Buchanan's Native Plants — Attraction in Houston

When Teas closed and Cornelius had their fire, I was greatly saddened. There was no where to buy the hybrid tea roses that I liked to grow. Most garden centers stocked only the knockouts and the drift roses. We have plenty of those in our landscape, but for those of us who grow hybrid teas the choices are limited. The national chains only pay attention to what grows in a general area. They have a limited selection of hybrid teas, grandifloras, and polycanthas. They don't order according to the recommendations of local garden groups like The Houston Rose Society. Buchanen's listens. It has grown from a pocket garden store located in the heights to a much larger and more extensive operation. It sells a wide variety of pots and containers as well including those that imitate the expensive zinc containers at a much lower cost. The plant material is more expensive than the offerings at the big chains. However, the plants are larger, fuller, and healthier. Since bed preparation and maintenance is easily twice the cost of the plant, it is foolish to buy an inferior plant from one of the chains just to save money. In the long run it will cost more. Further, you will get the expert advice you need from their specialists. While you can still get good advice from Cornelius, the sales people and stockers at Home Depot etc. don't know much about what they are selling. Some do but it is inconsistent. They can advise about pesticides and fungicides to some extent, but Buchanens has true expertise. When they receive plant material, they like to allow it to recover from the transport before selling it. You can rely on Buchanen's expert advise. Additionally, while they are smaller than big box stores, they have more items to choose from. They don't have walls of 3 or 4 pesticides, but they do have shelves with 20 to choose from. Buchnens is my favorite garden store in Houston. John Gardner, one of their sales associates, is my go to guy there for garden advice. For great garden ornaments if you don't find what you like at Buchanens, I like Joshuas Native Plants which is not far...

We bought a house last year and it had some nice plants in the garden that unfortunately didn't make it through the freeze. Rather than replacing them, we knew we wanted to go with more native plants and plants that are pollinator-friendly. We'd gone to Buchanan's a few times before for plants here and there, so we knew it was the place to go!

The plants are priced reasonably and are very well cared-for. The selection, especially of native plants, far exceeds what you will find at most other garden centers. The staff is very friendly and helpful.

We bought, well, a LOT of plants, but we honestly didn't spend that much since a lot of them were in the smallest containers. If you need bigger plants, it will cost more.

I've been back several times this season to see what else they've gotten in and I've (fortunately? unfortunately?) never left empty-handed. My garden may still be in its early stages, but we're so excited to see how things grow, and almost all of our plants will be from Buchanan's.

Lastly, they allow dogs in on leashes like many garden centers, but they even have poop disposal bag dispensers distributed around the garden center in case your furry companion has an accident. Much appreciated on that front, also.

My only warning: Beware, Buchanan's is addictive. You will want to go back and see what's new. But what a wonderful addiction to have. It has me connecting with my home and nature in a new way....

I'm mostly interested in houseplants so I can't speak to the quality and selection of outdoor foliage (yay apartment living); but I love Buchanan's. Their greenhouse has a good selection year-round, including rare tropicals. Staff is usually pretty knowledgeable on care, even if they're not sure of the exact species of the plant.

Price-wise, they're reasonable for a local nursery. Some of the more Instagrammable plants (ZZ, monsteras, philodendron, sansevieria, hoyas, etc.) do seem to have a slightly higher markup than the same plants from the same growers that you would find at big box retailers, but the plants themselves seem healthier and have fewer pest issues. The prices on truly RARE plants are on par with other nurseries and what you would find online. They're one of the only places around that actually receive named cultivars of holiday cacti if you're into that (sold as Christmad cacti, actually Thanksgiving cacti - but I digress). Sometimes some of the succulents seem a bit banged up, but I'd chalk that up to shipping issues and the fact that some succulents are just more delicate than other plants rather than Buchanan's just not taking care of their stock properly.

Parking can be annoying on weekends because they're usually very busy, but the lot itself is a nice size and the spaces are extra wide. They have a pumpkin patch in the fall that is...