Green Thumb Garden Centre

A diverse selection of plants. Well informed staff. Reasonable pricing.

My experience was very similar to Michael Chamberlain's. Over the last 5 weeks I have bought $1850 of trees from the Green Thumb Garden Center - have all the receipts. Of the 8 trees in the picture (I think 5 of the 8 are from Green Thumb) the closest tree on the right hand side died after planting (3 weeks). I know it was from Green Thumb as it still had their plastic identification tag on it. I think I planted a total of 15 trees during this period, and this was the only tree that died - all the rest are either showing new growth or are as vibrant as the day they were planted. I showed the pictures to Green Thumb and the first response was I must have planted it wrong. I said I didn't think so as all the other trees survived and seem to be growing. The second response was is this morning or afternoon sun. I said afternoon sun and was told that was the problem. I have included a picture that faces West showing the mature trees that provide shade to this tree in the afternoon - and there are more trees than those that are showing - the tag reads afternoon shade" required. This is late May

Immense selection, great parking and very good customer service… even attentive! The prices are middle to normal as well. I think the big take away here is how much Kelly at the cash register tried to coach me on new tree care. It was as if she knew I was going to take home “Emerald Isle Leland Cypress” shrubs x3, and kill them immediately. Any of my character references could easily tell her that I kill my plants… very slowly. Yes, there are some “1 star reviewers” for Green Thumb. Who/what doesn’t have a 1 star day? I like Green Thumb Nursery. I can walk around endlessly and forget all about that last fern or shrub, or the orphaned bottle of Aviation Gin that I terminated. (That last part reads a bit sinister, but it’s not). If you read “The Overstory” by Richard Powers, you’ll find yourself here also buying trees. Namaste.

Good prices and a great selection. I found Bulgarian Carrot peppers, Carolina Reapers, two types of Scorpion peppers, Ghost peppers, and a slew of other hard to find varieties of vegetables.

I believe it is only the nursery portion of the business that is being developed with the garden center (retail) to remain. The manager is the same one who has been there for years and at at least one of the staff has been there even longer than the manager. Yes, there are some new and young staff but they are all very friendly and helpful in my experience. The onus is somewhat on the customer to educate themselves about their gardening needs and the staff has no control over what the customer does with plant material and other products once they leave the premises. I give them a Green Thumb's up!

Amazing! So many things here, you can spend all day looking.

Wonderful garden center, best in Nanaimo. Very friendly and helpful staff.

Was a great place to shop for household plants, garden plants and vegetables/berry bushes/baby trees.They do have a parking space which can park about 12 cars, which saves us from having to park on the street.I bought their hanging tomato basket, their raspberry bush, their joster berry bush, some bone meal fertilizer, and some small succulents. It was a very reasonable price! Most plants look really healthy as well.The staff seem happy to work there, and there is a diverse team. :)

They always have what I'm looking for, from herbs to large bushes and trees, and everything in between. The more experienced staff members are very knowledgeable.

Took a free seed starting seminar. It was great and all the staff there were helpful.