Denver's Best Local Nurseries

April showers bring May flowers… where do you go for the best flower bulbs and plants?

Come spring, supermarkets, hardware stores and discount stores offer annuals for flower boxes, hanging baskets, seed baskets and starter plants for local gardens. However, garden centers are the place to go for real expertise and customer service, especially when investing in perennials, shrubs and trees. Their staffs can discuss soil, sun exposure and other factors that help plants thrive. They are also plugged into Plant Select, a collaborative effort of the Denver Botanic Gardens, Colorado State University, and regional and national horticultural professionals that identifies plants that thrive in the capricious Rocky Mountain climate. 

Tagawa Gardens

7711 S. Parker Rd.
Centennial, CO 80016
(303) 690-4722
Tagawa Gardens has been a community fixture for nearly three decades. What started as a small floral greenhouse has grown into one of metro Denver’s most popular places for “green thumbs.” With more than 110,000 indoor square feet and more than a half-acre outdoor nursery, Tagawa Gardens stocks annuals, perennials, trees & shrubs, rose bushes, garden supplies, furniture and more. 

Paulino Gardens

6300 North Broadway
Denver, CO 80216
(303) 429-8062
The Paulino family runs an enormous garden center and greenhouses, all filled with indoor and outdoor plants, pots, tools, potting soil, books, bird feed and landscaping materials. They make a point of not moving inventory around but maintain a consistent layout for indoor and outdoor plants so that their legions of regulars know where to find merchandise, but of course, their experienced and knowledgeable crew is always on hand to help. 

Echter’s Nursery & Garden Center

9170 W. 52nd Ave.
Arvada, CO 80002
(303) 424-7979
Echter’s, one of Colorado’s largest retail garden centers, offers more than 2,500 varieties of flowers, including many unusual varieties. They grow 85 percent of their annuals and 40 percent of their perennials on-site, and at least one “plant doctor” with at least 10 years of garden center experience is there every day to answer customers’ questions. This family-owned business has been in the same location since 1959. They grow and sell annuals, perennials, roses and poinsettias and also carry trees, shrubs and houseplants.

The Flower Bin

1805 Nelson Rd
Longmont, CO 80501
(303) 772-3454

With 46,000 square feet of greenhouse, this family-owned garden center is the place to go in northern Boulder County for quality bedding plants, perennials, roses, trees and more. They were early in introducing xeriscape plants and materials too. Locals keep an eye out for their special events, including family activities centered on gardening and the outdoors. 

Garden Patch

4443, 2101 S. Washington St.

Denver, CO 80210

When: Monday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. (Seasonal hours, Garden Patch is open during planting season and the winter holidays)

The Lowdown: Serving Denver since 1964, the charmingly old-fashioned Garden Patch occupies a beautiful corner space on Evans Avenue, just east of DU. Garden Patch offers a decent selection of indoor house plants, but an even greater selection of outdoor flowers and vegetable plants (its tomatoes are consistently raved about). Garden Patch also offers a fantastic Recycling Program for pots, allowing one to recycle unwanted pots and stay sustainable and green in their gardening adventure.