East meets Northeast

An accidental gardener turned his modest Minneapolis yard into an Asian-inspired garden with sculpted topiary trees.

By Connie Nelson, Star Tribune

Last update: November 11, 2008 - 3:48 PM

Print this story

GARDENING TIPS FROM DAVID HINRICHS Make the rounds. Hinrichs doesn't have a favorite nursery. Instead, he visits many. "I drive around a lot for my work and there are a lot of nurseries," he said. "I just pop in and see what they have." Gardener see, gardener do. Hinrichs didn't learn gardening from books. When he wanted to build a pond, he visited gardens that had ponds and studied them. And instead of reading about Japanese-style gardens, he visits local ones. For a list of Japanese gardens in Minnesota, go to http://horticulture.coafes.umn.edu/gardens/home.htm. Tending trees. Over the years, Hinrichs has spent plenty of money on trees and lost only two. "The key thing is to keep them watered in the fall," he said. "And you got to keep trimming them."

More from Home + Garden

David Hinrichs isn't a gardener's gardener.

He doesn't go to garden club meetings, keep a stash of seed
catalogs on his coffee table or consult dog-eared reference books.
He doesn't even know the names of some of the plants in his garden.
And you know what? He's not losing any sleep over it.

"I'm one of those guys who doesn't care about plant names," he
said. "If I like it, I buy it."

Still, his garden has become something of a landmark in his
corner of northeast Minneapolis.

"A week doesn't go by without someone saying `Hey, can I see your
yard?' I've come home and had people standing in my yard taking
pictures," he said.

They aren't taking pictures of flowers. Aside from a Japanese
lilac and a honeysuckle, Hinrichs doesn't have any flowers. Sure,
he likes them as much as the next guy, but he considers growing
them a waste of energy.

"This is Minnesota," he said. "You can plant flowers in - what? -
mid-May and they look good in June and last until September. The
season is too short. I wanted something that looks good all year
round."

That's why his garden is made up almost entirely of conifers.

Massive spruce and neatly trimmed arborvitae hedges outline his
small yard. Mounded bird's nest spruce dot the immaculate border
beds. Trailing junipers cascade through the rock gardens. But the
stars of his evergreen garden are living topiaries: a dozen pine
trees - from 5 to 15 feet tall - that have been sculpted into tiers
of Japanese-inspired pom-poms.

To add to the Asian feel, Hinrichs has nestled pagodas beneath a
few of the shaped pines, brought in Japanese statuary and placed
boulders - some weighing as much as 400 pounds - around his yard.

Recent Home + Garden stories

For recordings of bird songs, call 612-673-7800 - November 11, 2008

For recordings of bird songs, call 612-673-7800 - For recordings of bird songs, call 612-673-7800, and when prompted press the following four-digit numbers: More