Lyndale Park

Lyndale Park
Heffelfinger fountain
Type	Urban park
Location	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Coordinates	44°55′39″N 93°17′45″W / 44.92750°N 93.29583°W / 44.92750; -93.29583Coordinates: 44°55′39″N 93°17′45″W / 44.92750°N 93.29583°W / 44.92750; -93.29583
Area	61 acres (25 ha)
Created	1907

Lyndale Park is located on the northeast side of Lake Harriet in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is adjacent to the Lakewood Cemetery and between Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet. It is part of an enormous greenspace circling through Minneapolis called the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway, and is one of the seven districts within, called the Chain of Lakes. The other six districts within Grand Rounds are the Downtown Riverfront, Mississippi River, Minnehaha, Theodore Wirth, Victory Memorial Parkway, and Northeast. Managed by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, the 53-mile (85 km) parkway system has numerous parks and parkways, lakes (22 within the city limits), streams and creeks, the Mississippi River, and the 53-foot (16 m) high Minnehaha Falls. The 6,400-acre (26 km²) park system is designed so that every home in Minneapolis is within six blocks of green space.

Lyndale Park is 61 acres (250,000 m²) and contains four gardens; the Peace Garden, the Rose Garden, the Perennial Garden, and the Perennial Trial Garden. Immediately adjacent to the Peace Garden is the Thomas Sadler Roberts Bird Sanctuary.

The park's arboretum was conceived by Theodore Wirth in 1907 and by 1915 the bulk of the collection had been planted. Many of the original plantings still survive. Major collections include roses and crabapple trees. Heritage trees, defined as the oldest or largest specimen found within the city limits, include the Cucumber Magnolia, River Birch, Golden Larch, Mugo Pine, White Fir, Austrian Pine, Japanese Yew, and Wafer Ash.

This is the second oldest public rose garden in the United States and was designed by the Park Superintendent Theodore Wirth. It is 1-acre (4,000 m²) in size and at peak season the garden can contain as many as 60,000 blooms. Construction of the garden occurred during 1907-08. An official AARS (All America Rose Selections) test rose garden was added in 1946. The garden features more than 4000 plants and 250 species. Two fountains border the garden; the bronze-and-marble Heffelfinger Fountain is from the Villa Montalto near Florence, Italy and donated to the Park Board by Frank Heffelfinger in 1944. There is a cherub surfing on a dolphin at the top, surrounded by satyrs. Human faces on the pedestal base show the progress of age.