Gardens By the Sea Nursery

I have purchased plants from here and used their landscape design services. The fact that I could come see the nursery, with examples of landscape designs, and then have them come to my house and design based on my ideas was what sold me on visiting here in the first place.
The staff is highly attentive and helpful. They knew the technical and the common names of plants, when they would bloom, and how they will change over the seasons. The nursery itself has a constantly rotating crop of local organic veggies ready to plant, along with architectural plants for all areas of the home. They will walk you around and actually show you different parts of the nursery to solve your problems and answer your questions.
The design services did not involve my input as much as I had expected, but still delivered a great design (planting list, boulder placement, topography, etc.).
Highly recommend.

Succulent heaven!

I love this place and I hate to give them 3 stars, but I feel I must.
The nursery is great, lots of beautiful plants, friendly staff, I have never left there without purchasing something. This place truly is great and I tell people about it all the time.
Now as to why I only gave 3 stars. I had my front and backyard landscaped by Gardens by the Sea. When it came time to start the yards there was no communication with me. I had to call the nursery daily to find out what was going on because some days the workers would be there two hours then not show up again for a few days. When it came time to plant the plants I had picked out they planted the wrong plants. Luckily it was all written on the plans so they corrected it, but still. And he plants you see at the nursery are NOT what you get. The plants I got were a fraction of the size and kind of pitiful looking. When I brought this up the response I got was «they will grow» and I «can’t expect to get what I saw at the nursery». Wow, that was kind of shocking. Also, I had weed cloth put down then a layer of soul then rock to xeriscape the yard. Well it turns out they didn’t cover the entire yard with the weed cloth. They had cut holes in the weed cloth for the plants but didn’t plant the plants in all of the holes they cut, and they didn’t put it down to the edges of my yards, they left a gap, so there are spots where I’m having problems now. When I called to ask for it to be fixed they told me it had been a month and that I had signed off on the work, so basically I have to fix it myself or they would charge me to do it. All in all it seemed that once they had my money they didn’t really care anymore, and their customer service and communication skills were lacking.
Would I hire them to do landscaping again? No, definitely not. However, I would recommend them if you are buying plants to plant yourself, like I said the nursery is beautiful and full of great treasures

I would have given this place a one-​star rating, but they did a «modest» job of our landscaping. The plants they have are nice in their nursery, but not so much when they are delivered and planted.
They were very nice when we visited the nursery in Encinitas — a long drive for us that live in San Diego. They had lots of beautiful, drought resistant, plants. However, getting them from the nursery to out home was another issue.
After our visit to the nursery in May, at which time we chose our plants, it took Mike (the owner?) several months to come out and actually look at our property. Yes — several months! Mike’s choice of plants was OK — but not much better than OK. None of the beautiful and spectacular plants we saw at the nursery seemed to make it to our yard.
FINALLY — several months later, the turf was removed and the plants were installed. Once again — the job, plants and irrigation were installed OK — nothing more. I was minimally impressed.
Then they lost our paperwork, so we did not have a good track of what we bought. We had a difference of what was to be installed.
So now the plants and the irrigation has been installed and once again, I give them a hardy «Meh.» The irrigation does not work well at all. The plants that were installed in pots at the front of our house died because the irrigation was not properly installed. The mulch was very thin and is showing the irrigation pipes. Not all plants are getting proper irrigation — even though that was part of the installation cost. My email to them about this has gone unanswered — which is typical of them — however they asked us for another $ 350 for what we do not know.
The bottom line is that we do not recommend them to others. The plants were small, but modestly OK. The installation, irrigation and follow up have been horrible. We will not be back. Pity.

I had the absolute BEST experience here! Not only is everyone super nice and informative but they also will come to your home and draw up plans for landscaping! The owner Mike, drew up the best plan for our backyard slope! His crew (the lead guy, thomas) came out and did an amazing job! They went above and beyond my expectation and even fixed my sprinklers and set the day/​time for me. Loved the outcome and will be coming back for more!

We keep coming back to this place for our succulents. Their prices are a bit high — thus four stars instead of five — but they are knowledgeable, helpful, friendly, and have an excellent inventory. They really know their stuff, and after asking what you’re trying to do they are really good at helping you achieve that. My wife make fairy gardens, and has specific needs in the plants she buys. Gardens by the Sea helps her find exactly what she wants.
They are difficult to find since they are located behind a liquor store and approached down a rocky alley, but they are well worth the trouble.

We just had our front yard completely redone in drought tolerant plantings. The cost of the «plan» was less expensive than many of the nurseries around, and you get to keep the plan regardless of if you use them. The plan is straight forward, simple, not fancy, but showed where everything was to go, and what plants were to be used. When the job was started, the guys worked extremely hard all day, and were easy to talk with to ask questions. They finished the entire job in a timely manner and they handled a couple changes we made midstream, with a positive attitude. The final product is beautiful. Thanks to Mike, the owner, and his awesome crew for a job well done. We have now decided to do some of the backyard as well!

Loved my first experience here! I’ll start with the fact that they were the only ones in town to carry a particular plant for which I was looking. So, I drove up from North Park, which wasn’t a big deal since I love North County Coastal. I walked out with the plants, a couple of planters, potting soil, and they even hooked me up with rocks and broken pieces of pottery to help me out. Oh, and provided great guidance after I told them about how I have a bit of a black thumb! Going up there was so worth the drive!

I can’t express how pleased we are by the landscaping work done by Mike and his crew. Mike’s design was detailed and included a wonderful variety of drought-​tolerant plants, lovely stone, and boulders that brought everything together. They removed the grass, two huge trees, and all the roots within just a few days. The work started and ended when Mike said it would and his crew was prompt, polite, and professional. And the price was affordable, too. I would hire Gardens By The Sea again in a heartbeat. We love our new yard!

This is a really cool nursery, a true succulents heaven. They have other plants too, but if you are into succulents, they have a large selection of it here, all sizes n colors. It’s a bit pricey but there are varieties that you can not find anywhere else — also, there are ready made arrangements of all sizes, did I say its really awesome.
If you are not into plants, there are at least 3 cute cats you can play with while waiting …
Would love to spend more time to look around, but it’s was really, really humid today…
There’s a reason to come back, even if you don’t buy, then just come to look, it’s really that cool!
Alright I think I did enough advertising for this, and I promised they did not pay me, I had to pay for my box of succulents

One of my favorite places to get succulents in San Diego! They have a very wide and unique selection of succulents in all sizes. It’s my go to place for succulents, as I always know I’ll find something there. They also have other types of plants there. I got a decent size Podocarpus for only $ 10 — a steal! Clean grounds and super friendly, helpful staff. They also run sales every once in a while.

There was a nice selection of plants, but the customer service was so terrible that I never want to step foot in this place again. After all but begging for the lady to take my money and literally give me any plants she could find for a planter (Literally any. I needed plants for a last minute project due that night.) she told me that she was too busy and that she couldn’t make any recommendations in 15 minutes. She also repeatedly told us that she had an appointment in a half hour and that it would be best if I look around and come back tomorrow to buy. I frustratingly ran around the place buying anything I could touch. Nearly $ 800 later, she was mildly more pleasant but I wouldn’t wish this customer service upon anyone. I shouldn’t have to dump my money on you to make you begrudgingly tolerable. Never again.

Terrible customer service. Small tree /​plant dies 2 weeks after buying. They do not stand by their product… Was told over the phone we must have over watered!

A little hard to find but worth it once you do. A large selection of succulents of all different sizes. The staff is very helpful and knowledgeable but often to you need to search them out. Worth a visit and I always find something interesting there to take home. I agree that some of the more common plants are less expensive at Home Depot but I do like to support local small nurseries.

Beware of service after the ‘sale’ at this nursery. I had a $ 15,000.00 landscape project completed by Mike. He and his team of installers did an outstanding job AND I was willing to give testimonials and referrals for his work. HOWEVER, now that’s it’s completed and we need a few items replaced that have died and a credit for a planter that was too big for our project we are finding that Jennifer and Barkley are rude and uninformed. Perhaps they were having a bad day but I’ll not be shopping at this nursery after I redeem my credit.

If you are looking for succulents — look no further! best prices — this place can’t be beat
If they don’t have it here, they don’t even have it in your imagination.

This shop is very lovely. It’s well organized, beautiful plants and ideas for inspiration. It is quite expensive, though — not just 20% more, but double the price of places like Armstrongs. For example, an air plant is $ 6 to $ 14 for a small one (3 inches) where I just saw one of the same size for $ 3 at a popup stand at a local fair. I bought some succulents from this shop that were on sale and they are quite nice. If you have a big budget, go for it — no regrets. But if you have a smaller to moderate budget, I would say come here for the inspiration and enjoy the friendly service and relaxing environment.

We purchased many unique succulents that we haven’t been able to find at other shops. Great prices and you can buy any size if you don’t want to spend a lot of money. Friendly and knowledgeable staff too.

The nursery is small and can be a little bit hard to locate your first time, tucked in behind an old defunct gas station on an alley. However once you find it you will keep coming back. The potted arrangements are beautifully done and there is a good variety of pots, but for me the succulent selection keeps me coming back. I will go out of my way from east county just to see what they have in stock.
The staff is friendly and knowledgeable. Did I mention the succulents? If you like agave but don’t want 5 gallon sized plants, then this is the place for you. One of the few places in San Diego you can find quart sized shaves. The plants come from Monterrey Bay Nursery and are potted in a lot of peat. I recommend reporting ASAP. They always seem to be running great specials and have the best selection of top dressing I have seen yet.

This place is the best resource in the area for drought-​tolerant plants like succulents, cacti, and native plants! The nursery has been in this location for 5 years, and the owner previously owned Anderson’s Nursery in Carlsbad and sold his stake in that company. The variety here is great, prices are fair, and the staff are top notch! My family received the soil advice/​help needed to plant lots of succulents in our flat square clay-​soil garden. If you have trouble locating this nursery, look the the signs near Scott’s Automotive (it’s one block south of the Donut Shop on Grandview).