Guess you won't be happy there cause it is crowded. With the worst kind of people too---gardeners and their SO's.

My first time there they had it in the Midway of St Paul in a large area around some buildings. No place to park for blocks and blocks. People coming and going pulling wagons and carts. Empty going in and full coming out. So, I found a place to park and walked around people gazing as well as looking at all the plants and wishing.

I bought a few plants.

Then I went to the state fair grounds and saw how an army of volunteers had set up massive plant tables and signs and checkout aisles. Read up on this on their site. Quite an undertaking for a three day sale. Semi load after semi load gets unloaded and displayed.

As you HATE crowds, you would be best to just shop at your local center or a Linders in a mall parking lot. You will get personalized attention and no one shoving you around.

As for the quality of their plants, I'll let someone else tell you but if I was to buy there I would probably volunteer and then get in on the pre sale. Besides, it is for a good cause.

I'll go this year I think. I have some money set aside. I think I will just wander around and gawk. Crowds don't bother me....I use my cane to shove people aside.

As a person who hates crowds I think it would be best for you not to go.

The main reasons to go are:

1. The search
2. The crowds (do you like the State Fair on a really crowded day or a big estate sale that you have to push your way through )?
3. The prices are better than else where.
4. A lot of variety in one place.
5. Good people watching.

There is a good chance that not all of your plants will make it. I know there are people that swear by them, I have had some die over the winter.

I enjoy planning out where to go first and what order to shop. If you plan on going don't assume there will be a cart available to put your things in. I bring my own and so do a lot of other people.

You can count on not finding everything you planned on getting and getting a few things you didn't plan on.

My guess is that it will be extra crowded this year because of the people that are going to start vegetable growing and the radio, newspaper and T.V. news about it being a good place to buy veggie plants.

It's crowded because anyone who gardens is in deep withdrawal by the time spring gets here! :-) And the people running the sale do enough of the right things to keep buzz high around their event.

The plants do get very picked over, so if there's something special you want, you'll have a better chance of getting it by going as early as possible.

IMO, the prices are a bit cheaper, but you're also getting smaller plants that often aren't as well tended as those at local nurseries. I am a very experience gardener, and have noticed a higher non-survival rate than any other source of plants, including plan swaps.

As someone who also dislikes crowds, the only reason I'm going is because I volunteered during the pre-sale for volunteers, thus permitting me to shop even before that! But the appeal is starting to wear thin, so this will probably be my last year.

Thank you all,

My desision has, as it turns out, been made for me. The Hennepin Tech plant sale is on the same weekend, and as a student I will be volunteering my time to that sale, as its results are crucial to the nursery/design program there. A program that has come a long way in a short time and one that I can not say enough good things about.

Helen.

Helen, can you post some details? I might be able to go, since I'm at the Friends plant sale before the weekend.

My body hates me. This year it is a bum knee. I can't walk well enough to go to the sale. I can look on the bright side and it also means I won't spend all of that money. I am going to get a new knee in the near future so next year I will spend twice as much.