Prairie House Gardens: Plant a Garden, Grow a Community

When spring decides to stay for more than a few days, hopefully come May, there will be another option in Glasgow to build up your outdoor greeneries. Prairie House Gardens, 5 1st Ave. S., Glasgow, will be opening May 4, and owners Madelyn House and Andy Fahlgren have been hard at work getting things ready for opening day.

Focusing on perennials, trees and shrubs, House hopes to share her passion of plants with the community. "My real passion is trees and shrubs. They are not available here, so I thought what the heck," explained House on her motivation to open. The trees and shrubs are from Manitoba, Canada, and the Glacier area, with House nurturing the perennials to grow on site. Also available for purchase will be seed potatoes and annuals in addition to other plant varieties.

House has been in the horticulture industry for 10 years, most recently at Patty's Greenhouse for the past four summers. Though she has no formal training, everything she has learned has been from experience and while on the job. "My dad worked in a nursery when I was a kid. I started working at a grocery store and then realized I wanted to work outside, so decided to work at a nursery too!," said House. "Patty (Simons, of Patty's Greenhouse) has been so helpful to me in sharing ideas. I am so thankful!"

This is more than just a business for House as she wants to share the knowledge she has learned over the years and her love for big plants. "It's about the right plant and the right place. I do believe nobody has a brown thumb. With a little education, anyone can grow a garden," she explained. Though she will not be doing landscape design, she is happy to answer questions, provide ideas, and help pick the right plant for the intended space.

She also wants to give back to the community she calls home. Prairie House Gardens is funding two no-match $500 Glasgow Downtown Signage grants. These grants are now available for businesses to apply through the Two Rivers Economic Growth's Storefront Beautification Grant. The grant purpose is to improve business awareness by having signage in the Glasgow downtown district. "Our downtown businesses are beautiful inside, but as a tourist you don't always know where they are," explained House. The grant can be applied for individually or in tandem for bigger projects.

House also wants to make her business not just about plants in the summer time. "I have a lot of thoughts for expansion in mind. I really want it to be a place to come for plants and education. I also want to have a place to relax, have the husbands sit while their wives pick out the plants, a place for kids to play. A place for people to come and hang out, not just get plants," she explained. "Eventually I also want to have fall crops and Christmas stuff."

House admits this venture could not happen without friends, family and community support. The greenhouses and tables are from Jo's Greenhouse, that was formerly set up in the VFW parking lot. Friends and family helped deconstruct, move and reconstruct the greenhouses into their new home. "It was two weekends worth of long days!" reflected House. "I could not have done it without them and am so thankful!"

Prairie House Gardens will be open seven days a week: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. She will be open until she sells out, which will be around July. They can also be contacted at 406-85-TREES (406-858-7337). The Glasgow Downtown Signage Grant application can be found at http://www.growvalleycounty.com/newsroom.