Minnesota Butterfly Garden Resources

Native Nurseries, Plant sales, and other helpful Minnesota Gardening Resources

Minnesota Nurseries 

These nurseries offer bee and butterfly safe plants without neonictinoids that are harmful to monarchs and their pollinator friends.

Bachman’s

Bachman’s has six retail Floral, Gift, and Garden Centers in the Twin Cities, Minnesota and a floral presence in metro area Lunds and Byerly’s stores. Bachman’s also operates indoor and outdoor landscaping divisions, a nursery wholesale division, seven acres of greenhouses, and a 670-acre growing range near Lakeville, Minnesota, which produces many of the plants, flowers, and landscaping products sold through Bachman’s locations.

Bloomington Garden Center

A hidden gem in the south metro with pollinator friendly perennials and favorite monarch annuals for your Minnesota Butterfly garden. Fun fact: this nursery is now the oldest operating business in the city of Bloomington 🤓

Eisele Greenhouse

a 5th generation family-owned retail and wholesale Minnesota nursery located in Lakeville that offers Minnesota butterfly garden perennials and annuals to support bees, butterflies, and other precious pollinators in our region.

Gertens Nursery

Gertens started their operations almost 100 years ago, with growing vegetables. They continue to follow the practices of growing the best variety and quality plants, trees and shrubs. For three generations, as growers, Gertens strives to be stewards of an ecologically balanced approach to growing plants. Gertens has two twin cities locations.

Glacial Ridge Growers

At Glacial Ridge, they nurture the natives, producing the same handsome and hardy cultivars that have inhabited the prairies for centuries. They strive to bring back and restore the genetics of the past to ensure the beauty and diversity of the future. They also offer annuals. Retail customers can purchase a variety of products directly by visiting them at the Saint Paul Farmers’ Market on Saturdays.

Green Earth Growers

A great place to find Minnesota butterfly garden annuals including zinnias, verbena, and Mexican sunflowers. Their retail location remains closed post-covid, but you can order online to pick up a their farm in Prior Lake or twin cities farmers’ markets.

Heidi’s Growhaus

Provides environmental solutions that beautify your home while aligning with your values. They offer customers unique plants, products, and educational opportunities in Corcoran, Mn., a NW suburb of Minneapolis.

Knecht’s Nurseries & Landscaping

This nursery is located south of the twin cities (in Northfield) and they carry a few varieties of milkweed and many nectar flowers for your Minnesota garden. They also have created a list of butterfly friend plants that they offer.

Minnesota Gardens

Mark and Jen at Minnesota Gardens (in Chaska) sell perennials that are not sprayed with any neonics at their nursery and don’t spray any insecticides on asclepias plants.

Outback Nursery

Their native plants, naturally occurring in the river bottoms, flood plains, prairies, woods and savannas of the Twin Cities Region, are from seed or cutting sources within 300 miles of the nursery.

Prairie Moon Nursery

Offers a wide range of native Minnesota milkweed and nectar plants. Located south in Winona, Minnesota.

Tonkadale Greenhouse

Pesticide-free annual and perennial plants to support monarchs and other pollinators + start your own fairy garden. Located in the western twin cities suburb of Minnetonka.

Twin Orchards Nursery

The owner reports they do not spray any Neonics at their nursery and don’t spray any insecticides on asclepias plants.  Their nursery is located in Shoreview, west of the twin cities.

Wagner’s

3 locations in the twin cities that offer high quality perennial and annual plants that support monarchs and more in your Minnesota butterfly garden .

Minnesota Plant Sales

These are often the best local resources for finding hard-to-find native plants and annuals.

Friend’s Plant Sale

Annual Mother’s Day weekend plant sale that offers 13 different types of milkweed and a bounty of nectar flowers. the biggest plant sale in the midwest, and possibly the US. The sale is held at the State Fair Grounds in St. Paul, Mn.

Burnsville Native Plant Sale

A farmer’s market style event held each spring where several growers offer a variety of milkweed and nectar flowers. Burnsville is a south suburb of Minneapolis.

Minnesota Arboretum Auxilary Plant Sale

The arboretum’s spring plant sale in Chaska, Mn.

Hennepin County Master Gardeners Annual Plant Sale

A wide selection of interesting and unusual annuals and perennials is available, including natives, rain garden plants and plants for pollinators. Most plants are grown by master gardeners.

Landscape Revival: Native Plant and Expo Sale

Held by the Minnesota Audubon Society in multiple twin cities locations each June. It’s the last big spring plant sale of the season.

Monarch Festival

The early September Festival celebrates the monarch butterfly amazing 2,300 mile migration from Minnesota to Mexico with music, food, dance, hands-on art, native plant sales and plenty of opportunities to get up close with monarch butterflies, learn about their habitats, and what you can do to make a difference. The festival is held at Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis.

Minnesota Butterfly Gardens

Enchanted Garden at Como Park

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, a top visitor attraction, is more than 1,200 acres of gardens and tree collections, prairie and woods and miles of trails. Awarded 2017 reader’s choice Best Botanical Garden in the US.

Lake Nokomis Naturescape Gardens (certified monarch waystation)

If you can’t find specific plants locally, check out nurseries that will ship plants to your doorstep on our Milkweed and Butterfly Plants resource pages.