TANGLETOWN GARDENS LLC

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Tangletown has an interesting and unusual variety of plants for retail sale, mostly ( but not exclusively) for outdoor plantings.  I find that the plants are not always watered as well as they should be, so often the plants look a bit withered and in need of "revival." Tangletown's prices are somewhat higher for the same plants found at other nurseries.  But again, Tangletown offers some unusual varieties that are not seen at other nurseries.  I have sometimes found it difficult to find sales  assistance when I  am looking for something or want to make a purchase  They seem to be short-handed and I end up having to hunt around for someone to assist.
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.

I was contacted within a day or two of leaving an inquiry on the company's website.  I made an appointment with the designer to come out and look at the yard and discuss. The designer, Angie T. was very easy to work with and welcomed all of my questions and suggestions.  She promised to have the final design to me in a week's time - and she did.  She called to make appointment to look at her design - she was on time and the design was outstanding and totally within budget. We are about to start a remodel - therefore the design also needed to include plans for a Phase 2 once the remodel is complete.  I supplied her with the architects drawings/plans and the survey of our property - both of which she was able to understand and utilize to the fullest. Our house sits on a acre lot and there are many areas of plantings of all types.  I really appreciated that Angie was able to see what I have done in the past and what I like and incorporate that into a new and fresh approach. She was happy to help with suggestions and some foundations for the areas I intend to refresh or replant myself.  With great expertise she utilized my existing perennials including a large amount of hosta.  As I have been collecting hosta for over 20 years I was looking for a better showcase and companion plantings for them - and this was provided with ease.
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.

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I liked the person they sent. She was their head landscaper. She seemed creative. We discussed it at length. The estimate was way high. It was $8,000. It wasn't to do anything extraordinary. It was to put some plants along both sides of a small front yard. She had used the most expensive materials. It was stone instead of the cement block that I wanted. We paid her for the estimate and it was actually quite reasonable for the design. Most people charge more than the $90 she charged. She drew the design and she specified what plants. I assumed we would hire her until we saw the estimate and then I started looking around and got a good estimate for half of that so that's who we hired. We would use them again for a design.

I had seen the round rusty metal planters (and the plants in them) at Seward Co Op, and I wanted 2 of them copied for my yard. As Tangletown Gardens had done these for the co op, they were the only business I contacted - so I cannot compare bids/prices with anyone else - I didn't ask anyone else. They came when they said they would and did beautiful work. I love the planters, and the plants have looked beautiful and stayed healthy this summer. Everyone I worked with was friendly and professional, and took all the time I needed to answer questions. I had many questions because I'm new to flower gardening.

Contractor worked with us to develop the look we wanted while guiding us away from less desirable considerations. Love the visual variety and the improved look of our property!

After having meetings with several landscape designers/installers, decided to hire Tangletown to perform the landscape redesign and install at our Minneapolis Tudor. We actually hired their designer to do a plan for our entire yard (front, side and back) and figured we'd execute the plan over several years, beginning with the front yard in 2011.
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.

. Problems were:
- 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.

There was a late start this year due to weather but they always provide a full box of quality veggies for 18 weeks. I have purchased plants and supplies from them in the past and the quality is excellent, if pricey.

People who walk past our property tell me that I have had a great job with the landscaping. I belong to their CSA programme. Overall the job was excellent and I had no problems at all. I am studying to be a master gardener; so it's not like I have no knowledge on this. They are very prompt and they come when they say they will. They cover the guarantee that they say they have. They are professional and punctual. Their price is comparable with other companies in price. I love the landscaper I worked with and her name is Roxanne. She is excellent. I will use them again if I had $25000 right now.

We had a variety of problems with Tangletown Gardens. While they had a specialist who did a good job with our retaining walls, the landscaping company underestimated the cost of a drainage project (it was double the “ballpark estimate”), charged us $1,200.00 for materials that were not delivered, and gave us a confusing billing statement in which some items were erroneously omitted or added. Their work was careless and did not always follow standard gardening practices, making it necessary to replace items and/or do the work again. A few examples:

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.

Our experience with Roxanne was excellent. She came out and made an easy, interesting plan that we could implement for our front yard and part of the backyard. We'll definitely hire her to come back and finish plans for the backyard. She seemed to get our style and what we were after and could interpret it into an executable plan.

I did not go well. The designer unable to provide pricing for the suggested planning. I feel that the service was untimely and lacking detail.

It went very well. Roxeanne, who I worked with was great. She is very cutomer service oriented, very thorough, timely, and does a wonderful job.

Very happy with the professional advise and expertise. Friendly and courteous service. We were very pleased with the outcome of the project.

We went to their nursery before and they helped us put together a planter and they were so nice and helpful, they are very professional, they are very interested, and they are always very patient, they were just above the competition.

It has been very pleasant working with them. The designer, Roxanne, has been excellent. The crew has been extremely good to work with. I will be using them for future projects.

The staff was very knowledgeable and helpful.

THEY OFFER A GREAT SELECTION OF HOLIDAY GREENERY AND RIBBONS FOR BOWS. THE RIBBON SELECTION WENT BEYOND THE BORING VELVET RED CHOICES. THE CHOICES OF WREATH TYPES AND SIZES WAS IMPRESSIVE. THEY EVEN HAD WREATHS TALLER THAN ME! THIS YEAR I WON'T SHOP AROUND FOR MY FRESH HOLIDAY GREENS AGAIN. I'LL JUST HEAD STRAIGHT TO THEM. THEY ALSO OFFER BEAUTIFUL GIFT CERTIFICATES WHICH ARE PRINTED SQUARE STATIONARY CARDS THAT ARE UNIQUELY FOLDED WITH A PIECE OF RAFFIA BOW TO KEEP IT CLOSED. IT'S THE PRETTIEST MOST SOPHISTICATED GIFT CERTIFICATE I'VE EVER RECEIVED AND GIVEN. IF YOU LOVE GARDENING YOU SHOULD ALSO CHECK THIS PLACE OUT!

THIS NURSERY OFFERS OVER 3000 VARIETIES OF PLANTS, TREES, AND SHRUBS MANY THAT I HAVEN'T SEEN AT OTHER GARDEN SHOPS. THEIR GARDEN ART SELECTION IS ALSO WONDERFUL WITH MANY UNIQUE AND HIGH QUALITY ITEMS. THEIR LOCATION IS A BIT CROWDED BUT IS VERY FUN TO BROWSE THROUGH SINCE YOU ARE BOUND TO DISCOVER SOMETHING INTERESTING EACH TIME YOU STOP IN. IF YOU HAVE A FRIEND WHO LOVES GARDENING A GIFT CERTIFICATE FROM THEM IS SURE TO PLEASE - THEY ARE PRINTED ON BEAUTIFUL SQUARE STATIONARY STOCK, WITH THE CORNERS FOLDED IN AND 'WRAPPED' UP WITH A RAFFIA BOW. IN THE WINTER THEY OFFER GREAT FRESH WREATHS, GARLAND & TREES. IF THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH THEY ARE LOCATED ACROSS THE STREET FROM A GREAT FROZEN CUSTARD SHOP.