Bruce Co The

We bought a dozen bushes (Yews, to be exact) here over two years ago. We were fairly picky about the size /​shape we wanted and staff accommodated us by ordering more of the particular kind we liked. We then got to pick out the ones we wanted from the shipment that arrived (that was more than we needed). I was worried that they would suffer after two harsh winters but even the bushes that were the hardest hit bounced back in the spring & still look great!

The selection of items here is amazing, from plants to furniture to bird feeders to gift items, like Vera Bradley. Alas, customer service is poor. I walked around for 20 minutes and no one said a word to me, despite passing by 5 employees, only two of whom were legitimately occupied with customers (although the one was bustling about in the plant section pulling something together for a customer and passed me multiple times without even a «hi»). I immediately downgrade any business whose employees don’t acknowledge customers.

After spending last fall and this spring trying desperately to eradicate a mysterious green invasive plant in my yard, I recently ripped a chunk by the roots, go in my car and went to The Bruce Company. They have a plant help desk there (near the back of the main garden center) which is staffed by «know it all» experts! After a few moments of rolling this green nemesis through his fingers he told me it was wild oregano… what?! He said it’s very invasive (which I knew), and walked me over to their magical potions aisle, handed me a bottle of Bonide brand chemicals and sent me home to spray on the newly identified horror. Within two days this green mess was a beautiful shade of wilted brown!!! Sure The Bruce Company isn’t the cheapest greenhouse in town, but you get what you pay for., I’d spend at least $ 100 on other products trying to kill this weed that was taking over my grass… and had I got over to Bruce’s earlier, this $ 18 bottle of chemical would have cured the mess!
Outstanding service, expert staff, and they even offer a return policy! Go to Middleton and buy local!!!

I drive to the Bruce Company from Sheboygan every year to buy seeds for my vegetable garden. They have a great selection and lots of them are organic varieties. It seems as though lots of the staff are gardeners, so they really know their stuff. I like getting personal recommendations. I’ll be back next spring.

I am new to the Madison area and a avid gardener some friends told me to check out this store for seeds. I found there selection very good they carry the whole selection from seed savers and a good amount from baker creek as well as a number of others. the customer service was wonderful a clerk named Alyssa helped me with my selections of seeds and an orchid. I did look around it looked like they were doing some remodeling. prices were average for a garden center except for the furniture which looked of high quality but not cheap. the check out was fast and the clerk wrapped up my orchid so it would not be affected by the cold not something you would get at home depot when I bought one there. I will go back when its warmer to check out their plants since I want to start landscaping my new lawn.

1) The customer service at this store is terrible. The employees are rude, particularly Scott who works in the plant section.
2) The plants this past summer were infested. I had to return two mandevillas because of aphids, and Bruce gave me a hard time about refunding me. Last straw: the $ 50 rubber plant I purchased in August came home with some time of mite infestation, I was able to treat the plant successfully, but recently noticed that the plant was ailing. Upon close inspection, I noticed it was full of aphids. Disgusting. I am fortunate that my other plants, which came from different nurseries, were not infected. Rubber plant went in garbage, and I will never waste another dollar at Bruce Company again.

I ordered three trees to planted by the Bruce company early summer. I was told they wouldn’t be able to get to it until early September. What?, well, ok I’ll wait because they have nice nursery stock. I called mid September when they still hadn’t planted the trees and I was given a date of Sept. 25. Not to my surprise, no one showed. I called and they said everything was delayed due to the rain. It hadn’t rained for weeks, but they would be there next Tuesday. Tuesday has come and gone and no trees. I called and cancelled my tree order and asked for my 50%, $ 500 deposit back. It is now too late for trees to be planted and established by winter. I am waiting to hear back from them. I will give an update later on as to whether I get my deposit back! I have had trouble in the past with them not showing up for a job. no call.nothing. I should have learned my lesson then!

Bruce Co installed our back patio this week. We shopped around to get quotes for identical specs (same pavers, dimensions, services, warranties) from other local companies– bigger companies like Barnes and small companies. Bruce Co came up less expensive than the others, included landscaping (when we didn’t ask for it in the quote), were easy to work with, and offered a cash back incentive. The workers came out early on the day they were supposed to arrive and worked the entire time. They did an awesome job, were very thorough in their clean up and yard mending (from where they brought in the materials), and were friendly and professional.
I highly recommend working with them.

This garden center has several sections-​a bunch of high-​end garden décor, etc. (I just walk right past that stuff), an outdoor section with landscaping plants, etc. (I have also never looked at that), houseplants and pots (they seem to have a decent selection from cheap plastic to expensive pottery) and a gardening section with seeds, tools, fertilizers, etc (this is the part I frequent and what I based my star rating on).
Gardening section:
a good selection of garden seeds from a variety of suppliers including Seed Savers Exchange, Renee’s garden seeds and similar companies-​a good place to shop for seeds if you are looking for something a little more unusual although they are a little more expensive (they often discount the leftovers in the late fall/​early winter and I pick up some seeds for the next year while getting my bulbs).
They have several brands of organic fertilizers and similar products-​again, a little more expensive than other places but they have some selection.
Some nice garden tools and doodads-​a nice place to find a special gift for a gardening friend.
It seems several other reviewers had trouble with the customer service here. I have not had such problems-​everyone has been nice and friendly when I went to check out. However, I can’t remember anyone ever asking me if I needed any help while I was shopping-​I did not need any help so that didn’t bother me but perhaps if you are the type that needs a lot of assistance, this isn’t the place for you.

They no longer have a flower shop. I went in looking for a BIG «vase» to hold a big bunch of flowers. After poking around for a couple minutes I asked an employee for such. He walked me over to another woman who repeated my request a couple times (a vase? a VASE?). Ok, wft woman, I have a bunch of flowers for my dad’s memorial service, I’ve got 10 minutes to find something to put them in before I shove them up your a$$. Yes, I was a little stressed. She went in to this long thing about how they didn’t have a flower shop any more and they might have a few in the back but they weren’t priced to sell. I interrupted her and said, «So the answer is no?» I asked twice. She wouldn’t give me an answer. I started walking out. There were a bunch of, forgive me, «Hurricane glasses» which would suit my needs just marvy. I picked one up and started looking around for something better. Bitch woman saw me and said, «Oh, well, we DO have CANDLEHOLDERS». Didn’t offer to help me anymore. I made a point of picking up just about every single one I could find. Apparently, «vase» is a technical term reserved for something very special.
Anyway, I bought something and ended up returning it the next day because the same thing at Cost Plus was $ 9 rather than $ 27.
Poor service, high prices, crappy selection. Fail.

The Bruce Company is very, very expensive. That being said, the quality of their plants is exceptional. The customer service is hit-​or-​miss. I went looking for a new gas grill today. They have a great selection, however no one wanted to help me. There were several employee wandering about. I tried for about 10 minutes to get someone to help me — no luck. I absolutely refuse to beg retailers to let me spend money at their establishments. I left and went to Ace Hardware on University Avenue.