Dozens of shoppers were lined up in the parking lot by 9:45 a.m., waiting for their chance. In just 15 minutes, they’d get to enter Towson’s hottest club: an overstock plant shop.

Second Chance Plants, a pop-up discount shop that sells overstock plants, opened a location in Towson Friday after a soft launch earlier in the week. This weekend, during its grand opening celebration, you can get a free plant with purchase.

The shop, which is in the parking lot of the Towson Place shopping center between Putty Hill Avenue and Joppa Road, had a wide selection Friday morning.

There were shrubs, ferns, trees, herbs, some vegetables and even some succulents. Plants were as cheap as $1, and I saw bushes that typically go for $40 or more priced at $19. Especially popular was a selection of Lenten roses going for $15.

I purchased a black-eyed Susan, our esteemed state plant, to add to the fledgling native flower garden in our front yard.

The store isn’t permanent. It’s a pop-up that will be in place until mid-June, store employees said. Until then, it’s open seven days a week with variable hours. There are also locations in York and Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

The pop-ups supply their plants from a sister company, BloomBox — a service that delivers plants to your door. BloomBox is based in Lancaster, and has a warehouse in Baltimore.

The crowd Friday morning included people of all ages. Some shoppers gravitated toward the small shelf of succulents, while others raced to purchase perennial ferns.

Chatting briefly in the checkout line, David Zablocki, the shop’s owner, said they expect to have different themed weeks in the future, including a tomato week and a native plant week.

He knew the opening would be a big deal when more than 5,000 people showed interest in the shop’s Facebook event, he said, and arrived before 7 a.m. to start unloading a truck of plants.

Friday evening, Zablocki said they ran at least 700 transactions at the Towson location — and that they were cleared out of vegetable and fruit plants entirely. The Lenten roses were sold out by 4 p.m., he said.

When I went Friday morning, people stood in line waiting to check out for about an hour, despite the cold wind. Customers were wrapped around the perimeter, with many still shopping as the line inched forward.

Folks all around me clutched plastic trays of spider plants and pansies or pushed carts covered in a mix of perennials. The woman in front of me in line said she drove down from Pennsylvania and had a cute hanging basket of flowers plus an assortment of plants — including one of the popular Lenten roses — on a cart.

I will absolutely be back, but likely when it’s warmer outside and I’m more prepared to get my hands in the dirt.

Zablocki said they chose Towson as a pop-up location in part because he grew up in the area, and to make it easier for folks to get access to healthy plants to grow.

“We’re just trying to make gardening accessible to people,” he said.

Getting ready to garden?

Here’s a list of some other places in the Baltimore region worth checking out:

Waverly Ace Hardware, 601 E. Homestead St.

You might not expect a hardware store to be a place to grab plants or start your garden, but the Waverly Ace Hardware is excellent. They have an outdoor garden center, indoor plants and more garden tools than you could ever need.

Green Fields Nursery, 5424 Falls Road

I’m obsessed with Green Fields. They have a large selection of plants, tools, planters and supplies, along with a friendly and knowledgeable staff. They rotate their supply as the seasons change, so in years past, I’ve found myself visiting multiple times per summer.

Herring Run Nursery, 6131 Hillen Road

This nursery is a program of Blue Water Baltimore and specializes in native plants. They offer flowers, shrubs, trees and more, and you can book a consultation to have a staff member come to your property to give you planting advice.