A History of Minnesota Floriculture

Labor and construction materials were not abundant in the first half of the 1940s because of World War II, but the demand for florist products was good. A few firms made their start during this period, but the pace really accelerated after the war ended in 1945.

Frank Lindig started the Lindig Manufacturing Company on the north border of the University of Minnesota's St. Paul Campus in 1940. His first product was a very popular soil shredder which was also sold overseas. Other innovative new products introduced by the company included the first commercial, aerated steam soil sterilization wagons (1960) and the first true front-end loader, tractor fed soil shredder/screener. Lindig's son John now runs the business which makes landscape equipment as well.

In 1941, Harry Wartnick started in the flower commission house business in Minneapolis. Ben Stollar, his brother-in-law, joined him in 1942 to form the Midwest Florist Supply Company. In the 1940s, the first known commercial air shipment of cut flowers was made via Northwest Air to Midwest Florist Supply Company. The shipment was from Tom Beal, of Beal's Greenhouses on Vashon Island in the state of Washington.

Wartnick died in 1950 and Stollar continued the business. The non-floral, supplies portion of the company was sold to employee Bill Heiserer in 1952 and became Lakeland Florist Supply, Inc.. Stollar contracted with Len Busch Greenhouses to pay a set price for their rose cut-flower production year round from 1968 to 1978. This arrangement guaranteed that the wholesaler received the full crop for holidays and provided a stable income to the grower. After Stollar's health failed, his son Barry and Wartnick's son Norman ran the business. Norm opened branches in Duluth and in Grand Forks, North Dakota, in the 1970s. The firm was sold to J.W. Perry of Wisconsin in 1982, and ceased operating in 1989.

John Eisele started truck farming in 1941 in Minneapolis. He soon added greenhouses and began to grow some flowers among the vegetables. Bruce Anderson became a partner in 1955 and flower crop production increased. In 1965, the firm moved to Farmington and continued expanding. Eisele's son Bob joined Anderson in 1965 and the firm became the South Cedar Greenhouses. They specialized in perennials. Alan and Judy Leipnitz purchased the business in 1991 and additional expansion occurred. They now have three acres of greenhouses and specialize in geraniums, hanging baskets, and perennials. Bob Eisele continued to work at the range.

Alfred J. Louiselle worked at Hans Rosacker Company for 25 years. In 1942, he purchased the Central Floral Company greenhouses and retail shop in Minneapolis. His son Gerald joined the operation. In 1966, the site was sold. Gerald then joined J.R. Johnson Supply, Inc. in sales.

Harold Ahrens started growing truck crops in Osseo in 1943 and built greenhouses and cold frames in 1945. People stopped in and wanted to purchase plants, so he started producing flowering bedding plants about 1948. He has since discontinued retail sales and vegetable production and specialized in wholesale bedding plants since the early 1950s. His three sons Gary, Harvey and LeRoy now run the large range, although Harold is still on the scene.

Hailstorm and Volunteers

Max Kaiser's Merriam Park Greenhouses in St. Paul was a victim of very unusual weather on June 22, 1944. Hailstones larger than golf balls hit all 23 of the firm's greenhouses, causing considerable damage in a storm during which hail struck only across a local area smaller than one square mile. Daughter Maxine and crew cleaned up the growing area and carefully eliminated most of the glass in the soil. Still, it was wartime and no extra, experienced help could be found.

With fall approaching, the outlook was bleak for getting the range reglazed before winter. In August, a group of volunteers appeared unexpectedly, and within two weeks, 47,500 square feet of new glass was installed. The volunteers came from Hermes, Jansen Brothers, Gibbs-Nelson, Ratterman Brothers, Hans Rosacker and other greenhouse firms. This act illustrated the appreciation his colleagues had for Max's contributions to the industry over the years.

Industry Developments

Julian Bilski and his sons Al, Ben and Joseph bought Merriam Park Floral Company in 1945. In 1959, the establishment was demolished to make way for the new Interstate Highway 94. Al purchased the Robert Rosacker rose range in Falcon Heights and operated it until 1969, when the University of Minnesota purchased the site. Ben operated a retail flower shop for a few years and in 1964, Joseph served as the first floriculture instructor at the new Brainerd Technical Institute.

Carl Seagren, an undertaker in Two Harbors, opened a flower shop in 1945. His son Dick now runs the shop. In the early 1980s, Dick opened a second shop in the Harbor Landing Mall, but closed the shop after three to four years because of the limited availability of parking in that area.

Robert Savory started Savory's Gardens, Inc., in Edina in 1946. He specialized in orchids, but also grew annuals and perennials including Hostas. Later the orchids were discontinued and Savory ceased working in the business about 1985, because of ill health. His wife Arlene and son Bob now operate the firm. They breed and specialize in Hostas and also grow perennials. There are 1,300 cultivars of Hostas in their three garden locations.

Ed Fiksdal worked for Kinsman in Austin from 1935-1937, and then for Whitings in Rochester until 1947, with time out for military service. In 1947, he opened Fiksdal Flowers across from St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester. His brothers Al and Muds worked in the flourishing flower shop business until Muds switched to managing the Fiksdal Motel, a few doors away, from 1965 to 1986. Ed's son Gary now operates the shop and motel, but Ed is still on the scene.

African Violets

Robert G. Anderson worked in a greenhouse range for ten cents per hour while a teenager in 1933. Later he went to work at Bachman's, where he was employed in their greenhouses for nine years starting at 20 cents per hour, eventually working his way up to 60 cents per hour. After serving in the military during World War II, he started Tonkadale Greenhouses in Minnetonka in 1947. Anderson built an 18 x 100 foot greenhouse with glass glazing on the south half only.

Anderson specialized in breeding and selling quality African Violets. The business he established grew, and he won top prizes for his cultivar introductions, including three grand sweepstakes in national African Violet shows. Just a few cultivars existed when he started in business. An expert plant breeder, Anderson introduced over 200 African Violet cultivars across his career, including the first double, pink-flowered cultivar.

Anderson was quite innovative in refining growing methods and designing structures. He was one of the first to use fluorescent lights for producing African Violets commercially. He constructed three-level, waterproof, concrete benches in which plants were watered by injection, heated with hot water pipes (which also provided the structural support, running under or through the bench bottoms) and illuminated the plants with fluorescent lamps over each level. This greenhouse was 16 feet high with a flat, insulated roof to conserve heat for the high temperature African Violet crop.

As Anderson expanded the range, he also grew unusual pot plants and bedding plants. During the peak of the African Violet craze, annual African Violet shows were held in the Twin Cities. They drew large crowds regularly. When Anderson noticed that some greenhouse visitors (potential amateur propagators) plucked leaves from new cultivars and slipped them into a pocket, he posted the sign, "Don't sell your soul for a leaf."

The Tonkadale Greenhouses were sold in 1978 to Bill Maruska. He and his family have continued the business and broadened the crop range and retail services.

Northern Minnesota

Eldred M. Hunt (left), Executive Secretary and Editor, Minnesota State Horticultural Society (1944-1974); and Dr. Louis E. Longley, University of Minnesota, Professor of Floriculture (1929-1949); Dr. Longley initiated the garden chrysanthemum breeding project. Photo taken in the mid 1940s. (Photo courtesy the School of Architecture Archives, Gerald McKay)

In 1946, Glen Sams bought the George McComber Nursery that had been started in Duluth in 1928. (A McComber-Amasa Florist had previously existed in Duluth in 1884). The George McComber Nursery name was changed to Sams's Florist and Greenhouses when Glen added greenhouses and a retail flower shop. His son Ray and wife Georgianne now operate the business.

Norm and Marge Overby opened Town and Country Floral with a shop and greenhouse in Moorhead in 1946. They had both had worked for Bachman's and other firms. The thriving business was sold to the current owners Craig and Jan Hermanson in 1981.

Michael H. Hafner, Sr., started a greenhouse and flower shop in Park Rapids in 1947. The business has grown steadily over the years. Park Rapids Florist and Nursery now sells to discount stores such as Kmart and Pamida, as well as smaller outlets. The greenhouses, covering more than four acres, are now run by sons Mike and Tom. Daughter Beth Pederson runs the retail business and a new shop was recently built. The elder Hafner is still active in the business.

Gerald B. Anderson worked for Lester Park Greenhouses in Duluth as a youth. He was a University of Minnesota graduate in agronomy before World War II. He served in the military, worked at Duluth grain elevators and then entered the greenhouse business. In 1948, he and his wife Alice purchased land in Two Harbors and erected a small greenhouse. He worked another job for ten years while building the business and enlarging the greenhouse. A new retail building was added in 1971. At the time he started his business, there were no other greenhouse floral operations on the north shore of Lake Superior between Two Harbors and Thunder Bay, Canada. Anderson grew a wide range of cut flowers, pot plants and bedding plants, and also purchased plants and cut flowers from Duluth greenhouses. The business was sold in the early 1980s to Jim Shogren and Jeff Peterson who had worked there part time. They doubled the size of the retail building and established a complete retail flower shop.

Anderson's son, Robert (not related to the Robert G. Anderson of Tonkadale Greenhouses), worked at the greenhouses, earned bachelor's and master's degrees in floriculture at the University of Minnesota, and a Ph.D. in botany from the University of Florida. He has continued in the field and is now an extension floricultural specialist at the University of Kentucky.

Clarence Rheinschmidt started Little Falls Greenhouses and Floral as a retail and wholesale business in 1947. Cal Bengston, who operated the Nicolett Hotel Flower Shop in Minneapolis, bought Rheinschmidt's firm in 1963. In 1980, Bengston's sons Dennis, who was a University of Minnesota floriculture graduate, and David bought the business now called Little Falls Greenhouses, Inc. They enlarged the range and operate truck sales routes throughout central and southern Minnesota.

Loren Butterfield is one of two sons of George Butterfield who started Butterfield Floral in Orono in 1920. After military service in 1947, Loren started growing delphinums outdoors for cut flowers. His first greenhouse was built in 1948. He now has 37,500 square feet of greenhouses in Orono producing floricultural crops.

In 1949, ownership and management of Bachman's passed to the third generation, which included Henry's sons Ralph, Lloyd and Stanley, and their cousins Larry, Harold and Carl. Ralph served as president.

University Activity

In 1945, Leon C. Snyder, Ph.D., replaced Eldred Hunt as the University of Minnesota's extension horticulturist in general horticulture. Eldred became the Executive Secretary of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, a position which he held until his retirement in 1974.

In 1948, the annual Florists' Convention had grown to such a size that it moved from the University's St. Paul Campus to a hotel.

Undergraduate student major enrollment in horticulture, which had ranged between 30 to 40 individuals, increased to 65 with the influx of World War II veterans on the GI bill. Floriculture students represented about 30 percent of those students.

Richard (Dick) E. Widmer was hired as an instructor in floriculture at the University of Minnesota in 1949. He replaced the newly retired Louis E. Longley. Widmer taught seven courses, including woody plant materials and plant propagation, conducted a research program, and coordinated outreach activities with the local industry. He also spent some of his time working toward his Ph.D.

Park Board

In 1944, the Minneapolis Park Board opened the most northern American Rose Society test garden in the United States. The garden near Lake Harriet was tended by Carl Holst for many years.

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