Welcome
to the Excelsior Men's Garden Club Website
The Excelsior Men’s Garden Club is a voluntary, nonprofit organization,
originally founded more than 70 years ago.
It has evolved over that time with two main goals:
To keep Excelsior beautiful by planting
and maintaining the many lovely gardens of the city
To enjoy the collegiality and companionship
of our diverse membership group
Who are the members of
the Excelsior Men’s Garden Club (EMGC)?
There are approximately 30+ members of our club, with more always welcome. We are almost entirely retired individuals who were either raised in the Lake Minnetonka area or spent most of our working lives in the region.
Our backgrounds are diverse, ranging from careers in management, law-enforcement, engineering, highly skilled trades, education, sales and business entrepreneurs and healthcare providers.
Our diversity generates a strong feeling of collegiality that extends well beyond the short periods of Minnesota’s spring and summer. Members meet weekly in fall and winter for “coffee klatches” and annually for picnics and holiday parties, where all family members are invited.
In keeping with the values of our club, our members regularly volunteer for multiple nonprofit organizations in the Lake Minnetonka area.
What does the EMGC do?
There are five gardens in Excelsior that are planted and maintained by the EMGC. Four are flower gardens. One is a vegetable garden:
1.The Arey Memorial Garden (next to the Excelsior Elementary School)
2.The Port of Excelsior Garden
3.The Historical Garden (adjacent to the Excelsior library)
4.The Veteran’s Memorial Garden (near Lake Street and 2nd Street)
5.A community vegetable plot (off of County Road 19)
Members are assigned to one of the gardens and during the spring and summer growing season members meet weekly on Monday mornings (weather permitting) to prepare, plant, and maintain the gardens. Members partake of vegetables from the club garden with a large portion of produce donated to local food shelves.
After Monday gardening chores members meet at the Port of Excelsior for coffee and pastries.There are four business meetings in the non-growing season where decisions are made regarding plantings, member recruitment, finances, and club officer elections. Educational programs with master gardener speakers and trips to specialty growers also are arranged.
The club hosts an annual family picnic in the summer and a year’s end holiday party, where all family members participate. Collegiality and friendship are an important part of our club. Thus, members meet informally in the “off season” on Monday mornings at a local fast-food facility for coffee, snacks, and conversation.
Some Examples Of Our Work
An Invitation to Join Our Club
Our club welcomes new members, individuals who enjoy gardening, the outdoors, beautiful plants, and the opportunity to interact with similar-minded individuals in an informal and creative setting.
The club has a booth at Excelsior’s “Apple Days” and “Art on the Lake” events to inform the community about the club and to recruit new members.
If you are interested in learning more, please send us an email at: excmgc@gmail.com.
Current Leadership of the EMGC
Officers for 2024
(Officers are elected for one-year terms, that can be renewed)
President: Jerry Laughlin
Vice-President: James May
Secretary: John Nelson
Treasurer: Gregg Thomas
Historian: Leslie Nelson
Our Valued Club Supporters
Our club is a volunteer, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, but our work would not be possible without the generous financial support of a number of entities and businesses, including the following:
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The City of Excelsior
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Kowalski's Market in Excelsior via "Groceries For Good Purposes" (receipts for purchases are placed into the EMGC box present after the check-out counter)
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Maynard's Restaurant
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The Independent Order of Odd fellows:
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Excelsior Lodge
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Hopkins Lodge
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The Garden Patch
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Excelsior Rotary Foundation
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Multiple club members and friends of the club
To all of the above we say:
Thank you!
Our funds are used to purchase items for the gardens, such as benches and tables, to renovate and repair structures, such as the fountain in the Veteran’s Memorial Garden, to recompense educational speakers to our club, and to participate in recruitment and informative venues such as Apple Days and Art on the Lake.
If you wish to make a tax-deductible donation to help us fulfill our missions, please email: excmgc@gmail.com
A "Brief" History of Our Club
The concept for a men’s garden club that evolved into the EMGC was conceived almost 75 years ago by Mr. Ray Wolfe in 1948. An organizational meeting was held at the home of Mr. George Hitchcock where a member of the Minneapolis Men’s Garden Club and a member of the Men’s Garden Clubs of America spoke. The first formal meeting of the new club occurred on January 10, 1948 with 37 participants. The original name of the club was “The Minnetonka Men’s Garden Club” (MMGC). Officers elected were: President- Mr. George R. Hitchcock; Vice-President- Professor Franklin Wallace (U of MN); Secretary Treasurer- Ray Wolfe.
The MMGC joined the Men’s Garden Clubs of America in 1951, an organization of 9000 members founded in 1932. Membership was discontinued in 1992 when the club had leadership and financial issues.
Sometime after the establishment of the MMGC the name of the club was changed to the “Lake Minnetonka Men’s Garden Club” (LMMGC) to better identify the location of the club. Beginning in 1950 and for 35 years thereafter the club held annual flower show exhibits at the Mound High School, showing as many as 150 different specimens. The LMMGC was also instrumental in the founding of the U of MN Arboretum. The club gave a check to Dr. Herbert Berens in order to hold his land for the Arboretum to purchase.
The MMGC held monthly meetings, usually dinner meetings with guest speakers at the Minnetonka Mist in Spring Park, along with annual holiday dinners and other timely meetings. Meetings were also held at Harts Café in Wayzata, Jackson Café in Spring Park, and in members’ homes.
For the next 43 years the Club successfully served the Lake Minnetonka area, including establishing the Excelsior Flower Garden Project and winning multiple awards. These included: The State of Minnesota Governor’s Award, Men’s Garden Club of Minneapolis Industrial Award, Lake Minnetonka Women’s Club award, and the Minnesota Horticultural Society Award. The Club was also featured on Channel 5 and Channel 11 TV shows.
A change occurred in 1992 when the Club was dissolved due to a lack of leadership. At the last meeting of the Board of Directors in late 1992 the Board distributed a $52,000.00 bequest to the Club from the Edgar Graupmann Estate. Twenty-six thousand was given to the Minnesota Horticultural Society and $26,000.00 was given to the University of Minnesota Department of Horticulture for scholarships.
Three Board members of the dissolved Lake Minnetonka Garden Club, Dr. Joe Dupont, Mssrs. Harrison Stoneman and James Hardy, objected to the dissolution of the Club, noting there were still willing participants in the Excelsior area and that the Excelsior Flower Garden Project should be continued. They agreed to serve as temporary officers of the newly formed Excelsior Men’s Garden Club (EMGC). At the 1992 holiday party given to the club by the City of Excelsior at the public works department, elections were held for the first officers of the EMGC: President - Mr. Don Douglas, Vice President - Dr. Joe Dupont, Secretary - Mr. Harrison Stoneman, and Board members Mssrs. Don Carlson, Tom Rode, Kerm Hendrickson and Ed Boltman.
Projects were continued, including:
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Maintaining gardens at the Excelsior police station, the TCF Bank area (Arey Memorial Garden) and the Excelsior post office.
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Working with school children in summer and fall.
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Delivering plants to residents of nursing homes at holiday time
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Donating an arbor at holiday time
From an initial planting of 100 flowers at the former TCF Bank site in 1972 by two volunteers to planting over 6000 plants in over 40 flower beds now with over 30 members, the Club has evolved considerably.