Strader’s Garden Center

Was starting from scratch, trees, foundation plantings and all in my 1963 house on 1 acre.
I chopped down 2 huge half dead silver maples, 5 – 6 ash trees, a few had to go for my pole barn, and the others were half dead anyway from the emerald ash borror. The foundation bushes were old boxwood type bushes with huge 4 – 5 calipers and overgrown. Out all of it went!
The first fall I was looking for 3 princeton elms, everyone has red maples anymore, wanted something different. Straders came through when I called they were the only ones I could find that had them. Got them at a great price in October also.
This spring I was looking for a white birch tree, something different from river birches, I called out there, not knowing what they were, and no luck on google. The woman on the phone helped me and went and checked, and came back and said check «jack monti birch». Google confirmed it was what I was looking for, and they had them. Very helpfull. I like that they have different stuff. My trips to the nursery have been good as well.

I usually go to a different nursery for all of my patio plants and herbs. I decided to give Straders a shot because they advertised their herbs for $ 1.99 which was $ 1 less than my usual nursery. This place is nowhere near us so it was a drive to get there. Yes, they had herbs for $ 1.99…THREE of them. The rest were all in larger pots and the plentiful selection was in the $ 2.99 price range…$.50 over the sale my usual nursery had. I was not pleased. I know $.50 per plant doesn’t sound like much but it’s the principle and having to drive over there. It should’ve said limited selection. Not like the higher priced herbs are better. The basil is totally dead and that was well before the heat wave hit. The fuschia we bought there looks like crap on top of our tall planter. It’s constantly brown on top while the hanging portion looks green and normal. When we were checking out the cashier barely made eye contact or said a word and the other cashier parked a big pallet of things in our way so we couldn’t even get out, we had to go back the way we came and then out. I wanted plastic to put down in the trunk and they didn’t appear to have any. I will never buy plants here again.

Strader’s Garden Center does not honor their one year warranty on nursery items as they advertise. I was told by two employees that I could return my item within a year if it died. They told me to simply bring in the dead plant and they would give me store credit to replace the item. However, when I brought the $ 80 dead bush back in for a replacement, I was told a completely different story. Long story short, they did not replace the plant on store credit as they had promised. I will never buy another item from Strader’s again. They got my money once, and it was the last time.

During the holiday season, they have a wonderful selection of trees ranging in size. The prices are a steal. They’ll also tie it to your car you.

11am on a Saturday, hot, humid, rain on the way.
My local nursery was out of sod, this location had it in stock. Good parking, walk in and only 1 register open with 14+ customers in line. Really? After 15min wait and line not moving, they finally open 2 more lines. I ask for 2 yards of sod, the girl at the register rolls her eyes and asks «do you know where you are going?» –VERY sarcastically. I said «no» and she barks directions to the side of the building. I pull around and the man just grunts at me (does not even want to look at my receipt) and throws 2 rolls of sod in the back of my SUV, NO plastic, no bags, just right on the carpet, wet, muddy. Just turns and leaves. My 99 Expedition is not perfect, but at EVERY other nursery I have visited they put down sheet plastic or paper bags under all my purchases.
Service=EPIC FAIL~!~
Will only come back IF I HAVE to.

Strader’s bent over backward to help me plan and pick out the landscaping to redo my front lawn. Steve who works there has a masters degree in horticulture and was more than happy to share his expansive knowledge of plants with me.
I took in a few pictures of the front of my home as well as rough dimensions and my ideas, and we spent over an hour going over different ideas. In the end, we had selected a few plants and a tree as well as mulch to redo most of the front of my home, which now has improved 1000%.
My only disappointments were regarding the tree that I bought. 1) it was $ 130, and while it’s my fault for not shopping around, I found the same tree with about one year’s less growth, for only $ 30 at a competitor. 2) I wasn’t told that the mulched area around the tree should be roughly 6 feet across. I had originally made it around 4, and the tree seemed to be struggling. Once I found that tidbit of information online, it made a huge difference in the tree’s growth. 3) I was told that the tree would do just fine in the front yard, despite getting full sun for almost the entire day. The tree has had many of the leaves shrivel up and fall off, which Strader’s later told me is because the roots have not yet taken hold, and that this will likely happen for the first two years. They then said my tree was better suited for a less sunny area, such as my back yard. Very different than what I had told them I wanted.