Flowers for Mankato, MN

Mankato earns its name — a Dakota word tied to the blue-earth clay of the riverbank — at the sharp bend where the Minnesota River turns north toward the Twin Cities. The town splits into distinct delivery worlds. Down on the flats there is Old Town's brick storefront row, the Madison Avenue commercial spine, the civic center, and the residential grid off Broad and Adams Streets. Up on the bluff sits Minnesota State University Mankato, where 15,000 Mavericks turn move-in weekend and commencement into the busiest flower days on the calendar. Across the river, North Mankato adds its own Belgrade Avenue trade and Upper North neighborhoods. The steadiest year-round route, though, threads to the Mayo Clinic Health System hospital on Marsh Street, the regional referral center for a wide swath of south-central Minnesota farm country.

Other Minnesota cities.