March 2014

Feeling at Home By Pete Mihalek

After a busy day at Minneapolis’ Tangletown Gardens, co-owner Scott Endres heads 15 minutes across town to his St. Paul home. When he arrives, he’s welcomed by a garden that would make it easy for any of us to unplug our connection with the real world and unwind after a long day.

For Endres, that’s not always his goal. “For some people, the garden is their private world, cut off from the public world,” he says. “For me the line is a little grayer. It’s a part of my life and it’s not hard for me to share it.”

In the following interview, Endres explains to Lawn & Garden Retailer why his garden and the work he puts into it makes him a better owner and Tangletown a better garden center.

Lawn & Garden Retailer: As an owner of an independent garden center, do you feel it’s your duty to have an inspiring garden at your own home?

Scott Endres: We are huge advocates of beauty at Tangletown Gardens. It’s what we do. It seems a bit hypocritical to (promote gardening) and then practice the opposite.

L&GR: Why do you find it necessary to make time for your garden, especially during the busy season?

Endres: It’s the best thing in the world for me to start the day, ideally, with a little weeding and watering in my garden. Waking up with the garden — instead of waking up quickly and rushing to get off to work — and taking my time, I find that I’m making myself better. It gets me back into the reason why other people garden and why I got into the business to begin with. It puts everything into perspective.

L&GR: How does your garden affect your professional life?

Endres: Gardening allows me to experiment with new plants and plant combinations on relatively little real estate. Today, I continue to learn from my garden as a businessman, designer and a person.

It also brings a credibility to what our capabilities are at Tangletown. When we take the initiative to bring our talents and abilities home with us to use them as a guiding force in our own lifestyle, I think its something that gives customers and neighbors a green light to be inspired and to encourage them to work on their own gardens.

I also use my garden to trial plants all the time. I am lucky to have the best selection in the upper Midwest at my fingertips. In my garden, every season brings something new — and more time to dream, experiment and implement my own ideas. A garden, like our business, is always evolving with new plants and ideas to keep things fresh. Sharing this with customers and friends allows them to see the possibilities of what one can create in their own backyard, while offering a window into mine.

L&GR: For many people, gardens can be a private refuge from the hectic day-to-day. Why is it important for you to not keep your garden closed off from the rest of the world?

Endres: By sharing our gardens with our customers, we help them connect the dots. My garden is a concentrated version of my own creative energy — a reflection of my creative side and love of plants — while serving as a bridge between the garden center, our customer and me. It’s a win-win for everyone.

Whether we’re featured in a magazine, a post on Facebook or a stop on a garden tour, these things show the people behind our business. It connects the customer on a personal level to what and who they see at Tangletown. That’s extremely important to us — for our business to have a personality because people like personalities. That’s why they love small businesses. They know who the people are that make the business run.

L&GR: How do you feel after someone’s experienced your green space?

Endres: I always feel inspired after a garden tour. I can see the reaction of the guests because there are always things I think visitors are going to think are so cool in my mind, but it’s always surprising how people migrate to what you might not expect or something that you take for granted. As a garden center owner, you see things through your own set of eyes. This is another way to see gardening through another set of lenses.

Tangletown’s Scott Endres explains why the work he puts into his landscape is an important part of the role he plays as garden center owner.