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Category: Nurseries & Gardening [Edit]
Neighborhood: 78704 (South Austin)Mon-Sat. 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Sun. 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
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Not only is this place great, but the movie, "The Great Outdoors" is just as great! (that was a whole lotta great going on in that first sentence....I wanted to make a pattern)....
I give it every star because I do not feel that anything is lacking at this business...
I got a cactus here for the backyard and the girl was super helpful....I was also very curious about bamboo and putting it all through my yard and got useful information about the bamboo, too.......
The selection of plants is very good, and I wish I could have afforded them all, and wish I had a super green thumb, but I do not, which was why I opted for a cactus that is only watered a few times per year.....
When the time is right, I will be going back here so that I can get more plants to put in the front of my yard by my oak tree......I look forward to it!
There used to be a cool dirt couch covered in grass, too, but I did not pay attention to that this past month when I went.....but everything is so neatly laid out and interesting!
If someone had just moved to Austin and had stumbled into me and had asked, "where should I go plant shopping to fulfill my garden dreams?" I would have many suggestions for this soon-to-be plant mom/dad.
The first place to pop in my head would definitely be The Great Outdoors. But I would really hope that person was willing to spend a pretty little penny on their soon to be dependents. Cause let me tell you: this place is not cheap. I think some of the proceeds you spend on your plant goes to making The Great Outdoors - great, as in wooooo; as in let me go and walk around all day and stare at super huge, awesome, holy shit chimes. Are they even for sale? I don't know, but the freaking chimes are amazing and I feel sorry when I buy the plant and take it away from that beautiful atmosphere.
They have one of the best selections of plants in the ATX, but if you are on a budget and are looking for a deal- stray away, go to Lowes (omg chain- freak out)! Cause honey, let me tell you: you feel like a freakin goddess when you buy the plants at Lowes. You save them from the doom of concrete. But again, that's another reason to go to TGO (i'm sick of typing it out). Support your local plant shops/palaces of beauty and check it out.
I went here 2 months ago, when Austin was ridiculously hot and I'm sure the idea of planting herbs and veggies was just ridiculous as the heat. So they really had no good selection of veggies and herbs, which was pretty disappointing. But overall, the selection of pretty plants overcompensated for lack of veggies.
Last point: this place is my favorite place for bird baths and chimes... little, cute, kind of affordable chimes.
Shit, I have one more point: there's a little smoothie/sandwich cafe that makes your plant shopping experience that much more enjoyable :)
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I love you Great Outdoors. I love your store layout, and that fact that I can walk through it for hours and see new things with each lap. I love your commitment to organic, green gardening. I love that you staff only true lovers of the dirt. I love your newsletters. I love your pottery selection. I love your compost tea.
I love your clearance and sale items. And most of all, I love that you staff a bamboo specialist - who does that? You do. Because you rock.
i know nothing about gardening...they know ALOT
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This place defiantly has one of the best selection of plants in Austin.
August 8 - 14 they are having 50% off all plants and 25% off all pottery.
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Let me tell you what makes me happy. Walking into the Great Outdoors with a clipping of our dying tomato plant and KNOWING that someone there will know what is wrong with it and how to fix it.
And that's what happened. A real nice guy helped us out by diagnosing the disease (a virus I think) and recommended an organic pesticide, since we do plan on eating everything in our garden.
I want to marry their customer service.
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the great outdoors blows all box store's nursery's out of the kiddie pool. green thumbs must have… Read more »
Being inside the Great Outdoors is like being transported to some magical kingdom - maybe it's the Epcot of plants? Succulents, tropicals, water plants, indoor, outdoor, trees - all of the proper plant groups are well represented, easy to find, and fun to explore. Also, I've never seen such a vast selection of pots in all shapes and sizes - pretty fail proof if you want to make your house look like the "after" of an HGTV show.
Icing on the cake - they have a fantastic staff that's always helpful, an adjacent coffee/juice bar, and a great local libe. Mark, one of the owners, recently introduced himself when we were shopping for our Meyer Lemon tree; you can see the passion behind making this such an amazing place. BTW Mark, the tree looks fantastic. :)
Good prices, convenient location, and hey, you're supporting local. What's not to like?
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We can walk up to this place from our house and spend an afternoon wondering around the grounds surrounded by vision and inspiration to transform our S. Austin front yard into the funky little grotto it deserves to be. Knowing nothing at all about gardening but wanting to feel impulsive and ohhh sooo 'Green' the folks here have always helped with abundant information about plants and landscaping.
We homeschool the young'ins and occasionally have ideas to plant and grown all sorts of things in the front yard and instead of reading about our ideas on the internet or in books we simply head up the street and get it straight from the gardeners mouth. They take all the time with the kids they need and are happy to walk us around and give us ideas and instructions.
We come back feeling chill and relaxed, savvy about landscaping, and usually with something that we had no problem affording. Bottom line...we love the local vibe, people loving their work, and happy attitudes. Thank God for the green side of life...
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I received an email (and comment) from the Great Outdoors letting me know that they discontinued their lawn service for the very reason I had a problem. Thanks for the update! I have upped the review rating 3-stars. This being based solely on the fantastic location they have on Congress.
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As far as the store goes, I think it is lovely to look at and drive by. This review is not about… Read more »
This is my favorite nursery in Austin - the staff is very friendly and knowledgeable and they have a huge selection of native plants and a great selection of succulents.
I work in Horticulture and I still have to ask about some of the rare species they get in. Once on a trip there with Rick G. I found the most interesting Alocasia and had to ask what kind it was - I can't remember the name but the guy helping us said it was a rare find at a Florida grower.....
Yesterday, I stopped by to do some research for a project I am working on with Jennie C. and the guy helping me went above and beyond in customer service. After showing me several options he led me over to the free catalogue area and marked all the plants he suggested and made little notes about them for reference since I was not actually making a purchase. When I asked about their waterfall He said it was built by another company and gave me the companies contact info. He also gave me some great tips on growing grass from seed! - not that funny stuff people smoke the type that dogs like to eat and poop and pee on:)
PS: They are very dog friendly and offer out dog treats!
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I love succulents, they supply me with my fix! They have a beautiful selection of these plants, and I love looking at all of the other plants, while I sip on a delicious tea from the Garden District. I also buy mint and veggie plants there!
Very fun, even to just look at all of the neat plants.
I just wish that they were open till 7 in the spring/summer season.
I love coming here and simply walking through the beautiful display of plants. Being with nature always makes me feel good. When I was designing a butterfly garden I was able to find everything I needed in the "native plants that need sun" area. I spent about $65.00 on plants and another $2.00 on a 12" clay saucer for the garden mud pond.
Kelly, a Great Outdoors staffer, who is a butterfly aficionado and has created her own garden, gave me many ideas and suggestions from how to attract those lovely winged insects to how to rid my milkweed of aphids. Even though it is a drive from Northwest Hills, I will keep coming back for the knowledge and customer service I get from everyone I encounter here.
See: http://www.yelp.com/bi...
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Getting my wife interested in landscaping is something I have yet to accomplish, but that's why I thank God for Mark Gibbs and Great Outdoors. After an hour at the amazingly diverse nursery with Mark's helpful guidance, we have a plan for our yard that is sustainable, beautiful, and affordable. Finally, a place with passionate staff and gorgeous offerings to ignite the home improvement instinct in even the most disinterested spouse. Great job, Great Outdoors, and thank you Mark for making a gardening budget feasible!
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Tara and I went to Great Outdoors today; I wanted to get gifts for 2 of my neighbors who watched over my house while I was gone, and I wanted a birdbath for my yard. The guy with the red goatee who does the video on their website helped us. Since I don't know how good my neighbors are with plants, I wanted something that requires little or no care. He suggested Red Yucca, so we got those. We picked out a couple of beautiful 2' tall blue pots and he reminded us to get a bag of pea gravel for the bottom for drainage. I found a plain, but nice, birdbath. Total price for all of that: a little less than $200, which I think is very reasonable.
The whole thing was quick, the people friendly and helpful, and they helped load everything in my pickup. Tara helped me pot the plants and deliver them. If I was rating her here, you know I'd give her 10 stars!
When it gets cooler I'm certainly going back here to get new plants for my backyard. I made a half-assed attempt to grow some flowers there early this summer, but I started too late and picked too many northern-style plants. I'll let them help me pick some more Austin-appropriate plants.
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love, love, love this place! People have been telling me about this place for years, I always pass by it and never go in. Last month I stopped by and got swept away with the desire to buy everything. It's a great place to look around and get inspired to plant a spring garden. I only have a patio (apt. living) but I do have a container garden, and I loved their smaller pots and variety planters. A lot of local nurseries will only sell bigger plants and flower pot for people with yards and the cash to spend on a $200 handmade pot you could sleep in. But here I found a great range of size, color, and cost for everyone. And, there's a little coffee shop overlooking the nursery so you can sip and decide what you going to buy. I'm definitely going back for one of their slightly creepy, yet adorable garden gnomes.
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So we primed ourselves for hunting down some cool outdoor plants with a trip to the Zilker Garden festival, and all of the various and sundry planting and gardening options available didn't ultimately quite fit, so we decided to stop by Great Outdoors and compare notes, so to speak.
Wow, there's loads of plant options going on here, and from the giant and stylish planters they offered as you walk in, to the bamboo and fruit tree selections in the back. Sure, some of the costs you might incur can trend toward the spendy side, but nothing like you'd see at, say, Big Red Sun, and they're only too genuinely happy to help you bundle everything up so you can get it home. Where, coincidentally, you can engineer a little Eden all your own.
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The Great Outdoors is truly great. They accept me for who I am, black thumbs and all. Their sun-kissed staff is always very helpful when I wonder up to them with some beautiful plant in hand and I say "I love this! How do I keep it alive? Seriously."
Herbs, vines, fruit trees, bushes, everything tropical, cacti, carnivorous plants, pots, tools... they have it all. They even have bags of live lady bugs and praying mantis eggs at the registers. Which are really fun treats to pick up if you have kids. They will love setting 1000 lady bugs free into your garden.
On top of their awesome inventory, the grounds are beautiful. Near the gift shop there is a gigantic tree with a wind chime that is the God Father of all wind chimes! It's bigger than me. It's bigger than you. It's bigger than you and me stacked on top of eachother! The tones are deep, relaxing, & it lives on my "things I want but will have to live without" list.
Go! Get a a cup of coffee at Garden District (the little coffee shop outside the nursery) and just wander around. You will find something unique & full of life that you need in your life. Don't be afraid, even if your thumbs are blacker than mine, the staff can help you out.
Oh and for all of you who have canine friends, you can bring them with you.
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What a wonderful nursery! I can't believe it's taken me so long to come here. It took reviews for the Garden District (their coffeeshop) on yelp to remind me that they even existed and since I was in the market for some plants and pots, I deceded to swing on by.
First off, they're on the #1 route which is ultra convenient for me. They're located a couple of blocks from the HEB at Oltorf and Congress, which means it wasn't a long ride either. I've been wanting some rosemary and they had it in three different sizes and prices, along with a very nice variety of other herbs including curry, which I couldn't pass up, and several varieties of lavender, which I did. The very young rosemary and curry set me back $1.99 for each small container. They had rosemary in larger containers for $6.99 and $12.99. Along with the herbs, they had a nice selection of late season vegetables, a lot of trees and vines and a ton of succulents and cacti. A very nice variety of odd plants, beautiful plants, and lovely lovely pots.
I needed to buy quite a few pots and I found exactly what I wanted for my baby plants, small terra cotta pots for under $2.00, without trays. But lord did I want some of the more colorful ones. They have the most gorgeous containers, shape wise and color wise than I've ever seen in Austin. Granted, I usually go to either the Home Depot or Big Lots to buy pots, but not anymore. From the most beautiful crackled glazed to earthy, nubble textured browns and greens, and beautiful simple little pots that were the speckled blue of a robin's egg - I could have spent all day hanging out looking at pots. The prices range from a couple of dollars for small terra cotta pots to over (probably far over) $100 for the larger glazed pots. I would be happy to own any of them.
Strawberry lovers, they have the best selection of strawberry pots ranging in size from extra itsy bitsy to humongous. They also had what looked to be a very hardy variety of strawberry plants for sale - very healthy and large and well cared for.
The most amazing thing in the whole nursery to me was the GIANT wind chime hanging from the huge oak that Alexandria talked about. It had a deep boom that reverberated and resonated and was so peaceful to listen to. HUGE HUGE wind chime. The best wind chime I've ever seen or heard in my life.
One last nice thing was that three different people asked me if they could help me while I was there, and I wasn't there for a very long time, but they weren't obnoxious about it or followed me around. Just anytime I walked by an employee they asked if they could help me if they weren't busy with someone else. Everyone at work in The Great Outdoors seemed genuinely happy to be working there and hard at work, which is always a good sign of a well run business.
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Now granted, this place has a great selection of plants, but overall, I can't stand this place. The last time we were there the it took over 20 minutes to find one person that could answer a 10 second question, the prices were high, the parking stunk, and overall it was a waste of my time. We were in the midst of gardening, so obviously we weren't in our Sunday best. We got looks from people as to how could we possibly be dressed like that at a garden place.
I will not be back there.
If you would like a pleasant plant shopping experience, I would recommend It's About Thyme on Manchaca Rd just south of Slaughter Lane.
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When I drive into the Great Outdoors' dirt parking lot, I feel that I might be going on a safari. They don't give you a jeep, but they will give you a big, green cart to place all your flowers and plants in. I've gotten about a dozen or so items for my garden there, and the ones that have fared best are the Martha Gonzalez roses. They are blooming like they are on crack right now, even though I don't remember to water them lately! (I planted them about two years ago.)
They have the biggest and most magical looking live oak tree there I've ever seen - sometimes, I think a wizard might descend from its branches, or maybe some Keebler elves might pop out of a knothole.
I'm still not quite sure about their logo: a gigantic elephant popping its head out from behind jungle foliage. Austin has neither jungles nor elephants. Discuss amongst yourselves!
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I really wanted to like this place more. It bleeds "local" and has a good selection and reasonable enough prices. The staff I've interacted with all seemed very competent. Unfortunately, sometimes "seemed" was too much the operative word.
I have potted tomatoes growing on a second story landing. Something started wreaking havoc on the leaves, but I never saw the culprit. So I figured I'd ask an expert. I brought an eaten leaf, with a little speck of black stuff on it, down to Great Outdoors. The first person that looked at it thought caterpillars (correctly, it turns out), but wanted to ask someone with more expertise. "Slugs!" the second person insisted. It seemed odd to me that slugs somehow got in potted plants up on a second story landing, but I took the expert's word and got some Sluggo. No change. So I did some internet snooping as my plants grew more and more devastated, and learned that the rapidly amassing black stuff (at first it was only a speck or two, so I didn't know if it was related to the problem) was caterpillar poop. Grabbed a bottle of Thuricide from Breed's and went to war. Let me add, by the way: Thuricide works. And it's also cheaper than the now-useless Sluggo I purchased from Great Outdoors.
Fast-forward a few weeks, and one of my tomato plants just wouldn't produce viable fruit. At about 1/4 of what should've been the full size, the fruit would rot at the bottom before ripening. I did my internet research in advance this time, and learned all about blossom end rot. Apparently it is caused by calcium uptake problems, due to either moisture conditions or a lack of calcium in the soil. I'd monkeyed around with the former to no avail, so I decided to find some kind of calcium supplement. Back to Great Outdoors. I asked specifically for a calcium supplement for my soil, and the employee helping me inquired as to why I would need such a thing. She then told me it wasn't a calcium problem at all, but that I should purchase an antifungal product called Neem oil. I told her I'd look around for awhile. Not wanting another useless product, I purchased a box of fertilizer that contained calcium, as well as the usual phosphate, nitrogen, etc. Fertilized with it, and presto, no more blossom end rot.
This is a long and involved story just to tell you what you should've gleaned from the opening paragraph. This place is nice, and the people try to be helpful, but both times I've relied on them, they've steered me wrong.
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Went in on Sunday, just thought I'll look around for some ideas to landscape my patio and ended up buying a few things. The outdoor layout was very pleasant, although I wouldn't want to have to work there on 100 degree days. I didn't know what to ask for but with the help of the super friendly staff was able to narrow down the choices quickly and honed in on the perfect plant. I found a perfect Japanese Yew and a three nice pots. A couple of the guys helped me load it all up, I didn't have to lift a finger. I'll be back for more.
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i love plants. i love the tropical garden paradise that is the great outdoors on south congress. i love that there are a crapload of employees ready to discuss the varying degrees of shade within which a succulent will grow. i love that you can grab a decent cup of coffee and then stroll around the semi-humid lushness and listen to wind chimes. i love the brightly colored pots, the hanging baskets, the house of bird paraphernalia. i love that i always spend way more time and money than i intend to in this place, but that it is always always worth it.
Really like this local garden shop. They always have helpful people, a beautiful feel to the place and great plants! I was on a mission to find flowering purple potted plants and I walked away with 3 different varieties plus my usual Texas grown herbs for less than $50 (and one plant was really a vine and really big!) I think the thing I like the most is that their stuff is really Texas hardy--they do a good job providing you with stuff that you feel like a green thumb even if you aren't! Great job Great Outdoors! Thanks for the easy instructions on the sides of my plants/flowers as well, they are still doing great and thriving in our yard. Love this place!
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I love it. But damn expensive.
nice selecton of all sorts of horticultural shenanigans, this is the only place i will buy my air plants. love the koi, the giant wind chimes and the "worker" in the greenhouse. knowledgeable staff, healthy plants, nice set up all around. plus, you can get a smoothie at the cafe. what's not to like?
this place is AWESOME. i got some irish fern here for my turtle's tank. it seems to be doing quite well. they have a very large selection of ummm.... EVERYTHING! frankly, i wish i knew more about plants and stuff... the staff is very approachable and helpful. i recommend going here and then heading over to habana. check it out, yo
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Austin, TX
Category: Nurseries & Gardening
Neighborhood: Westlake Hills
Category: Nurseries & Gardening
Austin, TX
Category: Nurseries & Gardening
Neighborhood: 78704 (South Austin)
Category: Nurseries & Gardening
Austin, TX
Category: Nurseries & Gardening
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