It's about 2 1/2 hours drive north of me, but I'm sooooooooo tempted to drive up there and go plant shopping. Just wondering if it's worth the trip.
Any neat garden centers around Corpus Christi?
Hi Calalily,
We have a couple of places up here. Turner's has been here for years and he has come up with several cultivars of oleaners which he named for family, I believe. Gill's has 2 nurseries and his staff takes good care of the plants (all certified?). Then we have a large nursery (big trees even) that now has a lot of pottery and outdoor furniture. The name of the place is Fox's nursery and I have bought plants and a pot or two there. The furniture is pricey (teak?). We also have a Home Depot where you can get a lot of generic and cheaper plants. Sometimes you might be surprised by what you find there but they don't take as good care of their plants as the private nurseries all the time. Lowe's has just opened up and has quite a few tropical plants. Think they are going to put the pressure on Home Depot.
Anyway, as you can see you could spend a good while looking at plants here. A nice thing is that for the most part, the places are centered on South Padre Island Drive, Staples, and Airline so you could hit quite a few of them in a day...
If you want some addresses, email me and I will look them up in the phone book for you. Barb
Thanks Barb. The Fox place has a website with a map, I liked that. We have Home Depot here(they don't water their plants here either) but no Lowes except all the way over in McAllen.
Which street is Gill's on?
Having bought plants at all 5 places mentioned in an attempt to help I'm going to offer my experiences with each:
- Fox has 2 locations. I have yet to buy anything there that was tagged with the right name. I know there are plants there that are, but everything I have purchased (hibiscus, ruellia, asters,...) were not. Of the 5 places they also have some of the highest prices.
- Turners used to be the best of the best. IMHO that isn't true any more. They do have a great varieity of plants, but their prices are as bad, if not worse, than Fox and their staff is snobby at best.
- Gill's http://www.gillnursery.com is my all-time favorite. They have a nice selection, good prices and great plants! I have never been disappointed with anything I have purchased at Gill's. And their sales staff is pleasant and knowledgeable. They, also, have 2 locations; the one on Airline has at least one greenhouse.
- Home Depot in Calallen is where I shop and they have a fair variety of plants at different times of the year. Their prices are among the lowest and I have only bought 1 thing that died (rose bush) and they made it right 10 months after the purchase (1st time I asked.)
- I've only been to the Corpus Loew's once.(Too far to go more often.) I bought fertilizers I can find no where else, soils and 3 varieties of azaleas. I have bought at other Loew's and this one appears to be like the others - the plants are healthy and thrive, they are a fair price and there was a terrific varieity of plants that day (end of Feb), as well as seeds, soil, fertilizers, etc. (I wish I could have bought one of each of the azaleas they offered!!!) Although it is quite a distance from my house I can see it becoming someplace I will frequent when in Corpus.
HTH!
Donna
Edited to add additional info.
This message was edited Mar 30, 2005 4:16 PM
I agree with Donna about Gill's. BTW, thanks for the link. Looked up their staff and they are all certified and it shows in the health of their plants. Never been to the Home Depot in Callahan, but the one in Corpus had all their plants in a tent in their parking lot for months as they upgraded their plant center. Have been to Lowe's and find I always leave with something (but that happens at almost all the nurseried I go into so it can't say it is especially because of their center. Took my DH there and he bought stuff as well such a pump for our little fish pond and something for the garden hose. So it was not just me on that date.
I think you should be able to find a lot of plants and other products not readily available to you in Bayview and if you come, hope you find what you are looking for. Barb
Doris, that sounds like fun! I got an email from Gills(I emailed them thru their contact link) and she was very nice. She said they are behind on some things because of a cold spell and said it's a bit early there(compared to here) for some things but she said come on up and call if I need directions.
Well, just found out I have to run to Corpus this afternoon, but won't have time to shop. I guess it will be about 2 weeks or so before I can plan a trip again.
Larry, what do you want from Caldwells? I work about 30 miles from them(Hey, in TX, that's not a long distance, lol). I like to go there every chance I get.
I am a loyal Gill's customer. They are always very helpful and all the employees seem to know what they are talking about. After Gill's I like Turner's. I haven't been to Fox but I have been meaning to visit.
We have a new Lowe's and I have been happy with their gardening section. They don't usually have some of the more unique plants but what they do have looks healthy.
Laura
No, haven't gotten back to Corpus. I've been covered up at work for three weeks! Went to B'ville today, drove past 3 nurseries and didn't even get to stop!
"drove past 3 nurseries and didn't even get to stop!"
Oh, the humanity! (anguished) I feel your pain...
Oh it's worse when I have to go to McAllen. My boss never fails to go with me, then he rushes me and says "i have to get back, I have an appointment, no stopping at the nurseries" Argh, he just does it so I won't get to stop at the nurseries or at Lowes!! I think he and my hubby are in cahoots!! It's a conspiracy.
Calalily,
I know it is no consolation, but my hubby tries to zip by nurseries as well. It is a different story if it is a hardware store though...Lowe's is good because we can combine the two. Unfortunately, he shops like the store is going to burst into flames if we stay over 10 minutes. LOL Barb
Oh I know what you mean Barb! Mine likes to go to Lowes too, but not the garden center(unless it's to buy round-up, lol but he is forbidden to use it ever again near my flowerbeds) He does like the lawn mower and weed eater department!
We were passing a butterfly-garden/nursery and I said "Hey look, there's a place I'd like to stop" and both my husband and my daughter started talking like they didn't even hear me! Then about 5 miles down the road he said "did you say something about stopping somewhere?" like he was soooooooo innocent!
Usually I go to nurseries without my DH, but since we started building our pond he has taken an interest in plants. He is pretty funny though because he'll see something he likes and he'll ask me "Hey, want some of this?" I can take him to Lowes, but trips to ARE or Schumakers in New Braunfels is still more than his patience can take. It's nice that he takes an interest now.
Calalily,
Sounds like you are in an no win situation when you hang out with both your husband and daughter. I come from a family of 3 siblings so I got used to hearing "two against one" at a early age.
Where is the butterfly-garden nursery? Near CC? If you decide on a time to come to Corpus let us know, maybe a bunch of us could meet somewhere and go plant shopping. My problem is I get a lot of different things and then try to fit them in somewhere, somehow...
Silverfluter,
I know what you mean. My DH is easy to sign up for a trip to Lowe's but don't believe he will ever fall for a trip to Wildseed Farms again or anything similiar. After a while, he just finds a place to sit down and (giving credit here) tries not to look tooooooo bored.
Barb