Update: As of April 8, garden centers in Minnesota are allowed to remain open. Read more from the Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association here.
One Minnesota garden center is not only finding ways to keep sales moving, it's pushing state government to let them open their doors again. Jennifer and Mark Buse, owners of the IGC located in Chaska, have started an online petition to Gov. Tim Walz, asking that independent garden centers be allowed to remain open “for the purpose of mental and physical well-being.”
Minnesota garden centers can only be open for curbside pickup and delivery after garden center, landscaping and nursery workers were deemed ‘nonessential’ on March 27.
In the first 24 hours, the petition received 3,000 signatures. And by early April 7, the petition passed 6,000. The IGC has also reached out to local media to help spread the word, which Mark Buse said has been well worth the effort.
In the meantime, Minnesota Gardens, like many, is offering curbside pickup and free delivery within a certain area. And they’re doing their best to find ways to serve their customers.
And for patio pot design, the IGC is offering to come to customers’ homes rather than having pots dropped off at the store. “With people not wanting to get out, we decided, ‘Hey, we’re just going to put it out there.’ And I would say it’s taken off a lot better than we thought,” Buse said. “We’re not going to be knocking on your door or shaking your hand.”
The garden center is even offering to lend out gardening tools for a day at no charge to help customers keep on gardening and the landscape department is working with customers through email and photos for now. Customers can even text in gardening questions — all free of charge.
Edibles are trending up on Minnesota Gardens’ website and the IGC is putting their victory garden components in the spotlight. Normally, the site would have about 40 to 50 hits a day on the topic, but lately, they’ve gotten around 200. Working with two growers in northern Minnesota, they’re aiming to meet the demand.
Minnesota Gardens has also added a “victory garden” tab to their website and are putting together kits for gardeners.
To sign the petition, visit the online form here.