Drake’s 7 Dees

First the positives– it’s quick, and convenient, and the employees are friendly.
Now for the 2^nd part. There’s not much to choose from, and the quality of care seems to have gone down with each visit. Many of the plants look sad and wilted.
I did leave with 3 flowered plants thinking it would be cheaper than New Seasons, and I didn’t want the drive out to Cornell Farms. The 3 plants are somewhat sad looking, but I think I can bring them back.
I dropped into New Season’s for some lunch and to check out their selection afterwards. New Seasons had the same plants, healthy as can be, and $ 3.99 a plant. The ones I got at 7 Dees were $ 4.50 each. New Seasons also had a much larger selection, which is almost unbelievable considering NS only has 1 row of flowered plants, in front of the carts outside.
2016 #16

We began our relationship way back in April. We asked for weekly maintenance and irrigation repair. It’s July and we STILL have not received what we asked for. Apparently they are wanting to move into design. We didn’t like their design. I don’t think it’s natural to put a wetland plant on a dry hillside or a dark corridor. I understand the need for balance but a yard is a living being not a bookcase. You can’t balance it out that way. So we opted out of the design. And boy were we punished. At least that’s what it feels like. I bought the plants I want to see in my yard. I don’t know if that made them unhappy or what but from then on we were largely ignored.
They did send out an «irrigation specialist». If I could post pics you’d see why you should never ever hire these people. Lee, the «irrigation specialist» has single-​handedly killed pretty much everything they planted and then some. He has too much water going to some areas causing the flowers to fall and no water in other areas causing a newly transplanted bush to shrivel up and die. He’s got my deck being watered though. Oh and an electrical outlet is getting plenty of water. Not what I asked for though. Then he sets the timer to start at 5:30am. One set of sprinklers is right outside my bedroom window. I need my sleep. I see no reason to awaken at 5:30am if I don’t have to. So I had him change the timer. Now it’s going off at 9:30am. Passive-​aggressive much?
Drake, the owner, has made so many promises I lost count months ago. He keeps telling me he’ll get it all sorted out next week. But next week never comes. I tell him plants are dying. More promises that never come to fruition. But the worst part is that he plays the Christ card. Don’t manipulate a sale by talking about being a «Christ“ian. Christ doesn’t lie to people to get their money. Christ isn’t passive-​aggressive. Christ doesn’t poison herbs and kill plants. Christ doesn’t make false promises. «By their fruits you shall know them.»
BUYER BEWARE. If you want a «nice guy» to come over and schmooze you and then handle you when things don’t go to plan, these are your people. But if you want a competent, professional, motivated landscaper — keep looking. These guys will waste your valuable time, drive you insane with their incompetence and passive-​aggressiveness, and leave your yard in much worse shape than it started in.
I know they want to move into design but their designs are paint-​by-​numbers crap. And unnatural. You can do better yourself. I know I have. Single-​handedly, sick and underweight with 4 toddlers I’m raising alone. HELP is what I need. GRIEF is what I got here. You’ve been warned.
UPDATE: Drake just informed me he is putting a lien on our house if we don’t pay the criminal concrete contractor HE hired. This criminal trespassed on my property and destroyed the framework he built that he’s charging us for! Can you believe this? Drake is no Christian. He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. BUYER BEWARE! Not only are they slow and inept, they hire thugs and try to shake you down! A lien on the house over 10k? Are you kidding me? Unbelievable.

We decided to change some of our landscaping and did interview several companies. Drake’s ideas and attention to detail made for a great transformation. The project was finished and came out much better than expected. His crew was great and worked very hard as well as added some great suggestions. It is a completely new yard but looks like it has been there for a long time. We are VERY happy.

I had avoided going here based on the average rating of previous reviews, but following the advice of my neighbor I decided to give it a try.
I was on the hunt for another blueberry plant to go with the one I bought at another nursery the day before. I can’t say that the pricing is terribly competitive, but I only looked at blueberries, potting soil, and containers. But I can speak to the customer service. While the selection at Portland Nursery is bigger, the customer service here at Drake’s is better. It’s nice being able to actually get help from someone who works there rather than seeing the employees talking to each other and ignoring the customers.
I’ll definitely go here again. While I haven’t written Portland Nursery off completely because they DO have a larger selection, when I need advice I’ll definitely go to Drake’s.

My favorite garden shop. They have the best plants and trees. They have the best staff. Forget the big box stores… this is the place if you want your yard to be beautiful.

I have been trying to locate a nursery that stocks fruit trees, apparently this is the only nursery in town that does, or the only one that still has a phone. Regardless I was helped by a lady named Jennifer. She told me what was available and then made sure it was in stock. That is great customer service. I really do appreciate her and I am now looking forward to the planting season! :)

I so love the hanging basket and flowers we bought here.
They look so beautiful in front of the Café.
They sent us a coupon, which got us out there, and
we will be back. I want to get herbs next time, along with
a few more flowers to add to my pots.

I used to love 7 Dees as a child. My mom would pull me around the nursery in my little red radio flyer. I’d run around the pond section that was full of animal statues. It was a magical place. I thought it was so neat that they sold bags of live ladybugs and I always wanted to buy some.
Fast forward 20 years… This place is lame. They remodeled and it is no longer a childs magic garden. It’s stiff and full of ugly shrubs for tacky landscaping. They are also way over priced. They wanted 36 bucks for a tropical canna lilly, I bought that shit for 14.99 at a different garden center.
They have chicken coops for $ 500.00. Any crafty person with an empty weekend could build one for $ 50.00 in materials.
7 dees, you depress me now.

Had this company landscape my home, they had a good plan and seem to know what they were doing, They install a watering system and planted my lawn. They did all of this in november… I was wondering about their timing as it did not make much sense to plant before the hardest part of winter set in, but they asured me all would be well. And it did just what I thought, I lost ¹⁄₃ of the plants from Freezing. The new grass took a hit as well, but was able to bring it back. They installed a watering system and never once tried to explain how it works. (had to have portland nursey come out to show me). Have been told that they would replace the plants that I lost, but have waited 4 months with no response from them. I spent over $ 9,000.00 on this job, and looks like I am going to have to replace the dead plants with another supplier. SAD…

We went here when we found out that Portland Nursery didn’t have barley bales (for algae control in ponds) in stock yet.
We discovered quickly that Drake’s is a bit cheaper overall than Portland Nursery and also that they seem to carry more pond care supplies year round than Portland Nursery.
But, I was disappointed when it came to their fish selection… they only have Koi, and even worse, they are $ 30 for about a 4 inch fish and $ 40 for a slightly larger one. I have never been in the market for Koi before, so I don’t know if this is a competitive price or not, but I knew that I wasn’t going to pay it…
The good news was that when we asked the pond care expert guy where we could buy regular old gold fish, he made a funny face and answered the obvious «There is a Petco down the road…» I love that he didn’t insist on us going to some kind of specialty pond shop and paying 3 times as much as Petco…
To sum it up: for pond supplies, this is your place, and the service is helpful and unpretentious. I didn’t love the plant selection as much, and the inner store seemed to cater to more «cutesy» garden supplies than practical, but overall they seemed to have some good prices.
Oh, and as a bonus, they had a couple chickens wandering about the outside plant area :)