Higbie Gardens
Published 10:07 am Monday, July 7, 2008
Just a few years ago, a walk through Higbie Gardens in Albert Lea may have seemed more like a visit to a dandelion field than stroll through a community showplace.
But today, thanks to the efforts of the Shades of Jade Regional Garden Club, whose members took on Higbie as a community project in 2002, the spot is once again a showplace.
The gardens are in Albert Lea’s Shoff Park, south of St. John’s Lutheran Home and visible from Minnesota Highway 13.
This designated garden spot in a city park is named for Floyd C. and Dorothy G. Higbie. The couple became well known in the region for their expertise with flowering plants and their small business, Higbie Gardens Nursery. However, the original gardens were located in another part of the city.
Floyd Higbie was a graduate of the University of Minnesota School of Agriculture, worked for a plant nursery in Eden Prairie, and came to Albert Lea in 1926. After they were married in 1927, the couple established their large flower garden near the corner of St. John and Southeast Broadway avenues.
In time, the large outdoor garden became a local attraction and scenic spot for people coming into the city from the south on Highway 65. There was a variety of colorful plants. One plant area gardeners still associate with the Higbies is the iris.
By the early 1970s, several factors led to the demise of the gardens developed by the Higbies. First, a widening project for Highway 65 took a portion of the property. Second, Bill Evans wanted to purchase their property for the expansion of his adjoining business, Evans Motors. Third, the Higbies wanted to retire. Yet, they hoped to at least preserve the plants in their gardens, even if it involved transplanting to another location.
By 1974, the Higbies had moved to a new home on nearby Manor Avenue. However, an attempt to re-establish the gardens in Memorial Park, just across the street, didn’t work out.
About this time, the Albert Lea Lions Club was involved in a project to convert a large plot of city land next to state Highway 13 into a park. Over a two-year period the club spent over $7,000 to lay out a parking lot, build a children’s play area and a picnic shelter, and provide a small footbridge over the stream dividing the proposed park area. Much of this work was done by Lions Club members, plus volunteers.
Members of the Albert Lea Garden Club, which was organized in 1958, decided they would help with the project by transplanting the Higbie Gardens to this site.
In 1976, the new Higbie Gardens and park area was turned over to the city. The park was named for Dr. Niles R. Shoff, former Albert Lea mayor and Lions Club member.
Through the years the members of the Albert Lea Garden Club, with help from the Higbies, maintained the large cluster of flowers and shrubs on the north side of Shoff Park.
Floyd C. Higbie died in April 1988; Dorothy G. (Gray) Higbie died in October 1993. And in time the Albert Lea Garden Club faded away and Higbie Gardens suffered from neglect.
The Shades of Jade Regional Garden Club, which includes members of the earlier Albert Lea Garden Club, started in the early 1990s.
When members took on the rehabilitation project, they moved shrubs so they were artistically placed. They planted trees. They tried to control invasive plants. They increased the surface area of the gardens and extended the east edge. They put in at least 28 varieties of perennials — many from their own gardens — and planted bulbs.
Have you read Southern Minnesota magazine? You can read more stories just like this one on Higbie Gardens. Find the magazine at various drop spots around the city or at the Tribune offices. Check out the Web site, too: SouthernMinnesotaMagazine.com
People will see tulips and daffodils, viberum, shrubs, Japanese pagoda, dogwood, shrub roses, peonies, lilies, ornamental grasses, hibiscus, an abundance of hostas, yaro, sedum, laetris and aster — just to name a few.
In its plan, the club has tried to have something colorful blooming from spring through fall, said President Margie Murtaugh.
Some of the club’s goals include adding labels to all the plants and to gather up the Higbie irises and create an iris bed.
Club members are quick to credit Albert Lea for support in bringing back the bloom to the gardens. Parks staff have hauled in loads of wood chips, peat moss and black dirt, they said.
Some items have been planted in the gardens as memorials. “It’s a good place to do memorials for people who loved gardening,” said longtime member Hazel Sherman.
One such memorial is the children’s garden. The garden is dedicated to the memory of Mary Ann Hopper, a garden club member who died in February 2002. Shades of Jade members work with children from The Children’s Center’s St. John’s site. One year they planted flowers together and there was a marker for each child’s flower. They could bring their families to show what they’d planted. Another time, the club planted mini-pumpkins for the children.
The children’s garden has many plants with animal names, including lamb’s ear and snapdragons, as well as sunflowers and an egg tree.
“We choose things that we think will be interesting for children,” said member Helen Knapp.
Murtaugh said the gardens have become a popular site for taking photos of children, for graduation portraits and for weddings.
Members spend countless hours working in the garden each summer. For them, it’s a labor of love.