Magnolia Garden Center

The gift shop is where it’s at!!! The lovely lady inside was attentive but not pushy at all. Steered me to these amazing candles and soaps. I ended up with a soap and lotion that work and smell amazing and a expensive but totally worth it candle. I’ll be back often!

I love coming here in Spring, when I’m eager to start up my porch garden again. Their selection is a bit small (certainly in comparison with Swanson’s), but the plants I have bought here thrive, despite my limited gardening skills. The staff are extremely friendly and helpful. My only complaint is that it is a bit spendy, but I believe it’s the best my neighborhood has to offer.

I’m going to enjoy my decorative hops they tried to sell me for $ 16…But I must admit when I saw the $ 12.99 FRED MEYER price tag on the label, I spoke up. I was offered the plant for $ 14.99 (gasp!). I paid, took my plant home and will happily drive out of my way next time I need to buy anything for my garden. In the words of my husband, «that’s pretty lame.»

I am new to edible gardening, and I showed up to the garden center not having the first clue about what I could plant or how to do it. I wanted to make sure that what I would plant would actually grow something because I have a tendency to kill plants by over-​watering them, over-​fertilizing them, etc. I’m sure that there are other garden centers that may be less expensive, but the employees here are very knowledgeable. I have found that I put a lot of plants into my cart only to put them back because the employees tell me there is no reason to spend that much on a starter plant when I can spend $ 1.38 on a seed packet and end up with more food. They never try to push for me to buy extra. They could easily try and sway me to buy pricier items because I am a novice, but they don’t. Because of this, I frequent the garden center often, and they have my repeat business.

This is my favorite shop in the village. They have a great selection of plants and gardening supplies. Every plant I have purchased here has been healthy and thrive for a long time. The gift shop is adorable and it is definitely a gift shop – a great place to buy a little something for someone but not necessarily for yourself. Again, fantastic selection of cards, gifts, wrapping supplies, etc. They are pricey but their plants are of high quality and their gift items are unique so I still shop here pretty often. Customer service has always been great. I’ve always found the staff there very friendly and helpful and they make sure the lines move fast.

I come here for the gift shop. I love looking around this place! I don’t often buy things here, but it’s the perfect place to come for a little gift for someone. There are some beautiful stationary items, dining items like napkins, cheese knifes and wine charms, and also some baby items like booties! They have the typical lotions, candles and purses as well. Whenever I’m in the magnolia village, I like taking a stroll through this store.
The last time I was in, I bought a gift, and the cashier gift wrapped the item for me (for free) and did so beautifully!

Very healthy selection, and because it is neighborhood based, a limited variety of plants. As of today, they did not have what I asked for yet. I asked, describing «this tall now, lungwort, variegated. .. «the elder employee cut me off and turned to another customer who was bent over the trillium bulbs, she was intent on studying them.
«Wait a sec,» he said to me.
«Can I help you?» he asked her.
«No, I have a wagon out front, but I’m not ready to check out.»
«Let me know when you are ready,» he said, then turned to me. «Pulmonaria?» he gave me a very condescending look. «there are many varieties, not just variegated. I don’t think we have them in yet, but I’ll look.»
I did not expect that tone of voice from an employee, so I walked out. I was on the other side of the chain link when he saw me and said «We don’t.»
«Thanks,» I said, and kept walking.

+ Wonderfully stocked gift shop. Friendly staff. Soy candles. Beautiful purses. Not cheesy.
— Limited plant selection. Some jewelry had plastic beading. Should carry more items made in the U.S. Should carry more items from local designers. No beeswax candles.
Note: Make sure you have money to burn.
If a $ 30 candle makes you wince this may not be the shop for you. But if you like $ 300 purses, $ 50 handmade jewelry, and $ 9 bars of soap you will have a field day here. Plan on spending at least a good 30+ minutes here.
The gift shop has just about everything you could dream of for a wonderful house warming gift. Decorative wine bottle stoppers, luxe purses, candles, unique serving sets, and nice bodycare items. There is also a section for stationary, cards, and gift wrap. Even items for baby.
Customer service was always friendly, never pushy, and ready to answer questions. I like that it isn’t filled with cheesy items. I would probably describe it as classy-​whimsical. I liked how some of the items they carried were local or from small businesses.
I like the unique handmade jewelry but I didn’t like how some of the jewelry had plastic beads. That’s kinda lame. I think they should carry a lot more items that are made in the U.S. for the price you pay.
Candles are very expensive here but they are not beeswax, although they did carry some soy candles. But if you’re going to charge THAT MUCH for a candle, it had better be 100% beeswax. I could get TWICE the number of beeswax candles at Goods for the Planet (525 Dexter Ave. N) for that price.
I usually bring out of town guests here and they always have a good time.

My wife and I bought several bushes at MGC last year and they ended up not surviving. We went back and spoke with several friendly people (I’ve never had bad customer service there, contrary to some of the other reviews) and finally we were introduced to the owner Chuck. Chuck was extremely kind and helpful. He talked us through quite a few replacement options and even said he’d offer us a credit. When I went to pay, he comped me 100% for the plants that didn’t survive from the year before! It was above and beyond service, and definitely made us customers for life. Thanks for all your help Chuck and staff, we’ll be seeing you a fair amount this summer I’m sure!
–Benj

I can’t wait each spring to stock up on my annuals and perennials and I always go to Magnolia Garden Center. I’ve also purchased roses and other shrubs.
I am on a budget and realize flowers and plants can be found cheaper at the big box stores, however, the quality at Magnolia’s nursery make the higher cost actually more cost effective. This is a classic «you get what you pay for».
The individuals who own and work the nursery are incredibly knowledgeable and I love that I can take a leaf with or plant to them to help diagnose and treat a problem.
I find them friendly, helpful and actually go year round. We even buy our christmas tree from them each year because they always have a beautiful 3 footer for our small house.
My garden gets rave reviews but I have to give most of the credit to Magnolia Nursery for their help and beautiful, quality, healthy plants.

I stopped by to get some tomato plants, pots and soil for my balcony garden this summer and had a great experience! The woman who helped me turned out to be the owner, and she was delightful and very knowledgeable about how best to plant and care for the plants (it was my first time planting anything and needed all the help I could get!) It was a much better experience than the big box stores I had gone to previously — the plants were beautiful, the people were great. I also swung into their gift shop and was pleasantly surprised — really cute cards and giftable items. I bought some Butter nail polish for myself and for some gifts for some girlfriends. I also feel good about supporting a small local business, and will definitely be back.

Magnolia is the neighborhood that «has one of everything» and this is their gardening store.
I’ve been twice for my summer gardening projects and on both times my experience was pretty much as expected. The people who work their tend to be on the helpful side. As for the rest, like most things in Magnolia, it’s not necessarily the largest selection or by any means the cheapest but it serves it’s purpose and gets the job done while keeping me from having to cross any bridges.
–1 star for the exceptionally high prices
–1 star for the limited selection of vegetables/​herbs during the spring planting months.
+1 star for being in the neighborhood and having most of what I needed

I can’t comment on the variety of the plants, flowers and garden supplies, but I did have a nice experience inside the store when I visited a few weeks ago to find a birthday gift for a friend. The store is filled with unique cutesy gifts ranging from Vera Bradley bags to organic spa bath salts.
There is a whole range of cards and artsy trinquits that would be perfect as a nice birthday gift, thank you, housing warming surprise, or something nice for your Mom.
The lady working at the counter was very pleasant and even wrapped my friend’s birthday gift for me. I will think of this place in the future.

eh. it’s a small, expensive nursery with little selection, though the plants they do have are beautiful. the girl who was helping me with bird feeders and bird seed knew almost nothing about them. i’ll fill my garden needs elsewhere, thank you very much.

I’ve lived in Magnolia most of my life inbetween living overseas and traveling the world for work and pleasure. That being said, the female portion of the new partnership who took over MGC has to be one of the rudest most mean people I have yet to meet on the globe (I’m talking ’”Your baby looks ugly” and «Take it out to the car yourself you idiot. Can’t you see I’m busy!» type of mean here). It’s as though she doesn’t need anyone’s business and is out to make the customers self-​esteem reach all time lows. It’s not only expensive, I’m sure you can do without the insults and outlandish demeaning behavoir. Many life-​long locals are now boycotting the store as a result. My friends and neighbors all seem to have had similar unfortunate experiences.