Nurseries and Garden Centers
Here’s a list of nurseries and garden centers in San Diego County. Not in any particular order. If we’ve missed one, let us know!!!
Anderson’s La Costa Nursery – 400 La Costa Ave., Encinitas, 92024 – (760) 753-3153 just west of interstate 5. A beautiful little nursery that offers a bit of everything.
Armstrong Nurseries – 1350 W. Morena Blvd., San Diego – (619) 276-9970. Armstrong has three locations in the San Diego. A chain nursery but they offer good prices and a lot of selection, including garden accessories.
Buena Creek Gardens – 418 Buena Creek Rd., San Marcos, 92069 – (760) 744-2810. Great place for unique and hard to find plants.
Cordova Garden’s – 902-A Encinitas Blvd., Encinitas, 92024 – (760) 944-6984. This is a great place to buy indoor plants and they have expanded their succulent section. Great selection of fountains and pottery.
Green Garden Nursery – 4910 Cass St., San Diego, 92109 – (858) 483-7846. This is a wonderful small nursery family owned for 30 years. For such a small nursery they have a great selection of plants and lots of fountains and unique garden accessories.
Rancho Soledad - 18539 Aliso Canyon Rd, Rancho Santa Fe, 92091 – (858) 756-3717. This is my most favorite place for tropicals. It is like going to a botanical garden especially in the Cycad house. They also offer a huge selection of succulents especially Agaves. Many of their plants are started from seed in Hawaii and then brought over here. The San Diego Zoo buys a lot of plants from them. Not right off the freeway so, it is a bit of a drive through Rancho Santa Fe but well worth the effort.
Evergreen Nursery – 13650 Carmel Valley Rd. (858) 481-0622 – Another chain nursery with several locations in San Diego. This one is the largest wholesale nursery that is open to the public. There is 80 acres of land and you can drive your car through and load as you go.
Mission Hills Nursery – 1525 Fort Stockton Dr., San Diego, 92103 (619) 295-2808. This nursery once belonged to Kate Sessions! Great place to buy plants for pots!
Walter Anderson Nursery – 3642 Enterprise St., San Diego, 92110 – (619) 224-8271. They also offer a location in Poway. Great quality and selection along with very experienced people and a helpful customer service desk. If there is something you are looking for and can’t find it they will special order for you.
City Farmers Nursery – 4832 Home Avenue (@ Euclid Ave) San Diego, CA USA 92105 – (619) 284-6358 – Family owned since 1972, and rich with San Diego heritage, City Farmers is truly a day-trip destination. Wander among organic acre of plants, ponds, flowers, and farm animals, have a bite to eat at the garden deli….all within 5 minutes of downtown San Diego!
Sunshine Gardens – 155 Quail Gardens Dr., Encinitas, 92024 – (760) 436-3244 – Sunshine Gardens was forced to move a few years ago so, their grounds are not as lush as before but, they still have much to offer. Sunshine and Cordova are close to the famous Quayle Botanical Gardens.
Garden By The Sea Nursery – 1500 Pacific Coast Highway, Leucadia (between Leucadia Blvd and La Costa Blvd exits off Hwy 5) – (760) 840-0270 – A relatively new nursery, but definitely worth a trip. Nicely laid out with good displays and a nice array of succulents in addition to landscaping plants. The owners were friendly and helpful and the prices were good, too.
Weidner’s Gardens – 695 Normandy Rd., Encinitas, 92024 (760) 436-5326. Great place for spring shopping. Before visiting check to see if they are open as parts of the year they are closed.
Solana Succulents – 355 N. Hwy 101, Solana Beach, 92075 – (619) 259-4568. This small but awesome nursery only offers succulents as the name applies. This is the place to buy those hard to find treasurers.
Briggs Tree Company – 1111 Poinsettia Avenue, Vista 92081; 760.727.2727. Briggs Tree Company is a full-scale, wholesale nursery located in North San Diego County. In operation for over 35 years, Briggs boasts over 200 acres of growing grounds and is family owned and operated.
Cedros Gardens – 330 South Cedros Avenue, Solana Beach 92075, 858.792.8640. Specializing in hard-to-find plants and organic fruit, vegetables, and herbs. Offering a wide selection of organic gardening products and quality home/garden art. The knowledgeable staff is available to answer your gardening questions. Also, offering landscape design services!
OASIS Water Efficient Gardens - 10816 Reidy Canyon Trail, Escondido, CA 92026. – A plant nursery and garden located in San Diego’s North County. Specializing in cactus and succulent plants, drought tolerant perennials for landscapes, floral creations, and special projects. Open to the public.
Obra Verde Growers – 10916 Mystery Mountain Road, Valley Center 92082; 760.749.7471. Appointment needed. Specializing in Australian, New Zealand and South African plants.
Plant Play Nursery – 4915 El Camino Real, Carlsbad CA 92008; 760.730.0012. Specializing in Australian, New Zealand and South African plants.
Glorious Gardens - 495 Leucadia Blvd., Leucadia, CA 92024; (888) 493-7472 – (760) 439-2976 This cute little nursery is tucked onto a busy corner in Leucadia, close to the Highway 5 turnoff. Specializing in succulents, cactus, tillandsias, drought tolerants, and California natives, this little nursery has a lot of plants to choose from and quirky garden art, too!
Some other garden shopping:
Canyon Pottery – 8575 Aero Dr., San Diego, 92123 – (858) 279-2600. Largest selection of pots in town and very reasonable prices. They only sell pots and fountains no plants.
Column One – 401 University Ave #C, San Diego, 92103 – (619) 299-9074. They only sell fountains no plants. They deal with many different companies and if they don’t have what you are looking for on the floor you can browse the many catalogs they have and they will order anything.
