Support Your Independent Nursery: The Natural Gardener GIVEAWAY
Buddha says, Support your local nurseries.
The Natural Gardener is one of those nurseries in which you can easily spend an hour or two looking at plants, exploring the display gardens, looking at the donkeys, goats, and chickens with your kids, strolling the labyrinth, investigating the supersized tepee, and shopping in the nursery store. The extensive grounds and rural setting (though the surrounding area is increasingly being built out with homes and apartments) will make you feel as if you’re visiting a small farm, with rows of vegetables being tended by staff members, animals fed and cared for, swings in the trees for catching a cool breeze, and garden features meant for contemplative enjoyment.
John Dromgoole owns The Natural Gardener, and thanks to his long-running radio show, weekly TV appearances on Central Texas Gardener, and community activism, he’s the larger-than-life face of the nursery.
When you visit—and you must visit; this is an iconic nursery in Austin—you’ll find plenty to do, as this nursery map illustrates.
Or use this quirky signpost to get pointed in the right direction.
The Natural Gardener has a great selection of plants, including many natives and other adapted plants, succulents, woody lilies, herbs, and edibles.
The shrub and tree section is particularly good.
So is the succulent section.
One of my pet peeves at nurseries is bad or missing signage. The Natural Gardener scores extra points for clear signage with helpful growing information.
This place is decked out year-round with fun garden decor. Right now it’s all pumpkins and sunflowers.
Pots make great decoration too, of course, and N.G. has plenty of them, in all colors.
The display gardens just keep growing; each year, it seems, a new garden appears. This is the stream garden.
Here’s the working vegetable garden. They’re even growing corn!
And here’s someone hard at work.
This inviting swing overlooks a pretty herb garden. You’ll find a fruit orchard nearby.
Making the nursery fun for kids to visit are resident goats…
…chickens, and donkeys, whose braying usually tells you where they are.
A butterfly- and dragonfly-stamped path leads to a lovely butterfly garden right off the parking lot.
Stroll it for relaxation…
…or to get planting ideas for attracting butterflies to your own garden.
The information shed is where you’ll find knowledgeable staff members ready to answer your questions. You’ll also find plenty of staffers working the grounds, and they’re quick to ask if you need help finding anything.
In the nursery shop you’ll find nice restrooms (always a plus!) and seeds galore.
I often come to the nursery just to shop for gifts. I love their handcrafted garden/home decor.
They also have an excellent tool selection as well as garden books and bird feeders. And I haven’t even mentioned the educational offerings, like regular garden speakers and classes, or the homemade soil offerings, which include the popular Ladybug brand. There’s so much to see here, and you’ll find more about this excellent nursery in an earlier post I wrote about The Natural Gardener. I encourage you to visit and see what it has to offer.
Now for the giveaway! The Natural Gardener is giving away a $25 gift certificate to one of my lucky readers! Just leave a comment on this post to enter, and I’ll announce the winner at the end of the week. Update 10/7/12: The winner announcement is here.
Giveaway Rules:
1. You must leave a comment on this post to enter.
2. Only one entry per person is allowed.
3. Giveaway ends at 11:59 pm on October 6th.
4. I’ll announce the winner on October 7th.
5. The winner must go to the nursery with a photo ID to claim the prize within two weeks of winning. Prizes will not be mailed.
6. The winner is not eligible to win any other giveaways at Digging for 2012′s Support Your Independent Nursery Month.
Remember, win or lose, if you live here in Austin you’ve already hit the jackpot with a great selection of local nurseries at which to shop, learn, and be inspired.
Disclosure: I’ve posted about this nursery because it’s one I shop at regularly and recommend to others. I invited the owner/manager to participate in a giveaway for my readers, but my post was not conditional on any donation. Plain and simple: I like this nursery and think you will too.
All material © 2006-2012 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
How soon do we have to use the gift certificate! I remember Natural gardener from Austin Spring Fling~It’s fantastic and I am sure there are many items that would come home with me!
It’s good for a year, Gail. Yes, this is the nursery we brought the garden bloggers to see at the Austin Fling. —Pam
This nursery is quite a way from my house, but worth the trip. I love the animals and the vegetable display garden.
Great write up Pam. I too love the Natural Gardener, even though it is quite the hike from our house. I never noticed the swing before and intend to give it a sit when there next. :)
I have always loved trips to The Natural Gardener. Not only do they have the best selection in town, they tend to have some of the most knowledgeable staff too. My husband and I attended a gardening class there before we started our garden and the information was invaluable. I don’t know where we would be without having them there to help get us started.
Oooh, pick me. I love the Natural Gardener!
I absolutely LOVE this nursery!!
I dig this!
One of my favorites!
I love Natural Gardener’s selection of offbeat yard art. I also appreciate how the employees will work with customers to track down the correct answers to questions if they do not know the answer.
NG is so great- helpful staff who always are around and ask if you need help and just a fabulous place to wander. Plus fun for kids to explore- a plus for mommys who like to plant shop!
I haven’t visited Natural Gardener in awhile – looks like it’s time for a trek north!
The Natural Gardener is eye candy to this Austin plant enthusiast. What a treat it has been to visit there over the years and see how it has evolved. What a delight to see the addition of a stream-scape!Your delightful pictures have enticed me to head back there soon!
Lovin’ those cute pumpkins! NG does everything so well.
This is my second year living in Austin and I went last june to The Natural Gardener, I loved the place! unfortunately it was so hot that day that I didn’t visited the butterfly garden and the tikki. One of the best nurseries in the area! :)
Enjoy your blog and it’s inspiration. Thanks for the reminder to check out the Natural Gardener.
I haven’t been to NT in a while.
Would love to go and spend my $25 gc on something cool for the Fall and visit the areas you describe iin your post. Oh, and Welcome to Dripping Springs, Natural Gardener!
My favorite nursery in Austin, for sure, although it’s a bit of a drive for me from North Austin. Friendly, helpful staff, magnificent selection of plants, tools, seeds, etc. I’d happily spend much more of my time and money here!
I love the Natural Gardener so much, I have learned so much from the podcast and their Saturday classes.
I love the NG and Ladybug Products! We took our our grass and planted an edible front yard last spring and I’m still trying to fill up all that space. We had 5 yards of compost trucked up from NG and everything I plant seems to flourish! Also many thanks to you for your inspirational blog!
Great post. I love the Natural Gardener. They have a great selection of plants and the staff are so knowledgable and helpful.
Nothing like a great giveaway to make the comments section go WILD!
I’m ready to spend that cert!
xoxox
Always fun to take the girls to the Natural Gardener. They especially love the donkeys.
We love The Natural Gardener…drive all the way from RR. Great article!!
I wish you were my next door neighbor!
I’m planning a fieldtrip…..have lived in Austin 25 years and have never been……..
Love this garden center. I spend lots of money here, giftcard would be used for sure!
[...] Gardener Giveaway October 7th, 2012 The Natural Gardener is a wonderful local nursery.Last week I posted about the Natural Gardener, one of my favorite Austin-area nurseries, as part of Support Your Independent Nursery Month, and I [...]