Welcome Angela! There are lots of great great gardens and nurseries to visit around the area.The MN Landscape Arboretum is a great place to visit..repeatedly.

Welcome Angela. Are you focusing on certain areas for your home search? Do your prefer certain plants?

I'm planning on attending the swap also, looking forward to meeting you.

Mary

Thanks for the welcome ladies!

hostaholic: Went to the Arboretum a couple of weeks ago with my fiance and son. Nothing blooming yet but we saw lots of buds and shoots peeking up. What a beautiful place! I was actually thinking of volunteering - you know, a little hard labor in exchange for some education ;-) I also looked into their classes. I'm going to try to make it to some this summer. Only took one visit for me to get a membership - and next time I go (soon) I will be taking a notebook!

mary: We've been focusing on school districts so...Edina (tough to get a decent sized lot though), Orono (bit of a hike for fiance though), Deephaven -I like the woodsy-ness. Being from KY and growing up in the country, I crave a little space and greenery ;-) At our Louisville house we inherited a lot of primary colors so this time I'm trying to go cooler - more on the pastel side. Only have the cabin to work with right now, but fortunately, the previous owners put some time in and, even with my fiance's neglect, there are still a few things to work with. Half of it is sloping lawn down to the lake, with small areas of flat land, and the rest is woods (which I'd eventually like to clean out enough to make walking through enjoyable). Still doing a lot of reading about the area and brushing up on my fledgling knowledge about gardening.
I confess that in my zeal, I went to Home Depot and bought a few things already, lol! Had to have a snapdragon since it was one of my favorite things as a kid, some forget-me-nots, several freesia, a few dahlias, and a couple of peonys. Now I just have to get up there this week and plant them - woohoo!!

Next stop, Como Park!
Angela / mamma2max

Welcome, Angela!
I think you will like MN once you get the hang of the new zone!

Good luck with the Freesia, I have never been able to get them to grow here.

I will miss meeting you at the spring swap, but hopefully will see you at the fall one!

Linda

Welcome, Angela.

You might want to check out the winter sowing forum for a method of adding plants to your future home and your cabin. There is still plenty of time to spring sow annuals and perennials this year.

Hope to meet you at the spring swap.

Bobbie

More thanks for more welcomes!

Linda: Ack! Didn't realize freesia would be tough to keep alive here! I'll just have to pray for beginners luck ;-)

Bobbie: Thanks! I have actually taken up a couple of generous folks on seed offers so I'll be giving it a try - and keeping my fingers crossed ;-)

Looking forward to meeting everybody soon,
Angela

Hi Angela! Welcome to zone 4. Getting used to zone 4 restrictions can be a bit frustrating at times but you seem excited enough to get past it. I learned to garden in N. CA where just about anything will grow (probably like Kentucky)-the thing to keep in mind is that lots of things grow here better than they grow anywhere else-such as beautiful peonies. Just keep reading and visiting gardens and you'll do great. Things are just starting to wake up around here and it can be a very beautiful place! Have you checked out the MN Horticultural Society? They have a huge lending library that is free to members, a good magazine and a discount at many local nurseries. Every year I try to limit my garden spending and think about not renewing, but the discount alone pays for the membership ($60/yr).
Have fun finding all about Minnesota-you'll love it here!
Deb

Welcome to MN and zone 4.
I moved here 9 years ago it was a big learning curve from being able to grow orchids hanging from my mango tree in the garden. It is great fun learning all of the new stuff.

I live in Minneapolis proper, don't overlook city living. I have beautiful park land on two sides of my house. I can look out the window and see Minnehaha creek sitting right here at my computer and walk 3 blocks to Lake Nokomis and it's native flower gardens. There are even good schools that our children went to.

Pauline

Welcome.

I have to agree with Pauline - you don't have to move way out to the boonies to get some greenery and space. There are many nice areas in Minneapolis & St. Paul if you look around a bit. I've also stumbled upon some really interesting and beautiful places while out on my bike. I'm talking suburban areas with less than a 20 minute drive into downtown.

Can't wait to see everyone at the swap!

Thanks zenpotter and twohuskies! Since I don't know MN at all I've been relying on fiance's preferences. I'm sure there are some places in the first ring suburbs that might fit the bill. I just don't care for being downtown. We only have a 4x6 or so concrete front porch (watching the cars go by) and the sirens at all hours drive me bananas. Twice since I've been here, there have been a pile of police cars outside the window at 3am arresting some unsavory. There is a halfway house cattycorner from us and some extremely low income housing across the street so I'm not comfortable letting my son even go out on the porch without me. I was on food stamps for six months when my son was born because I was a single mom with a newborn, so I'm not judging income levels, just the behavior of the tenants we're surrounded by. Lots of hoodlums playing king of the block constantly. It's so weird that this place (very nice townhouses and apartment tower) sits in the middle of some very rundown (and a little scary) apartment buildings. There is one guy from the halfway house that walks down the street every so often - cussing out someone who's not there! LOL - cuckoo! Plus I just miss the quiet, my privacy, and having a backyard that I feel comfortable letting my son go out to play in.
Can you tell I'm a little homesick ;-) Don't mean to sound like such a negative nelly - I'm sure I'll get used to the differences here eventually. And I love my fiance like crazy so being together after doing long distance for so long is awesome! And I'm definitely cheered up today with this beautiful weather!! Heading up to the cabin to get my hands in the dirt - enjoy the day everybody!
Angela

I don't think I'd like that location either. Hopefully you will find something suitable soon. There are so many houses for sale right now and people eager to sell..

I'm a little jealous that you are getting up to the cabin. I won't be going to mine for a few more weeks. This year I'll be starting a small flower garden up there. Just a few things to pretty it up a bit. With all the space I could easily go crazy but I go up there to relax not spend my whole weekend tending another garden!

WE had planned on going to our cabin this morning, but after hearing that there is a prediction for 8 -15" of snow we decide to stay home. There is no way we are going to turn the water on yet.

Sorry about the snowy welcome. In your home search, don't overlook the lakes areas of Minneapolis, St. Louis Park, and Golden Valley.