Reviews of GARDENWORKS Oak Bay (Gardener)

Charlie Sweet

Quite unique.

GoldLeader

Leafy

Shane Sela

Poor selection. Overpriced.

ark benk2008

Such a unique gardening store. Well worth a visit for unique, tasteful and rare tropicals

Sarah D (EatEnergizeEvolve)

I had purchased all my garden starters here, so happily drove across town to support them again....I will never go back again. The ladies are very helpful, the man working was rude, abrupt and it was just embarrassing. I was shocked.

Todd B

Pricy but dedicated staff and better selection. Seems many of these southern Island garden centers all order from the same suppliers (ie. Burnaby Lake Gardens). Found the prices to be 50% to 100% more than other locations.

Kevin Morin

Great selection of pots!

Rhythmicon Sound

Not cheap but great spot with good plant selections and accessories with friendly staff.

Cynthia Diadick Tanner

I seriously DISAGREE with the reviewer who said they didn't like their staff. I have found GW staff at ALL their locations to be knowledgeable AND helpful. Maybe the reviewer is an "EXPERT". Definitely I am not! I have a fairly large back walled garden area- and early this spring (2018) and NOTHING in it. Rather embarrassing for someone in Victoria to have garden space and no garden!! I was going to hire someone to create a garden for me but I realized it was good for me to LEARN about gardening. I have bought plants here --a few plants for a balcony in the summer-- for 20 years or so but this time I had to create something from nothing. I went there one early morning in mid May and I found this SAINT of an employee. I told her I was a brown thumb but explained what I was trying to do. I did have a list of of a couple of plants and she helped me find the healthiest specimens AND explained what to look for AND then we selected some pots. All of the plants I bought this summer have FLOURISHED. I now have a garden! It may be the first year but it still looks lovely and I have some privacy from my neighbors thanks to two climbing vines I purchased. I can't wait to see next year..I also went out to the GW store in Saanich a few weeks ago to get spring bulbs and they had an amazing selection. However for my everyday needs, the Oak Bay store suits to a "T". For a small store they have amazing pots!! Thanks for helping me learn about gardening and I know I'm going to enjoy many years with my lovely plants. The challenge is to STOP buying everything I see!

Nancy Fraser

There's a pretty good selection of plants and the staff is very knowledgeable and willing to answer any gardening questions that you have

Andrew Burgess

Great place for all your plant and garden needs.

Dave Nagel

I was very happy with my experience at this location, and found the staff to be very helpful. We happened to be shopping on a sale date, so didn't find things to be too expensive. I generally don't like Garden Works for a number of reasons but I am willing to shop at the Oak Bay location mostly because of their customer service, something that I find the other Garden Work locations are lacking.

Grant S

This is one of my favorite places to buy plants. The staff here are great!

Anne Sylwester

Cute little store with some nice plants. Much smaller scale than Blenkinsop location but still worth a look around

André Guérard

Friendly helpful staff, nice variety of plants

Tatianna Landry

Great service and super helpful and gave the best advice to keep my succulents alive!

Sky Chartrand

Always a great selection.

Justine S.

They have not a bad selection, but it tends to be very expensive. Staff tends to be a bit dismissive and unfriendly, but unfortunately that's something that seems to happen in many Oak Bay retailers.

Oshen Vulpardes

My favourite plant store. Very well educated staff, very large soil collection to choose from and a huge variety of plants including several species of canivorous plants and air plants!

Cinder Woods

Friendly staff and I found just what I needed.

Yannick Stevens

Super friendly, helpful and attentive staff. They let my 3 year old "help" net up our Christmas tree and were very good with him.

dman chapman

Love going here to get some nice plants and pots. Even sometimes they have their friendly dog Meatball!

Chris Henderson

Expensive but quality there. Have shopped here for twenty years and very few problems

Christoph

A really lovely selection of all the delightful growy things. However the customer service really stands head and shoulders about many other places by virtue of exemplary care to ensure customer contentment. They really go the extra mile. Thank you!

RD B (CriscoCube)

Nice enough, pretty limited selection of plants and no space to walk barely. little bit expensive.

Natalie Fawcett

Very helpful and friendly staff, very knowledgeable and great selection of plants

Bradley Hetherington

Not cheaper than Canadian Tire, of course, but great and helpful staff with no crazy crowds, either.

Jerod MacDonald

Great selection, wonderfully arranged. Expanded pot section is beauty.

Amanda Scott

I went in to ask for advice regarding a plant I had purchased elsewhere. Kaeden was incredibly kind and helpful. They explained how to best care for my plant, what kind of soil and potting I needed, and even made up a soil combination that would be perfect for my plant. I really appreciated their kindness and patience through all of my questions.

Gianna Kim

Many varieties of plants ????

Megan Wright

Such a friendly and helpful staff and a beautiful selection of plants. Highly recommend!

Carly W

Good store but quite small, and not the best location (lacking in parking). I prefer the saanich location.

Josh Teng

Have been going here infrequently over the last few years to get my mother things, large selection and friendly staff.

Matthew Jack

Great experience and wonderful staff

Julia Albano

I applaud anyone working in a public setting during COVID19. Gardenworks has always been and continues to be an excellent place in Oak Bay for help regarding greenery of any sort. All their employees are helpful and managing beautifully despite the stress and anxiety of the pandemic.

Ian Lloyd

Large selection of plants and staff, but you pay for it. Lineup can be long

Sloan Sink

Gosh this place has such great energy it's a treat going in:) ☘️

Katie Fillion

Great selection, high prices.

Lane Olson

As someone new to plant care, the staff were exceptionally approachable and helpful in identifying plants that would thrive in the specific environment of our apartment. It can be humbling asking for help as a beginner but the staff made even basic questions seem deserving of time. Will absolutely shop here again!

Gabriel B

Great store, but super inattentive staff.

Nona Robertson

big store with lots of selection and healthy plants! staff were very sweet too ????

Paton Hetherington

Great Orchid selection

David Mills

Great store, been going for years, too bad its closing.

Aiden

Great place! Got a variety of houseplants for my place for a very good price. 10/10 would recommend.

Benjamin Botts

I wish I had checked here before I ordered a bunch of stuff online for my orchids. They seem to have everything I needed.

S. Rao

Small lot, convenient location. I prefer the Blenkinsop location for its larger lot and selection .

Robin van G

a lot of great stuff packed into a small space! one thing I went specifically to get was out of stock. the other hard-to-get item was there and I got it on customer appreciation day ????

Elaine Waring

Very unhelpful staff, expensive store, and not very knowledgable. I will be getting my gardening things somewhere else.

Kevin House

A pretty good selection of garden plants for an urban location. Obviously not as many large plants as their saanich green house location but their table displays and arrangements are top notch.

Melanie Hibi

Huge selection. Plants, garden accessories, and more.

Lauren

Have gotten many plants from this garden works, but many of them end up having mites or other diseases and bugs. Indoor plants are beautiful and seem to do better than the outside ones, and the customer service is great!

Kendall Elliott

Staff was helpful and recommended many different plants that I love. I got a few herbs and some Brocclie sprout seeds! Great shop!

Marjo Russell

They are helpful and curious. The plants are healthy and the supply endless.

April Gilliland

Whether you're searching for indoor or outdoor plants, this shop has an amazing selection. There are also other items like ceramic pots, different types of potting mediums, and other garden curios. The staff are helpful. There is a membership program which one can pay to join which has certain savings for members and a point system which allows the member to spend and bank up points which they can then spend in certain months of the year, I believe it is July, August, November, and perhaps January. They have a free parking lot. There is a public washroom available for use in the main building near the back where they sell seeds.

Lynn Brumby

Always has a good display. The staff r very helpful.

Katherine Marois

I have shopped here a few times and have always found the staff friendly and willing to help me pick out plants. They are very knowledgeable of plants that fit the conditions I have and make multiple suggestions. I really appreciate the help as I am from Ontario and sorely lacking in BC gardening knowledge.

Sinisa Trajkovic

Lots of people roaming around, not enough staff it seems. Till lineup very long. It was a sunny Sunday so maybe that's why.

John Greaves

Good heathy plants. Good variety. A little pricey

Claire Cassidy

Staff were super helpful getting me sorted out as to which potting soil I needed for my deck garden box and getting it loaded into the car for me. Always have great service at this store

Sam babcock

Great store

Jessica O'Donnell

Went there for a second time today after being told about the sale earlier this week and it was an amazing time. One of the employees, Grant, was incredibly patient and helpful to my friend and I and made it a wonderful shopping experience. Great prices, great plants, great environment, and wonderful employees. Definitely a life time customer now and will tell everyone about the awesome experience.

Rick Cracknell

Very helpful and friendly staff. One wonderful lady really helped me pick out some nice plants for making some bonsai. Good selection of plants and they had some really cool planting pots in their greenhouse

DaisyKim

Beautifully organized but couldn't get any help while wandering in the store. I was checking how it looks inside as I don't know much about plants yet and there was about 5 people working but no one offered me help or ask if I'm finding everything okay. I don't know if it's common at this location. At least person at the cashier was friendly.

Braeden Dalby

One of my favorite gardening stores in Victoria. They have great prices on soil and have huge selection of neat looking plants. I'll definitely be back.

David Opperman

Great selection. Love the succulents!

John Mears

Good but expensive

Kicker Conlin

Really helpful and knowledgeable staff. Helped me pick out the perfect climbing rose and blueberry bushes.

GREG

Local garden center

Laura E

Knowledgeable local garden shop

Steffani Cameron

Very overpriced. Great place for plants, but the other stuff is exorbitant, bordering on rip-off. Literally across the street at Home Hardware, the same “Westcoast Fish Fertilizer” 1L bottle is $12.99, but here it is $19.99. The same “MySoil” Cinnabar Farms organic veggie soil is $13.97 for 50L at Castle on Cook and $16.99 here. Picked up my plants and now I’m off to other stores. I didn’t find the service or atmosphere to be worth paying 35% more on items, unfortunately. At least I’m still shopping local.

Tony J

Knowledgable friendly staff. Selection is reasonable but not huge.

Wulfgang Zapf

My rule is to only write good reviews unless it is real bad... I was deeply disappointed with oakbay Gardenworks and am kicking myself for spending time and money there. The place is expensive, and while the fellow with the soil was lovely and helpful (the star is for him) the other staff were rude, rung up my plants wrong and offered no help. The clematis I bought is damaged. The James bay thrifty foods has the same plants for significantly less money and they are in MUCH happier condition. (Yes a grocery store has better plants). I will never go there again (I usually go for a drive to small nurseries and farms or do my own starts). Also, I tried calling to ask advice about the clematis and no answer after several tries. My mum even gave me a hard time after I went saying their soils are low quality. So, don’t go make the trip somewhere else instead and if travel/mobility is an issue go to thriftys!

Marlena Maikranz Bryce

I usually enjoy my time at garden works and always find the staff helpful and friendly however perhaps today was an off day for this particular employee who was super rude, unfriendly and looked like she hated her job. When I asked if there were any thyme seeds I was given the curt answer “I don’t know” and then “if we do it’s there and if there isn’t any, we don’t have it” - all the while making me feel like I was annoying her, making no effort to look like she cared and making no attempt to help me look. Hopefully when you change locations this employee will change her attitude ????‍♀️

Mike J

I had heard rumors that this store might close but I hope it stays open. The staff are friendly and helpful and the store is so warm and welcoming. It's so nice to have a local garden store at this location -- there are so many home gardeners in the neighbourhood and it's so very handy to have a nearby place for supplies.

Steph navaroli

Great place lots of variety of indoor and outdoor plants great quality and so much more. Super nice staff helpful and smiling so rare! And has its own parking so you don't have to look for parking on the side of the road!

donna mayer

Great quality and selection . Amazing helpful friendly staff

Jeff Stacey

The place was surprisingly big and very well organized. The staff were helpful and friendly too! The prices were a little high, but overall highly recommended.

Norma Bogart

A wonderful place to purchase everything garden and Christmas!

Jenny Zoet

Beautiful plants to choose from. So glad we went.

HH J

Epic. Amazing variety of indoor and outdoor plants, great soils and substrates. Staff are super helpful and knowledgeable, and the atmosphere is really nice. A bird`s nest fern I got from here is the only fern that I haven`t killed yet lol.

Adam

The new covid layout is quite a confusing little maze. But this place has quite a decent selection. Unfortunately I couldn't find my tulip bulbs I wanted, but I made do with some wildflower seeds instead!

sharon amrolia

Beautiful store. You'll want to buy everything.

michelle harvey

Great service.. Thank you

Ruth Rogers

Great local nursery. Helpful staff

Douglas Chen

They have good selections here. But the prices probably are the highest.

Matt robinson

Great selection of plants.

Bea Ratsoy

I love the garden works location in Oak Bay. Was pleased to see they'll just be moving down the street when they have to vacate to make way for new condo complex. They have a great selection on indoor and outdoor plants. Their staff is very helpful and knowledgeable.

lloyd hogue

Unfortunately, I had a bad experience at this location today. I am unsure if it was because Rogers is down and people are missing their cell phones, but the staff was quite rude. Usually my experience is great, not so much today.

Jake Rochon

Great selection and helpful service. I was able to track down a gnome in the gnome off-season and it is wonderful.

Levi Saunderz

Unprofessional, disorganized stock, empty shelves, repetitive items, lacking selection, exorbitant pricing and the plants ... the plants, the most important part, were very common, nothing noteworthy or interesting. It’d be cheaper for me to go to the mainland gardenworks in Burnaby and purchase their magnificent and varied stock. Staff were EXCEEDINGLY unprofessional, inattentive, and rude. Will not be returning to this location for my stay for work in Victoria. When you pay the circus for cheap, overpriced entertainment, you’ll just keep getting cheaper more overpriced entertainment. This store exemplifies this to a tee.

James La Plante

I like plants. They have plants. They sold me plants. I left, happy and with plants.

Diane Kallal

Wonderful, helpful staff. Great selection for such a small space - I like being able to have such a selection so close by.

Diana Bergen

I agree that it is pricey compared to big box stores, but the plants here are much better loved and in great condition and compared to the cheaper places. I was looking for something that has been hard to find months ago and gave them my name in case it ever came in. I was so pleased that they called me, the plants would have been snapped up quickly so I am very appreciative.

Phil B

Lots if selection, charming location

Debra Kerr

lots of variety helpful staff good set up for covid precautions

a mcleod

Oak bay location I probably won't go back to most of the staff gives me a look like I'm a bug when I ask something and often short staffed. I've gotten some bad advice and they lack knowledge. Prices are high so I expect great service. I didn't know about the plant guarantee for over a year had lost some plants they don't seem as good as harrys/ even thriftys sometimes. Sanich location is much better for service selection attitude

Elisabeth Jones

Garden Works have taken it upon themselves to police the type of masks you wear and not allow you to shop otherwise. If I could breathe in a different kind of mask, I would wear one. I am so thankful that 95% of businesses including both my medical doctors allow my mask. It is this kind of thing that has increased mental health challenges.

Kathleen Werstiuk

Great place

Elaine

Cute garden centre that offers both indoor and outdoor plants, pots and gardening accessories.

Richard “Rick1701” Saucier

Very unprofessional. Staff member let a very loud F bomb out in front of customers. Then ourselves and other customers were talked to rudely by another employee . Will be calling to speak to.owner tomorrow.

Deborah Chambers

Well for one thing the French Canadian girl was to say the least very rude and maybe put some arrows because everyone going every witch way not to well thought out my family will not go there again.

Sandy Espeseth

Great selection, an oasis on oak bay Ave!

Sue Mentiply

Could buy everything! Awesome selection

Loni B

It is true. There is often a cashier/clerk at the Oak Bay location who makes us feel stupid if we ask a question. And if she is asked if they carry something she will say "Only what is out there is out there." She might be the only one, though. There are other people there who are much nicer. I hope she will receive some training from her manager, because if you go to the Blenkinsop location, all the people are great and so helpful.

James Dunn

Knowledgeable staff with a calm and cheerful attitude. What you need for a beautiful garden is all here.

Stuart Clarke

The Gardenworks Oakbay location not only has a great selection of plants and plant related items but very helpful staff. Last time I was there I was looking for some pea gravel to add drainage to my plants and the staff member I spoke to helped me figure out additional approaches to my drainage issues which introduced me to mixing up my own soils. Definitely will return

Smokus Cat

I think any problems with unhelpful staff have been remedied. My experiences here have been fantastic.

Julie Schroeder

Beautiful store, the Christmas display is so fun and festive. Bought my black raven ZZ plant baby there today. Friendly staff.

monty louis

Best little garden store in Victoria.

Just Sayin'

The shop is beautifully laid out, with a large variety of plants and plant accessories. Sadly that's the only good thing I have to say about it. The merchandise is quite expensive but that's not my biggest problem. The saleperson (Keandra?)who helped me, was NOT particularly helpful nor was she particularly pleasant. I asked her the price of a plant, and while she wasn't rude, she wasn't really agreeable. I left my plants on the counter and looked around for a few more minutes. As I was looking, she answered a phone call, I calmly waited at the counter while she helped the person on the phone, her back to me the entire time. She then told the caller that she would get someone more knowledgeable (Diane) to help. With out looking at me or telling me she would be just a moment, she left the counter for a few minutes, returning with (I assume) Diane. She proceeded to ring my items in, again without acknowledgement, when I stopped her and told her I wouldn't be purchasing anything due to her lack of customer service. There w.as no true acknowledgment and certainly no apology. I like GardenWorks, and I will probably continue to shop there but never again at the Oak Bay location.

Janos Keri

For a few dollars . . .in the middle of January, when everything outside is snow and white, what we have inside . . . is flowers. Thank you!