Noerenberg Memorial Gardens

Photo collage of the memorial gardens.

"Noerenberg Gardens is known for its tranquility and spectacular beauty."

Photo collage of scenic areas throughout the garden.

Flowers with a lake view

Native Butterfly Milkweed along the Lake Minnetonka shoreline.

"This endearing place of endless blooms and enchanted history once was home to Grain Belt Brewery founder Frederick Noerenberg and his family."

A Rich History

Historic image of the Noerenberg family and estate

A rare reunion photograph of the Noerenberg family, taken around 1900.

In 1890, at the height of Lake Minnetonka’s "Golden Age", successful brewer Frederick Noerenberg built a spacious Queen Anne style house on Crystal Bay. The home boasted eight bedrooms, three and one-half baths, numerous leaded stained-glass windows and a green Italian tile roof. Christened “Wilkommen,” the 73-acre estate sprawled upon a whopping 8,490 feet of Lake Minnetonka’s shoreline. It was Noerenberg’s pride and joy.

Noerenberg took an active part in planning the layout of his estate. He oversaw the design and implementation of buildings and plantings with an eye for the finest detail as well as the whole. Influenced by the English Landscape Style, he fashioned a self-sustaining world on the lake, which included the family mansion with a tree-lined avenue, tiered rose beds and impeccably manicured lawns, as well as a working farm.

Historic image collage of the Noerenberg estate

Click on the interactive timeline below to learn more about the history of Noerenberg Gardens.

Click on the interactive map below to learn more about the historic features around the Noerenberg Estate.

A Transition to Three Rivers Park District

Image of the gardens

The Park District has developed the southern segment of Noerenberg Memorial Park in compliance with the bequest and continues to operate it for “public park purposes as an arboretum for flowers, shrubs and trees” and for “general display garden purposes.”

Memorial colonnades

A memorial colonnade now stands in place of the Noerenberg mansion, which was razed at the direction of Lora Noerenberg Hoppe when the estate was donated to the Park District. The colonnade features a circle of eight white columns replicating columns that once graced one of the mansion’s porches. These columns are mounted on a raised granite foundation encircling a commemorative plaque that reads, “Noerenberg Memorial Park is Dedicated to the Use of the Public in Memory of the Frederick and Johanna Noerenberg Family Who Once Lived Here.”

Lora Noerenberg Hoppe, a trained horticulturist, originally designed and cared for the gardens. Ray Forde assisted as the estate gardener and continued as head gardener, working for the Park District after Lora’s death, until he retired in 1981. 

A path through the gardens

Noerenberg artifact

During their global travels, the Noerenbergs, particularly Winnie, sought out and sent home an impressive collection of assorted rocks and stones. The rocks were used as elements in the Hodge Podge Garden, so named by Lora Noerenberg because all the flower-pack leftovers found a home there after the formal gardens were planted. The Hodge Podge Garden originally included a small goldfish pond. Today, specimens from Winnie’s rock collection have been preserved and repositioned in the gardens.

Photo collage of the gardens

Pine tree

Frederick Noerenberg planted many evergreens to remind him of his native Germany and his Scotch Pines and Norway Spruce still survive. His energetic acquisition of unusual tree species was not only a matter of the heart, but a practice among estate builders both abroad and in the United States. The Park District is committed to replanting and maintaining the trees favored by the Noerenberg family, such as paper birch, Ohio buckeye, sugar maple, American elm, common hackberry, Scotch and Norway pine, and native oak species.

Plants dating back to Noerenberg's times, such as Blue False Indigo, Queen-of-the-Prairie, Dusty Meadow Rue, Lavender Mist Meadow Rue, Solomon’s Seal, Peony, and Fall Daisy can also be found in the gardens as well.

Noerenberg Memorial Gardens Today

Panoramic image of the gardens

"Noerenberg Gardens is a beautiful place to take a walk, enjoy the flowers and lake and simply inhale and exhale."- Park Visitor

Flowers found in the garden

"A play of colors"- Veronica and unfurling Kalimeris.

Today, beginning in May and continuing into October the gardens are filled with interesting and unusual plants.

The flowerbeds in the Noerenberg Memorial Park gardens feature a blend of unusual perennials and annuals, including sun-loving and shade tolerant flowers and grasses, spring ephemerals, as well as many varieties of trees, shrubs, and vines. Color, form and texture play an important role in the garden design. The gardens change with the seasons and are especially lovely in the autumn. The quiet beauty of the gardens calms and inspires.

Textured plants throughout the garden

Unique flowers found in the garden. Pictured left to right: Cyprus Vine, Astilbe, Love In A Mist

The plants are identified to provide education as well as enjoyment for visitors. The beds are redesigned each winter to create a fresh look to the gardens every year.

Relaxing area to take a seat

Greenhouse

The Noerenberg Gardens are maintained by the Horticulture section of Three Rivers Park District and volunteers. Each year thousands of annuals and perennials are grown in the greenhouse at Three Rivers Park District’s Nursery and are planted by staff and Hennepin County Master Gardeners. Maintenance practices are environmentally friendly and promote habitat and food for many different species.

Take a 360° virtual tour of the gardens below

Featured Plantings-

Azaleas
Ornamental grasses
Bee pollinating the flowers

Bloom Schedule -

The gardens are always changing, and no matter the time of year something new is coming into bloom. The garden's bloom schedule is just the beginning of the adventure that awaits you at the Noerenberg Memorial Gardens.

May~

Native wildflowers (Hepatica, Bloodroot, Merrybells, Solomon’s Seal), Peony, Virginia Bluebells, Primrose, Epimedium, Hellebores, Redbud, Azalea, Magnolia, and mature evergreens.

June~

Siberian Iris, Blue False Indigo, Dianthus, Bleeding Heart, Sweet Woodruff, Goatsbeard, Rodgersia, Foam Flower, Columbine, Campanula and Martagon Lily.

July~

Monarda, Phlox, Astilbe, Russian Sage, Veronica, Ornamental Onion, Joe-Pye Weed, Lobelia, Culver’s Root, Balloon Flower, and an array of unusual annuals.

August~

Asters, Snakeroot, Liatris, Hibiscus, Magic Lily, Monkshood, Sedum, Obedient Plant, Kirengeshoma, and ornamental grasses

September-October~

Asters, Hydrangea, ornamental grasses and many perennials begin to take on autumn coloration. Native and non-native tree and shrub species also begin their autumn display.

Come experience creative combinations of new plants in a natural setting. Get lost in thought as you admire the beauty of the park while listening to the buzz of pollinators as they fly between flowers. Whether you’re walking through the garden in June when the heady scent of peonies fills the air or quietly observing the many pollinators in the Fall; Noerenberg Gardens is a place to learn, observe, refresh and return to again and again.

Plan your visit to the beautiful historic Noerenberg Memorial Gardens today.

Image collage showcasing flowers found around the gardens

Three Rivers Park District logo

Native Butterfly Milkweed along the Lake Minnetonka shoreline.

A rare reunion photograph of the Noerenberg family, taken around 1900.

"A play of colors"- Veronica and unfurling Kalimeris.

Unique flowers found in the garden. Pictured left to right: Cyprus Vine, Astilbe, Love In A Mist