Tangletown Gardens may have one of the best selections of exotic and beautiful perennials in the Twin Cities. They boast a selection of about 3500 plants and shrubs in the space of your average convenience store plus parking lot.
The variety doesn't come cheap, however. Although they have a some smaller plants in 3" pots for 2.99--their prices for most plants are usually in the upper medium to high end-and they never have sales (not even at the end of the season-everything is overwintered in an offsite greenhouse).
The owners and staff also have a lot more attitude than your average garden center owner or employee. Every question is greeted with a sigh and a "I can't believe you're asking me that" pause. Most of them act as if they are doing you a huge favor in locating their own product for you.
That said, the shopping experience (sans staff) is actually quite pleasant. The arrangement of the perennials ranges from "nice" to "showstopper" and the arrangement of product in the dwarf shrub section and shade areas has almost a transcendent, japanese garden quality to it--even though the plants are still in their containers!
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