Oakland Nursery

I love coming here. Oakland is rather pricey, but the staff is very knowledgeable and friendly and helpful, and there seems, to me, to be a lot of selection. Something says SPRING when I get to go to Oakland for the first time after winter. I’m not even at the NOOBIE level of gardener yet, but I bring my own gardener know-​it-​all with me. She’s a plant whisperer, I believe, even though she couldn’t get our tomato plants to make tomatoes this year (I’ll blame it on the lack of rain). Anyway, this is THE place to go in the New Albany area for specialized plant stuff, if you can’t get it at the Home Despot or the LOWes. AND I love their Halloween/​Fall displays. They are always great.

We’ve been going to the Oakland Nursery on Oakland Park for years. When one opened closer to us, we were glad to have the option. The first time we went, it was a little underwhelming like the former tenant and felt the prices were a little high. Tonight we went after checking for a tree we needed. We were a little surprised some of the trees we looked at looked half dead. We found what we were looking for; happy for a deal of 33% off. Upon going inside to pay, we were ‘greeted’ with a girl who very obviously didn’t want to be there. We asked questions about planting the tree and the type of soil to use and she just stood there looking at us. I don’t know if she thought if she stood still that we wouldn’t know she was still there or what… perhaps trying to blend into the walls like Rango? She snapped out of it and guessed the potting soil would be the better choice since the guy she asked walked away. Thanks guy. We asked where you get the mulch and she said around back so we drove over and there stood a motionless young kid (19? 20?). When the car stopped he didn’t come over or anything, he just stood there saying nothing. My husband got out of the car and he still stood like 20′ from the car. Are we in the twilight zone? So my husband had to walk over to him and hand him the receipt. He still never said anything, threw the mulch begrudgingly in the trunk and then vaporized. Seriously, one second he was there, the next second, gone.
This place isn’t going to be around long with the lack of customer service especially compared to all of the other Oakland locations. We’re used to friendly, helpful, knowledgeable sales people at Oakland and this location is seriously lacking.