Rancho Deluxe Z Garden

Minnesota Museum of the Mississippi and other Natural Wonders

Rancho Deluxe Z Garden - Mason City, Iowa

Max Weaver has collected things since he was young. In the 1970s and 80s, when numerous historic buildings in Mason City were demolished, he saved bricks and stones from the lost buildings. In 2003 he began building a quiet rock garden for his wife on an empty lot he owned next to a train track. In the years since then he has added to the grounds to create a public space open to neighbors during daylight hours.

Though the sign in front labels it the Rancho Deluxe Z Garden, other times Weaver refers to it as The Original Bicycle Garden. Bicycles are a recurring motif, welded on poles, perched on the tops of the walls and fences, or disassembled gears hanging from posts. Fittingly, the garden was a camp site for cyclists on the 2014 RAGBRAI ride across Iowa. Other common recycled components of the garden include hubcaps, license plates and retired signs from local businesses. The garden is divided by stacks of large concrete cubes into a number of rectangular areas like open-air rooms. One room features a raised stage for performances.

The artist, Max Weaver, has also served as a city councilman for three terms and once ran for mayor. When not in office he's remained involved in politics as a citizen observer and gadfly advocating for Mason City. The garden is meant as a community space for local creative people to hang out. Artists are invited to contribute paintings to the cement walls. One are of the garden is dedicated as a veterans memorial, with a sculpture made of helicopter doors from the Vietnam War contributed by Mason City vet Dennis Withers. Another wall features an elaborate castle-like fake door by local artist Mark Whitten.

These photos were taken in 2015. Weaver continues to add to the garden since then.