TANGLETOWN GARDENS LLC
About us
Tangletown Gardens showcases more than 3,000 perennial varieties (but who's counting), an incredible annual and heirloom vegetable selection along with unusual woody shrubs and trees. We also carry an extensive array of aquatic plants, fountains, and water features. Our indoor plant selection offers a sure cure for even the most severe case of cabin fever. The majority of our plant stock is grown at Tangletown Gardens' greenhouse facility near Plato, Minnesota. Fresh material is brought in to the garden center from our 40 acre farm regularly to ensure the highest quality. We are proud that our plants are grown using principles of sustainable agriculture. To optimize their health and performance at the nursery and in your garden, our plants grow with the best care possible. Although most of our plant material is Tangletown grown, to provide unique and unusual plants we round out our offerings with plants from small local growers who share our philosophy of high quality. And who practice, like us, sustainable agriculture. In addition, we have select growers throughout the world providing new and unusual plants never before available locally. In addition, we have select growers throughout the world providing new and unusual plants never before available locally. Visit us often, and be inspired by our ever changing boulevard and container gardens. We are proud that our plants are grown using principles of sustainable agriculture—for us, it is the only way we’ll grow. We’ve recently invested in low carbon emission, high efficiency biomass furnaces to heat our greenhouses and to free our dependence on fossil fuel. In addition we have switched most of our greenhouse fertility to seed extract based fertilizers, and regularly seek natural pest control options to control insect and disease challenges when they arise. For us sustainability isn’t just the latest buzz word, but a responsible way to grow the best quality plants for you, while respecting the earth. Because our plants are locally grown, we support local economies while reducing our carbon footprint—something you can be proud of too. We welcome your special orders, comments, and suggestions. Since your gardening success depends on it, we only carry the good stuff. You will find the finest tools and garden remedies. Whether it be ergonomically designed tools, non-kinking garden hoses or the world's best pruning shears, we carry serious tools for your serious garden needs. We guarantee our plants to be in optimum condition at the point of purchase. However, at times the power of nature overcomes our efforts. We guarantee our hardy woody plants for one year from purchase. We also offer complete professional landscape design, implementation, and maintenance services, with the quality and creativity that you've grown to expect from Tangletown Gardens. Whether you have a small space or endless spaces, new or old, we will help you achieve the garden of your dreams. Through a creative collaboration with you and your space, we will craft and implement ideas from start to finish. We let your garden come to life by going beyond the obvious and listening to the cues from nature and your surroundings, as well as how you intend to use the garden and outdoor rooms. Between our creativity and your vision, anything is possible.
Business highlights
Services we offer
Complete selection of sustainably grown annuals, Minnesota. CSA memberships are available., herbs, perennials, plus garden maintenance. Daily Fresh Farmer's Market during the summer months featuring sustainably grown produce form Tangleotwn's farm near Plato, trees and shrubs plus garden art from local and global sources. Also offering complete landscape services form concept through implementation, vegetables
Amenities
Emergency Services
Yes
Accepted Payment Methods
- CreditCard
| Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
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| 68% | ||
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This can be irritating when you are in a rush.
The owner has a good eye for pairing and arranging planters that make them interesting and unusual. He will provide assistance and suggestions if requested and he is not otherwise busy ( though sometimes begrudgingly). I make one annual trip to Tangletown each Spring after my garden is planted and when I am ready to plant my pots. I like the unusual variety and most often find a few things I want to purchase. But for the "standard fare" I shop at other nurseries that offer better prices.
The crew arrived early and on the day they promised. All of the crew members were friendly and worked steadily and efficiently. It was a pleasure to have them here. They were all polite and respectful of my yard and my dogs. I consider every one of them a credit to Tangletown. I never heard a complaint or frustration expressed. It was a seamless installation from my point of view.
I am thrilled with the selection of plants and shrubbery that Angie selected. I was truly amazed at how well Angie seemed to understand instinctively what I would like and even though I had a doubt about one or two items I decided early on to let her make the decisions. Any trepidation I had was quickly squashed. The end result design is stunning. This is why you hire a professional.
Having battled black plastic edging for many years - I am so pleased with the metal iron edging they replaced it with. The crew did a fabulous job installing it - following the curves, etc. It's perfect - subtle, tidy and much easier to mow next to.
An impressive job was also done on the cutting and installation of the stone for the new walkway and planter. Gorgeous work!
Hiring Tangletown has been a wish of mine since the day they opened their nursery. I have always loved their place and it's unique style and welcoming staff. It took many years for landscaping to get top position on the priority list - I am thrilled and relieved to have picked Tangletown.
I had been in contact with two other nurseries but they were a hassle to deal with - changing appointments, etc. Angie impressed me from the beginning with her enthusiasm and eagerness to design this project. She sold me from day one!
Thank you for your outstanding service. I can hardly wait until next Spring when we complete Phase 2.
I would actually rate their design service very highly. The landscape designer met with my wife and I on several occasions to get a feel for what we liked/disliked and what we were hoping to achieve. The plan she developed was very original and she was happy to make a few tweaks here and there based on our feedback. We signed off on the plan and were told that they could start the work in 2 to 3 weeks after their current projects wrapped up.
The execution of the plan, however was not of the same quality as the design services. The start date of the project slid several times and pushed the actual work into the late summer (end of August-early September). Delays in and of themselves are understandable, but there was a noticeable lack of communication from the designer/project manager during that period and despite several voicemails trying to get an honest assessment of when the project would start was like pulling teeth.
Per the contract, they were supposed to put ~1" of compost/soil amendment in the existing and new beds. In practice, they did sprinkle/spread a small amount of compost on the top of the ground, however it was never worked into the existing soil in any way, nor was the existing soil (even the parts where sod/compacted lawn had been removed) tilled or worked up at all before installing the new plantings. Accordingly, the soil in all areas is extremely hard and compacted and when watering the new plantings much of the water seeps down through the mulch and then simply runs off towards the lawn/sidewalk, making it very difficult to give the young plants/shrubs a thorough watering, especially given the dry conditions the past two summers.
I had to reject several of the perennials and shrubs that they either planted or delivered (my wife and I opted to do some of the plantings ourselves). Since the project was completed towards the end of the season, I believe we were getting alot of the dregs of the plants remaining in their nursery as I noticed that when they came with replacement plants, the were from Gertens. To their credit, everything I asked them to replace, they did. In retrospect I should have rejected more, as at least a half dozen of the sicklier looking plantings that I did not initially reject did not survive the transplant shock. When I pointed them out the designer during the final walkthrough was told that they had likely been stepped on or eaten by rabbits and could be replaced, but at additional cost.
The contract also specified that approx 3" of mulch would be applied over all planting beds. In the end, there was maybe 1" of mulch covering everything, but I was told that they had over-estimated the mulch requirements and I was refunded the cost of approximately 8 yards of mulch. Again, I should have demanded at the time that they put down the rest of the mulch regardless. I ended up having to have 7 yards of mulch delivered the very next spring to spread myself over the majority of the beds where there were already large areas of bare soil and ample weeds growing through the existing mulch.
Tangletown did honor their one year guarantee on trees/shrubs - somewhat. I had four shrubs that did not survive their first winter and called Tangletown to have someone come out and take a look at them and also I wanted to discuss one remaining item that was in our design, but had not been completed the previous year- a custom made trellis for a vining plant that had been planted in front of our chimney. Tangletown gladly set up a time for someone to come out and look at the plants and I made plans to meet them at the house on a weekday morning. When I arrived at the house, I saw a note in the front door from Tangletown saying that they had already been over earlier in the morning and had replaced the two dead shrubs. The other two clearly dying shrubs were not replaced (I guess because they were only 3/4 dead) and no mention was made about a time to discuss the trellis.
At this point, my wife and I just decided to not pursue any further relationship with Tangletown. Much if it is my fault as should have been more demanding/adamant initially about the soil amendment,wilting plants, and thin mulch, but having just spent $20K+ on the front yard, with the potential to spend at least that much with them when we got around to implementing the plan for the rest of the yard, that we wouldn't have received any push-back when trying to get $200-$300 worth of dead or dying plants replaced.
While somewhat frustrating, in all fairness we do still love our new landscaping. The new flagstone front walk is absolutely beautiful and we have had no problems whatsoever with cracking or settling. Despite the poor soil and thin mulch, the beds look great and in a couple more years, when everything has a chance to grow and fill in a bit more, will be even better. We are incredibly happy with the thoroughness and and effort that went into the overall design and fully intend to execute the rest of the plan in the side and back yard, just likely with a different landscaping contractor.
I will say that the designer/project manager that worked with us on our project has since left Tangletown and started her own business. The design aspect was outstanding. The project management and execution, not so much.
- Their representative completely blew the first meeting. He did hurry over here, an hour or more late, after I called him.
- He promised a plan in two weeks. Six weeks later, after I'd tried to contact him multiple times with no response, he finally came over — with a plan for the front and side only, not the back.
- A week later he came with the rest of the plan — and an estimate of $30,000. This was twice the budget we initially discussed — $15,000.
- I gave him a down payment and told him I'd let him know when to cash it; I wanted to first approve the revised plan that would fit my budget. But he cashed it without my notification, and before I'd transferred money into the account to cover it.
Of course, I fired them, and they sent me my money back — including the bank fee I had to pay.
Call me stupid for allowing this to go on so long. But I was busy with other things. I had the impression that my job was just too small for them to bother with as they dealt with other big-ticket, big-name clients. Their representative was neither apologetic nor disappointed when I cancelled—gave me the impression he was glad to drop me. (And I am hardly a difficult customer.) Meanwhile, I missed a whole season of use and enjoyment.
We requested metal edging around two garden areas on either side of a rectangular patio. The project manager, Roxanne, measured and marked off the edging dimensions with spray paint, assuring me the workers would lay the edging more accurately. This did not happen. The edging was crooked and poorly measured. It had to be redone at a later date.
We asked Tangletown to remove some debris and pea gravel from two areas by the house and replace this with quality soil. Instead, the workers buried the debris and gravel, perhaps hoping we would not notice. The debris and gravel had to be dug up and removed later in order to put plants in those areas. In general, Tangletown had little or no regard for developing/amending the soil.
Tangletown installed an underground drainage pipe for one of our garden areas. After the first heavy rain, leaves and dirt washed into the drainage box and clogged the pipe. I arrived at a better system for the drainage box and replaced the pipe myself. When I removed the pipe, I found it had a large crack on the bottom side, causing water to drain there instead of at the end of the pipe. I am not sure how the crack got there, but I suspect one of the workers stepped on the plastic pipe before it was properly buried. In any event, the crack should not have been there.
We asked Tangletown to install one tree and eight shrubs (each 5 foot high). I ordered more than enough new soil to amend the bed for these plantings. Especially in poor soil, it is standard practice to dig a hole at least twice the width of the container and amend/blend the soil as needed. This was not done. Tangletown dug holes approximately the same size as the container, effectively putting each tree and shrub into a sink of hard-pack clay and gravel. Clay does not drain well and is no substitute for good soil. All of the shrubs died and had to be replaced. While this may have been due to a harsh winter, the nursery told us this was probably not the only problem. Other people had bought the same shrubs with no apparent difficulties.
Tangletown gardens apologized for the billing errors. After numerous e-mails and phone calls from us, the manager arranged for a work crew to come back the following summer to re-install the edging and resolve other issues at no extra cost. I am happy to report the final result was good. While this was much appreciated, the shoddy work from the previous summer delayed our plantings and resulted in a lot of extra time and effort to make things right. Just determining the amount of soil that was delivered, for instance, required us to take systematic soil samples and make calculations with landscape formulas. We did some of the replacement work ourselves because we didn’t trust Tangletown to do things properly. My advice? Don’t get tangled up with Tangletown gardens for landscaping work.
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