raymond A. Reister Charitable

USDA Forest Service/ Chippewa National Forest Windsong Foundation

$25,000–$49,999

Biersdorf Hosch Giving Fund at Fidelity Charitable

Leslie Botko

Gail & Bob Buuck

John A. Clark

Gary Craswell

David CrosbyThe Longview Foundation

Laverne & Barb Dunsmore

Hugh & Joyce Edmondson

Lowell & Merry Gordon

David & Marjorie Hogan

Dan & Ruth Haggerty

Steve & Jan Kirchner Family

George & Mary Lou Klacan

Minnesota Corn

Bruce Potthoff

Jeannine Rivet & Warren Herreid

Richard M. Schulze

Family Foundation

George & Janet Schwartz

John Thielen & Meg Glattly

Sara Jean Thoms

Joseph & Benita Van Sloun

The Webster Family Foundation

$10,000–$24,999

Anonymous

Jennifer & Mark Allen

Julie Andrus

Libby Andrus & Roby Thompson

and above to any fund — July 1, 2022–June 30, 2023

Dale & Ruth Bachman

Bassy & Liliane Bastiaens

Laura Benson

Dennis & Judy Berkowitz

Mary Ann Cameron

Linda & Ken Cutler

Kathie Doerr

Matt & Kathy Dolliff

Mark & Christine Ellison

Jerry & Kay Erickson

Friends of Andersen

Horticultural Library

George Family Foundation

Sea Foam Sales Company

Scott Hebeisen

Hoyt Hsiao & Zhen Zhen Luo

Philip & Milla Isaacson

Jean Jacobs

Chris & Amy Kelley

Emery & Karen Koenig

Bob & Polly McCrea

Dick McFarland

Beth Meester

Chet Meyers

Betsy Packard

Gary & Patti Rickheim

Margaret Rivers Fund

John Ryan

James & Van Sanders

Larry & Carol Schnack

Sea Foam Sales Company

William & Marcelyn Smale

Jacqueline Smith

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Chuck Sorenson

Kent & Susan Swanson

Gregg Thomas & Carol Downie

Jim & Georgia Thompson

Susan Timmerman

Travail Kitchen

Anne & Dennis Twiss

UnitedHealth Group

Pat Whitcomb & Patty Napier

Margaret Wurtele

Gary Zywotko

$5,000–$9,999

Emily Andersen

Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation

Lois Anderson

Debbie Andreas

Lois Anselment

Susan Applegate

Mary Arneson

Dr. Mary Arneson

Barb Bachman

Bailey Nurseries, Inc

Mark & Martha Baker

Pat & Andrea Bassett

Randy & Marcy Betcher

Boss Foundation

Jay & Bryn Braaten

Jim & Marge Brasel

Priscilla Brewster

Jeannie Buckner

Bill Buckner

Dean Buckner

Shala Buckner

Carol Buesgens

Jon & Susan Campbell

Carver County Statewide Health

Improvement Program

Carver County Public Works

Marie Christensen

Edmund & Harriett Chute

Pat Cleveland

Kazuko Collins

Jim & Nan Corwin

Christina Coulas

Douglas & Michaelanne DeGrood

Alan & Lovilla Eidsness

Luke & Rhonda Fowler

Joan & Gerald Fredson

Jo Frerichs

Judy & Howard Fulk

Dan & Marty Gilbert

Bruce Gottsche & Bill Sherrill

Bill & Helen Hartfiel

Bob & Martha Hartfiel

Helen Haupt

Rhonda & Tom Hayes

Martha Head

John & Jean Hedberg

Jim Johnson & Lucy Jones

Sandra & Chris Johnson

Alan & Judy Johnston

Robert & Kathy Jungerberg

Ron & Pam Kaufman

Laurel Krause & Ross Collins

PJ & Wendy Lee

James & Rita Lind

John & Nancy Lindahl

Steve Martin & Maria

Dimitrova-Martin

John & Elizabeth Massie

Minnesota Valley

Electric Cooperative

Ed & Beth Morsman

Karen Nelson

Tom & Nancy Nelson

Nodin Press

Jerry & Rosemary Olerud

D IRECTOR’S

Phil & Cassy Ordway

Bart & Kandi Osborn

Kathy & Steve Persian

Tom & Pat Peterson

Phyllis S. Poehler & Walter E. Stremel Charitable Trust

Hal & Kate Reed

Don & Mary Anne Ryks

Sanford & Wanda Sackter

Shelley Scharping

Contee & Maggie Seely

Diane Shelgren & George Loomis

Sit Investment Associates Foundation

James & Miriam Stake

Glenn & Carrie Stolar

Joe Tashjian & Kay Savik

Mary & David Thun

Heidi Tuttle

USDA Forest Service/ Chequamegon-Nicolet Forest

Jenny Verner

Todd & Lisa Wagner

Mark Walinske & Marcia Miller

Walser Foundation

Frederick & El Winston-The Longview Foundation

Julia Sinclair Winton

C IRCL E

$15,000 and ABOVE to the ANNUAL FUND

American Public Gardens

Association

Richard & Sue Anderson

Julie Andrus

Lee Biersdorf

Leslie Botko

Linda Brammer

Carmen & Jim Campbell

John A. Clark

Gary Craswell

David Crosby

B.J. Dahlberg

Kathie Doerr

Mary Dolan

Hugh & Joyce Edmondson

Jerry & Kay Erickson

Scott Fisher

Jon & Laura Gilmore

Lowell & Merry Gordon

David Griffin & Marjorie Hogan

Dan & Ruth Haggerty

International Paper Foundation

George Jacobsen

Lori Johnson & James MacKay

Morgan Kirchner & Scott Kirchner

Eric & Kate Kirchner

Steven & Jan Kirchner

George & Mary Lou Klacan

The Longview Foundation

Betty MacMillan

Roger & Nancy McCabe

Beth Meester

Minnesota Corn

Lucy Mitchell

Jill Mithun

Gail Munsell

Bruce Potthoff

Jeannine Rivet & Warren Herreid

Ruth A. And Raymond A. Reister

Charitable Trust

John Ryan

George & Janet Schwartz

Kent & Susan Swanson

John Thielen & Meg Glattly

Sara Jean Thoms

Susan Timmerman

Joseph & Benita Van Sloun

Nancy Webster WEM Foundation

LEON SNYDER HERITAGE SOCIETY

Individuals who have made commitments of future estate gifts to the Arboretum are honored as members of the Leon

Snyder Heritage Society.

Anonymous (40)

June L. Aaker

Marlene B. & Carl R. Adams

Leonard M. & Mary Addington

Joyce D. Agnew

Kay M. Yost

Dennis P. Albrecht

Jeffrey A. Albrecht

Frank R. Albrecht

John & Mary Alden

Betty A. Alix

Gary Alkire

Mrs. Darrel R. Alkire

A. Lloyd & Drea Alm

Elaine & Bob Ambrose

Jody Anderly & Steve Anderly

Eleanor & Elmer Andersen

Mary Anne Anderson

Ruth M. Anderson

Bernice M. Anderson

Lee R. Anderson

Joyce L. Anderson

Audrey K. Anderson

June A. Andrix

Jane N. & Colebert L. Andrus

John E. Andrus III

Lois A. Anselment

James P. & Lisa A. Ashley

J. Daniel & Anne Baasen

Lee W. Bachman

Ruth & Dale Bachman

Stanley & Georgia Bachman

Larry & Louise Bachman

Jo & Gordon Bailey

Bill & Patricia Baker

Denis Bakke

Severne M. Banack

Mary A. Bang

Merlin J. Bankenbush

E.W. & Winifred Banktson

Bruce & Carol Barry

Jo Ellen Batty-George

Marion & W. Royce Beamish

Charlotte T. Beattie

Carolyn Beatty

Corrie Ooms Beck

Walter & Katherine Behun

Eve Benesh & John Crowley

Frederick & Ann Bentz

Henry & Diane Benz

Mary I. Berens

Ruth M. Berg

Gary & Helen Bergren

Scott Berry & Kathryn Johnson

Ellen W. Bertram

Beth Gilbertsen Betts

Diane Bierbaum

Lee Biersdorf & Ellyn Hosch

John & Katharine Billman

Debra Bishop

Laura S. Black

Charlotte & James Blakeborough

Darlene & Mike Blazek

Victoria L. Bleise

Florence & James Bock

Barb Bongard

Ruth M. Booman

A. Bosch

Robert & Florence Boughton

Anne Bowman

Armand & Mary Brachman

Richard L. Brachmann

Leila Brammer

Dorene & Tim Brandon

Sandra Brandt

Lloyd & Lois Brandt

Alan J. Branhagen

Priscilla & Jack Braun

Catherine Briggs

David & Lonnie Broden

Marney & Conley Brooks, Sr.

Nancy M. Brooks

Allen & Barbara Brosius

Carol & Jerry Brown

Ann E. Bruggeman

Eugene & Sharon Brumm

James & Michelle Brunn

John & Debra Bryant

Rod & Nancy Bubke

Lyn & Lesley Buchan

George E. Bugbee

& Lucile A. Bugbee

Jim & Blenda Bullard

Ruth H. Cadwell

Carmen & James Campbell

Lynda Carlson

Louise Ann Carlson

Patricia M. & Joe Carlson

Julie M. & Michael J. Carr

Diana Carrigan & Wayne Schmidt

Dick & Marcia Carthaus

James D. & Kathryn A. Catalano

3675 Arboretum Drive

Chaska, Minnesota 55318-9613

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2022-2023 BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Glenn Stolar, President

Kathy Persian, Vice President

Patrick Bassett, Treasurer

Alene Sussman, Secretary

Jennifer Allen

Neil Anderson*

Patrick Bailey

Brian Buhr*

Michelle Brunn

Amy Hapka

Rhonda Fleming Hayes

Isabel Keating*

Karen Koenig

Wendy Lee

Bridget Levin

Zhen Zhen Luo

Cynthia MacMillan

Heather Mainella

Betsy Massie

Catlan McCurdy

Judy Morgan

Ron Olson*

Katina Peterson

David Phelps

Bernadette Piacek-Llanes

Mary Ella Pratte

Christopher Putnam

Diane Shelgren*

Linda Tank

Georgia Thompson*

William H. Upjohn

Jenny L. Verner*

*Appointed by U of M Board of Regents

TRUSTEES EMERITI 2022-2023

Gary Alkire

Julian Andersen

J. Daniel Baasen

Barbara K. Bachman

Dale L. Bachman

Gordon J. Bailey, Jr.

Jo Bailey

Patrick Bailey

Ralph W. Bashioum

Donna Beck

Eve Benesh

Priscilla Brewster

John M. Bryant

Gail Buuck

Carmen D. Campbell

Susan Campbell

Julie Close

David L. Cole

Katherine L. Coward

David Crosby

Susan K. Cross

Linda Cutler

Megan Dayton

Sherry Ann Dayton

Bill Dolan

Kay Erickson

Gary M. Gardner

Ruth Haggerty

Julie Hahn

Helen Hartfiel

John S. Helling

Shadra Hogan

James Hornig

Rusty Huff

Alison Humphrey

George Klacan

Sarah Lindahl

Dave Maiser

Thomas O. Martin

Polly McCrea

Thomas E. Michaels

Kathleen E. Murphy

Catherine T. Nicholson

Peter Olin

Marla Ordway

Kandi Osborn

S. Bartley Osborn

Juliette Primeau

Darwin R. Reedy

Jeannine M. Rivet

Carl J. Rosen

Donald Ryks

Richard Spiegel

Mary Stanley

Barbara Steiner

G. Rolf Svendsen

H.R. Swanson

Joseph Tashjian

Todd Wagner

Frederick L. Wall III

Susan Bachman West

Photo by Jason Boudreau-Landis