Bellevue Nursery

I am an avid gardner and so I have bought from many of the nurseries in the area. I am not «monogamous» about where I shop. I’ve found each place has its advantages and disadvantages.
Bellevue Nursery is unique because it is small, but carries a nice mix of plants and supplies. Their soil and amendments are a little cheaper than Molbaks. I haven’t had any problems with plants I’ve purchased.
I don’t think they are overpriced and am pretty sure they are less than Wells Medina.

I bought an apple tree, a cherry tree, a grape vine and two blueberry trees from Bellevue Nursery, they’re bit more expensive than supermarket like Lowe’s. So far the Cherry tree (58dollars) grows fast with many leaves. The bendy apple grows slowly but in good condition. Blueberry trees are doing okay. Grape vine looks bad after losing half of its leaves I hope it survive the winter. I like shopping there.

This nursery has a nice selection of vegetables and especially tomatoes. However, the first year I bought few grafted tomatoes — no one told me these really can’t be planted in a pot unless it’s a half barrel. I got a good first crop, then … nothing. I’ve had similar experiences with pretty much everything I’ve ever purchased here — no customer service. Plants that do okay, but nothing exceptional.
Except when it comes to soil and fertilizer. The younger guy that helped me out with that last year was personable and even helped me load the bags in my trunk. I love walking through this nursery, but to purchase anything or get advice on what I should be planting, I’ll go to the nursery in Issaquah. It’s not quite as pricey, and I like the wider selection and extremely helpful staff there.

I’ve used Bellevue Nursery for years when it is convenient to pop in from Bellevue Way. This is the only reason they are still open… street access and the Killarney neighborhood. I have never had pleasant interactions with the staff. I get the attitude, «if you can find it, that means we have it. .. .. «. they also carry water plants which I use for my fountains. so, once or twice a year is good enough. For quality, try Wells Medina or Squak Mt.. .. .they are terrific!

WOW!
I like supporting small business so I started shopping here this year. We purchased a new home so there was/​is a lot to purchase. One purchase was a Bartlett Pear tree. A couple days after planting it someone more knowledgeable about trees pointed out that the tree had a three-​inch split in the bark mid way up. They told me that it would most likely die. It was apparent that the split had been weathered and was more than a few days old.
I called Bellevue Nursery as soon as they opened and was told I would get a call back within a couple hours. I finally called back right before they closed. I explained the situation (again) and was interrupted with…
«Was it that way when you purchased it?»
I said «Yes».
She then barked out «And you purchased it anyway?»
I was stunned. I asked her if she was implying this was my fault and that brought the her around to the reality that I was a customer.
I still feel berated.
Hindsight being ²⁰⁄₂₀ I should have asked her if it was policy for Bellevue Nursery to sell trees they knew had splits in them. I then should have told her that I had to arrange transport because I don’t have a truck, I had to plant the tree, then I would need to dig it up and arrange transport back and forth again. All of this because Bellevue Nursery willfully sells trees a more reputable nursery would never resell; let alone berate their customers for purchasing.
Only after she could sense my defensiveness did she offer to do the right thing and offer to replace the tree.
I felt horrible about the tree and the experience prior to calling Bellevue Nursery about it; now I feel worse.
I will not be returning the tree; I will try to save its life. If I fail I will replace it with one from another nursery.
I will email Bellevue Nursery tonight and let them know about this post. Is there something they can do to change my mind about their business? I honestly don’t know. I will update this post if there are any further developments.
_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​
Update… The owner called me and was upset over the situation. He told me he was old-​school Nordstrom and there should have been no questions asked; the tree should have been exchanged. He offered to replant a new one but then told me all his pear trees were dying. He said he would get a replacement. I told him I simply wanted to know if the tree should be replaced and once again I asked if I could send pictures so he could evaluate. That night I replied to the email he sent with pictures and never received a reply. I used a spray on plant bandage on this tree and purchased another pear tree from Lowes which was very healthy and half the price.

With the exception of Lynn and Natalie, this place has the worst customer service ever. Clearly the problem starts at the top (the owner is crabby and inappropriate in his interactions with customers) and then «trickles down.» There are much better places that have upbeat, organized professional gardeners working there — for example, Molbaks, Swansons, and Sky nurseries.

Bellevue Nursery sits right off Bellevue Way and, being a smaller gardening store, is very easy to miss. So if you need a reason to drive slower on that stretch of highway-​like road, there’s one. Anyhow, despite the small storefront, there’s a surprisingly diverse collection of starts and planting accessories, even with only a small portion set aside for vegetable gardners like myself. The starts are high quality and the prices are competitive. While I didn’t need much assistance, I had no problem finding help when I asked for it. The only drawback, aside from limited parking, was that the line at the counter moved a little slow. That said, a very good nursery.

It was a lovely day to use my Groupon. They were nice as pie about letting me use it and helped me figure out how to still get the sale price on the lovely hedge I bought as well as the other grasses and annuals.
The sun was out, we strolled through the gardens and picked out some plants, the staff were super helpful and the plants were lovely. There are nice little carts, the plants were all healthy and looking amazing. Tons of groundcover and smaller plants but we have space to fill and needed some bigger items.
So, why only three stars? For me, selection is super important and this place had nice stuff but it was much smaller than many other garden places I’m more likely to go to.
Overall, it’s a great place, I’d say go there if you’re on the Eastside, but I rarely am.

Contrary to the reviews prior, I really like this place! I’ve been going here for the last 8 years. The sales people are friendly, the plants and shrubs are always healthy and I have had great luck with all the plants I’ve purchased here. And believe me I have purchased quite a bit of items to fill a 8500 sq ft back yard which BTW is lovely! They got me hooked on good gardening practices like using Earth products and Bumper Crop compost. I signed up at their website and they send email specials like the buy 3 bags of compost get one free which I did last night in a heavy rain storm and they loaded my car for me which I truly appreciated!

I was expecting friendlier service from a local nursery. Out of the three employees on duty, the only person who asked if I needed any help was a nice young man in the shrubbery section. Since I had already spent a half an hour collecting plants and had to head home in order to plant before dark, I just headed for the checkout. I’m a novice gardener and would have liked to ask a few questions while shopping around, but the one employee I saw in the flowers section barely made eye contact and seemed like she was too busy moving things around to stop and help, so I didn’t try to get her attention. I even went back the next day for some additional plants with my fiancé and we had the same experience, minus the nice young man, who didn’t appear to be working that day. The same woman checked me out both days, she wasn’t rude or anything, but she seemed quite distracted both times.
We’ll see how my plants do, they look lovely at the moment after a day in the flower bed, and I appreciated the unique colors they had available in standard flowers. The prices are pretty high, but I’ll swallow them to avoid the big-​box stores. However, I plan to explore other local nurseries in search of better service.

I give this nursery 3 out of 5 stars because a good portion of my plants have died from here. Maybe its me, but I dont think so. They are also a bit more pricey than other nurseries in the area. Customer service is hit and miss, sometimes you get people who are interested in helping and other times you are on your own.