Four generations of growing skills featured in OAC garden tour

Four generations, and other family members, are showing their growing skills for the Owatonna Art Center’s Secret Garden tour this year.

One of the six gardens to be open to ticket holders on Sunday, July 20, is on a Century Farm owned by sisters Jane Middlestadt and Judy Hayes. It is a fundraiser for the Owatonna Arts Center, an annual event for more than 20 years. By tradition, there’s only one home garden that is known about in advance. The rest of the gardens and addresses are revealed at the Art Center that Sunday morning.

Tickets at $20 in advance are now being sold at the Arts Center and at Kottke’s. The tour is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and advance ticket holders can pick up the list of gardens and addresses at the Arts Center, starting at 9:45 that day. Tickets sold on the day of the tour are $25.

There are eight garden beds featured on the 6712 Rose Street farm. Some have been on the farm for decades, others are newer. The beds are outlined by rocks and are covered in natural wood mulch to reduce the number of weeds.

“Judy loves rocks,” said her sister, Jane. “That’s why the rocks, all taken from the farm, border the gardens. Judy’s really the planter but I weed. It is always a work in progress.

“This year Judy planted a bed of marigolds within the border of the old chicken coop. She always wanted to do that. She used a variety of marigolds because the deer don’t like those flowers,” said Jane. There are also pots of annuals dotted with color that Judy has planted.

South of the house is a Minnesota native bed that Jane says is her favorite. On the west side of the farm house is a Hosta bed, started by her late mother, Elvira, with a variety of the green plants nestled into the rocks.

The Rose Street farm with its old address, Rt. 3, was named a Century Farm in 2011 but was likely to have been in the Bill and Mayme Middlestadt farm, Jane and Judy’s grandparents, before 1911 followed by their son, Derald and his wife Elvira who farmed it for decades. Jane and Judy grew up there and Jane has always lived on the family farm. Judy is married to Dan Hayes, and they live in Rochester but spend a lot of time on the farm.

The Iris bed, one of the four perennial gardens on the west side, has the plants from Dan’s mom, Connie’s gardens in Lansing Corners and a lily garden. There is also a fenced vegetable garden with tomatoes, rhubarb, beans, asparagus, and cabbage, grown for the family project of making sauerkraut.

Judy’s daughter, Jayme Neverton of St. Paul is a graphic artist and a master gardener. She and her husband, Alex, have two corgis. She updated the poster for the garden tour and will be at the farm to answer any questions visitors might have.

Visitors to the Middlestadt gardens are invited to pull into the driveway and park on the grass. Volunteers will help direct the parking. Jane has a golf cart and a side-by-side vehicle, so the farm tour is handicap accessible.

“We are looking forward to sharing our farm with you,” said Jane.

Special thanks from the Arts director

Silvan Durben, artistic director at the Owatonna Arts Center, thanks the hosts of the six gardens for participating in the fundraiser. The gardens are a collection of those from people who volunteer and those who are encouraged to volunteer after he “scouts” the city for the gardens. It has been called a secret garden tour because mostly they are in the back and side yards of homes, places that people just can’t see by driving past.

He also thanks the volunteers from the Friends of the Owatonna Arts Center for their assistance.

Tickets for $20 in advance are on sale at the Arts Center and at Kottke’s. They are also available at the events tab on the OAC website for $21. Ticket holders will need to come by the Arts Center on Sunday for the list of homes, gardens and addresses.

“Seeing the gardens on a Sunday late morning and afternoon is a lovely experience for all who attend and is of great benefit to the Arts Center,” said Silvan. “I thank everyone.”