Beginning with the spring of 1910 and for all the following years, Eloise Butler would remain in the city to be near her Garden. Once she had retired from teaching in 1911, her summer trips back east to visit her sister Cora would now be restricted to the winter months. March 1910 was the warmest March in all local history down to the present day, allowing Garden activities to start early.

Eloise began her Garden activities around March 21st, while the school year was still in session. She noted on that date that the frost was out of the ground and that she planted three Skunk cabbages (Symplocarpus foetidus) from a source in Minnetonka plus she planted some Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) in the "swamp."

She continued extensive planting for the next three weeks. This first group includes species that are still extant in the Garden and can be viewed by visitors or at least, have been noted on Garden checklists in recent years. Click the link on the name for more detailed information and photos of each species:

Blue Violets, False Rue Anemone, Highbush Cranberry, Jacob's Ladder, Miterwort, New England Asters, Ninebark, Self-heal, Shooting Star and Witch Hazel.

She reports on the 14th of April that she replanted a variety of trees in the “Pinetum” to replace those destroyed by fire, which indicates an early spring grass fire had done some damage. As the Garden was not fenced at this time, it could have been set by someone also. In April 1934 there was another fire in this area that started outside the Garden fence, consumed a small building and did some damage within the Garden. (The "Pinetum" was located west of the bog in what is now the NW corner of the Woodland Garden.)

April 17th brought snow and heavy frost for the next three nights but new planting continued. Some of the sources for her plants were on the East Coast: Kelsey’s Nurseries, Boxford MA and Gillett’s Nursery, Southwick, MA. Local sources included Groveland Park, St. Paul; Fort Snelling; Osceola, WI; Mahtomedi; Glenwood Park; and Cokato, MN.

Eloise noted that from Osceola see obtained Steironema ciliatum - now named Lysimachia ciliata, which is Fringed Loosestrife, and only “discovered that the latter was indigenous and abundant!” On April 18th "Robert-runaway" was in bloom. (This is an interesting name and we have found no references that tell us what plant this name refers to. It may be a typing mistake in her log as the previous year she had planted Dalibarda repens which is called Robin-runaway.)

In May her plantings of extant plants included:

Bush Honeysuckle, Goldenseal, Large Flowered Trillium, Nodding Wild Onion, Northern Bedstraw, Prairie Rose, Red Baneberry, Shrubby St. Johnswort, Snow Trillium, Spiderwort and Wild Oats. Brittle (Fragile) Bladder Fern, (Cystopteris fragilis); from Excelsior Springs, MO. Larkspur (Prairie) Violet, (Viola pedatifida); from Minnehaha (Minneapolis); Southern Arrowwood, (M.C.), (Viburnum pubescens - now Viburnum dentatum L. var. dentatum); from Osceola, WI.

Early Plantings not present today:

Eloise also brought into the Garden a number of plants that are not listed today on the Garden visitor guides. Many of these were native to Minnesota and a few were not. Here is a listing of most of those plants introduced in the Spring - first by the common and botanical names she used followed by other common names for the same plant and the newer botanical classifications, if any; then by her source for the material. 1910 is the first year the following list of plants occur in her log.

Native:

• Bearberry (Kinnikinnick); (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi - now classified as Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (L.) Spreng); Kelsey's Nursery, North Carolina
• Common Goldstar (Yellow star grass); (Hypoxis hirsuta) ; Cokato, MN
• Golden Saxifrage, (Chrysosplenium L.); Osceola, WI
• Groundplum Milkvetch (Ground Plum); (Astragalus caryocarpus - now Astragalus crassicarpus Nutt. var. crassicarpus); Minnehaha (Minneapolis)
• Lance-leaf Tickseed, (Coreopsis lanceolata); Jewell's Nursery, Lake City, MN and Gillett's Nursery, Mass.
• Lesser Rattlesnake Plantain, (Epipactis repens - now Goodyera repens (L.) R. Br.); Kelsey's Nursery, North Carolina
• Pasque Flowers (Cutleaf Anemone); (Anemone patens - now Pulsatilla patens (L.) Mill. ssp. multifida (Pritz.) Zamels); Minnehaha (Minneapolis)
• Scarlet Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea - now Castilleja coccinea (L.) Spreng.); Fort Snelling and Mahtomedi, MN.
• Silverberry (Elaeagnus argentea - now Elaeagnus commutata Bernh. ex Rydb.); Jewell's Nursery, Lake City, MN
• Tobacco Root (Tap-rooted Valerian or Edible Valerian); (Valeriana edulis -now Valeriana edulis Nutt. ex Torr. & A. Gray ); Fort Snelling (Minneapolis)
• Widow's Frill (Starry Campion); (Silene stellata - now Silene stellata (L.) W.T. Aiton); Kelsey's Nursery, North Carolina
• Yellow Water Buttercup; (Ranunculus flabellaris); Mahtomedi, MN
• Yellow Indian Paintbrush (Downy Painted Cup); (Castilleja sessiliflora - now Castilleja sessiliflora Pursh); Fort Snelling. (Note: Eloise does not give a botanical name, but this species is the only Yellow Paintbrush native to MN and in the area of her collection so we presume it is this species.)

Non-Native:

• Fire Pink, (Silene virginica); Kelsey's Nursery, North Carolina
• Pipevine (Dutchman's Pipe), (Aristolochia macrophylla); Jewell's Nursery, Lake City, MN (Note - present in Minnesota, but introduced)
• Virginia Bunchflower, (Melanthium virginicum now - Veratrum virginicum (L.) W.T. Aiton); Kelsey's Nursery, North Carolina
• Withe-rod, (Viburnum cassinoides - now Viburnum nudum L. var. cassinoides (L.) Torr. & A. Gray); Jewell's Nursery, Lake City, MN

Eloise kept notes of the arrival of various birds, noting the arrival on May 8th of the Peabody Birds (An older term for a White Throated Sparrow). On May 28th she noted the Large Twayblade, (Liparis lilifolia), was in bloom. Twenty five years later Martha Crone would report replanting this species. On the same date Eloise noted that she “stroked the back of a baby crow that sat motionless on a low bough in the swamp.”

Despite the mid-April cold snap, the spring weather was actually quite warm with average temperatures well above average from mid-March to the end of April, with the pattern repeating in June.

Curator Martha Crone Opened the Garden for the season on April 1st and noted that many birds were already present in the Garden and the pond was ice free. She found patches of Snow trillium (Trillium nivale) in bloom with one patch having over 70 blossoms, but it began to snow and soon all were snowed under. By April 4th the pond had 1/2” of ice and it snowed six inches that day. Like many spring seasons, it melted the next day and heavy rains occurred on the 11th with frost at night.

On April 14, she planted 15 Pasque flowers (Anemone patens) that came from a source in Fridley and also noted the presence of Myrtle Warblers in the Garden. The weather was just not cooperative as the temperature plunged 40 degrees that day to a low of 22. But still the bloodroots bloomed. The next day was bitter cold, 16 degrees, and now there was 3/4” of ice on the pond. The snow trilliums didn’t mind and were still in bloom.

On the 22nd she transplanted the 36 small Kentucky Coffeetree (Gymnocladus canadensis) that had been acquired the previous fall and heeled in over the winter.

May began with several inches of snow, the last significant snowfall of the spring. By May 4th she noted a bluebird nesting in the nesting box next to the office. Her May plantings included some plants she had not previously planted in the Garden:

• American Ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) (Eloise Butler first planted this in 1907)
• Aaron's Rod (Live-forever) (Sedum purpurem now classified as Hylotelephium telephium (L.) H. Ohba ssp. telephium) Extant.
• Bitternut Hickory (Carya cordiformis) . Extant.
• Fire Pink (Silene virginica) (Eloise Butler first planted this in 1910)
• Hoary Puccoon (Lithospermum canescens) (Eloise Butler first planted this in 1910)
• Tobacco Root (Tap-rooted Valerian or Edible Valerian) (Valeriana edulis Nutt. ex Torr. & A. Gray) (Eloise Butler first planted this in 1910)
• Crested Shield Fern (Crested Wood Fern) (Aspidium cristatum now classified as Dryopteris cristata (L.) A.Gray). Extant.

All are native to Minnesota except for the Fire Pink and Live-forever. She does not list her source for plants of Fire Pink and Live-forever that she obtained, but all the remainder are from local metro area sources. Eloise Butler had planted American Ginseng as early as 1907.

On June 1st she planted some Geum triflorum, which she called Purple Avens - a common name that is sometimes applied to Geum triflorum but more correctly belongs to the similar G. rivale and that is perhaps what she meant as G. rivale is a plant of moist woodland and G. triflorum more of the upland. Miss Butler had also established some of these plants years earlier. They evidently are not a long-lived species.

There were good rains in May and early June to help the plants along, ending a drought that had persisted during the early 1930s. Large quantities of morel mushrooms were found this spring.

In the Garden, Gardener Ken Avery discovers that there has been extensive loss to the Trilliums during the winter. (The Winter of 1958-59 was also very hard on the Garden plants.)

In The Fringed Gentian™, Friends President Dorothy Binder notes that The Friends must work for new members. She outlines a plan for a day of conducted tours for members in the Garden and they need to bring along a potential new member. The outing is held on May 14th with great success and 24 new members are signed. Martha Crone writes about Chicory and New Jersey Tea and she prints the poem by Blake:

The sun does arise
And make happy the skies
The merry bells ring
To welcome the Spring.

The Friends make an annual donation of $500 to the Park Board for general Garden operations. This annual gift was begun in 1952-53. Meanwhile, the weather returned to fairly average temperatures in the spring except for a few hot days in April. Rainfall was not heavy but sufficient during the spring months.

Martha Crone was not only secretary of the Friends, which included membership duties, but also editor of the Friends newsletter The Fringed Gentian™. In these positions she received numerous letters relating to being in charge of membership and about her gardening skills. Here are two examples:

1. Robert Dassett (who would later be President of The Friends 1971-1975) writes on May 18th. ”Enclosed is a check for $5 to enroll me as a Friend. A thousand dollars couldn’t even begin to repay for the wonderful hours spent in the Garden. I’ll cherish forever those moments spent on the paths in the Garden and also in your little cabin chatting about all sorts of wonderful things, but mostly about birds and flowers.”

2. On May 21 Martha has a communication from Mrs. Ellsworth (Miriam) Bushnell in which she says she is sending a bunch of corms that had not bloomed in ten years and could Martha identify them!

Chicory (Cichorium intybus L.)

In the Spring issue of The Fringed Gentian™, Friends President Pat Thomesen reported that recruiting for volunteers was underway. Volunteer coordinators were Shirley Schultz and Joyce Smeby. (Shirley would continue in this volunteer position until 2005). Editor Betty Bridgman printed a report from the Naturalists who had worked in the Garden in 1984. In April, Gardener Ken Avery was interviewed on public radio station KSJN and the Friends held a “Garden Potluck” at the Martha Crone Shelter.

The Annual Membership Meeting of the Friends was held May 18th at the Martha Crone Shelter. Patricia Thomeson was reelected President; Emil Elfmann - Vice President; Elizabeth Bryan - Secretary; and Natalie Adler - Treasurer. Curator Ken Avery reported that everything in the Garden was “ridiculously early” compared to 1984 when everything was only “unseasonably early” and that there had been fewer bird migrants than usual through the Garden. Certainly the weather had much to do with that: Daily temperatures in March, April and the first half of May were well above average with a number of days in April above 80 degrees. Precipitation was good also: There was another 12 inch snowfall in early April and good rains in May and June.

Garden Hours: Following the successful test in 1984 of a later closing time for the Garden, in 1985, the season began with the daily Garden-open hours being 7:30 AM till Dusk, which schedule has been followed ever since. Besides the volunteer help in the Shelter, Ken had four naturalists to help: Linda Buehring and Laurie Haugen returned from the 1984 season and they were joined by David Rafferty and David Eitzman.

The Park Board’s Foreman of Horticulture, Don Hasty, would report confiscating from rogue pickers, trash bags full of fiddle heads from Ostrich Ferns.

The Garden re-opened for the season on April 1st but as the weather the first week of April was cold, visitors were few, but those who arrived on opening day were treated to free cookies. Gardener Cary George found a deer carcass in the Upland Garden indicating that deer had gotten into the Garden during the winter. Renner & Sons, who had re-drilled the well at the Great Medicine Spring the previous year, installed the hand pump that the Friends voted in January to approve. Cary George planted twelve new Showy Lady’s-slippers (Cypripedium reginae) - photo at right - and two clumps of Yellow Lady’s-slippers (Cypripedium calceolus var. pubescens).

At the Friends Board Meeting on April 10th, it was decided to purchase five pair on new binoculars for the Martha Crone Shelter. There was also discussion of replacement of some old railroad ties that lined certain of the paths in the Garden and of replacing the benches in the patio area in front of the Martha Crone Shelter. These maintenance projects would be funded by The Friends but work would not be done until after the Garden closed in the fall to avoid disruption.

Peace Corps workers would be working for the Park Board people this summer including several days in Wirth Park and The Garden beginning on May 20th when some planting would occur in the Prairie area followed by work in Wirth Park repairing trails and removing sumac and poplars.

In The Spring issue of The Fringed Gentian™ Friends president Steve Pundt (photo at right) discussed the background of the Great Medicine Spring and the well restoration work being funded by The Friends. (For more detail see the 1999 and 2000 articles.)

It was reported by the Volunteer Coordinators that the list of Shelter volunteers was up to 52 people. Four new members had joined The Friends since January 1st. Friends’ Volunteer Judy Jones was spotlighted for her 10 years of volunteer contribution (and she still was a volunteer in 2009).

The Annual Meeting of The Friends of the Wild Flower Garden was held on Saturday May 20th at the Martha Crone Shelter. Officers elected for a one-year term were: Steve Pundt, president; Lyle Johnson, Vice President; George Jaquith, Treasurer; and Juanita Lussenhop, Secretary.

During the Spring The Friends received notice that they would be recipients of an annual grant from the Mendon Schutt Family Fund, courtesy of long time Friends member Elizabeth Schutt. After the cold opening week of the Garden, weather was more normal with good amounts of rain in May and June.