Sometimes pictures help.....pretty please with hostas on top.
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Highland Nursery at almost the southwest corner of 35E and 7th street. A great nursery all around too.
Rick

You could check the Renegade Gardener's website. He really likes conifers and uses them a lot in his landscaping jobs. Not sure if he mentions any particular nurseries but he would probably respond to an email.

Nettiesgarden, I don't know if your plans have changed due to the thunderstorm, but with a little more advanced warning, I'd be happy to call around to a few of the twincities nurseries to narrow your search!
Chris

Thanks everyone who responded to my thread or by e-mail. My gosh what a day- country mouse visits big city. I went to Rice Creek Gardens and after a brief period of taking the wrong road I got there right after it opened. Then I shopped for over an hour and strolled around the displays- then the storm hit and I sat in my car for a long time. I had lost my nerve for driving through the cities so I tried to head back home on Highway 10- ended up downtown Coon Rapids. Some nice shop person helped me back on my way- It took more than three hours to get back home. Then as I'm driving up my road I see a lot of branches laying all over the place and as I pulled into the driveway I could see that half of a huge boxelder was missing that shades my hosta bed. My husband was there with his chainsaw and a big pile of logs. My heart stopped as I surveyed all the crushed plants. He and my son had spent most of the morning cleaning it up so I wouldn't have to see how it had looked. He told me my son had held the branches up so they wouldn't do anymore damage while he cut them off the bed. He said it had completely covered my 10'x20' bed. I'm so glad I wasn't home to see what it had looked like originally.
I'm sure most of it will bounce back next year- what the heck, things could be worse huh? I got nice pictures of it for my website while it was looking good in June so that will just have to suffice. Now I am not sure how much more sun the bed will get but on the bright side, hostas can be moved if needed. I did find some nice conifers- maybe one of them will enjoy the new found sunshine in that area.
Nettie

Sorry to hear about the storm damage. What an event-filled day!

I forgot to mention that the Arboretum's library maintains a listing of plants (mostly shrubs and trees, I think) and who in the state carries them.

There is another bright side to the broken tree - it is a boxelder. Out with the icky trees, in with the new and better!

What a great husband and son.

Kate

I have recently found out that the wood from the box elder tree is really nice
for wood turners to make bowls with. It has a very interesting pattern to
the wood. Very Pretty! Surprisingly enough.