Evergreen Nursery

This used to be my favorite nursery but the last few times I’ve gone there, have been disappointing. My two biggest complaints are 1) Misleading marketing-​a lot of their 5 & 15 gallons are not the real thing. Its the smaller size shoved in the bigger pot just to get the higher price. Normally the root system should be developed enough to fill the pot (reflective of the age of the plant) but not here. You are paying for the smaller size plant and whole lot of loose soil. 2) Poor customer service– this place is 18 miles away from my house so I call ahead to make sure they have what I am looking for. They say sure but when I get there, they don’t have it. First time, I thought «ok errors happen» so the next time I even asked them to please physically check their inventory since its a long drive for me. Guess what, again I go and they don’t have the plant, Third time this happened, I stopped going there.
Yes they do have a wide selection but quality and customer service is not consistent enough for me to risk going there any more.

Called evergreen to ask if they have bulk palm and cactus mix. Person on the phone says «yes, it’s 49.00 a yard». Great! We drive down there, go to the soil bins, there isn’t a speck of cactus mix in there. So we go to the checkout to inquire where the cactus mix is, since we just called 30 minutes prior. The clerk goes and checks and someone comes over and tells us «oh, I didn’t know you were coming today». Really???

I usually don’t like to write negative reviews, but I felt obligated to tell potential buyers to be aware. All the three plants that I bought at this nursery 1 month ago came with diseases. The irony is that all are air-​purifying plants, and I have to use toxic fungicides because the natural fungicides I tried for 3 weeks did not work, that is how bad it was. On top of that, my other indoor plants that were once healthy and thriving got contaminated. So I have to treat them all.
If you have time, that is my story: It was my first time at this nursery, after a long time buying indoor plants. I bought a tall ficus that had what I thought was black dust and some «burnt» leaves. I remember picking the «cleanest» one and the ones without many «burnt» leaves of all they had. The other two plants had «burnt» leaves as well. When I bought the plants I had people helping me at the nursery and they should have known that the plants were sick as it was so clear for someone who deals with plants on a daily basis.
When I got home and before I took the ficus inside my home, I remember that I cleaned its leaves with leaf shine. Two days later, what I thought was black dust was back, and the burnt leaves had increased in number. I checked online to realize they came with rust, black mold, and then researching further I believe that the plants came with Anthracnose.
There was a sign that they do not accept returns. Now I know better, if a company does not stand by what it sells, be aware.

I came in with a list of plants to purchase for my new drought resistant landscape. The person who helped me took out a map and said that if they had it than it would be over in this general area. Went on a goose chase for plants they didn’t have. Couldn’t take the time to actually look and see if the plants were the or not. Total waste

My original experience albeit unpleasant, was quickly remedied after the matter was brought to Steven’s attention. He was courteous and attentive. I appreciate the speedy responses and solution-​oriented service provided.

I read some of the reviews and did not expect to much customer service on our fist trip to the nursery. I was positively surprised by the friendly staff from the entrance and throughout the nursery. Jim even stopped by and asked if he can help us find anything and drove us across the nursery to find what we are looking for.

My experience there started off with a negatively, but I quickly realized that was isolated to just one individual. Olivia, Michael and Steven went out of their way to turn things around for me and that is why I’m giving them 5 stars. Life is not about not making mistakes, its about how you handle those mistakes and make them right. They definitely made it right.
In addition, this nursery has a vast selection of beautiful plants/​trees and the ones I’ve planted so far are thriving beautifully. I will be purchasing much much more.

Cons: Tried to sell a (literally top) half dead tree at full price. Does not give military discount. Tried to say that the suckers on the bottom of tree would produce fruit.
Pros: Good selection and easy to drive though various sections of plants/​shrubs/​flowers available.

Awful experience. Distressed trees, deceitful prices. 1 gallon stuffed into 5 gallon pot. Trees showed signs of distress. On phone told me one price then $ 4 more per plant upon arrival. Manager James did not care about my displeasure or working with me to resolve the pricing. He admitted trees were distressed, but no reduction in price. The average tree height was less than 3′ with ¼″ trunk. The 2″ square rootball could be seen and trees were not getting sufficient water. Horrible customer service. DO NOT RECOMMEND!

Lovely Jungle Full of Trees, Flowers and Exotic Plants
This place is the largest nursery with the best selection in San Diego County. You drive in with your vehicle, use your vehicle as a shopping cart and go aisle to aisle, shopping for plants. Each aisle is like a narrow alley in between 2 blocks full of plants. This place is a massive land full of trees, bushes, flowers, cactus and exotic plants.
Gardening has been my hobby since childhood. I am a gardener. I have never seen a nursery as massive as this and with such great selection as this. You cannot beat the selection of fruit trees, rose bushes, fancy flowers and cactus that they have. Once you enter the nursery, you get large plastic sheets at the gate, so you don’t mess up your SUV or car’s carpets, get a map of the place so you don’t get lost and then you go on a shopping frenzy of plants. For a gardener, this place is a candy store. Once you get in, you don’t want to get out until you cruise all over the place and believe me, this place is huge and even with a Truck or an SUV, it takes a long time to surf around every corner of this place and check out every plant. There are a lot of hidden treasures at the far corners of this place so take time to surf around! Just sit back, relax and drive around, once you see an awesome site, get out and check it out.
Whatever you cannot find there, you can order it and if they can get their hands on it, they will order it for you. Prices are reasonable, plants are great and the staff are knowledgeable gardeners. Every time I go there, it is a treat and a joy of cruising around a jungle full of plants to view and pick some for planting. The only down side is that your vehicle might get a bit messy, after all, the alleys are dirt roads and if rained, then you will get mud or dirt on your wheels and dust on your body. I suggest that you do not take a fancy car there and go with a truck or an SUV, so you will not dirty your car. Otherwise, this place is heaven for the gardeners and plant lovers.
Go on a plant shopping frenzy and eat your heart out because you will not find these selections, quality and prices anywhere else. Home Depot and other nurseries are not even a near match for this wonderful jungle full of plants. I am a customer for life. This particular branch is the best and my favorite.

I came to look for an asparagus fern and I was happy to finally find one. The staff/​worker can’t help you because they don’t speak fluent English which is okay I guess. They have a map that you can pick up as you pull in by the cashier. To buy something you just drive around the HUGE nursery and put it in your car, drive back to the cashier and pay. There are plastic covers that are available by the cashiers that you can use. They won’t have any veggies and herbs until March.
Beware, you might feel like you’re being brushed off or ignored. I suspect they mostly earn their business from large corporate or landscaping projects.

First, let me say that I love Evergreen! We have lived in three homes in and around San Diego since 1998 and Evergreen plants and products have been used almost exclusively in all three. The selection is huge, you drive around the acres and acres and find exactly what you need. There is bulk everything… soil, rock, mulch, bark. Plus, the prices are reasonable! The best news is that they were flexible on a return I had today. My first return of any kind, ever… coulda’, woulda’ and shoulda’ gone sideways because I didn’t have my receipt, but Mark took the time to find me «out in the back 40» getting bulk bark, and solved the problem. I’ll continue to toot Evergreen’s horn to family and friends because of it!

The service here is the pits. Don’t come here if you need any help determining which plants to buy. The staff is sarcastic and apathetic; however, they have a wide selection of trees and plants at great prices relative to other nurseries. I’m no expert on plants so I find the selection a bit too overwhelming with no assistance from the employees. I will not be purchasing plants from Evergreen. But if you know what you want it’s great.

People nice. Plants nice. Delivered dirt, horrible. I ordered a dumptruck full of «topsoil» which turned out to be road dust and wood. It was hardly topsoil. Smelled like turpentine. disappointing. Looked to be exactly what the city gives away at the dump which is where i suspect they got it.

Extensive nursery but little help available if you are not sure where the plants are located. I was there on Tuesday afternoon, trying to look for some shrub. We asked so many workers there and each gave a different direction. The woman at cashier was very unfriendly. Overall, not a very pleasant shopping experience. I would go somewhere next time.

I was extremely disappointed in the slow, lazy way the cashiers were checking customers out. I saw quite a few employee’s standing around or «looking busy» while the line continued to grow and no-​one had the desire to step up and get the line moving. I won’t make the trip again. I couldn’t image how the weekends are.

You know, it’s really true. Sometimes paying for better product, accompanying better service is so worth it.
For the few dollars more that you pay at a evergreen, compared to purchasing through Lowes, or Home Depot, etc., I’m telling you, it’s worlds of a difference.
We ordered and had delivered 1500 square feet of sod, Marathon 1, tall fescue, and in 5 hours, between my husband and I, it was installed. Three weeks later, looks like we’re the new gem of the neighborhood! We’re the talk of the town! Our lawn could win awards!
The service we received was exquisite. We’ll forever do business with Evergreen!

I Ordered 15 yards of ground cover mulch. I got shredded paper and plastic cups, towels, large pieces of palm tree and metal pieces. I sent the Nursery a picture of it.
When I called the manager (Marc), he basically told me that they buy the mulch from a facility that process green product but also trash, and it is possible that the mulch can be spoiled with debris… I paid $ 450.90 to get trash delivered to my house. Marc sounds very stubborn and didn’t offer any compensation not even to come to the site to take a look of the «Mulch». On top of that he told me that he could deliver another truck of different Mulch for 2 times the price. UNBELIEVABLE !!

Large selection of plants and plant material. The people who work there are friendly and I didn’t feel nervous at all about being at a nursery for the first time. Just went up to the cashier and asked him to point me in the direction of the apple trees. He got a map and explained how to get there. You can drive through most of the area so you don’t have to walk your purchase all the way to the cashier, which is handy if you’re purchasing a bunch of plants. I, being a newbie, walked my plant to the cashier and then walked my plant to the car. People just load up their trucks and drive to the cashier where they stop and pay. Oh and there isn’t a sales tax on apple trees. Good deal.
There are currently two locations. One in Oceanside and one in Carmel Valley. They are going to be opening one up in El Cajon, which will be convenient for me. Yay!

I really love coming to the Evergreen Nursery, but I never leave with what I came to get. I kind of feel like this place caters more to the commercial landscaping crowd. There aren’t a lot of people walking around to answer questions, or help you find stuff.
They do have a beautiful selection of plants. The place is spread out over a lot of acres, so finding something specific your first time here could be a little overwhelming. But, as you wander around, you will get a lot of ideas.