A Chicago staple, the Gethsemane Garden Center is a family owned shop providing plants and services to long time (and first time) city gardeners. They have been doing this long enough (over 30 years) to know what works in our urban outdoor spaces.
The selection is excellent. Last Friday, we went to Gethsemane with our neighbor who we garden with. She was bearing a handwritten list of recommended perennials (we don't really know what we are doing, so we take advice seriously - we did NOT want to stray from that list!).
We grabbed a salesperson and showed them our list of plants; they had nearly every single one we were looking for. Our previous stop (closer by, we were trying to hurry) had only one out of the whole list. Lesson learned: it's worth the trip.
I love Gethsemane, especially as a place to visit and to get ideas. One summer I gasped at the price of the window boxes though, and an employee kindly told me I could go across the street to Ace Hardware and get them much cheaper. Another time, a an employee stopped me from buying a beautiful plan she knew was going to die in my vintage planter (the planter had no drain holes). Great service, I guess I'm saying, but also over-priced.
They have the best selection in one place....but they are very over-priced.
I'd recommend them because of the selection and the exotics they house, but you will pay for it.....
I love Gethsemane. It can be really expensive, but for the service and selection you get sometimes it can be worth it!
Have I been over-paying?
Where can you go that's cheaper than Gethsemane?
I have the impression that it's much less than the more frou-frou places closer to downtown.
Fill me in, we want to fill our bare porch with herbs and blooms and foliage this summer!
I think Gethsemane is cheaper than places like Jayson Home & Garden that are closer to the city. It is more expensive than Home Depot, but you also have a much greater selection and I think higher quality plants. I just wish it wasn't so busy and hard to find a place to park at Gethsemane, but well worth it to get some great plants!
Anna,
I buy all my herbs and flowers for my back deck from Gethsemane. I think that those items are rather affordable, maybe a bit more than Home Depot like Jeremy said. When you start getting into the bigger and/or more exotic plants, it can get more pricey. But their quality and selection is definitely a lot better, so I think it is worth it.
Interesting that just about everyone notes how expensive Gethsemane is, becauase they (Gethsemane) cannot seem to come up with the money to pay their suppliers for the goods they are purchasing for re-sell. We have been cheated out of several thousand dollars from this company.
Quality nusery centers are hard to come by. You may have to pay a premium for their plants, but the quality makes makes up for it.Their selection
in plants far exceeds any expectations.
If you live on the north side Urhausen Greenhouses in Lincolnwood is great. They only sell plants (no planters, etc.). They have a great variety of herbs, flowers and vegetables. I think the quality is better than Gethsemane and it is cheaper.