In the beginning...

Once upon a time there was a garden in a little park tucked away between three streets and two little neighborhoods in Northeast Minneapolis. There were neighbors who installed a lovely winding path through the park using granite blocks. They built a raised bed bordered with the same granite blocks. There was a man who provided water from his home in order to help the garden grow. Neighbors who were gardeners came and took care of the gardens in the park. Then the man who provided the water from his house died. Without water, it was difficult for the neighbors to care for the garden and after awhile the gardens died, too. Over time, the garden went to weeds and wild flowers.Difficult economic times came and some people in the city began to lose their homes to foreclosure. One woman in the neighborhood was losing her home and needed a place to move her perennials to places they could be cared for. She found the raised bed in the park. It looked like this:
Across the street from the park was a fire hydrant, and with permission from the Park Board to take care of the Park, and $80 to pay for a water permit, the woman was set to move plants into the Park. The Park Board has a rule that no chemicals to kill weeds or bugs may be used on Park property, so all the weeds had to be removed by hand. After years of neglect, this took many, many hours. Finally, after two growing seasons, the Park looks like this:

There are many, many different types of plants in the Park. Alot of them came from the woman's gardens at the home she lost. Others were rescued from properties on which the houses were going to be demolished. That is why the woman sometimes calls this place Foreclosure Park.