The Natural Gardener Store

Concur with Zee K. and then some.
In addition to an ever-​expanding plant, seed and bulb selection — Bob even stocks chocolate cosmos! — this is a beautifully designed and organized store — a visual feast on a now pretty drab commercial street where one might simply stop in and rest one’s eyes.
One whole wall is a brilliant green with a discreet wall fountain gurgling prettily at the centre. The rest is a carefully selected, constantly evolving art show of reasonably priced sculptures, planters, cards and framed prints. In fact, this store possesses probably the best collection on the Lower Mainland of garden ornaments and accoutrements made by local artisans. Hummingbird feeders made by a Squamish artist are each unique, hand-​painted. Simply stunning!
There are almost always deals to be had and rewards for frequent purchasers. I now have a planter full of columbine that came as a freebie with the purchase of dahlia corms several years ago. Nothing at Hunter on W. Broadway next to White Spot is ever free.
Unlike Hunter, Natural Gardener is friendly, knowledgeable about all aspects of gardening and is able to recommend experts. We hired one of his pals with a local tree service who did a bang-​up job getting rid of a number of diseased trees. Owner is also knowledgeable and generous about where to find plants and arrangements not available at his store. I got a terrific deal on late-​season hanging baskets from the New West Quay one year.
Despite its diminutive size, this is a full service operation in which owner will help select and pkg up even the most fragile, awkward gift item ready to be mailed overseas.
Interestingly, it is across the street from the only other clearly professionally designed enterprise, Morricotta, which boasts a lavish collection of Italian crockery and French linens and about the only place left that sells religious-​themed Christmas cards. Visit one first, then the other. Highly recommended.

After finding a listing for this store online, I made the journey all the way over from East Van to check it out. Very cool little garden store, comparable a little bit to Figaro’s Garden on the East side. They have a lot of variety for their store size, many different plants and an abundance of really cool heirloom, organic and native seeds. The guy working was very knowledgeable and obviously was into gardening in a big way. Will definitely return.