- Terrain at Home. Courtesy of Garden Media Group
I thought it would be fun to poll my fellow contributors on GGW to find out what some of their favorite independent garden centers are. As a disclaimer, this list in no way is meant to imply the ‘best of the best’. What draws us to these nurseries? Like everything else, we each have our unique taste, plant material or products we are searching out and likes and dislikes. So, here it goes:
Cottage Garden Growers Nursery. Courtesy of Saxon Holt
Saxon’s favorites are Cottage Garden Growers Nursery, Western Hills Nursery, Orchard Nursery, and The Dry Garden – all in California.
Bowood Farms. Courtesy of Adam Woodruff
Adam’s favorite nurseries are Bowood Farms in St. Louis’ Central West End and Flora Grubb Gardens in San Francisco. Adam mentioned that when he’s out in San Francisco, Flora Grubb Gardens is a ‘must’ visit.
Black Creek Greenhouses. Courtesy of Nancy J. Ondra
Nan’s favorite retail nurseries are Black Creek Greenhouses in Lancaster County, PA, and Linden Hill Gardens in Ottsville, PA. Nan made sure to remind me that she might have a smidgen of bias when it comes to Linden Hill. I wonder why!
This is what Steve e-mailed me earlier today: “My favorite nursery (today anyway) is Twombly Nursery in Monroe, CT. Great place for unusual woody plants, and sometimes super tropicals and annuals. Best of all though is their display garden devoted to plants with winter interest. An inspiring spot this time of year.”
As far as my choices: Let me first say that I have egg on my face. When I visited Terrain At Home for the first time last fall, I gave it a mixed review. If you recall, I promised that I would make another visit sometime before Christmas, which I did. This time around it won me over. It’s an incredibly inspirational destination with products and accessories that I’d be unable to find in any other garden center or nursery in the Philadelphia area. So, a big thumbs up for Terrain At Home.
Another Philadelphia nursery, which is somewhat of an institution and that I frequent, is Waterloo Gardens. Although I an not an avid fan of Waterloo, it’s a well stocked independent garden center in close enough proximity to me so that when I need something on any given day, I can quickly run over and most times find what I need. As early Spring rolls around, I usually end up purchasing alot of herbs and annual plants: strobilanthes, coleus and sweet potato vines at moderate prices. I still refuse to pay $5.75 for brand name quart sized annual plants that fill their aisles. Talk about prce shopping! When I go to visit Nan in the spring, I can find the same plants at small nurseries near her for $3.75. So much for living on the Main Line.
And finally, for die hard perennial fans who tend to buy in large numbers and are looking for a wide variety of plant material, nothing can beat Russells Gardens, a wholesale and retail nursery that I wrote about in an earlier post.
O.K. We’ve shared some of our faves. Now it’s your turn to let all of us know your favorite nurseries. If you have a photo, send us a link as well as a link for the nursery. And as always, readers will then be able to link back to your site.
By the way, no mail order nurseries are included in this post. That’s for another time!!
PLEASE NOTE: None of us at GGW have received compensation from the nurseries mentioned above in return for a positive mention or review, nor have we ever, nor do we plan to when recommending a product, retail store or service in the future.
Fran is the author of the highly-acclaimed book, Digging Deep: Unearthing Your Creative Roots Through Gardening, which Andrew Weil, M.D., recommends as "a profound and inspiring book."
A graduate of the University of Chicago with Honors in Psychology, she is also a gardening and creativity expert, coach, inspirational speaker, CBS radio news gardening correspondent, and Huffington Post Contributor.
Learn more about Fran and get free resources that will help you improve your life at www.fransorin.com.
Latest posts by Fran Sorin (see all)
- 12 Tips on How To Use Color Effectively In The Garden - June 19, 2019
- 13 Reasons Why Gardening Is Good For Your Health - June 19, 2019
- Christmas Wishes and Adieu - December 25, 2018
