Weather warms. Snow melts. And little by little, leaves and blooms burst from buds to populate Edina’s parks and public spaces with natural beauty. Since 1984, the artist responsible for creating and maintaining much of Edina’s outdoor beauty is city horticulturist Tim Zimmerman.
Zimmerman learned his craft at North Hennepin Community College and the University of Minnesota, and says that he loves his job with the city. He enjoys working outside and being with nature. He especially delights in making the city look beautiful.
Parks and recreation director John Keprios has worked with Zimmerman for many years. He says that Zimmerman is a passionate professional in the area of horticulture. “He knows more about plants than anyone else I know,” says Keprios. “He has extremely high standards and doesn’t accept second best. He’s also a real gentleman with a wonderful personality.”
It’s that personable quality that makes Zimmerman more than a good fit for his position, since his job not only entails maintaining local landscaping, but puts him in regular contact with the Edina Garden Council and local garden clubs. “He works with lots of volunteers,” says Keprios. “Not everybody is comfortable with that type of public interaction. Zimmerman does it well and we appreciate that quality in him.”
Keprios also knows something special about Zimmerman. It’s Zimmerman’s hobby: hybridizing lilies “I don’t know much about breeding lilies,” Keprios says. “But I do know that Zimmerman is among a pretty elite group of people and we’re very proud of him.”
In fact, Zimmerman has been breeding lilies for many years. His brother Tom got him started. A professor and former horticulture teacher, Tom Zimmerman was involved with hybridizing lilies in Minnesota before moving to Texas. After that, Tim Zimmerman took over the hobby and began cross-breeding his own. He’s been involved with the North Star Lily Society as a member, officer, contest judge and award winner for his Asiatic lilies. There are regular statewide and national lily shows, conventions and competitions where lilies are judged on condition, vigor, placement on the stem, substance, form and color of flowers. At last July’s North Star Lily Show, Zimmerman won four awards, including best Minnesota hybrid seedling. But after about nine years of breeding and showing, Zimmerman says he got a little bored and ventured into multi-colored and pollenless lilies.
Seen as a breakthrough in the flower industry, pollenless lilies provide the extravagant beauty of lilies without the brown or yellow pollen they usually produce. The pollen is the bane of allergy sufferers; it’s also messy and stains whatever it touches. In 2011, 70 percent of Zimmerman’s crossbred lilies were pollenless. In 2012, he bred 100 percent pollenless lilies. “They make better cut flowers for bouquets,” says Zimmerman. “The Dutch and Chinese are starting to get into the act of pollenless lilies and I want to be ahead of the game.” Zimmerman says his goal is to be one of the top five pollenless lily breeders in the United States.
And that’s what Zimmerman does when he’s not maintaining more than 100 gardens in Edina. He replaces old shrubs, spreads wood chips, services the irrigation systems and manages insect and pest problems. He says he likes to keep up on what’s new by attending seminars; that way, when he removes old plants, he can replace them with heartier, more disease-resistant varieties. He says he’s especially pleased with the improvement in the hardiness of roses over the past 15 years.
Other plants Zimmerman is excited to incorporate into Edina’s public landscapes include the limelight hydrangea. “I saw it at a Bachman’s expo,” says Zimmerman. “It stands 6 to 8 feet tall and has huge blooms on strong stems that stand up instead of hanging low from the weight of the flowers. They’re beautiful.”
He also likes the ninebark little devil produced in River Falls, Wisconsin. “It’s nice and compact with deep berry-colored foliage and little pinkish-white flowers that bloom in June. I like it because it’s something new and it’s not all green.” Zimmerman says his job requires new landscaping each year and he likes to try the newest flowers.
Asked what he envisions for the future for his green thumb, Zimmerman says that he’ll continue to enter his lilies in shows and hopes to continue working hard for the City of Edina. “I still find my work rewarding and exciting,” says Zimmerman. “I plan to do this for a while.”
Plants that city horticulturist Tim Zimmerman is excited to plant around Edina:
Salvia Summer Jewel red
Gaillardia Arizona apricot
Gazania New Day clear orange
Portulaca Happy Hour deep red
Ornamental millet Purple Baron
Gryphon begonia
