Some final photos...

The pondless waterfall that is sure to be a great attraction!








The bubbling stream leading to the gazebo.












A view from the Ag/Hort building of the natural woodland area.







A view from the corner of Carnes Ave and Underwood Street.

Signage and Recognition

MNLA Staff members Bob Fitch and Cassie Larson install some MNLA and GardenMinnesota.com signage onsite and get handouts ready for member volunteers.

Thanks to the following companies who donated time, product, and/or labor to make this display a success:

Purple Ribbon

□ Bachman’s, Inc.
□ Bailey Nurseries
□ Energyscapes, Inc.
□ Gertens
□ Heidi’s Lakeshore Gardens
□ Irrigation by Design
□ Landscape Renovations
□ Minnesota Valley Companies
□ Rush Lake Gardens

Blue Ribbon

□ Brian’s Lawn & Landscape
□ Central Landscape Supply
□ Central Wood Products
□ Hedberg Landscape Supply
□ Hoffman & McNamara
□ Holasek Greenhouse
□ illumiscapes
□ Landscape Alternatives
□ Malmborg’s Greenhouse
□ Mark’s Gazbeo
□ Mickman Brothers
□ Midwest Fence
□ Minnesota State Fair
□ Natureview Landscaping, Inc.
□ Outback Nursery
□ Outdoor Environments, Inc.
□ Plants Beautiful Nursery
□ The Pond Masters
□ Resource Recovery Technology
□ SP Hanily Construction
□ Terra Products
□ Tonkadale Greenhouse
□ Top Notch Treecare
□ Wheeler Landscape Supply

Finishing Touches in the Rain

Everyone enjoyed some good soakings today at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds! Thanks to Heidi's Lakeshore Gardens, Irrigation by Design, Bill Mielke, and MNLA Staff members for braving the rain to get the display done in time for the fair opening on Thursday!


MNLA staff members Meaghan Phelan and Dan Malmo help to install mailboxes in the rain. Mailboxes will be used to distribute recipe cards to consumers.










The crew from Heidi's Lakeshore Gardens were there in the rain to finish planting annuals and cover the display with mulch.

illumiscapes came in to speak with Bill Mielke about adding night lighting to the display on Friday, August 17.

A photo of the Mike Fastrup from illumiscapes and crew at work installing the nightlighting for the display.

Bring in the Plants!

The project leaders - Heidi Heiland, Heidi's Lakeshore Gardens, Bill Mielke, Minnesota Valley Companies, and Douglas Owens-Pike, Energyscapes put their heads together about the day's plan.




The crew from Energyscapes, Inc. began the morning by planting trees and shrubs in the shaded area of the display.





Thanks to Bailey Nurseries for their donation of plant material for the new display. Rachael Nelson, Bailey Nurseries, and Douglas Owens-Pike check the planting depth of this tree.




The crew from Heidi's Lakeshore Gardens installed shrubs, trees and perennials throughout the day. They will return to install some annuals and will be bringing some beautiful containers as well!





A view of the newly installed plant material.







The waterfall gets turned on! We're almost done...

Carpentry and Finishing Touches

Shawn Hanily, SP Hanily Construction, was at the state fair site on Wednesday 8/15 to add some benches to the gazebo (for storage and seating). He also made the railings on the gazebo wider so that magazines and other materials could be distributed easily. Finally, he helped to install the arbors which donation thank you signage will be posted on at this year's state fair.




Outdoor Environments, Inc. sent a crew including Brandon Hoffman and Travis Byzewski to help with finishing touches on the hardscaping. They added some boulders to the front edge of the waterfall, the back edge of the stream, and helped with some grading.

Thank you to these two crews for their hard work! The plantings will begin to go in on Thursday 8/16. Watch for photos to come!!!

Three Crews Go to Work

Three crews went to work on the MNLA State Fair exhibit today (8/13). We are grateful that this past weekend's storm seemed to steer clear of the MNLA display. Many at the state fairgrounds were not so lucky. We did lose some branches off a large tree that was providing shade over the display, but since plant material has yet to be installed we will plan accordingly.



Rush Lake Gardens (Matt Krech, Andy Fitch, Nick Fitch, and Tim Oberg) came in to build some paths into the display for state fairgoers to get a close up view of the beautiful plant material that will be installed.





The crew from Rush Lake Gardens also constructed these stairs leading across the stream and into the gazebo. Thanks to Central Landscape Supply for donating the 3/4 inch gravel to make these paths possible.






Irrigation by Design was also at the site working on installing irrigation to keep all that plant material alive. Thanks to Pete Louricas, Derek Born, and Tim Malooly for helping get the job done right!





A crew from Energyscapes, Inc. including Dan McClelland, Mark Schmidt, and Douglas Owens-Pike worked to create a small wall that will trap soil from running out on to the sidewalk.

Irrigation Mainline and Electricity

Bill Mielke, Minnesota Valley Companies, installs irrigation mainline and assists the state fair employees with the location of the electrical wiring on Wednesday, August 8 and Thursday, August 9. A great big thanks to Bill for GREAT project management skills and to Minnesota Valley for allowing him to help out with this important industry marketing initiative.

Thank you to Irrigation Consultants and Control for donating the mainline piping and control wire for this part of the project.

Now we just need some water!

A crew from Bachman's, Inc. was at the disaply on Saturday, July 28th to put the finishing touches on the pondless water fall. It's now ready to go...we just need to put in the pump and start the water.





A view of the water feature and gazebo!

Completion of Water Feature & Gazebo

The Gazebo was completed yesterday and has the aroma of fresh cedar! We're now ready to cover the volunteers in case of rain. We will be building benches to hold the publications that are distributed to the consumers at the fair. So, the carpenter was out today to assess the space and to check out the possibility of installing a ceiling fan.


Landscape Renovations is on site today to finish the construction of the water feature. It's a scorcher out there so we appreciate their efforts!