Bark & Garden Center

I could spend hours here. This is my favorite place for flowers every year. They have a really big selection of items… Floral, veggies, trees, shrubs, accessories (spades, gloves, soil, containers). Too much to list! They carry some pretty unique items too. I saw neat hand tools from somewhere… Sweden? Friendly staff who know what they are talking about. And so many colors of various variety of flowers.
Now for the only reason I didn’t give 5 stars… They aren’t cheap. They aren’t prohibitively expensive either. I bought a 4 pack of nice size petunias for 1.99– and they weren’t the skinny 6 pack petunias like Wal-​Mart sells. I bought Impatiens in a quart container for 4.99. I found an incredible hanging basket for… $ 58 :\ So… some inexpensive, some things not so much.
All in all… I will continue to love this place!

I enjoy going to this nursery just to browse the expansive grounds full of an incredible variety of beautifully kept plants. This is definitely eye candy. However, the prices here are outrageous. For example, peat pellets for starting seeds are sold by the piece, 25 cents for a tiny pellet when you can buy the same thing at Home Depot for $ 2.99 for a box of 36. I grabbed a couple of handfuls and ended up paying $ 11 for 45 pellets. Black fabric planting beds (round ones) are $ 59 when you can buy them on Amazon for $ 39.Hanging fuchsias were $ 59 when I found the same type (and healthy) at Home Depot for $ 29. I bought a nice quince tree here at the end of the season last year that was on sale and it is doing well in my greenhouse. It was on the pricey side, but it was a variety that I wanted. I would say this place is good if there is a plant that you absolutely have to have, and you can’t find it anywhere else, or it is a fragile variety and you want to make sure what you’re getting is healthy. Also they have a nice selection of organic fertilizer, bat guano, etc. and tools I haven’t seen elsewhere, but for a hefty price. Its a good place to browse and then go online and see where you can get it for a more reasonable price.
The photos here don’t really do this place justice. See for yourself.

They have a large assortment of things. But where this business fails is the customer service department. I had questions that I couldn’t get answers to. Which I found odd, seeing as how I was in a garden specialty store. I was looking for a strawberry pot, they only had one left, and it was in poor condition. I was told they wouldn’t get more in, they were done for the season. And it was extremely over priced. I found the same item at another specialty store for $ 30 less. Got my questions answered, no problems.
All very odd.

Disappointing. Drove down from Puyallup as I had a gift certificate that I won in a silent auction. I was so excited to make the trek and pick out some shrubs, perennials and seeds for my vegetable garden. As people mentioned in past reviews the customer service here is horrible. While browsing the seed aisle I happened to ask a lady who looked like an employee restocking seeds. Turns out she was a seed red and barked at me that she couldn’t help me. My bad! I guess I won’t buy those kind of seeds. There was no one else around to ask for help. Not one employee. The check out was about the same experience — No friendly smiles here. I won’t be back. Too bad. Nice plant selection, but good service means something.

great selection of beautiful plants. We bought some annuals, anemones, and ranunculus that are all in great shape. When we looked for a staff person to help us find a good bush for a tricky spot, we were met with a curt, «we’re closing.» The website shows an apparently inaccurate time for their store closing so we arrived fifteen minutes prior to browse as they were closing up shop. Strange– and disappointing because we were excited to find a pretty plant.
I was impressed by the number of native and shade plants. It was a fun store to browse!

Bark and Garden is one of the best garden centers in Olympia. They have one of the largest selections in the area. As a horticultural nerd I go to a lot fo garden centers all over Oregon and Washington, Idaho and Utah. This garden center is in my top 20 for this entire area. Definitely worth a trip.

I love this beautiful nursery. They have everything, and the plants and trees are so healthy and reasonably priced. Knowledgable staff, and one lady in particular is so kind. I was having a pretty bad day today, and this employee was very sympathetic to me and helped me get out quickly in my dire little moment of need. If she reads this I want to tell her ‘thank you’.

Went here today to buy a dogwood after a dear friend had a death in her family. After calling to see if they had dogwoods for sale we arrived to find many of them didn’t have prices. We started the trip to the cashier and went searching high and low for carts (you have to grab them at the entrance only) when I thought I should probably ask how much this tree is in particular. They called someone to the back who was very nice and helpful but she was told by her boss that she hasn’t had a chance to price them and therefore she couldn’t sell it for a couple of days and she’d call me. After this experience I will never be back. If you have a tree for sale and you are open for business you should either be there to price them or give your employees the ability to do so.

The place is pricey. The service is not great. The contact info on their site is abysmal. I live 5 miles from this place but will be shopping elsewhere since they seem incapable of handling a simple email inquiry about a diseased plant that I paid way too much for. Not going back and it saddens me to say this after years of doing business with them.

Unless you are independently wealthy you might want to skip this place and head to the Home Depot or other nursery or garden store. Yes, they have beautiful and healthy flowers/​plants and a nice selection but so do other nurseries in town and for literally, HALF the price.
They charged 1.99 for small annuals that almost every other place in town charges .74 to 1.29 for. So, what is the extra they are charging for? Great service? Well, I don’t know because I never had one worker stop by or say hi or interact with me.
I just feel like I am overpaying every time I come here. I think I am finally done for good unless I am looking for an unusual plant that isn’t offered anywhere else.

New ownership, just spent $ 153 to get yelled at by the new owner after she disagreed with us on a tag meaning the plants were 1.99 a piece. I offered to walk her to the plants and then she started yelling at us to «not talk to her that way.»
We had seen her already criticizing her employee for the way she was watering plants, too, so maybe she has control issues.
We’ve ALWAYS frequented this nursery but sadly this will be our last stop here. Control issues or not you don’t treat long time customers like this. I hope she doesn’t lose more over her attitude.

Went here for the first time because they were the only place in town the the variety of raspberry that I wanted. The place is beautiful with lots of plants. It’s expensive though. I was disappointed when I checked out and asked about the raspberry plant that I purchased. It was in a greenhouse area and pretty leafed out. I purchased mid-​March and was still expecting freezing temperatures. They said it would be fine, but it has definitely been nipped by the cold weather.
I called a couple of days later asking whether they had seeds and/​or starts of a particular plant. After being put on hold for quite a while (which I didn’t mind, provided I got an answer) they came back and said they didn’t know about the seed, but they didn’t have the plants. I thought that was particularly lame. Seriously — find out if you have the seed or not. If it is going to take longer than you can stay on the phone, take the customer’s number and get back to them. «I don’t know» is not acceptable. I certainly didn’t drive out there to find out if they had it — I just purchased online. Sad to lose the local business.

Place isn’t bad. However the contact link is a juno email link (Old School LOL). Your email fails to deliver. So don’t expect an answer to your question via email. Have waited 5 days for an answer. Iv taken home a Tayberry and a Huckleberry bush from them. They are doing well. I’m battling little black ants in my Tayberry pot.

I adore this place, but it is expensive. In our area I have been to every garden store/​nursery and handsdown this place is the best. From seed packets to houseplants, the selection and quality are excellent. The sales are also great — I just got a bunch of tulip and other spring bulbs for 30% off. Their employees are almost always very knowledgeable. The soil selection is also great. They have interesting workshops during the high season.

I went here to make a list of plants I have grown successfully indoors in the past. As much as I love plants and know a good amount about them, I always manage to kill the ones that live inside the house!
The reason I don’t have any plants now is due to one of my former roommates putting indoor only plants outside in the freezing cold while I was at work. Bark and Garden center was definitely a great stop! It had most of the plants on my list available. For the most part, I don’t need a ton of help shopping for plants. But when I happened to bump into an attendant, I asked if they had a purple variety of Wandering Jew. They did! I was very happy. She also gave me the name of a website I could go to to check for plant toxicity. This was a big help because I have small children and one would put things in his mouth!
I had a great visit and will definitely be back very soon since my mother wants 3 varieties of crocosmia bulbs for her garden!

Their stuff’s expensive, but I love their deals/​sales!
Perennial clearance at the end of summer made my garden.
The workers have always been helpful when I ask for advice, it seems like they all have green thumbs.
Check out back of the greenhouse– there are almost always cheap ($ 1 – 3) or free plants! I got a cat mint and a daisy and they cost me nothing!

It was my first time going to this wonderful garden center. The selection of flowers and trees are amazing, but it can get a kick at your budget. Also the customer service there wasn’t great as I thought it was. But the stars are for the flowers and trees!
Overall, come here if you are willing to make a beautiful garden that’s pricey.

I’ve been a customer for several years and have always found the selection and the customer service outstanding. (I especially am fond of Tonya Harding’s understudy.)
In fact I am offered help when I don’t even (yet) want it.
By happenstance I was at the checkout counter earlier (very early: they had just opened for the day) this spring checking out when a manager was instructing his gathered employees in customer service: I was impressed.
While it doesn’t quite have the selection that the Portland Nursery has (plus it’s encumbered by sales tax), I often cannot easily locate comparable items they offer, and am grateful that they do.

This store has a wonderful selection, but the service is lacking and I can usually find the EXACT same for cheaper elsewhere. If I’m going to deal with big box store levels of customer service I’ll at least get my savings actually shopping at one. This place is full of wonderful eye candy and does have things I cannot conveniently find elsewhere, I just really wish their employees were a little more ready with the smiles and offers of help or direction.

Wide variety but service help was lacking, pompous and arrogant. READ:
Came to BUY something hardy to hang and give my wife for Mother’s day. For 10 – 15 minutes, I couldn’t find anyone to help so I went to the check-​out to ask. The only staff available (not at the checkout) was posting envelopes and when I asked if the plants I had would hold up better than Fuchsias — she rolled her eyes, giving a response like I was causing her pain and was dumb. (Hey, I’m a guy who doesn’t garden or have a green finger.) I invested in some $ 90 worth of hanging flowering «mixed baskets» but felt totally unappreciated. And, the older woman clerk didn’t even say a word when I checked out. No thanks just «sign here please.» Net= pompous and arrogant service and no sensitivity toward men who ask for simple help. I’ll only go there again, with my wife. .. for protection.