Ginkel gives back at Oak Hills Living Center garden
Among nine senior volunteers honored at Brown County Fair
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NEW ULM -- A New Ulm woman who voluntarily tends a garden behind Oak Hills Living Center was among nine senior volunteers honored at the Brown County Fair Senior Day Program Aug. 13.
"My parents, Stan and Onie Dittrich, were Oak Hills residents for nearly five years," said Nancy Ginkel. "I was so pleased with the facilities, the care and attention they got there, I wanted to give something back and make a difference. My mom was a gardener, growing lots of vegetables behind the house. I brought plants from home and planted them behind Oak Hills Garden Terrace. She loved lilies so I brought some bulbs out and planted them. They became really pretty white lilies the year she died."
Ginkel said she decided to call a friend, Gigi Rysdahl, about the Oak Hills garden.
"I asked her if she could use help in the garden. She said, 'you know, I've been praying for someone to help. God sent me you," said Ginkel. "I've been working at the Oak Hills garden for about 12 years. It's really grown. Last fall, we planted the whole hillside. We didn't ask anyone. We just did it as a donation."
She said a stone pathway and new fencing were added.
Rysdahl said the garden behind Oak Hills is available for anyone to enjoy.
A member of the New Ulm Garden Club for many years, she has a number of rock flower gardens and hanging flower baskets around her home.
Ginkel has a large number of red flowers around her home including some of her favorite flowers, cardinal flowers, native perennials known for their brilliant, vivid scarlet-red spikes that bloom from midsummer to early fall and grow three to four feet tall.
"I love flowers. I really like perennials," she said.
Ginkel admits she sometimes displays artificial flowers in the yard due to lack of sunlight because of many trees around the house.
"Petunias are my least favorite because they get really scraggly and don't look so good," she said.
Earlier this year, her yard was part of the New Ulm Garden Club member tour.
The New Ulm Garden Club is another passion of Ginkel's.
"I enjoy it a lot. It's a lot of like-minded people," Ginkel said."The group tours together sometimes in the summer at places like Morgan Creek Winery and the University of Minnesota Arboretum in Chaska. We'll have meetings beginning in September."
Guest speakers include expert presentations on plants and trees, question and answer sessions and community volunteer planting.
Ginkel also volunteers as a lector, usher and sang in a choir for 26 years at St. Mary's Church in New Ulm.
"I like to help out in the neighborhood when somebody needs help too," she said.
Ginkel was honored as an outstanding senior at the Brown County Fair Senior Day Program. Other senior volunteers recognized at the event were Betty Weier, Jane Walsh, Jenny Landsteiner, Teri Arnholdt, Anna Marie Wilfahrt, Gigi Rysdahl and Mary Carlson, all of New Ulm plus Sheryl Diede of Springfield.