Garden Centres
Plant nursery on No. 5 Road in Richmond's farm belt that is far bigger inside than it looks from the road. Indoor, outdoor and tropical plants, vases and gardening supplies, with staff who help match a plant to the room it is going in.
No. 5 Road is one of the strangest and best drives in Richmond. The middle stretch has temples, churches and religious schools lined up along one side and farmland and greenhouse operations on the other, and the whole corridor sits inside the agricultural land reserve, which is why it has stayed low and open while the rest of the city built upward.
A plant nursery belongs on this road more than it would anywhere else in the city. Indoor, outdoor and tropical stock, vases and general gardening supplies all take space, and space out here is something a City Centre unit could never match. Staff who will match a plant to the room it is actually going into rather than the one in the photograph are the other half of the value.
That conversation is the difference between a plant that lives and one replaced in six weeks. Light, humidity and how often you are honestly going to water it are the whole discussion, and a nursery that asks those questions is doing you a favour even when the answer turns out to be a cheaper plant.
Getting out here requires a car, because transit along this stretch is thin and nothing about the corridor is walkable. That is the trade-off. In season it pairs well with a run along the farm stands on the same road, since this is where a good deal of Richmond's produce is actually grown, and the drive is worth taking slowly.
In the Shellmont neighbourhood of Richmond.
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Other garden centres and nearby businesses in the Richmond directory.
Large No. 5 Road nursery with an unexpectedly deep range of indoor, outdoor and tropical plants along with pots, soil and gardening supplies. It opens at 8:30 each morning, which suits gardeners who want to shop before the heat.
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Family greenhouse operation on No. 2 Road near Steveston that grows about 90 percent of what it sells across roughly 25,000 square feet of glass. Best known for hanging baskets, geraniums and bedding plants, plus bulbs in fall.
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Destination nursery on No. 6 Road in east Richmond known for unusual perennials, edibles and rare plants you will not find at a big box. It runs plant workshops and mail order, and is open daily through the growing season.
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Steveston garden center on No. 1 Road with a strong perennial, annual and ornamental grass selection, plus containers, garden statuary and giftware. Its hanging baskets pull in shoppers from well beyond Richmond each spring.
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Larger-than-average flower shop on No. 5 Road in east Richmond with a big cooler and long daily hours. Worth the drive for volume orders such as funerals, banquets and Lunar New Year, and for staff who walk you through the options.
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Family practice on Blundell Road near Garden City, weekdays only and entirely in person rather than by telehealth. Also handles driver's medical exams, Pap tests and diagnostic imaging, with non-MSP walk-in appointments available.
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