Dru's Garden flourishing
PEQUOT LAKES -- It's been a little more than 16 months since the Pequot Lakes community said goodbye to Dru Sjodin at the 22-year-old's funeral service that more than 1,500 mourners attended.
Back
Many may remember Dru as the college student from Pequot Lakes who was abducted and murdered from a Grand Forks, N.D., shopping mall on Nov. 22, 2003. After massive searches for five months by law enforcement, family, friends and strangers, Dru's body was discovered near Crookston. A level three sex offender now stands trial accused of her murder.
A whimsical elephant in Dru's Garden was added because Dru loved elephants.
But several Pequot Lakes community members didn't want Dru to be remembered only because of the circumstances that led to her death, said Shari Wilson, a Pequot Lakes resident. Wilson spearheaded a project to create a legacy garden in the middle of Pequot Lakes to remember not the Dru who made national headlines, but the vibrant young woman who loved art, her family and friends -- and elephants and butterflies, too -- and whose life was cut too short.
Dru's Garden, which was dedicated in the city's trailside park last September, is now flourishing with brilliant flowers and special features that honor Dru's life, not her death. Dru's Garden committee includes several women whose daughters were good friends with Dru. The committee relied on their advice to help design the garden. Dru was a 2000 Pequot Lakes High School graduate.
"The tragedy of her death was not what we wanted people to remember her by," said Wilson. "She was so much more than that. I think this garden reflects what Dru was. It's a beautiful way to remember her."
A whimsical elephant in Dru's Garden was added because Dru loved elephants.
Dru's Garden is in Pequot Lakes' trailside park, a short distance from the Paul Bunyan Trail in the middle of the city. The garden is in full bloom now, an array of blue, lavender and pink flowers. Pink was Dru's favorite color. The 52-foot by 24-foot kidney-shaped flower garden contains two wooden benches outside the garden and two cement benches within the garden, a place to sit for quiet reflection and enjoy the beauty of the garden. The legacy garden contains several subtle reminders of Dru, from the sculpted elephant -- Dru loved elephants -- and the butterfly sandblasted into a large decorative rock, based on one of her drawings. A rock can be found at the entrance of Dru's Garden, her often-signed signature sandblasted into the stone.
A whimsical elephant in Dru's Garden was added because Dru loved elephants.
Flowers planted in Dru's Garden include Annabelle and PeeGee hydrangeas, Anthony Waterer spirea, pink and lavender clematis flowering on trellises, shrub roses, sedum, Russian cypress, Miss Kim lilacs, day lilies, bellflowers, bleeding hearts, peonies, globe blue spruce trees along with a maple tree in the center of the garden. The garden was designed by Landsburg Landscape Nursery north of Brainerd.
"We're just so amazed at how pretty it's turned out," Wilson said of Dru's Garden.
The Dru's Garden committee hosted an ice cream social Aug. 21 at nearby Boardwalk Scoops ice cream shop to raise funds for the perpetual care of the garden. The event was successful. The committee hopes to add more benches outside the garden and eventually plant more trees nearby, said Wilson.
A whimsical elephant in Dru's Garden was added because Dru loved elephants.
"It's been a labor of love," Wilson said of creating the garden. "She's always going to be here. She won't be forgotten."
JODIE TWEED can be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.