Edina City Council — Transcript
Monday, November 3, 2025
Story
Edina's 25-year pecan experiment proves cold-climate success
Votes (1)
Northern Pecan Tree Growing Project and Future Expansion in City Parks
The segment highlights the successful cultivation of northern pecan trees over 25 years at Arnison Acres Park, challenging the belief that Edina's Zone 4 climate was too cold for them. Retired park service worker Tim Zimmerman's efforts in planting and harvesting these trees are central to the story. The city's forester emphasizes the importance of diversifying tree species for resilience against diseases. The discussion also covers the scarification process for nuts and plans to expand pecan tree plantings to other city parks, with surplus plants potentially offered for sale at the annual Mother's Day plant sale.
Notable Quotes (5)
Once a squirrel sees them, within one or two days, they'll be all gone.
I believe the peacons originally from southern Minnesota, which is zone 5. We're in zone 4 up here.
And I think it's going to benefit having diversity of different nut trees growing because of different diseases and stuff that come by.
What they need is it's called scarification. And so what we do is just take them, put them in a big uh jar with with sand in there, and then shake them.
They're in such high demand that they won't even be available to order unless like you reach out to them ahead of time or get like on a list.