1909
History of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

Preliminary notes about the plants.Native Status: Some of the plants obtained by Eloise Butler in the early years of the Garden were not native to Minnesota or if native, may have been difficult to establish in the Garden. Most of these are no longer present. Martha Crone was somewhat more selective of native plant material, but also brought in many non-native species, and many of her imports have not survived either. The plants illustrated here, so one can see what they looked like, are mostly of the class no longer extant in the Garden. Species still extant at the time of Martha Crone's 1951 census are marked "(M.C.)". As for plants mentioned here that are still present in the Garden today, there may have been numerous re-plantings, and most have a web link to a detailed information/photo page, or, if not, are noted as being present in the Garden today - these are not illustrated in this article. Botanical classification: Over the years Botanists have reclassified many plants from the classifications in use at the time Eloise Butler wrote her Garden Log or when Martha Crone prepared her census. I have retained the nomenclature that Eloise Butler or Martha Crone used and then provided the more current classification as used by the major listings in use today, particularly Flora of North America, and the Annotated Checklist of the Vascular Flora of Minnesota.

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The spring of 1909 was a busy season of planting for Eloise Butler even as she completed the year's teaching duties in the Minneapolis School System. Good snow depth during the early months of the year (over 10 inches yet at the end of February) and March rains brought plenty of moisture to start the Spring season.

As early as April 4th, she reported planting some Geum triflorum, which is commonly called Old Man's Whiskers or Prarie Smoke. The common name Purple Avens is sometimes incorrectly applied to Geum triflorum but more correctly belongs to the similar G. rivale. G. rivale is a plant of moist woodland and G. triflorum more of the upland. She had gathered these from the plateau area near Minnehaha Falls so the identification as G. triflorum should be correct.

Early Plantings not present today (see notes at top of page):

On the May 19th she planted a large number of species that she had arranged to be sent from Gillett’s nursery in Southwick, Mass. A number of these plants are not listed today on the Garden visitor guides. Many of these were native to Minnesota and a few were not. Of the plants received, some were introduced to the Garden for the first time in the Spring of 1909 (this being the first reference to them in her Garden Log). Here is a listing of most of those plants. If planted on a different date, that date is given.

Native to Minnesota:

• Canada Yew (also called American Yew); (M.C.); (Taxus canadensis); Gillett’s. Extant.
• Cheerfull Sunflower, (Helianthus scaberrimus - now - Helianthus - lateriflorus [pauciflorus _ tuberosus]; Gillett’s
• Narrowleaf Stoneseed; (Lithospermum angustifolium -now- Lithospermum incisum); Pt. Douglas, MN. May 31st.
• Squirrel Corn; (M.C.); (Dicentra canadensis); Gillett’s
• Twisted Stalk Lily; (M.C.); (Streptopus roseus -this species is subdivided: There is a variety growing on the east coast- (Streptopus lanceolatus var. roseus), which is probably what arrived from Gillett’s, and there is a Minnesota native - (Streptopus lanceolatus var. longipes); Gillett’s
• Yellow Widelip Orchid; (Liparis loeselii); Gillett’s

Not Native to Minnesota:

• Green False Hellbore; (M.C.); (Veratrum viride); Gillett’s
• Hobblebush; (Viburnum lantanoides); Gillett’s
• Narrowleaf Gentian; (Gentiana linearis); Gillett’s. (There are several varieties of G. linearis. Based on her source of Gillett’s in Southwick, it does not seem probable that she brought in the species that is native to Minnesota, but which is not native to anywhere near the East Coast - the local species being a variety of G. linearis now classified as Gentiana rubricaulis. It is more probable that what came was the species native to the east coast. In 1911 Eloise brought in additional plants from the same source. However, in Martha Crone’s 1951 census she lists the Narrowleaf Gentian, then present in the Garden, as Gentiana rubricaulis but that is undoubtedly due to Martha herself having collected Narrowleaf Gentian on the North Shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota in the summer of 1941, where Gentiana rubricaulis grows, and the old plants of Eloise Butler having died out.)

Within several days she had planted all those listed above along with a number of trees and shrubs that were provided by the Park Board; these included:

Eastern White Pine,
Red Pine,
Balsam Fir,
Northern White Cedar,
Eastern Red Cedar,
Eastern Redbud [not native to MN but grown by the Park Board]
Canada Yew,
Sugar Maple,
Black Walnut,
Balsam Poplar,
White Ash
Green Ash,
Mountain Ash, believed to be American Mt. Ash.
Honey Locust and
Kentucky Coffeetree.

Some of these went into an area she called the “Pinetum” which she located on the west hillside overlooking the wetland. For an unknown reason she had also ordered Canada Yew from Gillett's and noted it in the May 19th log entry (see above) when they were available from the Park Board Nursery.

On May 28th she planted another large grouping of trees and shrubs including:

Black Willow,
Kentucky Coffeetree,
Honey Locust,
Common Locust,
Buttonwood (American Sycamore),
Pin cherry,
Black Cherry,
Choke Cherry,
Nannyberry,
Redbud,
Striped Maple and
Mountain Maple.

The selection from Gillett’s also included a number of ferns and fern allies, eight of which were planted for the first time in the Garden. Only one is extant today. These were (Native status noted):

• Blunt-lobed Cliff Fern; (M.C.); (Woodsia obtusa.); Native
• Braun's Holly Fern; (M.C.); (Aspidium braunii -now- Polystichum braunii); Native
• Hay-scented Fern (Eastern Hay-scented); (Dicksonia punctilobula -now- Dennstaedtia punctilobula); Not native.
• Purple Cliff Brake Fern; (M.C.); (Pellaea atropurpurea); Native
• Silvery Spleenwort (Silver False Spleenwort); (M.C.); (Asplenium thelypteroides - now - Deparia acrostichoides); Native. Extant.
• Ternate Grape Fern; (Botrychium ternatum -now- Botrychium rugulosum); Native

Throughout the spring she gathered plants from sites around Minnesota including Big Island in Minnetonka, Point Douglas, Anoka and Mahtomedi. Those still represented in the Garden today are:

Dwarf Trout Lily,
Heartleaf Foamflower,
Great St. Johnswort,
White Baneberry and
Dogtooth Violet (Yellow Trout Lily).

She also found it noteworthy to record seeing these birds: Indigo Bunting, Hermit Thrush, Peabody Bird, Myrtle Warbler, Maryland Yellow Throat and bluebirds.