Phoenix Perennials

The sage and insightful Frenchman who wrote the satirical masterpiece of Candide ended the novel by quoting «We must cultivate our garden»
OK Voltaire, I get it. I’m going to cultivate my garden, although I don’t think this is exactly what you mean.
Hoping to find a couple of specific perennials, and varieties of such, I decided to come here.
Heather and lavender. That’s what I came for. Unfortunately, they had no heather at all. None. Nada. Zip. Zero. It was not listed on their webpage under the latin name, but I thought that it was possibly omitted, since most online inventory listings are often erroneous. In this case, it was not.
I ended up finding it at Home Depot and Canadian Tire of all places. Yeah, a little disappointed.
That said, they do have an awful lot of other plants. They just didn’t have what I was looking for.
I need to cultivate my garden some more.

An incredible range of plants and the quality is excellent. There are people on hand to answer questions and all the staff are very knowledgable. The best garden centre I’ve been to in BC so far.

Lots of plants and plenty of bees, so bring your Epi pen if you’re allergic to them.
Also they have gourds and things for sale… maybe it’s because it’s october. But maybe it’s because gourds are fascinating plants that everyone should enjoy on a day-​to-​day basis.
The staff are also helpful and friendly, especially for someone like me, who is not a gardener at all (I lost my Green thumb in an industrial accident… so don’t judge me too harshly).
All in all, a very good place to shop and browse.
PS: the whole thing is outside, so bring an umbrella if it’s rainy!

Such a cool place for all things green and colorful!
It’s situated in what I would call Richmond’s back country, with all the farms and sparsely situated industrial buildings. But it’s the perfect setting for this huge nursery with an abundance of plant life.
You can spend many hours in here admiring all the growing things, with the help of the knowledgeable staff. I always like coming to garden centers and things of the like, especially outdoor ones such as this because you usually meet people and workers that really love what they do, it’s their passion. They are always so eager and willing to give advise and tidbits of information from their own experiences and their vast knowledge of the natural world.
This place is beautiful in the midst of fall, I bet it’s awe inspiring in the midst of spring, so I’ll definitely have to take a trip here during the season of renewal.
St3Fin

For avid gardeners, Phoenix Perennials is Mecca. They offer one of the largest collections of perennials and specialty plants in Canada — over 4000 different varieties. These are cultivars that you won’t see coming and going at every hardware store’s garden centre.
Truth be told, you kind of have to know a little something about plants to not feel completely overwhelmed there, but the plants are arranged for the most part alphabetically by their Latin name and by their light requirements. Efforts are made to have colour photos by all of the plants so even if you are buying them before they are at their peak, you can still see what they will look like when they are in season. They also have a lot of nursery staff around the premises to ask questions and point you in the right direction.
I take advantage of their frequent buyer program — buy 10 get 1 free and subscribe to their online newsletter which gives seasonal information, special events and special deals. Phoenix Perennials is well worth the drive to the eastern reaches of Richmond.