Home improvement fair

What's the next home-related project on your to-do list? A free South Minneapolis Housing Fair, designed to help you save time and money when tackling home improvements, will be offered 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, featuring exhibitors and workshops on topics ranging from solar power to financing home improvements.

As part of the fair, a free Fix-It Clinic will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Bring easily carried small appliances, electronics and toys that are not working properly, and get help fixing them.

The Housing Fair and Fix-It Clinic will be held at the Midtown YWCA/Sports Center, 2121 E. Lake St., Mpls. For more information, visit www.housingfair.org.

Win a garden makeover

If your landscape could use some TLC, here's a chance to enhance it with some blooming garden plants. Endless Summer, the plant collection from Bailey Nursery, is offering an Endless Summer Giveaway Sweepstakes.

Beginning May 14, a winner of a $50 Visa gift card will be selected daily through Aug. 11, when a grand-prize winner will be chosen to receive an Endless Summer Garden Makeover worth more than $15,000, featuring hardy hydrangeas from the collection, including the Original, Bella Anna, Blushing Bride and Twist-n-Shout.

To enter the sweepstakes, visit your local garden center and the Endless Summer display, where each plant will feature an entry code on the tag. Then visit www.endlesssummerblooms.com, and enter the code on the official giveaway page. No purchase necessary.

Flower-arranging workshop

Want to arrange flowers more artfully? Bachman's is offering a floral design workshop in conjunction with Art in Bloom at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Workshop participants will create a floral arrangement inspired by this year's Art in Bloom featured work of art, "Hurdy Gurdy Man," a video installation by Jennifer Steinkamp featuring brightly colored Fuji mums.

The workshop will be held 6-8 p.m. Wednesday in the Heritage Room at Bachman's on Lyndale, 6010 Lyndale Av. S., Mpls. Cost is $50, with 20 percent donated to Friends of the Institute, which includes all supplies for your floral arrangement. To register, visit www.bachmans.com.

Prairie pioneer

A century ago, when the prevailing garden style was formal and manicured, a Danish-born landscaper was using native plants and materials to create ahead-of-their-time outdooor spaces.

The landscaper was Jens Jensen, a colleague of Frank Lloyd Wright's who shared his interest in organic design, and the subject of a new exhibit at the Goldstein Museum of Design.

Jensen designed Chicago-area parks, and his ideas continue to influence landscape architects and garden designers. The exhibit, which includes images and text, runs through May 12 in the HGA Gallery of Rapson Hall, 89 SE. Church St., on the Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota. Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, and 1-5 p.m. Saturdays. Gallery admission is free.