Jericho Nursery

I stopped by on Friday to buy a house plant. It was about 15 minutes before closing time and there were no other customers there. I pulled in and parked where I had parked the last two times. As I was getting out of my SUV one of the employees very curtly told me I needed to park in a parking spot. Huh? There are no designated parking spots other than one handicapped spot. Nothing that says where to park, no lines drawn, nothing. Further, what difference did it make when there was no one else there. No difference at all, he was just being mean-​spirited which is a nice way of saying how I would normally describe his behavior.
Then I looked around for someone to help me. I went into their main area where you check out and was offered assistance. I asked about my requirements for a plant I could have outside in the summer and inside for the winter to which he said, «any of them». I asked for him to be more specific or to tell me where the plants were. He pointed to the next building, and when I asked for help, he begrudgingly accompanied me next door.
I further requested something colorful as almost all of the plants were green or variegated, nothing really special. I did spot a croton and another plant that looked interesting. When I asked about the other plant and what it was called, he rattled off the Latin name for it. I was unable to understand what he said so I asked him to repeat the name, and again he rattled it off so fast I still had no clue what he had said. I then asked for the common name for the plant to which he said, «if you get them from four suppliers, they will give you four different names». Still no help. He could have given me the most common name, or any name other than the Latin name he wouldn’t take the time to slow down and enunciate.
I started looking at the Crotons and there was a empty pop bottle laying next to it. I jokingly asked «is that what you water it with». Thinking he would pick up the bottle to dispose of it. Nope, he didn’t care about the litter, he left it laying there. The plants didn’t look to be in as good of condition as others I had seen so I thanked him and left.
Had been to the same location before and didn’t get great service but less horrible. I have been to their other location once and had a nicer clerk experience although the grape vine I bought was the last one of it’s kind and didn’t look great, but hasn’t died (yet).
After leaving Jericho I stopped by Lowes on the way back home. They had at least 7 – 8 Crotons to choose from, the worse looked better than the two at Jericho, and the ones at Lowes were $ 12.98 vs. $ 25 – 30 at Jericho.
As an aside, the pictures shown with this location are from the other location, at least the building front shot is the other location.

My wife and I stopped by and were really impressed with the place. Lots of different options and a good selection of some cacti we don’t see often (big euphorbias). And a really huge elk-​horn fern!
Actually, we didn’t end up buying anything since we were really just there to peruse. But we did end up talking to the staff for a while. Just shooting the breeze. They were really friendly, pretty knowledgeable, and fun to talk to.

Nice local place to buy plants. Very busy when I went so in about 20 minutes there, I wasn’t asked if I needed help. The prices aren’t as high as you might think for a small shop like this, and making it more affordable to shop local is always a plus! I will revisit when I have a balcony project.

It’s that time of year again: your sniffles, watery eyes and junked up throat-​which you identified back in March as some kind of head cold-​has persevered into April, and once again you’ve been victimized by Allergy Fools. Yep, there’s a whole lotta pollen flyin’ around the air and a bunch of weeds springing up in your backyard, gettin’ at that real estate before your withering, moisture starved plants can spread their roots. Next thing ya know you’re spending your entire Saturday in the backyard, snifflin’ and gruntin’ and wondering why you didn’t just do what the neighbor did years ago, dump a truckload of rocks over the whole dang spread.
Still, something tells you that a yard full of rocks is just, well, wrong. Regardless of whether you own or rent this, there’s something in your moral fiber, a human obligation to keep your lil’ slice of the world handsomely groomed. And that’s when you do the right thing and turn to Jericho.
Albuquerque’s peculiar climate and severe lack of rainfall spell disaster for big box garden centers, which seriously have no clue what we amateur green thumbers are facing. Thankfully there are a wealth of great locally-​owned centers around ABQ, and Jericho ranks among the best. The accessories stand out for me; while you can find plenty of leafy goodness for your soil, this is the place you need to go to decorate your outdoor sitting room: art, birdbaths, massive pots, it’s all tasteful flair. Prices generally compete with the franchise shops, too. It’s worth a visit, and plan to stay a while, because the place is pretty ginormous. Oh, allow me to pass along a little amateur wisdom in regards to gardening in the Southwest: get yourself a quality pair of thick gloves. There are thorns of all sizes all up in this house, they’re horrible. Ridiculous. Prepare for battle.

Great local place to buy plants. Indoor or out. Knowledgeable staff. Pricier than the box stores but worth the local flavor!

Jericho is wonderful. They have a great selection of plants, trees, herbs, veggies, flowers — all kinds of beautiful things. There is a really cool greenhouse with fun non-​desert plants so you can have different things inside your house that you might not be able to have in your yard. And they have extremely knowledgeable staff folks all over the place ready to answer your questions, no matter how weird or arcane they may be. I once took a twig from a mystery plant in my yard and brought a picture of the entire thing on my iPad, and they identified it for me and told me how to care for it. Rock on!
In addition to all the plant life, they have great pottery for sale — all shapes and sizes, and frequently on sale. Beautiful stuff, and pretty darn good variety.
They also sell lots of other cool stuff — watering cans, statues, metal art, those weird reflecting balls people put outside, birdbaths, rain barrels, outdoor wall art, etc. In the store inside they have endless gardening supplies and all kinds of stuff I would not begin to mess with (my man does all the gardening), and lots of really cool hanging things to decorate with.
They were very helpful when we wanted to buy dirt and composted material, and helped us figure out the right stuff to buy for the vegetable garden.
We also bought our Christmas tree there last year — a little bit of sticker shock, being our first Christmas in New Mexico, but they had gorgeous trees!
The folks there are always friendly, helpful and just plain nice. never had a less than happy experience there, and I always recommend it when someone asks me where to go for plant-​related tasks. You should go there, too!