Heyyy! Those who know me well or follow me on social media know my husband and I are legit plant addicts. We love plants so much that we literally bought a house 6 years ago just for the plants (our apartment complex kicked us out for having too many). No regrets there though - that was a very great decision for a number of reasons. But anyway - we have been shopping and buying plants literally everywhere we go, and have some favorite gems in Southwest Florida near my mom (she lives in Venice, so we get to visit a lot of these nurseries whenever we visit her). We live in north Florida so these are all about 3-4 hours south of us, but well worth a trip if you’re down in that area visiting.
We get a lot of our nursery recommendations from plant friends, but also stumble upon some on our own just by exploring. There are many more nurseries in the areas that we may have not mentioned here - likely because we didn’t find them or have the time to check them out yet! This blog focuses on some of our favorites we have been to. Also - if a nursery blurb below doesn’t include any photos, it’s just because I didn’t take any - no reflection of the quality of the nursery or their plants. I wasn’t planning to blog when at the nurseries so any photos included are just ones I happened to have taken!
Sarasota
This one has been a favorite of ours for a while as they have amazing bromeliads and a variety of other airplants and hard to find exotics. Their pricing is generally pretty good with some prices that are higher for rarer specimens. Right next door is Plantio La Orquidea with stunning and rare orchids and hybrids. Check their open days and hours before you go.
This really fun nursery and garden center has a lot of fabulous garden plants, fruit trees, landscape plants and some houseplants too. They definitely have some rarer and harder to find varieties and I always find something new to buy each time we go. They have some great deals and often have sales on specific plants. They also do NOT use pesticides (at least I got confirmation that they do not use them on milkweeds or edible plants) so they’re a great place to stock up on milkweeds for monarchs.
This one is really big and also has a huge gift shop with garden themed home decor for inside and outside. They have a lot of great plant pots and we got a really nice orchid hanging terra cotta pot with holes in it that we haven’t seen anywhere else since. They have literally everything - really rare plants, house plants, outdoor garden plants, flowers, trees, cacti and succulents - you name it. Some prices are a bit high but they have plants you may not find anywhere else and often have decent deals on things. Definitely worth checking out!
This garden center is very large and has a lot of outdoor garden plants, landscaping plants, and so so much more. They have a very large cactus and succulent selection and an indoor retail store. They have garden accessories and lots of pots! We haven’t been here for a while but I remember going a couple of years ago (when I took this pic!) and buying a bunch of really neat cacti. This one technically is in Bradenton but very close to Sarasota.
Venice
Hands down, this one is our current favorite but we might be biased because we’re currently running high on a bromeliad addiction AND we got an out of this world behind the scenes tour of their grounds and greenhouses. Call them in advance to inquire about a private tour - tours must be scheduled because the few employees they have are always busy caring for plants and shipping online orders. David gave us a tour and he was so personable and helpful! He answered all our questions and gave us so much info and tips for growing bromeliads. Michael’s has a limited supply of plants for sale in their main store front “Donna’s Secret Garden” but if you’d like to see more or inquire about rare varieties - I suggest asking for a tour. You can also order plants online and their shipping is only $8-$12 so it’s worth it if you aren’t local and can’t visit, or are traveling when you stop in. Their bromeliads are surprisingly very fair priced, even for harder to find and rare plants. If you’re an addict like us, inquire about the sampler package which includes 25 bromeliads for $100. (If you’re not good at math that is only FOUR DOLLARS A PLANT). And who doesn’t need 25 plants?! This special only applies to smaller and specific varieties, BUT, they are so nice and will customize the package to your needs. If you didn’t figure it out, yes we did get a sampler pack and yes I’ll be buying more of these in the future. Each plant is always labeled which is SO helpful too since many look similar or are rare and you might not know how to look them up. Michael’s also has an online catalog to see everything they have an learn about varieties that exist. With over 3,000 varieties of bromeliads growing here, if you’re looking for something, they have it here. They also have a small variety of other exotic plants too like dyckias, cacti, succulents and more. Basically if I could give this place a 1,000 star review I would for their variety, customer service, pricing, impressive facility, and friendliness. I think I asked my husband at least a few times if I was dreaming while we wandered around this greenhouse.
So this place is an ACE Hardware and nursery combined! They have great garden and landscape plants and do have some houseplants and a few rare plants too. Prices are not GREAT - some are pretty high, but we often find something here when we go that is a decent deal. They have a huge selection of garden accessories and supplies and pots, and if you sign up for their emails they send you coupons for $5 and $10 off. Score!
Englewood
This nursery is really big and has mostly outdoor landscape plants! They have palm trees, tropicals, ground cover, fruit trees, and so many more. It’s big and fun to walk around and has a lot of plants if you’re looking to fill outdoor areas. In the past we got a beautiful heliconia plant here. They also have philodendrons and other tropicals that could easily be grown as houseplants.
Similar to Oaks Farm, Gulf Breeze has mostly outdoor garden and landscape plants. They also have a variety of houseplants and flowers too. They have an indoor shop with pots and other fun gardening supplies. We found an enormous purslane here for a steal of a price (it’s a flowering plant that looks gorgeous in hanging baskets, AND it’s edible and delicious with more antioxidants than any other green!). Definitely a fun place and worth checking out.Fort Myers
OK so first off - this is a hole in the wall kind of place Josh found and I’m so glad he did. It’s a nursery with not a ton of variety - there’s essentially a few hanging types of plants, ginormous staghorn ferns, and tons of succulent types. The guy that owns it is very cool. The place is open all the time - if he’s not there he has an honor payment system where you just leave him money and he tells you how much roughly you should pay. The vibe of the place is somewhere you’d want to grab a morning latte and go sit on the treehouse swing and read all of the hundreds of witty quotes and sayings he has posted all around - it’s essentially an art installation in itself. Even if you don’t want a plant, check this place out just because it’s cool. We bought some succulents here (because who can have enough succulents) and loved the vibe.
I personally have not done the tour here - but you can tour the grounds and visit the estates which are stunning. What I went for - was the plants! They have a beautiful nursery with SO MANY PLANTS! Like everything you could want - edibles, exotics, fruit trees, house plants, rare finds, landscape plants… just so much. My mom has been on the tour and told me about how cool the plant are that they sell, many of which are priced very fair. I actually found two plants I wanted, but took time to think about it and went back to buy them later in the week. I got a variegated bird of paradise (a wish list plant I couldn’t find anywhere else) and a black peppercorn vine (also after shopping, couldn’t find it anywhere for a better price). It costs money for the tour but admission into the plant sale area and gift shop are free, so stop in and check it out!
Sundance Orchids and Bromeliads
This one was highly recommended to us but we just didn’t have the time to make it there (they close early). I think they are similar to Tropiflora and Plantio La Orquida because they specialize in bromeliads, tilandsia and orchids. They apparently have some of the best and seem to have super rare finds. Definitely on our list to check out next time!
If you’re in Ft. Myers, there are WAY more nurseries than this - we just got caught up doing other things while in the area and were also there on a Sunday (and most of them are also closed on Sundays, so if you want to hit up a bunch of nurseries in this area, choose another day to go!). If you like a real good flea market though - make sure you stop by Fleamasters in Fort Myers on a Friday-Sunday while you’re there. No plants, but good flea market finds. If and when we explore more nurseries in the future, I will definitely add them to this blog post! Thanks for reading, and I hope this has inspired you to go on a plant trip! Because if more people had more plants, I think this would be a much happier world.
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