The local garden nursery is more than just a place to buy plants near you. It’s where you can glean knowledge about plants, pick up kernels of gardening wisdom, and even make new friends.

My wife and I like going to local garden nurseries mainly because they offer a wider array of plants that are suited for our climate. They also usually have staff on hand who can answer our many questions about plants.

Sometimes it costs more to buy plants near us at the local nursery. Other times it’s less expensive. But it’s always worth the visit, and we almost never leave empty handed! Besides, we love to support local businesses whenever we feasibly can.

The Bane Of Shopping At Big-Box Garden Nurseries

Here’s the thing about buying plants at the big-box store: they don’t always have the plants my wife and I are looking for. You see, my wife and I live in Central Florida. And when people outside of Florida think of the Sunshine State, their minds seem to go toward palms, colorful exotics, and broad-leafed tropical plants and flowers.

And in my neck of the woods, many big-box plant inventories skew heavily toward tropical exotics. But these plants don’t always thrive year-round in our climate zone, especially during frosts and freezes. And many aren’t great for attracting pollinators or other beneficial creatures.

What’s more, we don’t want to grow in our yard only plants that belong in the tropics. As a matter of fact, many of the plants sold at our nearest big-box stores are much better suited for Miami than our spot hundreds of miles to the north.

I’m sure there are many people who enjoy the tropical-flavored inventory at some of the big-box garden nurseries near us. But my wife and I want a yard that looks like the real Central Florida — not a South Beach resort.

Now don’t get me wrong. I still love going to the big-box stores for garden supplies — mulch, soil, fencing, you name it. It’s where we bought the supplies for our cheap garden arbor. They even run some fantastic deals on nearly dead plants (many of which we’ve returned to vigor!). But when my wife and I want to buy native plants, we head to our local garden nursery!

Benefits Of Shopping At The Local Garden Nursery

There are a good three or four local garden nurseries near us in our community. One primarily deals in trees. Another has a good selection of landscape plants. Yet another is great for ground covers and perennials. One place just sells grass sod for the lawn and concrete yard art — bird baths, statues, and the like.

All have experts on staff who can answer our plant questions — like what are the right plants for your yard? And while pricing is hit or miss, we can find a great many deals, with many plants selling for less than their equivalents at the big-box store.

But the most important reason we shop at our local garden nursery is the selection of native plants. In fact, we’ve built a very successful butterfly garden with milkweed, passionflower vines, firebush, cassia, and other pollinator plants we’ve never seen at the big-box store. We can also find the best trees to plant for fall colors in Florida there.

Another important reason we’ve been buying plants from local growers is they really seem to know what they’re talking about. We can ask questions about almost any plant we’re interested in buying and they seem to have the answer. If they don’t know, they seem to know where to find it.

And talk about service… My wife and I have only so much room in our vehicle for plants. But the local garden nursery staff was willing to make accommodations on delivery that saved us money getting our red maple and sycamore trees home.

Any Drawbacks To Shopping At The Local Garden Nursery?

If there’s one downside to shopping at local garden nurseries, it’s probably price. Yes, my wife and I have found many good deals at the mom-and-pop garden nurseries near us. In fact, one local garden nursery was selling viburnum shrubs in three-gallon pots for half the price of the big-box store just down the road. But deals like that seem to be one-offs. We’re almost always paying at least a few percent more for plants at the local nursery than we are for those same plants at the big-box garden stores.

But therein lay the big difference — that’s IF we can find that same plant at the big-box store. Most often we can’t. Only the local garden nurseries seem to have the bulk of what my wife and I want to plant in our home landscape!

The only other real downside to shopping at local garden nurseries other than usually paying slightly higher prices? Convenience. I can’t think of any local garden nursery near us that sells everything we need for our yard. They may have the plants we want. But two places don’t always sell bagged mulch (yeah, we’re not putting a pile of raw mulch in the trunk of our car). Another doesn’t have any perennials at all. Only one or two of those places sell inexpensive starter flats or pots.

Meanwhile, the big-box DIY stores have seemingly all those things, including the (big and small) yard tools with which to do the digging. Plus, they have easy return policies in case we bought the wrong thing. Many local garden nurseries can be iffy on returns — some offering only store credit. Oh, and did I mention operating hours? Where else but the big-box store can you shop for plants from 7 AM to 10 PM Sunday through Saturday?

Shop Local? Or Go Big To The Home Store?

Are local garden nurseries really “better” than the big-box stores? Yes and no. Yes, in that you’re likely going to find a far wider selection of native (and appropriate) plants for your yard at the local garden nursery. You’re sure to encounter better, more personalized service, too. And I’ve never been disappointed by the wealth of knowledge most folks at local garden nurseries seem to have. I learn something new each time I go.

But no… You shouldn’t entirely give up on the big-box stores, either. My wife and I recently scored a clearance deal on shrubs that were marked a whopping 90% off their retail price. I mean, when you’re looking for budget garden nursery plants, you really can’t beat that. And it’s nice to know we can pick up a bag or two of mulch or even a box of screws to fix a loose fence picket on the way out of the big-box store if necessary.

Ultimately, there’s a place for local garden nurseries and big-box garden stores. They can peaceably coexist because they each fill special niches and cater to different kinds of shoppers and gardening needs.

My wife and I frequent both kinds of garden nurseries depending on our needs at the moment. We usually stick to a shopping list (more or less anyway!) and will go to the big-box store when we need some of the things we can’t find at the local garden nurseries. But when we want to buy native plants, pollinator plants, or anything else that we want to know for sure is suited to grow in our area? Well, you better believe we’re going to the local garden nursery near us for that!