This is the city retail arm of the larger country nursery operation (named Lavocat's Family Greenhouse and Nursery in Clarence).
Wow. I'm floored. I've been to a few gardening centers or two as an O.G.. Original Gansta from my hometown in SoCal? Nah....An Original Gardener (before it was trendy to be self sufficient)...as a kid my dad dragged my around to gardening centers all weekend and then made me weed the garden... all in the name of quality time together.....no wonder I turned out the way I did. But I digress....
This place is one of the few great family owned nurseries around. It's so sad to see ma and pa outfits closing because because consumers want the cheap generic stuff at mass produced big box stores.
This place has it all. Have a pond? Check. Want to put in some veggies? Check. Do you have yard envy and secretly want to beat your neighbor in the Buffalo's Garden or Blue Buffalo competition or trying to relive your glory days of childhood? Check! Check! and Check! This place has all the gardening supplies you need. The fruit trees here are reasonably priced as well....apples, pears, figs, etc. Yes....even fig trees. There's a small store in the back that has the tacky yard ornaments that spruce up gardens. However I was impressed by the variety of garden gnome ornaments.
The most admirable part of this nursery is the selection of harder to find varieties of flowers and veggies. I'm more utilitarian so I really don't bother growing something unless I can enjoy some output out of it... the fruits of my labor so to say. Heh. I couldn't resist the pun. They have the largest selection of heirloom and specialty tomato varieties that I have found in all my searching in the Buffalo area (not an inclusive list I wasn't going to be creepy lurking around the garden center writing down all the heirloom names) - Genovese, San Mazano, Lemon Boy, Pomodoro, Sunray, Anna Orange, Abe Lincoln, Prudent Purple, Principe Borghese, and Box Car Willie. All veggies were $18 a flat (12 packs of 2,3,4,6 cells depending on veggie variety). The veggies here are more hearty than the ones from the big box stores since the nursery waits a little longer to get healthier plants than just churning out baby seedlings.
The other great find here was the organic mushroom compost for $6 for a 40 lb bag. I think the big box stores sell them as well but where is the fun in going to a box store when you can stay with a local business? The Garden Center is part of the larger "destination nursery" in Clarence that's over 20,000 sq ft big. I would definitely make a trip out to the nursery just to see the place. The nursery is a vendor at the Clarence, Tonawanda and Williamsville Farmers Market on Saturdays, the Springville Market on Wednesdays.
Side note - Phil is related to a even smaller family run seedling vendor that's at the Clinton Bailey Market May- June (selling amazing container tomato plants) at stalls 251-259....they go by the informal moniker "The two Bobs'". read more