Rod and Eileen Lund’s backyard, situated among the Royal Oaks neighborhood, is a gardeners haven. Photos: Chris Emeott
A couple share a sense of accomplishment with the garden and home they’ve owned for nearly six decades.
There’s something about dirt under their fingernails that gives a longtime Woodbury couple a sense of pride.
Rod and Eileen Lund may be in their 80s, but the pair doesn’t need a landscaper to tend to their extensive backyard garden. Instead, they get in the dirt, planting, weeding, raking and more to bring their personal oasis to life. “As long as I’m capable, we’ll be out there,” Rod says. “We’ll get it done for several more years.”
Taking pride in their garden and home produces a special feeling for the couple, who have been married for 62 years. They’ve lived in their Woodbury home for 58 years—before Woodbury was an official city—and looking out over what they’ve literally grown from the ground up creates a real sense of accomplishment. “We live in a beautiful neighborhood, and that’s why we’ve stayed here as many years as we have,” Rod says. “We take pride in taking care of our property and being a good neighbor.”
Asiatic (hybrid) lilies grown from bulbs.
That noticeable joy radiates from the front curb of their Royal Oaks neighborhood. From cleanly mulched hostas to the massive oak tree, it’s clear the couple understands the value and importance of eye-catching curb appeal. “We’ve had neighbors say they bought their house based on the view of our backyard,” Rod says with a laugh. Eileen agrees. “They have a better view than we do,” she says.
There’s been a lot of growth in the nearly six decades the Lunds have called their house home. When they moved in, their oldest child, Terry Lund, was only 14 months old. Their family grew in that home, adding three daughters Kelly Lundquist, Julie Schaffer and Tracey Threinen. “We have so many memories here,” Eileen says, adding the couple also have 12 grandchildren, ages 14 to 30.
The oak tree in the front was also small in 1965. Hovering just a few inches above the ground, the couple say when the front yard was being planted, the tree almost didn’t make the cut. Rod saved it, however, and it now stands more than 40 feet tall. “A lot of the trees in this neighborhood are 150 years old,” he says.
Rod and Eileen Lund
Moving to the backyard, the garden has also grown. While it started small when Eileen worked as a hairstylist outside the home, it really took off when she retired in 1997. One garden turned into two, a rock garden became tiered and kept extending across the yard, and more terraces and a white picket fence were added. “It’s kind of like our own park,” Rod says. “And we don’t even have to leave the house.”
The backyard has been the backdrop for several family gatherings and events, but surprisingly never a wedding. The couple says a reoccurring request is from neighbors who have high school seniors to have their graduation photos taken in the backyard. They agree that it’s a beautiful spot.
Green Growth
Growing up around gardening and rose gardens, Eileen has always had a green thumb and passed the interest down to her children. “I told my son I wanted a panoramic view of the gardens off my sun porch, so I started digging up the garden by hand, and Terry came with his rototiller,” she says.
And now, after a knee replacement and some lower back issues spurred by gardening, Eileen says she has let some of it go to fern overgrowth. “I can’t do as much as I used to, but my daughters have offered to help,” she says. “That’s where I come in, too,” Rod says.
Garden Menu
As someone who has years of gardening under her belt, Eileen says her backyard is a mix of perennials and annuals. “Because of the oak trees, we have a lot of shade, and I have to be careful what I plant and where,” she says. “I like impatiens and New Guineas to add some color. I also have hydrangeas, cornflower and lilies. When I plant, I balance it out to have something from spring until fall.”
Daylilies (Hemerocallis) grown from roots and divisions.
What about pests? The question sparked sighs from the couple, who say their biggest nuisance lately has been rabbits. “They are terrible,” Eileen says. Rod agrees. “I can’t (live) trap them; they’re too smart,” he says.
The couple say they’ve never had rabbits infiltrate as much as they’ve had over the last handful of years and shared a laugh as they revealed the solution—albeit temporary—they discovered. “I have an air horn I keep by the door,” Eileen says. “If I get really irritated with the rabbits, I’ll blow it. They fly out of here.”
Squirrels have also been an ongoing problem, taking a special interest in red tulips. “I almost gave up on planting tulips altogether,” Eileen says. “But the blow horn works for them, too.”
Heart and History
While the rabbits may be irritating, the Lunds have little to complain about when it comes to their home. While they’ve considered moving, nothing else has ever compared to their Royal Oaks home. “I’ve heard statistics saying people move about every seven years,” Rod says. “We do go out and look about seven years. When we go through other houses, I ask my wife what a house we looked at had that she wishes ours did.”
The answers have varied. One response was a skylight in the kitchen and an interior bathroom. So, Rod installed a skylight in both of those areas. Seven years later, the request was for more mirrors in the home to give it a larger feel. “I put mirrors on one wall in our living room,” Rod says.
Eileen says they’ve also put on two additions since purchasing their home for about $19,000 in 1965. What started as about 1,200 square feet is now about doubled. “The first [addition was] in 1974, to make room for our youngest daughter, and the second in 1987, to just make more room and make the home more comfortable,” Rod says. “We didn’t want to move out of the neighborhood.”
“The house doesn’t look 60 years old because we’ve maintained it,” Rod says. “In the 58 years we’ve lived here, I’ve put 150 gallons of paint inside and outside this home.” He says the only reason he kept track was an ongoing discussion of when the painting was last done and what color was chosen. To make things easier, Rod began recording painting projects.
The Lunds’ home was the fourth built in the area that now has more than 550 houses. Rod recalls moving into what was Woodbury Township when he started working at 3M. “There was a small group of us that decided we really need to get incorporated, or we were going to get annexed by Maplewood or Newport,” he says. “In 1967, we pushed for incorporation and got it. I was on the park board and used to have people calling me about buying land instead of adding infrastructure. My comment was you have one shot at land. We could buy an acre for around $300. We got it while it was reasonable.”
Pride in Ownership
Whether it’s their home or the city they live in, the Lunds stress taking pride in ownership. “I enjoy my home and gardening, and I like to see it when it’s done,” Eileen says. “It gives me great satisfaction. It’s a sense of accomplishment.”
Rod agrees. “We’ve enjoyed the growth in the area,” he says. “Actually, another fun fact is Eileen and I have known each other since we were little. We grew up in the same neighborhood about 11 miles from where we live now. So, this area has always been and always will be home.”
