BEE LAWN SPECIAL | Contact us TODAY about BEE FRIENDLY LAWNS
BEE LAWN SPECIAL | Contact us TODAY about BEE FRIENDLY LAWNS
Looking for a Twin Cities landscaping company that actually understands what local soil, snow, and storms do to a yard? Minnehaha Falls Landscaping has worked across Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the surrounding metro since 1957. We design, build, and maintain landscapes that hold up to heavy clay in older neighborhoods, sandy loam closer to the river bluffs, and the freeze-thaw cycles that crack patios and heave retaining walls every spring.
Our team is 100% organic, never uses pesticides, and runs every job through the same planning-first checklist: site first, soil second, plants third.
The metro went through a quiet but meaningful change in 2023. Most of Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the inner-ring suburbs got reclassified from USDA Zone 4b to Zone 5a. Buildings, pavement, and the urban heat island made it official. That opens up some new plant options, but it doesn’t change the things that actually wreck local landscapes:
We design with all of this in mind from day one. That’s why our work tends to age well instead of falling apart by year five.
★★★★★
We are long time customers of Minnehaha Falls Landscaping. As I sit on my porch watching the monarch butterflies enjoying my pollinator garden I appreciate the service we’ve had over the years. It started with their snow removal service as we decided doing it ourselves was too much. Next up were the pollinator gardens and replacing our lawn with no mow bee gardens. This year we added garden maintenance to the mix so gardening is not a chore but is enjoyable. We recommend them very highly.
★★★★★
Minnehaha Falls landscaping did an amazing job transforming our yard. They added beautiful plantings that made the yard feel fresh and new. The lighting they installed really makes everything shine at night. They were professional, creative and very easy to work with. We have had so many compliments from our neighbors! I highly recommend to anyone!
– Laura J.
Five steps from first call to year-one check-in. Twin Cities yards have their own quirks (clay soils, tight urban lots, watershed setbacks), and our process is built to catch them early instead of mid-build.
You reach out, we have a short conversation about your goals, and we set a time to meet at your property. We cover the full metro out of our South Minneapolis shop, so whether you’re in St. Paul, Edina, or Bloomington, we’ll find a slot that works.
We walk the property with you and check soil, drainage, slope, sun exposure, and how water actually moves across the lot in heavy rain. For Twin Cities lots, this is also when we flag watershed setbacks, frost-heave risk, and neighbor-line issues common on tight urban properties in South Minneapolis or Highland Park.
After the walkthrough, you get a detailed estimate that spells out scope, materials, and pricing. Nothing buried. If something needs adjusting to fit your budget or staged across two seasons, we talk options before you commit.
Once the estimate is approved, our designer produces a custom drawing for your site. Plant choices, base depths, and materials are picked for Zone 5a winters and local freeze-thaw cycles, not pulled from a generic catalog. Your project manager then takes over scheduling and on-site communication so you have one point of contact through the install.
We check back at six months and again at one year to see how things are holding up through a full cycle of Twin Cities seasons: spring runoff, summer drought, fall leaf load, winter snow weight. If something needs adjustment, we handle it.
A landscaper from outside the region can’t just walk onto a Minneapolis or St. Paul lot and get it right. The metro has its own quirks:
A lot of homes in Linden Hills, Mac-Groveland, Como, and Northeast were graded decades ago. Drainage assumptions that worked then don’t work now, especially with the heavier rain events we’ve been seeing over the last several summers.
Urban lots in St. Paul and South Minneapolis often run 40 feet wide. Designs have to work within those constraints, especially when neighbors share fence lines and tree canopies.
If you live near Lake of the Isles, Como Lake, Lake Nokomis, or the Mississippi, your runoff matters. Landscape choices affect water quality, and we take that part of the job seriously.
A boulevard oak that’s been there since the 1920s changes everything: light, root competition, soil compaction. We work around it, not against it.
There are plenty of landscaping companies in the Twin Cities. Most won’t do what we do.
Good Twin Cities landscape design starts before any plant goes in the ground. We walk the property, look at how water moves across it, check the soil in a few different spots, and ask how you actually use your yard. From there, you get a custom design drawing, a clear estimate, and a project manager who stays with the job from start to finish.
If something on the design isn’t working for you, we will change it before construction starts. That’s a lot cheaper than fixing it after.
We’re based in South Minneapolis at 4549 41st Ave S, and our crews work the full Twin Cities region:
If you’re just outside this list but close to the metro, give us a call. We’ll be straight with you about whether we’re the right fit for your job.
If you’ve been putting off a landscape project because you aren’t sure who to trust, that’s fair. There’s a lot of uneven work out there, and the Twin Cities landscaping market has a wide range of quality. The difference usually shows up in year three, not year one. That’s the gap we’re built to close.
Call 612-724-5454 or schedule an on-site consultation online. We’ll walk your property, talk through what’s possible, and put together a clear estimate.
Most of the metro sits in USDA Zone 5a as of the 2023 update, with some outer suburbs like Scott and Carver counties still in 4b. We pick plants that match your specific site, not just the regional average.
We work from April through November, depending on the project. Hardscape and grading can start once the ground thaws. Planting goes best in spring and early fall. Snow removal contracts kick in by late November.
Yes. We work both sides of the river plus the inner-ring suburbs. Soil and grading can differ block to block, so we evaluate every site on its own.
We amend with organic matter, plan drainage routes carefully, and choose plants that tolerate or actually prefer heavier soils. Clay isn't a deal-breaker; it just needs the right approach from the start.
Yes. Rain gardens are one of our specialties, especially for properties in the Minnehaha Creek, Mississippi River, and Bassett Creek watersheds. We size and place them based on your slope, soil, and roofline.
As the education and advocacy branch, we work with community partners to create safe places for our pollinators, one garden, yard, business, school, church, conversation at a time. We know that together, we can build the buzz!
As the construction branch of Minnehaha Falls Landscaping, we build outdoor decks, steps, railings, pergolas, fences, and planters. When it gets colder, we step inside to remodel living spaces with creativity and craftsmanship, including cabinetry.
As the gardening branch, we work within your landscape to grow plants, flowers, shrubs and woodland gardens that are beautiful, restorative, and safe for birds, people, pets, and pollinators. We also install bee-friendly lawns and do spring and fall clean-up.
Call us at 612-724-5454 to see what is possible with landscape design and construction, organic gardening, and indoor remodeling.