Outside, the gardens lay bare and dormant.
Inside, Lyman Lee sprinkles vegetable and flower seeds into sterilized milled peat moss. Starting plants, he explains, allows him to grow unusual varieties hardy to the northern climate.
"This year I'm going to try the Early Cascade Hybrid, a 50-day tomato plant that should be ready in June," Lyman says. "Last year I planted 12 varieties of tomatoes, one being an early tomato plant called Bloody Butcher that I set out-doors on April 30. By May 24 I picked my first tomato of the season. That's pretty incredible for this far north."
After a couple of weeks in the peat moss — when the first true leaves have developed — he'll transplant each seedling into individual sections of nine-cell containers. They'll get light from fluorescent lights — up to 18 hours a day. They'll get warmth from the hot-water radiators lining the walls of Lyman's 120-year-old farmhouse near Wadena.
Four to six weeks later the plants graduate to the garden window that Lyman installed on the south side of the house's large kitchen. Lyman and his wife, Norma, can watch the plants flourish in the same room where they spend hours looking for new varieties in the horticulture books and seed catalogs. Sweet Banana, Jalapeno Chili, Hot Banana and Carnival Mix (red, yellow and purple) peppers will grow in the Lees' garden this year.
Shelves stocked with colorful jars of canned fruits and vegetables reveal the proof of their past success, including a most unusual harvest ... wine. Lyman prides himself in the variety of trees and shrubs he has planted to yield the fruits for his wine, including Himalayan blackberries, elderberry, grapevines, high bush cranberries, blueberries, June berries, Nanking cherries, chokecherries, plus 100-foot rows each of strawberries and raspberries.
The Lees enjoy the winemaking process from growing the plump, juicy fruits to fermenting them into flavorful wine. More than 700 bottles rest in the darkened corners of their old-fashioned cellar. Each bottle is logged in a book, tracking which berries were used and what year it was made. "It's hard to keep an exact count because whenever friends or family stop by, I have to open one — or maybe more," Lyman laughs.
The Lees nurture their gardens on their hobby farm tucked along Highway 29 just west of Wadena, almost hidden to passersby. Longtime residents of the area, Lyman's hobby kicked into full gear in 1992 when he retired after a 36-year career with AT&T (now Lucent), cutting back to part-time work with Mid-State Auto Auction in New York Mills. The couple began gardening for enjoyment — and necessity —while raising five children. With the kids grown and gone, Lyman has time to develop and cultivate a more multifaceted garden. It's a garden-in-process as more features are fine-tuned or added each year.
Most recently Lyman designed and built soothing rock and water gardens. One is placed near a large arbor covered with grapevines, morning glory and clematis along the edge of the flower garden. Situated in full sun all day and home to a family of goldfish, Lyman notes algae tends to grow quite rapidly during the warm summer months. A second water garden, located on the east side of a grove of trees, receives abundant shade from afternoon through evening, keeping the water much cleaner.
Although both gardens have tubs designed for water gardens, Lyman also adds natural rocks into the waterfalls, sometimes choosing a concave rock where the water pours like a spout; other times he selects a flat rock, giving the waterfall a wider, more natural appearance. Water lilies and cat-tails rise straight and tall, complemented by bugleweed bronze, dinner-plate dahlias and Alpine wild strawberries.
As the Lees search for rocks for their water gardens, they've found some in unusual shapes — a ship, a mountain and a buffalo, for example. Others are just beautiful, like a 300-pound quartz rock Lyman found.
Some rocks were collected from various trips across the country, although one of the most unique was found hidden beneath low-growing vines along a rarely used trail on Norma's family farm only a couple miles away. The rock is shaped like a bench.
"I knew I had to have it the minute I saw it," Lyman says. "We estimate the rock to weigh about 900 pounds, when comparing it to picking up a 1,500-pound bale of hay with the tractor." Hauling the huge rock home proved to be somewhat of a challenge, but it now provides a perfect place for visitors to sit and view the water and flower gardens.
Norma's expertise shines in the colorful flowerbeds. Point to the pampas grass set in a raised bed or the low-growing mullein along the rock garden, and she'll rattle off the proper name, as well as the time of year it flowers. Everything from alyssum to zinnias makes a bold statement on the grounds surrounding the house.
"Most of the perennials are planted in a garden just south of the house," Norma explains, "while the majority of the vegetables grow in a separate garden, approximately an acre in size, a short distance north of the house."
Seventy-one acres of Norway pine, white spruce and white pine provide a thick, green backdrop to the Lees' hobby farm. The evergreens, planted 13 ' years ago, reach 20 or more feet, providing a perfect home to deer, fox, pheasants and other wildlife.
Lyman drives a four-wheeler to get around the entire 86 acres. "Just for fun, I devised a drag so I could level the ground and make several trails through the trees. I now have over three miles of mowed trails running criss-cross through the trees," he says, enabling him to keep an eye on the animals that make their home there. One trail leads to a Scandinavian cemetery in a corner of the Lee property. It was started in 1878 by pioneers, including Norma's great-grandparents from Sweden who homesteaded nearby.
Visitors to the Lee farm will enjoy seeing the wide variety of flowers, vegetables and fruit trees — and, quite possibly, tasting a glass of homemade wine.
The Lee farm is located 3 1/2 miles west of Wadena on Hwy. 29; turn south on 615th St., about 1/2 mile. Call the Lees at (218) 631-1904 to schedule a visit.
