Plant Nurseries & Garden Centers in North Carolina
Explore 468 local plant nurseries across 71 cities.
Top Rated Farms in NC
L. L. Goodnight & Sons, Inc.
Horticultural Greenhouse and Feed Store. Top products: Garden seeds, Grass seed, Hay, Straw, Animal feed. L. L. Goodnight & Sons, Inc. is a long-standing horticultural supplier and greenhouse operator with a heritage spanning over 70 years. Operating as a division of Southern States, the business functions as a traditional agricultural and garden center catering to both homeowners and local growers. Their core offerings include a diverse range of garden seeds, grass seeds, and specialized horticultural supplies, complemented by a substantial inventory of animal feed and animal health products. As a rural-focused supplier, they also serve as a primary regional provider of hay and straw, essential for both landscaping and livestock management. The business maintains a strong focus on traditional agricultural services and seasonal horticultural support, emphasizing community-based expert advice and the provision of high-quality agricultural inputs. Their facility operates as a hub for local gardening and farming needs, bridging the gap between professional-grade cultivation supplies and the needs of residential gardeners.
Mikes Growers Outlet
Retail Garden Center Nursery. Top products: Ornamental plants, Trees, Shrubs, Garden center supplies. Mike's Growers Outlet is a veteran-owned and operated garden center located in Lowesville, North Carolina. Established in 2004, the business serves as the largest retail nursery in Lincoln County, providing a wide array of plants, trees, and shrubs to both homeowners and local landscapers. The outlet operates seven days a week, functioning as a comprehensive destination for horticultural needs, ranging from plant selection to professional delivery and installation services. Their inventory is dynamic and subject to frequent updates, reflecting seasonal availability and market demand. In addition to plant sales, the business offers professional landscaping design services, helping customers integrate nursery stock into their property layouts. By focusing on both retail sales and on-site support, Mike's Growers Outlet acts as a key horticultural hub for the Lincoln County community, emphasizing local service and a diverse inventory of landscaping materials.
The Plant Park
Native and ornamental shrub nursery. Top products: Salt tolerant plants, Flowering deer resistant shrubs, Native North Carolina plants, Garden mulch. The Plant Park, located in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, is a horticultural retailer and supplier specializing in resilient plant varieties suited for the local climate. The nursery focuses on providing high-quality botanical products, with a specific emphasis on deer-resistant shrubs and native North Carolina plant species. Their inventory is curated to assist homeowners and garden enthusiasts in selecting vegetation that can withstand local environmental pressures, including salt tolerance for coastal or proximity-based landscaping. Beyond live plant materials, the business functions as a source for essential garden supplies, such as high-quality mulch, to support long-term planting success. Operating on a seasonal schedule, the nursery serves the local community by offering expert advice on plant selection, ensuring that their product offerings—ranging from flowering shrubs to native perennials—meet the durability and aesthetic needs of residential landscapes. The establishment emphasizes reliable service and consistent product quality.
A Growing Concern Garden Center
Ornamental Tree and Shrub Nursery. Top products: Japanese maples, Flowering trees, Ornamental conifers, Shrubs, Perennials. A Growing Concern Garden Center, located in Hendersonville, NC, has operated as a premier horticultural retailer since 1986. Specializing in high-quality landscape material, the nursery is widely recognized for its extensive collection of Japanese maples, unique ornamental conifers, flowering trees, and shrubs. The business caters to both residential homeowners and professional landscapers, offering not only a diverse retail inventory but also professional landscape design and container garden installation services. With a mission focused on beautifying the regional landscape, the center emphasizes expert knowledge, providing consultation to ensure customers select appropriate plant varieties for their specific garden needs. Their inventory is curated for quality and diversity, frequently refreshed with seasonal additions, including perennials and various evergreen specimens. Having served the community for over 35 years, they maintain a reputation for offering both standard landscaping staples and rare, one-of-a-kind botanical specimens.
Whitaker Farms Retail Garden Center & Greenhouses
Retail Garden Center and Nursery. Top products: flowers, herbs, vegetable plants, seasonal fruits, seasonal produce. Whitaker Farms Retail Garden Center & Greenhouses is a multifaceted horticultural and agricultural operation based in North Carolina. The business functions as a traditional retail garden center, providing a diverse selection of plants including ornamental flowers, herbs, and vegetable starters suitable for home gardening. Beyond its nursery operations, the farm acts as a local agricultural hub, featuring an on-site farmers market that supplies seasonal fruits and vegetables, as well as a bakery and café offering prepared foods. The farm emphasizes community engagement and educational outreach, regularly hosting school field trips, farm tours, and seasonal U-pick events such as strawberry and pumpkin harvesting. By integrating horticultural retail with a retail food market and experiential agricultural activities, Whitaker Farms serves local homeowners, gardeners, and families seeking both gardening supplies and locally sourced produce across their Franklinville and Colfax locations.
Allen's Nursery & Garden Center
Brawley Seed Co. & Garden Center
Retail Garden Center and Seeds. Top products: Garden seeds, Vegetable starters, Perennial plants, Pollinator-friendly plants. Established in 1946, Brawley Seed Co. & Garden Center is a multi-generational, family-owned horticultural retailer located in Mooresville, North Carolina. Serving the Piedmont region for nearly eight decades, the business operates as both a specialized seed provider and a community-focused garden center. Their core business model centers on retail sales of garden seeds, seasonal vegetable starts, and a diverse range of ornamental and native perennials specifically selected for their ecological benefits, such as supporting local pollinators like bees and butterflies. Brawley Seed Co. distinguishes itself through a high level of community engagement, frequently hosting educational workshops focused on gardening techniques, including seed starting, soil management, and seasonal planting strategies. Catering primarily to home gardeners, the company leverages its long-standing local presence to provide horticultural advice and regionally appropriate plant selections, maintaining consistent operational hours throughout the week to support residential gardening needs.
Down Home Garden Center & General Store
Full Service Garden Center. Top products: Annuals, Perennials, Shrubs, Trees, Hydrangeas. Down Home Garden Center & General Store is a family-owned, full-service horticultural retail operation based in Mebane, North Carolina. The center functions as a comprehensive destination for gardening enthusiasts, offering a diverse inventory of botanical products including annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, azaleas, camellias, and succulents. Their service model emphasizes customer support through a dedicated potting station where staff provide professional planting assistance, alongside a curated selection of plant nutrition, soil amendments, and pest control products. Beyond their core plant offerings, the business serves as a local community hub, hosting educational workshops and seasonal events. The facility integrates a general store component featuring artisanal gifts, local honey, and home decor, creating a lifestyle-focused retail environment. They cater primarily to residential gardeners and homeowners, focusing on both established plant favorites and new horticultural varieties, while maintaining a strong emphasis on seasonal plant care and landscape inspiration.
Pinecone Home and Garden Center
Retail Garden Center Nursery. Top products: Annuals, Perennials, Houseplants, Orchids, Outdoor Pottery, Shrubs. Pinecone Home and Garden Center, located in New Bern, NC, is a comprehensive retail horticultural establishment serving local homeowners and gardening enthusiasts. As a Proven Winners destination garden center, the business prioritizes high-quality, disease-resistant plant varieties, including an extensive selection of annuals, perennials, shrubs, and tropical plants. Their operation features a dedicated greenhouse space specifically curated for rare and common indoor houseplants and a diverse collection of orchids. Beyond their live plant offerings, the center supports complete garden ecosystems by stocking essential horticultural supplies, such as fertilizers, potting soils, specialized gardening tools, and pest repellents. The business also emphasizes seasonal engagement, offering vegetable and herb starts for edible gardens, as well as holiday-specific inventory including Christmas trees, wreaths, and poinsettias. Complementing their plant stock is a broad selection of indoor and outdoor pottery, designed to serve as both functional containers and focal landscape elements. Through their retail facility, they provide both the raw materials and the expertise necessary for local residents to cultivate ornamental and edible home gardens.
Painters Greenhouse
Native and Perennial Nursery. Top products: Native plants, Perennials, Boston Ferns, Houseplants, Pollinator plants. Painters Greenhouse is a family-owned plant nursery located in Western North Carolina (WNC) with over 50 years of history. Operating out of 100,000 square feet of growing and retail space, the nursery cultivates more than 1,000 species of plants on-site, with over 90% of their inventory grown locally to ensure optimal health and climate adaptation. Their operation avoids the stresses of shipping and long-distance transport, resulting in high-quality, hand-tended plants. The nursery is widely recognized for its extensive collection of native plants and pollinator-friendly species, supporting local biodiversity. Their diverse inventory includes a vast selection of over 900 varieties of perennials, signature large Boston Ferns, and a wide array of indoor houseplants. Catering primarily to retail customers, the business emphasizes sustainable, intentional growing practices and provides ongoing educational resources through their blog and newsletter to assist home gardeners in building resilient, ecologically-conscious landscapes.
Plant Delights Nursery, Inc.
Rare Perennial Specialty Nursery. Top products: Rare perennials, North American native plants, Agave species and hybrids, Shade-tolerant plants, Garden-tested cultivars. Plant Delights Nursery, Inc., founded in 1986 by renowned plantsman Tony Avent in Raleigh, NC, is a specialized horticultural operation focused on the collection, propagation, and distribution of rare, unique, and native perennial plants. Operating in conjunction with the 10-acre Juniper Level Botanic Garden, the nursery maintains a research-driven mission to preserve botanical diversity by introducing over 1,550 unique plant species, hybrids, and cultivars to the market. Their business model centers on offering a curated selection of over 1,500 garden-tested perennials specifically suited for Southeastern US growing conditions. They cater primarily to serious gardeners and horticulturists seeking botanical rarities. Beyond retail, the nursery functions as a center for ex-situ plant conservation, funding research and education. Their operations include an extensive e-commerce platform with specialized shipping practices, and they host periodic Open Nursery and Garden days, providing on-site educational workshops, lectures, and garden tours.
Linda's Plants & Shrubs
Full-service nursery and garden center. Top products: Perennials, Shrubs, Trees, Christmas trees, Annuals, Vegetable starts. Linda's Plants & Shrubs is a family-owned and operated nursery and garden center based near Hendersonville, North Carolina, with operations dating back to 1984. The business maintains over 35,000 square feet of greenhouse and retail space, focusing on the production and sale of a wide variety of plants including perennials, annuals, shrubs, trees, vegetables, and herbs. Catering to both homeowners and professional gardeners, they serve the Western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina regions. In addition to their core horticultural offerings, the nursery operates on a seasonal cycle, providing fresh-cut Christmas trees and holiday decor in the winter, and harvesting pumpkins, gourds, and local produce during the fall. By operating both a primary retail location and a seasonal presence at the WNC Farmer's Market, they provide consistent access to locally grown plant material and ornamental stock, emphasizing their role as a long-standing horticultural resource in the local community.
Shelton Herb Farm
Herb and vegetable nursery. Top products: culinary herbs, vegetable plants, fresh-cut herbs, edible flowers. Shelton Herb Farm, located in Leland, North Carolina, is a long-standing 'Century Farm' operating as a diversified plant nursery and horticultural destination. The farm specializes in the propagation and sale of a wide range of culinary herbs and vegetable starts suitable for home gardens. Their core offerings include retail plant sales, fresh-cut herbs, and edible flowers. Beyond traditional nursery operations, the farm serves as an educational hub, hosting workshops for both adults and children, farm tours, and scheduled garden talks to promote horticultural knowledge. The business caters to home gardeners and local consumers, often participating in regional farmers' markets such as the Wilmington Farmers Market. With a history spanning over a century, the farm maintains a strong commitment to agricultural education and community engagement, providing resources and demonstrations that encourage sustainable gardening practices and the cultivation of edible landscapes.
Click’s Nursery & Greenhouse
Full-service retail garden center. Top products: annual plants, perennial plants, shrubs, trees, gardening supplies. Established in 1985, Click’s Nursery & Greenhouse is a family-owned and operated full-service garden center serving Cumberland and surrounding counties. The business functions as a comprehensive horticultural supplier, offering a diverse array of annual and perennial plants grown on-site within their own greenhouses. Beyond their plant production, the nursery maintains an extensive inventory of landscape essentials, including trees, shrubs, seeds, soil amendments, mulch, and various gardening tools. They cater to residential homeowners and gardening enthusiasts, providing professional expertise on plant health, soil management, and general yard maintenance. In addition to their core horticultural offerings, the nursery stocks fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides, and provides functional outdoor items such as pots and trellises. While their primary focus remains plant retail and garden success, they also offer floral arrangement services and propane filling stations, positioning themselves as a multi-purpose local resource for landscaping and outdoor living needs.
Mitchell's Nursery & Greenhouse Inc.
Full-Service Retail Plant Nursery. Top products: Trees and shrubs, Annuals and perennials, Vegetable starts, Tropical plants, Soil and mulches. Established in 1979 in King, North Carolina, Mitchell’s Nursery & Greenhouse operates as a comprehensive horticultural enterprise serving both the retail and wholesale markets. The business functions as a traditional plant nursery and garden center, offering a vast array of ornamental trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, and edible plants. A significant portion of their inventory is propagated and grown on-site in their own greenhouses, ensuring high quality and local adaptability. Mitchell’s provides specialized services including professional landscaping consultations, contract growing for commercial maintenance firms, and instructional gardening workshops. Their customer base is diverse, catering to residential homeowners, regional landscapers, and municipalities. Beyond plant sales, they offer essential gardening inputs such as fertilizers, soil amendments, and premium mulches. With a focus on expertise and localized horticultural support, the nursery is recognized as a key regional supplier for plant-based landscape solutions.
Gulley's Garden Center Inc
Full-service retail garden center. Top products: potted flowers, seasonal plants, ornamental shrubs, perennials. Gulley's Garden Center Inc operates as a comprehensive retail horticultural establishment focused on providing a wide variety of plant material to the local community. The business serves both residential homeowners and local landscape enthusiasts by offering an extensive selection of seasonal flowers, ornamental shrubs, and perennial plants. Their business model centers on creating an accessible shopping experience for gardening supplies and botanical specimens. As a traditional garden center, they provide a destination for customers to source healthy plants suited for regional climate conditions, often incorporating educational resources or seasonal tips to assist customers in their gardening efforts. Their operations are dedicated to the maintenance and retail distribution of nursery stock, focusing on aesthetic and functional landscaping plants, while fostering a community-centric environment for gardening enthusiasts to acquire both staple garden plants and specialized seasonal offerings.
Rountree Nursery & Supply
Ornamental and Perennial Nursery. Top products: Landscape Perennials, Landscape Annuals, Nursery Stock, Hanging Baskets, Pre-planted Combinations. Rountree Nursery & Supply, established in 1980, is a professional horticultural operation based in the Carolinas specializing in high-quality ornamental plant material. The nursery caters to both retail homeowners seeking to improve residential curb appeal and landscape professionals requiring reliable stock for large-scale installations. Their core product line encompasses a wide variety of landscape perennials, seasonal annuals, and specialty decorative items such as hanging baskets and pre-planted floral combinations. With over four decades of industry experience, the business emphasizes rigorous quality control in their growing methods and plant selection processes to ensure long-term plant health and aesthetic performance. They operate as a hybrid supplier, providing both direct-to-consumer sales and wholesale partnerships for the landscaping trade, positioning themselves as a comprehensive resource for regional garden development and project-specific planting needs.
Renfrow's Hardware & General Merchandise
Edible Gardening and Nursery. Top products: fruit trees, vegetable starts, herbs, flowering plants, poultry supplies. Renfrow's Hardware & General Merchandise, established in 1900 in downtown Matthews, operates a multifaceted business that integrates a traditional hardware store with a dedicated greenhouse and horticultural operation. The company specializes in edible gardening, offering a curated selection of fruit trees, vegetable starts, herbs, and flowering plants to support home gardeners. Their greenhouse operations are highly active during the peak spring season, with inventory refreshed multiple times per week. Beyond plant sales, the business promotes sustainable local agriculture through Renfrow Farms, which provides raw local honey and seasonal produce. They cater to a community-focused clientele, offering gardening education, classes, and expert horticultural advice. Their mission balances historical preservation with modern gardening needs, supporting both amateur hobbyists and those interested in small-scale poultry and edible plant cultivation.
Dearness Gardens Nursery and Landscaping
Full-Service Retail Garden Center. Top products: Japanese Maples, Native Plants, Annuals and Perennials, Rare Conifers, Aquatic Plants. Dearness Gardens Nursery and Landscaping, located in Huntersville, NC, serves as a comprehensive retail garden center and landscape service provider for the Lake Norman area. The business specializes in a wide variety of ornamental and functional plant material, including Japanese maples, rare conifers, perennial and annual flowers, herbs, roses, and aquatic plants. Beyond their plant inventory, they emphasize ecological stewardship through a dedicated selection of pollinator and native plants designed to support local bird and insect populations. Their operational model combines a retail nursery experience—featuring display gardens, a koi pond, and an eclectic gift shop—with professional landscaping services, including consultation, design, and installation. The nursery caters to residential homeowners and gardening enthusiasts by providing expert horticultural advice, essential soil and pest control supplies, and educational workshops, maintaining a focus on creating aesthetic, functional outdoor living spaces.
Browse by City
The Nursery & Garden Center Market in North Carolina
North Carolina supports a robust horticultural industry, anchored by 470 verified nurseries operating across 20 primary urban markets. The market functions as a diverse network ranging from small-scale specialty growers to large-scale retail garden centers. Industry distribution shows a heavy concentration in the Piedmont and mountain regions, where specific soil profiles and longer growing seasons dictate high demand for both native shrubs and landscape-grade nursery stock. Retail performance, evidenced by ratings often exceeding 4.5 across top establishments like Guilford Garden Center and Whitaker Farms, indicates a consumer base that prioritizes quality and localized expert advice over big-box convenience.
Top Cities for Nurseries & Garden Centers
Market density is highest in Asheville, which leads the state with 31 active nurseries. This saturation correlates with the region's unique microclimates and strong horticultural tourism. Raleigh follows closely with 27 locations, serving as the commercial heart for the capital region's residential expansion. Burlington, Wilmington, and Fuquay-Varina each host 16 establishments, reflecting a steady growth in suburban landscape demand. Charlotte, despite its status as a major metropolis, mirrors the counts of smaller hubs like Fuquay-Varina, suggesting that high-value retail land costs may influence the concentration of nursery production in the immediate outer rings rather than the city core. Other critical hubs include Hendersonville (15), Winston-Salem (14), Greensboro (14), and Shelby (13), which collectively provide a stable supply chain for residential and commercial horticultural projects across the state.
North Carolina Climate & Plant Selection
NC spans USDA hardiness zones 5 through 8, a massive variance that demands specific inventory management. The western mountain nurseries, particularly in Asheville and Hendersonville, focus heavily on cool-season perennials and acid-loving woody plants that thrive in the acidic, well-draining soils characteristic of the Appalachians. Moving east toward the Piedmont and Coastal Plain, nurseries adapt by stocking heat-tolerant native species and drought-resistant varieties. Rainfall patterns, typically abundant but inconsistent, have pushed garden centers to prioritize native NC plants like Ilex opaca and various Viburnum species that can survive both high summer humidity and periodic dry spells. Greenhouse-grown stock is essential in the early spring, allowing nurseries to bridge the gap between the final frost dates and the aggressive growth cycles triggered by high heat. Soil management remains the primary challenge; heavy red clay in the Piedmont requires nurseries to guide consumers toward soil amendments and deep-rooting plants, whereas the sandy soils of the eastern counties necessitate different fertility strategies. Retail nurseries in these areas frequently integrate local nursery production with specialized nursery inventory to ensure that plant materials are already acclimated to the specific regional heat and humidity levels before they reach the consumer's landscape.
Sourcing Plants Locally in NC
- Verify Hardiness Zone Compatibility: Before buying, cross-reference your specific location’s USDA zone with the nursery’s stock. High-elevation mountain nurseries offer vastly different species than those in the Coastal Plain.
- Prioritize Native Plant Growers: Seek out garden centers like Whitaker Farms or Gunters Greenhouse that emphasize local propagation. Native plants are genetically adapted to NC's specific insect and soil pressures.
- Observe Retail Rating Trends: Establishments like Guilford Garden Center (4.8) and Homewood Nursery (4.7) maintain high ratings because they employ horticulturists rather than simple retail staff. Use these interactions to gain knowledge on soil prep specific to your county.
- Seasonality is Key: In NC, the best planting time for woody ornamentals is late fall, allowing root systems to establish before the onset of extreme summer heat. Many top-tier nurseries offer specialized stock during these cooler windows.
- Check Source Diversity: Larger garden centers often blend field-grown nursery stock from across the Southeast with locally container-grown varieties. Always ask if the plant was grown on-site to ensure it is acclimated to local conditions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why is the mountain region in North Carolina such a hub for nurseries?
A: The Asheville and Hendersonville areas offer unique microclimates characterized by cooler temperatures and distinct elevation profiles. These conditions allow nurseries to grow a wider variety of plants, including many cool-season crops and specialty conifers that struggle in the intense heat of the NC Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions, creating a diverse horticultural market that attracts specialized growers and high-demand commercial landscape buyers.
Q: What is the primary challenge for home gardeners buying from NC nurseries?
A: The main challenge is soil variance. Much of the North Carolina Piedmont consists of dense, compacted red clay that inhibits drainage. Conversely, eastern parts of the state have very sandy, fast-draining soils. Nurseries in NC must provide specialized guidance on soil amendments, such as incorporating organic matter or gypsum, to ensure that the plants survive the transition from a greenhouse environment to the homeowner’s yard.
Q: Are native plants a better investment for North Carolina gardens?
A: Yes, native plants are generally a superior investment in NC because they have evolved to withstand the state's distinct humidity, rainfall patterns, and common pests. Because they are adapted to local soil conditions, they often require less supplemental irrigation and fewer chemical fertilizers than exotic nursery stock. Many leading NC garden centers are now prioritizing native species to meet the growing consumer demand for sustainable, low-maintenance landscapes.
Q: When is the optimal time to purchase and plant in North Carolina?
A: While many garden centers are busiest in the spring, the optimal planting time for trees and shrubs in North Carolina is actually the fall. Planting in late autumn allows the roots to establish in the warming, moist soil before the plant has to deal with the intense, stressful heat of an NC summer. This reduces transplant shock and significantly lowers the need for intensive watering during the first growing season.
Q: How do NC garden centers manage plant health in high humidity?
A: North Carolina’s high summer humidity is perfect for fungal pathogens. To manage this, professional garden centers utilize wide spacing for plants in the nursery yard to ensure consistent air circulation. They also focus on stocking disease-resistant cultivars and educate customers on proper spacing and irrigation techniques, such as avoiding overhead watering, which helps keep foliage dry and reduces the incidence of common leaf-spot diseases found in the region.
