The Friend's School Plant Sale Has Everything You Need to Feed Your Plant Addiction

May 12

May 12 The Friend's School Plant Sale Has Everything You Need to Feed Your Plant Addiction

I look forward to early May every year because there are so many important dates for me in May. My husband, Mom and nephew all celebrate birthdays, followed closely by Mother’s Day and just as importantly, the Friend’s School plant sale!

I first heard about the plant sale a few years ago when a friend of mine casually posted about it on Facebook. We had just built our backyard garden bed and I was excited to start growing! 5 years later, the Friend’s School plant sale has become one of our household traditions.

The plant sale takes place every Mother’s Day weekend at the Minnesota State Fair Grounds. If my Mom lived in Minnesota, you bet I would go with her every year!

I feel good about not only supporting Minnesota farmers, but also that my money goes to supporting over a 1/3 of the school’s students.

What to Know Before You Go:

Dates:
Occurs every Mother’s Day weekend
May 10-12, 2019

Hours:
Friday: 9am - 8pm
Saturday: 10am - 6pm
Sunday: 10am - 2pm

Parking: Free

What to Bring:
It’s recommended that you BYO wagon or cart, but it’s not required. There are shopping carts available to use, but at busy times there is no guarantee one will be available. Also note that you can’t bring the shopping carts to your car, so if you plan to get more plants than you can carry, you’ll have to wait in more lines to do a curb-side pick up of your plants.

There are thousands of flat plant boxes that the growers use to transport the plants to the sale that are free for you to use and take home.

If you’re planning on getting a lot of plants, stackable plastic tubs aren’t a bad idea to bring with you so your new plant BB’s don’t get squished.

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What to Expect:

For serious plant addicts, I recommend going on Friday. There are less crowds and you’re more likely to get everything on your list. Early bird gets the worm and all that jazz..

If you’re looking for a little more fun (and maybe more time with Mom) going on the weekend will give you the full plant sale experience.

Outside of the Grand Stand there is a mini State Fair for you to enjoy. Check in at the booth that says ‘Wristbands’ to get your group number, and enjoy the wait time by checking out garden sculptures, talking with plant experts and eating fair food. I mean really it’s worth going just for the pronto pups.

Doing the Sale

If you go on the weekend, you’ll be let into the sale by the group number on your wristband. That helps ease the crowds within the building.

If you’re not familiar with the floor map, that’s ok. There are giant signs on the ceiling to let you know which section you’re in like herbs, veggies, annuals, ect. Within each section, the plants are in alphabetical order, which is super helpful.

Or you can just be like me when I’m at Target, and meander aimlessly down each isle, disregarding the list you made and walk out of there a few hundred dollars poorer…

You’ll receive a board and sheet of paper to help you keep track of your purchases. You’ll need to fill this out yourself as you go, tallying the total of your purchase.

When you’re ready to check out, a volunteer will use your sheet to ring up your total.

If you plan on going to the sale next year, maybe I’ll see you there! We can high five as we go down each isle, picking up all our new lovelies for the growing season.