The giving garden

POTSDAM — A birthday gift that gained momentum is how John and Barb Meyer remember the significant start to their dedicated gladiolus patch just outside the town of Elgin.

Since 1907, Meyer’s Seeds has been specializing in providing top-quality seed to area farmers. John’s two brothers, Bill and Glen; his son, Nathan; and his son-in-law, Andrew, farm 855 family-owned acres, including the home farm.

What was a lifetime devoted to farming now looks a little different for John, as a muscle disease limits him from being as active as he once was. It was in 1992 that a birthday gift from his daughter, Jill, opened a completely new purpose for the now retired farmer.

“I planted those flowers Jill gave me, and I fell in love,” John said. “The next year, I planted 200, and the next year, 2,000. We worked our way up to 10,000 bulbs, and that was when we started talking acres.”

John, his family members and countless volunteers devote their summer days to putting thousands of gladiolus spikes into the hands and homes of the surrounding community members. Starting late April and working up until the first frost of the year, John, Barb and close family members are out in the patch tending to bulbs while Mother Nature orchestrates the rest.

Growing, hybridizing and tending to the showstopping flowers has been a Meyer family tradition for over 30 years now.

“John’s disease controls things these days,” Barb said. “In the garage, he can get from his wheelchair to the golf cart, and that gives him the freedom to go riding around the patch … and bossing everybody around. He says it’s a hobby, but I call it an obsession.”

St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester is where the idea of gifting gladiolus got started, Barb said. Mary Brekke, the Meyers’ sister-in-law, worked at the information desk. She began by handing out one gladiolus spike at a time. Hospitals can be a place of both joy and sorrow, and flowers can be a perfect gift for both. The Meyers witnessed the good in giving, and from there, they made it their mission to grow their patch and give away gladiolus to patients experiencing both emotions.

“It was pretty amazing,” Barb said. “I could give away 40 bouquets an hour.”

For 15 years, once a week, the couple delivered their gladiolus to Rochester.

“We could fit 50 bouquets in crates in the back of the pickup truck with a topper,” John said. “Some weeks, we would make two trips. … That took up about half of our glads.”

The Meyers have expanded their reach and now provide free bouquets to living communities for older adults, nursing homes, clinics, hospitals, the Ronald McDonald House, memory-loss facilities, transplant centers, local banks, and churches in and around Rochester.

“Up until about two years ago, John and I would deliver together,” Barb said. “Even though John doesn’t go with me anymore, it’s still special because now, a grandchild, my sister-in-law or a neighbor friend goes along with me.”

The couple said it is well known in the community what they do, so there are volunteers eager to help. Local people even collect vases for them year-round, Barb said.

In past years, the Meyers’ gladiolus have been sold at the Plainview Farmers Market to raise funds for the local food shelf and the Lutheran school.

“It’s become a pretty big affair with a lot of different people involved,” John said.

Oftentimes, Barb will hear directly from a community member about the significance of the floral generosity.

“It’s really a blessing to be able to do this,” Barb said. “We don’t always know why we’ve been called to be somewhere, … we just know we have flowers to give.”

Hybridizing gladiolus became a passion of John’s in the early 2000s, as he continued to see new beauty and potential in the row after row of blooms each year.

“I read about glads, and I knew of a few other people who were hybridizing, so I planted those seeds,” John said. “You don’t get to see what you’re going to get until three years later. You have to plant the seed, get the bulb, then plant the bulb; … it’s a process.”

The Meyers joined the North American Gladiolus Council in 2011, where John also sits on the board. They also became involved in the Minnesota Gladiolus Society around the same time and started attending shows with their seedlings.

“Going out at 6 a.m. as a farmer and seeing all the things that were blooming for the first time, that’s what hooked John on hybridizing,” Barb said. “Initially, we thought it was a bit ridiculous to spend all that time getting a couple of glad spikes to look perfect at shows, but we soon understood the effort.”

Since then, the couple has won a lot of ribbons at shows and was inducted into the International Gladiolus Hall of Fame in 2020. John’s most recent and biggest award was the NAGC Achievement Award in 2024. He has introduced 130 gladiolus varieties, winning 16 All-American Select awards. John’s varieties are available online from Honker Flats. Some of their toughest competition comes from those close to home.

“We do open class at the Olmsted County Fair, and for the most part, it’s a show of Meyer gladiolus,” Barb said. “With John and me competing, our daughters, and our grandchildren, … we’re all competing against each other, and we really don’t care who wins because, basically, we’ve all helped with the process.”

Katrina, the Meyers’ youngest daughter, is John’s No. 1 assistant in the patch now. Some years, there have been over 3,000 first-time bloomers that need evaluating. Katrina helps John decide what they should save for hybridizing, and although they do not always agree, John said he has taught her well.

“Katrina is very involved,” John said. “It takes a lot of time and effort, and I can’t walk out in the patch anymore, so she helps me evaluate them, select the new introductions, and select glads for the show tables.”

Kjerstin, the youngest granddaughter, competes in the youth division of the Olmsted County Fair, as did the older grandchildren in past years. John is proud of his grandchildren’s accomplishments.

“Last year, I entered three varieties in the All-American trial gardens,” John said. “My grandsons, Eric and Jensen, each entered a variety, too, and we all won an award — … a trifecta, I guess you could call it.”

John and Barb have six grandchildren that hybridize with John, and two of them have introduced eight gladiolus varieties of their own. The Meyer family shows gladiolus at the Wabasha County Fair, the Minnesota State Fair and the Minnesota State Society show held in New Ulm. In past years, they have also shown at the Honker Flats Gladiolus Festival in Middle River.
“With my health issues, we’ve started slowing down,” John said. “Every year, we say we’re going to slow down quite a bit, but every year, we only slow down a little bit.”

Each year, Barb walks the now 2-acre patch, row after row, during planting, carefully documenting the variety, the quantity and the location of each of the Meyers’ gladiolus variations and purchased varieties, one year totaling over 4,000 entries.

“It’s so good for John to have something that he really loves to do,” Barb said. “He started the whole thing, and now, the family has gotten just as involved and loves it. When they’re hybridizing things, they’re so excited to see their flowers open up for the first time.”

With a staggered planting season, the Meyers are wrapping up planting the last of this season’s bulbs. From the end of one season to the preparation for the next, there is always something patch-related at the top of the Meyer family’s minds.

“We start planting, and it’s almost like we just never stop,” John said. “It’s fun interacting with people; we know ‘glad people’ from all over the United States. Whether it’s through the society, the shows or the community, we’ve been blessed by God with our farm and our lives, and we’ve made a lot of friends along the way. It’s been very rewarding for us.”