Shop the largest plant sale in the state at the Friends School Plant Sale at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds May 10-12, 2024! You’ll find over 2,100 plant varieties!
I sure hope we can safely say that Spring is here!! The upcoming Friends School Plant sale is a great way to find the plants we need!
One of the largest, if not THE largest plant sale in the whole Midwest happens in May at the MN State Fairgrounds. This year, the Friends School Plant Sale begins Friday, May 10th and continues through Sunday May 12th.
The sale features a full line of annuals, perennials, climbing plants, native perennials, and vegetables, with selected roses, trees and shrubs and an increasing selection of fruit.
With over 2,100 plant varieties, there’s bound to be something for everyone, green thumb or not. Plus there are always gift ideas from local exhibitors, perfect for your own yard or for your friends and family who love to garden.
To be prepared you may want to read up on how the sale works, check out the map, hours and tips. You can find the need to know info here on their website.
Important details and What’s new for 2024…
The sale will return to something close to normal for 2024. This additional information from the sale should help you plan your visit.
Friends School Plant Sale 2023 Details (Direct from the Sale):
- Things at the plant sale are more or less back to pre-covid operations, except with more space built in. We are very happy to encourage N95 masks for anyone who wishes to wear one (especially inside the building). We don’t anticipate changes to this policy, but please back here in the week before the sale in case of updates.
- Texts are replacing tweets for wristband group announcements. We will no longer post individual wristband group admission times on Twitter. Instead, you can sign up to get a text message when it’s your turn to shop, or when wristbands are no longer required each day.
- There were more than 250 new plant varieties: 59 annuals, 58 perennials, 15 shrubs or trees, 35 Unusual & Rare plants, 15 fruit and nuts, 12 herbs, 41 vegetables (especially many more organic seed offerings), and 6 new clematis in Climbers.
- On the sale floor, within the Perennial section, we’re moving the astilbes and delphiniums onto the tables where the peonies have been located. That will give these tall plants more head room so they don’t get crushed on the tables. (See the map, page 1.) We have also added taller tables in some sections to fit more plants in the same floor space.
Tips for shopping the sale:
For the smallest crowds shop late afternoon on Friday or Saturday or on Sunday after noon. If you volunteer you can shop on Thursday!
To ensure you get the plants you want, arrive super early on Friday morning (7 am or earlier), or on the weekend by 9 am. Or again, volunteer!
To pay the least for your plants you can shop on Sunday when all remaining plant are 1/3 off.
- About the Author
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Kristi is married with twin daughters. She grew up on a small dairy farm, but now lives in the south metro area. She enjoys finding free or thrifty things to do whether they are outings close to home or last minute adventures to far-away places.
Kristi can also be found enjoying estate sales, attempting to garden, volunteering in the wetlands or a favorite thrift store, or maybe just enjoying a good play in one of the many theatre venues in the area.
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