Our Fundraising Goals
In an agreement with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, Voices of the Roses is raising funds to restore, beautify, and maintain the Lyndale Park Rose Garden for generations to come. Funds will be appropriated as donations are received, in the order listed below.
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Please click on each numbered goal for a little more detail.
- 01
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board will contract a company to install an in-ground irrigation system for each of the interiors of the (62) rose beds, rose beds surrounding the Heffelfinger Fountain, and roses on the inside and outside of the garden fence border, and for all Rose Garden turf including a 30-foot extension beyond the Rose Garden fence line on all four sides. The garden currently uses an overhead irrigation system which can induce development of mold on the leaves of the bushes.
- 02
The Rose Garden's beauty depends on skilled hands and attentive care. We are raising funds to support a dedicated Rose Gardener and Assistants - specialized interns who will be funded entirely through community donations and fundraising efforts, rather than through the Parks Board's limited resources.
- 03
The goal is to purchase new concrete blankets to cover the rose garden beds for ease of installation and better insulation during our long, cold, Winter months.
- 04
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board will contract a company to install new paths within the garden before replacement, renovation, and repair of existing hardscape paths and surfaces. (See number 7).
- 05
UPDATE! Thanks to the generous donation of more than 450 rose plants and bushes from Certified Roses in Tyler, Texas, the beds are now brimming with roses!
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Replacement of roses are needed in 62 rose beds, rose beds surrounding the Heffelfinger Fountain, and roses on the border of the inside and outside of the Rose Garden fence line. Each bed can hold a capacity of 32 rose bushes. The Lyndale Park Rose Garden could currently use approximately 10 additional plants in each bed to bring them to capacity.
- 06
Fence replacement will be inspired by the original, historic, 1911 Rose Garden fence.
- 07
UPDATE! Two new benches with backs and arms have been placed on the South side of the rose garden! We could certainly use a few more however, we are so pleased to be making progress thanks to generous donations.
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Six new benches to be located inside the Rose Garden fence line before replacement of ten existing benches meaning, the benches that surround and are found nearest to the Heffelfinger Fountain.
- 08
New plumbing is needed for both the Heffelfinger Fountain, located on the patio directly north of the Rose Garden, and the Phelps (Turtle) Fountain, located on the far north side of the Lyndale Park Rose Garden, outside the annual and perennial gardens.
- 09
To include hardscape surfaces surrounding the Heffelfinger Fountain beginning only after new paved pathways have been installed.
- 10
UPDATE! The Japanese beetle infestation has been kept under control since 2023 with companion planting and good fortune!
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Number one on our list of priorities is to address the Japanese beetles - an environmental disorder that threatens the roses each season. These insects are constantly eating the blooms and continuing to reproduce throughout the May to September growing season. Their presence also discourages bees and butterflies from pollinating due to physically blocking the blooms where the pollinators would typically land. Qualified Rose Garden Interns will be integral in collaborating with the Minneapolis Park Board and its current rose gardener on ways in which to control the Japanese beetle infestation and to keep the beetles from proliferating and spreading to nearby private gardens.