MN State Fair Garden Tour – Part One

I should have figured that the Minnesota State Fair would have a brochure describing all the gardens at the Fair! But, it wasn’t until I got home last night that I thought to look for it online. So, yesterday, before and after my shift at the Horticulture Society, I just wandered the Fair taking snapshots. Now that I have the brochure, I can hit the ones on Monday that I missed yesterday! I don’t think I’ll get to mention all 32 gardens, but I’ll post about the ones that made the biggest impression on me.

I took this snapshot at the Grandstand Plaza. This garden isn’t on the “Adopt-a-Garden” brochure, but I like it because it uses lots of red leaf canna lilies, which I always associate with the State Fair. And, it has the State Fair logo (a la the Hollywood sign) in the background.

My visit to the JV Bailey House was one for the “you learn something new every day” category. I knew that people lived in “that cute yellow house,” but I had no idea who lived there. I always secretly wanted to be a gardener for the State Fair, but imagined it would be a monumental job, and contented myself with tending my own gardens.


I had no idea that the house is now being used for meetings of the Fair Foundation. It’s a beautiful home and has lots of its history (and Fair history) inside. But, they had no brochure, so I’ll have to go back and read everything again.



I talked to the guide at this garden—adopted by the Minnesota Water Garden Society. He told me the garden was going to be re-done at the end of the season because it was looking “dated.” They also wanted to include some more plants that would be in full bloom during the Fair.




The last garden on today’s tour is one I can’t identify from the brochure. I was completely in awe of the succulents used here.