West End Nursery

Good selection. The staff was friendly and above helpful. However, I’m disappointed in their labeling of plant names. There were spurge euphorbias that were just labeled «Var. Euphorbia» with no further specifics, and strawberry trees that had no label at all. Be prepared for very general plant names at times.

The owners are the best! I’ve been going to West End since 2000, but today I was moved to write a review. I bought a large terra cotta pot, after much consideration and advice from Barb. (I think that was her name.) We carefully got it into the car, and when I got home, I carefully got it out of the car. No problem! I put it on a dolly to move it out of the garage, but when I lowered the dolly to set the pot on the driveway, I wasn’t paying enough attention. I set it down at an angle, and it fell off the front of the dolly and smashed! I was laughing and crying at the same time. I called up the owners of West End, and they said they had a second pot just like it, and that they’d go halfsies with me. Wow! They didn’t have to do that, but they did! So, I went and got the second pot, bringing in the sad remains of the first one.
These guys are amazing, and they know how to generate good customers!

Went in to get a couple of plants for my new office. The service was quick, they answered all my questions, and gave me the additional info I needed.
Locally owned, easy parking and great service. Can’t beat that.

Well this place seemed ok at first. Then when I called to order 4 more flower pots, he said he would call back. Never did. So I called back and repeated the request. She said she would call me back within 48 hours. Again, nothing. That was over a month ago. Somebody buy this place some Post-​It notes… Don’t blame me when they go out of business…

Hey, I am new to gardens and my needs are simple. And when I went to West End, what I needed was some help picking out five awesome tomato plants so that I could give my dad the gift of delicious deck tomatoes for Fathers Day.
West End had my back.
The nicest guy helped me pick out those five tomato plants. Then he checked me out, he carried it all to my car. And they were, indeed, awesome.
Dad reports a bounty of delicious deck tomatoes.

West End Nursery is our family’s go to source of all plants, pots, and accessories. We have been going there for over 25 years and have had consistently pleasant and capable service. As a landscape architect, my husband is very picky about plant selection. He always finds what he’s after at WEN. I’m heading back there today to get more succulents for the deck plantings I am converting from water-​hogs to drought tolerant varieties!

I first discovered WEN in the early 70s when I lived a few blocks away. I was in there so often I even had a house account. Now I live up in Novato — not that far, but not right around the corner any more. Anyway, this is a great nursery with great staff. I was in last weekend and bought a Big Green Egg after lusting after one for eons. I finally caved. I was eager to leave my money with a family run business and WEN fit the bill. And, not to mention that it looks like an oasis… just lovely. Thanks, Untermann family, for being there!

I’ve been a serious amateur gardener for decades. There is no better or more important tool in your arsenal when working on a garden than a nursery that carries healthy stock appropriate for your climate that is staffed by people who know what they are talking about. Welcome to West End Nursery.
There is a reason this garden center has been around for over a century. How many other businesses with that longevity can you name?
The owner, Tom, his son, Chris, and all the people who work at WEN go out of their way to help you understand what will work in your particular circumstance, and why. If you listen to them, they can save you a lot of money spent trying to grow plants and shrubs that cannot succeed in your garden, whether due to light, wind, drainage, etc. Every single plant I’ve purchased there has thrived for me, and with the cost involved, you definitely want a near-​100% success rate.
The guy who works on my irrigation system told me last week he’s been a customer of WEN for over 40 years. I’ve spoken to enough other people in the area who agree this is the best and only place they will shop for their trees, shrubs, and flowers. West End Nursery is the place to go.

After an extremely strange and unpleasant experience at Sunnyside nursery in San Anselmo, we decided to give West End a try. For the record we go to Home Depot now and again for plants that we have knowledge about and small purchases. If we want cool heirloom tomato plants, or to purchase a tree to grace our front yard, we always come to West End. The owner, has never ever been grumpy with us. Quite the opposite, he is always lovely. The real star, however, in my opinion is Isaias. We never make it past the front gate without him immediately coming over to check in and see if we need assistance. We have taken advantage of his knowledge in everything from bamboo, to apple trees, to lawn seed. He is pleasant and I am pretty sure he knows everything there is to know about plants.
We have spent many, many weekend days at this nursery carefully selecting plants. To this day, I can’t think of a single one that isn’t thriving. Our yard makes it look like a whole new house and is now the pride of the neighborhood. Thank you, thank you West End!

Really disappointed to have to write this because the place seems like a nice enough nursery. I visited and browsed before. During those visits, the staff seemed really helpful, the place was well organized and had a great selection. However, the customer service was so, SO bad when I had a problem.
My situation — I needed ~200 cubic feet of organic potting soil. For me (not much gardening experience), this was a pretty big purchase, so I decided to call around for pricing. I checked with 6 places — asking everyone about 2 cubic foot bags of organic potting soil (since this was the only size that I have bought in the past). The quote I got from West End was ~$ 1 cheaper per bag with the quantity discount (I was quoted $ 8.99). The soil wasn’t going to fit in my car, so I had a friend pick it up. We unloaded the car and I realized that the bags weren’t 2 cu ft, but were only 1.5 cu ft. Looking at the receipt, the charge was $ 8.59 a bag so I thought that there was some mix-​up. So, I call to get things sorted out and then the real problems begin…
Here’s a customer service lesson (since you are CLEARLY in need of one) — when a customer calls and they feel screwed, the BEST thing a business can do is apologize sincerely and without question. Because, even if you think the whole situation is the customer’s fault, you, as a business, should feel sorry that a customer feels screwed by you. Even if you aren’t going to make any offer to correct the underlying situation, just apologize. Period.
Things not to do include:
1. Ignoring the fact that the customer has been inconvenienced no matter what happens at this point (calling you with a problem is not the way I want to spend my free time)
2. Claiming wrongly that the customer is somehow better-​off (twice I was told that I paid less than I expected, completely disregarding that I received FAR less product than I expected)
3. Insinuating that the customer is a liar — This is fundamental. Unless you are ABSOLUTELY certain that the customer is a liar (I was NOT lying), you should not accuse the customer, even indirectly. You are welcome to your judgments but have the good sense to keep those to yourself. As an aside — I find it shocking that the level of fraud on gardening stores is really as widespread and pervasive as the manager suggested (i.e., people call «all the time» making claims about these kind of things after the fact).
4. Arguing about what products that your competitors offer AND claiming (incorrectly) that your competitors don’t carry certain products, are more expensive, etc. (note — I told you that I called 6 other stores, so I know what they have and what their price is)
5. When confronted with information that your product IS more expensive, claiming that your competitors product is inferior
6. Claiming that your well-​trained, long-​standing employees would NEVER make such a mistake (see #3 above)
7. After arguing with customer for about 10 minutes and doing all the aforementioned items, conceding that your store was busy, loud, and that the customer service person may have misheard the price check request and grudgingly agreeing to provide more product at no charge to «make it right.»
After insinuating that I am liar, NOTHING that you can do will make this situation right. I don’t want to come back to your store even to pick up free product. Since I didn’t bother to come pick up the product, I am sure you feel vindicated and think I am just another one of those thousands of Marin gardener scam artists trying make a not-​so-​quick buck by lying to you. But, I would rather let you continue with the delusion that everyone is out to screw you than to let you for a minute think that you somehow «made right» this situation.
Final score — I am out about $ 20 to make up for the difference, but West End is out a customer.

I don’t know who this grumpy old man is that some are talking about. An older man helped me and hot damn did he know his stuff. He even offered to look at the cacti I’ve managed to kill (who kills a cactus? Me!) even though I bought them at another store. Speaking of other stores, this place is significantly cheaper than their competition in and around Mill Valley. It’s a bit of a drive, but worth it.
And one more thing, there were three staff members there. All of them consistently checked in to make sure I was doing okay, but didn’t pressure me — they just made it clear they were there to answer questions. And answer questions they did. I was buying a lemon tree for husband’s birthday and a female staff member actually turned me away from one tree even though it was more expensive then the one I settled on. That’s integrity.

West End is the greatest! I have gone there for years, all the way from Mill Valley, because they are simply the most knowledgeable, most helpful, and most reliable garden nursery in the area. They run the business, which has been in the same family for over a century, to a very high standard, and they care about what they are doing for the customer.

Well, looks like I had a run in with «the grumpy old man». Called looking for a white fake Christmas tree, I clearly described EXACTLY what I was looking for. «Sure we’ve gots TONS of them, all sizes», says an older man. Come the next day, and a ½ hour drive to boot I arrive to find out they have none. ZERO. I asked a helpful employee «who did I speak to?» she replied «oh, that was the owner». Turns out he has a hearing problem. So the grumpy old man is the owner, he’s not going anywhere, and I am not going back. As I walked out I clearly said, «don’t let the owner answer the phone!»

I experienced the grumpy old man, too. I took my business elsewhere.

Other than the «Grumpy Old Man» that works there, this is a nice nursery.
I have decided though to not go back as with so many other great nurseries in the area, being treated like «dirt» does’t cut it for me. The grumpy old man should retire.
In general, the staff is not to friendly. They moan about giving discounts and offer no coupons or incentives.

A lovely nursery tucked away in a established neighborhood. West End offers a wonderful variety of plants and flowers. The staff is very helpful, but not overbearing. The prices are reasonable as well. This place is better than any big box store. Plenty of parking too. The store carries all you’ll need for a great garden.

I returned to West End Nursery today to buy the yoga frog I had fallen in love w/​last week.
Its official name is Totally Zen Too. It’s made by a company called Campania, which makes garden ornaments for independent nurseries:
Despite much reading of their website I couldn’t figure out where they were located, so I can’t review them as I would like. Besides, like Ancient Graffiti, they only sell to nurseries.
My experience at West End was wonderful. A friendly employee gave me a cart that would be easier to maneuver than the wagon-​type cart I found at first and then led me to where the frogs were and placed the frog I chose in the cart. A man who I think was the owner rang me up and then carried the frog (which is made of cast stone and weighs 21.5 pounds!) to my car, putting it in the trunk. When I got home I put it near some rhodies by my front stairs and it looks adorable and quite at home.

I stopped by early this morning looking for some beautiful pots for my front porch and wasn’t disappointed. The customer service was fabulous. The selection was great.
What I didn’t expect was the whole Christmas section of the store. There are beautiful tree-​topper angels, collectibles, and ornaments. Their array of poinsettas and festive potted plants was impressive. I found everything I was looking for and more. In fact, I’m heading back tomorrow for a new angel for our tree!

This place is the best nursery/​garden supply store in Marin. They are locally owned and one of a kind. The staff is extremely helpful, knowledgeable and friendly. They have a great selection of plants, gardening supplies and outdoor accessories. I bought my Big Green Egg BBQ here. My first perception was that I’d be paying more for it at a smaller store like this, but that was not the case. I researched it thoroughly and found they were matching the best deal I could find anywhere else. But they were even better… the owner (Patty Jo) was gracious enough to offer to personally deliver it to my home and assemble it at no charge. This BBQ is SUPER heavy, so it was really nice of her to offer to do that. I am a super satisfied customer. Really, if you want to support a well run, local business that really cares about their customers… this is the place to go!

You know those triggers that make you want to get rich real quick? Masa in NYC ($ 300 pieces of sushi), or home design catalogs with the coolest dresser you’ve ever seen for $ 5000? This nursery will make you ready to hire a Landscape Designer and start buying $ 150 ceramic pots and fill your backseat with perennials and small trees, plus order 3 serenity fountains.
But alas that is not my reality, I just stopped in for some houseplants. I never wanted to leave, the place felt like Botanic Gardens and the staff was so friendly. I left with 3 gorgeous and reasonably priced houseplants, plus great instructions on how to care for them.
The plants are flourishing, so I’m thinking it might be time to get a cat that can play in my Home and Garden worthy backyard I’m about to get started on (hah!)