The Natural Gardener — Local services in Austin

Today I was harassed by an employee by the name of Taunia while another employee stood by her and allowed her to do it until realizing I was walking towards my cart. I tried to let it go but after being thoroughly embarrassed I’ve decided to leave this review. I tried to call to speak to the GM, was placed on hold and after four different people picked up and put me back on hold I hung up. Then I decided to email TNG but there is no email available to customers on their site. If this is my only means of communicating so be it.

After touring the countless gardens and accumulating many beautiful perennials I decided to take a gander at the bird baths and pottery, which is on the other side of the property wedged behind part of the parking lot, while there I noticed flowers being brought in that where unavailable earlier in the day. With enthusiasm I approached the ladies unloading these flower and asked if there was a limit on how many I could have. They were extremely nice and offered to help carry them to my cart. I assured them I could handle carrying them myself, snagged two of the intended five and briskly started walking towards my cart. Half way to the cart I was very rudely stopped by a nagging voice asking me if I was planning on paying for “those”. After repeating herself a few times I turned realizing those words were intended for me. I told her I planned to pay for them along with everything else in my cart. She said it looked like I was walking towards my vehicle, this may be reasonable except I was nowhere near a car when she stopped me, I was standing in between the garden and the pottery. I continued on my way. Frustrated, frazzled and downright shocked I had been harassed at a garden center I decided to approach her and tell her I thought the situation was poorly handled. She apologized and explained herself. There was no reason for her to confront me for picking up a plant and walking with it- I didn’t approach a vehicle- I didn’t place the plants in a vehicle- I wasn’t standing anywhere near a vehicle- I wasn’t unlocking a vehicle- I was walking towards another section of the garden canter holding two plants.

Please, before you decide to over react and harass people, use good judgment, monitor the situation and react...

This place was way bigger than I expected, great prices, and so much selection. You can find anything you need here for gardening. We got several herbs and some pots and we walked around enjoying the place and looking at plants. They have a huge selection of herbs, vegetables, and seeds. Lots of succulents and larger cacti. Lots of flowers. Bushes, trees, ground cover, roses. They've got everything and in lots of supply. They also have a large supply of pots of all materials and sizes. They have a bunch of simple plastic ones, which are cheap and great for quick planting, lots of terracotta clay pots of various sizes, lots of other beautiful painted and kiln fired ceramic pots, and various shapes too. Inside they have seeds, garden decor, baby succulents and air plants for your home. They even have several types of soil and mulch - potting soil, compost soil, mulch, etc. The service is excellent too. People are very friendly and helpful and when we got to the counter to purchase our plants and pots, we had forgotten to grab any potting soil, but not to worry - they got a bag for us that was exactly what we need and they have larger bags out in the parking lot to select for loading in your car. We got there nearing closing, so we didn't have time to walk around the back of the property and explore the gardens, but I could see it goes back a ways and they have done a lot of their own landscaping and gardening. Next time we will plan more time to go explore the gardens too. Great place to come and bring your family to both buy plants and enjoy...

TNG can run their business however they see fit. Unfortunately, they've implemented some rather draconian and silly covid restrictions unsupported by science. 90% of their establishment and 100% of their parking area is outdoors where covid does not easily spread. There is zero evidence showing car capacity limits help prevent the spread of covid, yet they continue to force their patrons into long wait lines they cannot escape, checking each car to make sure every vehicle is in full compliance of their arbitrary rules. Limiting how many customers are allowed indoors at one time is reasonable. Car capacity limits are not. TNG appears more interested in being defiant against integrating new scientific evidence rather than serving the community which has supported them for decades. Their competitors have figured this out and are thriving without any higher rates of covid spread. TNG - If you want to be safe: move a check out line outside, require masks indoors, and quit dragging your heels to virtue signal as a political statement. Your policies aren't preventing covid spread, you're just...