Many of our members stepped forward on Give to the Max Day last November to support a grove of trees we wanted to plant in St. Paul in honor of our 90-year-old founder, Peggy Lynch. After partnering with Frogtown Green, a nonprofit that works to establish and improve the tree canopy in the city’s diverse Frogtown neighborhood, we considered three sites before selecting a location on a hilltop in Frogtown Park, adjacent to Frogtown Farm.
Because of our members’ generosity, and a leadership gift from the Lynch family, our dream of Peggy’s Grove has become a reality. A crew of people joined forces at Frogtown Park on Saturday, May 25, to plant the grove of 14 trees overlooking an oak savannah south of West Minnehaha Avenue.
Participants included Frogtown Green Founder and Co-Director Patricia Ohmans and her team, alongside Friends of the Parks and Trails board members Wolfie Browender, Scott Ramsay (president), Kathy Sidles and Ashley Ward; incoming Executive Director Lauren Dees-Erickson; Peggy Lynch herself and members of her family; past board member and Saint Paul Classic Bike Tour founder Rich Arey; and departing Friends of the Parks and Trails Executive Director Amy Gage, who organized and envisioned the project with Ohmans.
Envisioning a grove
The grove site, just north of the mandala outside Frogtown Farm, is 4,000 square feet of sloped turf grass. Chris Stevens, co-director and site manager of Frogtown Green, oversaw site prep, which included dethatching and overseeding the site with a low-maintenance bee-lawn seed mix, digging the 14 holes, and loosening tree roots so they could spread and grow once planted.
The 14 trees put in the ground over Memorial Day weekend were selected for their beauty and durability, as well as being favorites of Peggy Lynch, who retired from Friends of the Parks and Trails in 2013. Her legacy to her hometown’s nationally recognized park system includes a “no net loss” provision that protects established parklands.
Peggy’s Grove includes:
- 3 fruitless crabapples, Marilee or Prairie Rose
- 5 blue beech
- 3 serviceberry, Autumn Brilliance
- 1 white pine
- 2 bur oak
Friends of the Parks and Trails contracted with Frogtown Green to water the threes for three years, through summer 2026, which the city requires of personally planted trees. Our thanks to St. Paul Parks and Recreation Design and Construction Manager Alice Messer and city Forestry Manager Rachel Jongeward for their advice and assistance; and to Saint Paul Parks Conservancy Executive Director Michael-jon Pease for arranging to install a forest-green bench with a plaque that honors Peggy Lynch.
