Whether it’s pruning, planting, or (the inevitable) weeding, these five local nurseries and garden specialists want to help you check off your springtime to-do list and enjoy the fruits (and vegetables) of your labors.
Botanicals and Baubles
Though plants tend to be the main focus of most gardens, Beth Patrin, owner of Twiggs Home and Garden, likes to emphasize the importance of a few well-placed, whimsical embellishments. Featuring hand-crafted work from many local and international artists, Twiggs stocks everything from wrought iron trellises to hard-to-find concrete statuary, colorful birdbaths to delightfully adorned stepping stones. In addition to their great inorganic selection, Twiggs also offers a seasonal variety of potted annuals, perennials, and cuttings, as well as custom-designed window boxes and patio arrangements, which are made to order and installed on site.
Check out their website for online shopping and events—including seminars put on by floral design experts, botanists and master gardeners. 4301 Upton Ave. S., Mpls.; 612.823.8944
Heirloom Horticulture
Bachman’s Floral, Gift and Garden
It’s hard to imagine that this present-day floral giant once started out as a family-owned vegetable farm way back in 1885; but since trading in their potatoes for petunias, Bachman’s has blossomed into one of Minnesota’s most respected garden, home and floral specialists.
According to co-owner Susie Bachman, the success of her family's company is simply due their "commitment to quality”—which is readily apparent in their wide selection of locally grown and vigorously tested greenery, ample supply of gardening and hardscape products, custom-designed floral arrangements, and artfully crafted home and garden décor.
And if it’s information or inspiration you're after—you're in luck! In addition to a diversity of design workshops, crafts and seminars, Bachman's also encourages customers to take a stroll through their “Idea House”—an on-site homestead showcasing a wide variety of Bachman’s retail products and design aesthetic. 6010 Lyndale Ave. S., Mpls.; 612.861.7600; bachmans.com
From Start to Finish
When you live in a state that features three-foot snow banks and sub-zero wind chills, gardening isn’t always at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Luckily, family-owned Wagners Greenhouse is open year round, and ready for whatever the seasons may bring.
Every year, Wagners kicks off the growing season with their annual open house (held on the last Saturday in April), which features a wide variety of early season favorites—including tulips, hyacinths and pansies. Plant selection continues to reflect the changing seasons throughout the remainder of the year with a summertime bounty of colorful annuals and perennials, cold-tolerant chrysanthemums in the fall, and a spread of seasonal evergreen arrangements and poinsettias during the frosty winter months. So regardless of the time of year, stop in and check out what locally grown greenery Wagners has to offer. 6024 Penn Ave. S., Mpls.; 612.922.6901
The Specialist
Though they specialize primarily in hostas, Savory’s Gardens is certainly not lacking in variety. In fact, the locally operated, family-run business—which will be celebrating their 65th anniversary this year—offers more than 2,000 hybridizations of the shade-loving perennial, which vary widely in size, color, variegation and bloom time.
Fan favorites include the diminutive Mighty Mouse and gigantic Empress Wu, but according to co-owner Arlene Savory, some of their most popular sellers are her family’s own unique hybridizations—including the Edina Hornet, a vibrant yellow-edged specimen; and the Edina Heritage, a vigorous blue-green variety with seer-suckered leaves.
Retail sales are available through their extensive mail order catalog (which ships bare-root); or through their seasonal, store front location—which offers a smaller, potted selection of plants, as well as a multitude of outdoor display gardens where customers can spy before they buy. 5300 Whiting Ave.; 952.941.8755
The Whole Kit and Caboodle
The “one-stop-shop” has become an undeniably popular business strategy over the last several years, and the gardening industry is no exception. Whether you’re looking for potted plants, composts and mulches, colorful pots, or gardening tools—Sunnyside Gardens has them all. (And they’ll even carry them out to your car!)
In addition to their vast variety of products, Sunnyside also offers free gardening information and advice—both in store via their friendly and knowledgeable staff, and through the extensive plant directory and educational blog topics found on their helpful website.
And for those who lack the time or gusto to tackle their own outdoor to-do list, Sunnyside also offers the services of a professional design and landscaping team whose talents range from simple potted arrangements to complete garden and patio installations. 3723 W. 44th St.; 612.926.2654
