Terra Bella Nursery in the Midway District is a one-stop shop for all things green with a veritable plant smorgasbord to choose from.
The nursery, which delivers, serves everyone from beginners to landscapers to green industry professionals, and everything from big-box stores to casinos, developers, and contractors from its newest location at 3535 Camino Del Rio, W. Opened the end of last year, the nursery is planning to host a grand opening on April 6.
“It’s nice having a new location in this area carrying high-quality indoor and outdoor products and we also have a green waste facility (to produce mulch, compost, and wood chips) here where landscapers can drop off their green waste,” said the nursery manager Kris Madsen noting, “If people don’t want to wait in lines at the dump, they can bring it here to our site.”
Concerning Terra Bella’s offerings, Madsen said, “At this location, we have a ton of interior products that’s hard to find anywhere else.” He added they have specialty items in all shapes and sizes. Whereas some nurseries only specialize in two-, four- or six-inch (indoor plants), Madsen pointed out “We have everywhere from four-inch to a 30-gallon (plants) servicing big or small houses.”
Madsen noted Terra Bella is “trucking stuff in from everywhere,” including rare plants from Hawaii, along with having their greenhouses to “grow our products.” He added the company even makes all its plant boxes owning a box shop in Mexico. “A lot of nurseries buy their boxes from us,” Madsen said adding, “Quality control is huge doing everything in-house.”
Madsen conducted a tour of the voluminous indoor and outdoor grounds of Terra Bella, which includes a huge disco ball in one of the indoor spaces. Outdoors is a variety of shade and drought-tolerant trees with a 150-year-old olive tree the company transported in one day from Sonoma County. “We have a huge selection of herbs and veggies,” said Madsen adding, “We’re becoming a destination nursery with a decent online following.”
Discussing his horticultural background, Madsen noted: “I’ve been doing this for 20 years. It’s all I’ve ever done. When you’ve been in the industry for this long – you have to have a passion for it. You need to have fun with it. It’s not like a desk job where you regret going to work every day.”
Asked what he enjoys most about being in the nursery business Madsen replied: “Taking care of everybody and helping the company with growth, and also just bringing high-quality products to San Diego. Lots of this stuff people see online and they wish they could have it here. In this unique location, we’re able to give a variety of plants to people that they usually could not find.”
The Midway Terra Bella offers 15% off products daily from 7-11 a.m. for seniors and the military, with a 15% discount effective all day Monday for active military and vets.
TERRA BELLA NURSERY
Where: 3535 Camino Del Rio, W. in Midway District.
Info: terrabellanursery.com, 619-501-8118.
Established in 2007, Terra Bella Nursery took root on a humble 5-acre parcel in South San Diego and has since blossomed into a thriving network of retail stores and expansive growing grounds. As of 2024, Terra Bella Nursery has two nursery storefronts, eight growing grounds, and a bulk materials and green waste recycling center. The nursery serves everyone from novice backyard gardeners and detail-oriented landscape architects to fellow Green Industry professionals with high-quality plant and landscape materials as well as personalized customer service.
With a footprint spanning nearly 1,000 acres across California, Terra Bella Nursery sources local and out-of-state nurseries, big-box stores, architects, developers, contractors, landscapers, homeowners, and everyone in between. Nursery selections include flowering plants and shrubs, lush foliage varieties, trendy succulents and cacti, drought-tolerant varieties, native plants for SoCal landscapes, and a wide range of bulk materials.
