Gardeners are crazy in the spring...In St. Paul Minnesota, there's a plant sale each spring, put on by "The Friends School", a Quaker school in St. Paul. About 90% of the students are non-Quaker. This plant sale is so huge, it's held at the State Fairgrounds...and even then, it's totally packed...hundreds of crazy gardeners show up with wagons, carts, and wacky contraptions to hold the plants they plan to purchase.
Luckily, the organizers have developed a very smart system of lining people up, using wrist bands, and moving huge crowds into the sale, but even with all that, I waited with my mother for 1 hour in line before even going inside. It was my Mom's idea to check out this sale...and I have heard about the long lines...but an hour waiting outside was too much for her. She has a bad knee, and metal plate inside her leg...in addition to being over 70. So, we just had to leave without even getting into the sale.
It is a very impressive event, and I'm sure a lovely school, but I don't think I'll go again. Shopping for plants should not be an experience like that. I have only waited that long for Prince tickets. There are many other nice little plant sales around town where you don't have to subject yourself to cattle herding. If you go next year, bring a folding chair, and a picnic lunch. Do not bring small children-- they would freak out waiting that long.
