San Antonio nursery

[necturus]

Hello,

I haven't been palm shopping in San Antonio in a long time. What are the best nurseries? I'm driving over so can only bring back plants that fit in my sedan.  I've heard about Palm Buddha.

Also interested in good cactus nurseries.

Thanks, Daniel

[MarcusH]

6 minutes ago, necturus said:

Hello,

I haven't been palm shopping in San Antonio in a long time. What are the best nurseries? I'm driving over so can only bring back plants that fit in my sedan.  I've heard about Palm Buddha.

Also interested in good cactus nurseries.

Thanks, Daniel

Moon Valley, but let me ask you this . What type of palm are you specifically looking for?  If you're also into cactus, Milberger's landscaping is a good address.  You also might want to check out some Lowe's and HD stores. That's where I get most plants. 

[Fusca]

6 hours ago, necturus said:

Hello,

I haven't been palm shopping in San Antonio in a long time. What are the best nurseries? I'm driving over so can only bring back plants that fit in my sedan.  I've heard about Palm Buddha.

Also interested in good cactus nurseries.

Thanks, Daniel

For palms there isn't much available in SA - I haven't been there in a few years but since 2021 Palmageddon I doubt that the selection is any better now.  Last time I was there in 2020 Palm Buddha had a decent selection of Brahea (not labeled), cold hardy Dioon and a lot of large common palms that wouldn't fit in your car.  Milberger's and Rainbow Gardens sometimes have some unique stuff but it's mostly common palms.  Once I saw a 7-gal Licuala grandis at Rainbow Gardens in their shade house but it was like $600 or something insane like Moon Valley prices.  I've never seen anything at big box stores that you couldn't get in Houston.  Not sure about cactus but @Meangreen94z probably knows more.

[ChrisA]

I’m also curious of what you can find in San Antonio that isn’t easy to find in Houston? I was at Rainbow Gardens on Thousand Oaks a few weeks back and they have the usual: Washingtonian filifera (likely hybrids), Butia, Phoenix camariensis, Sabal minor, Sabal mexicana, Chaemerops. Some Dioon edible and of course Sago palms on the cycad side.  
 

Big Box stores pretty much Washingtonian, Syagrus, Butia.

Last year Palm Buddha had lots of mules along with various Sabal palms and Phoenix species.  Most of what they have won’t fit in a sedan and they are famously unmarked and unpriced.

Any palm in particular you’re looking for? There is a better selection down in Corpus Christi than what I’ve seen here. 

[Chester B]

10 hours ago, ChrisA said:

There is a better selection down in Corpus Christi than what I’ve seen here. 

Any particular place?  I was down there in the fall and didn’t see anything that I couldn’t get here.  In general I hardly saw a palm in the ground that we can’t grow in Houston.  It was kind of disappointing. 

[ChrisA]

2 hours ago, Chester B said:

Any particular place?  I was down there in the fall and didn’t see anything that I couldn’t get here.  In general I hardly saw a palm in the ground that we can’t grow in Houston.  It was kind of disappointing. 

I agree most of the stuff is the same. I like Turner’s Nursery as they sometimes have some other options in bamboo palms and different crown shaft palms. They normally have Coco Queens (Syagrus schizophylla x Syagrus romanzoffiana) which are beautiful. Unfortunately I consider that hybrid a pipe dream as the winters have been a bit too severe even along that part of the Texas Coast. There is also Padre Palms and Landscapes which only has larger palms but in a few varieties I haven’t seen at Turners, Adonidia, Bismarckia. Certainly the RGV is the best place to go for more exotic varieties of palms.  Seems from the posts I’ve seen on this forum Houston has better options than San Antonio in any case.

[Chester B]

2 hours ago, ChrisA said:

I agree most of the stuff is the same. I like Turner’s Nursery as they sometimes have some other options in bamboo palms and different crown shaft palms. They normally have Coco Queens (Syagrus schizophylla x Syagrus romanzoffiana) which are beautiful. Unfortunately I consider that hybrid a pipe dream as the winters have been a bit too severe even along that part of the Texas Coast. There is also Padre Palms and Landscapes which only has larger palms but in a few varieties I haven’t seen at Turners, Adonidia, Bismarckia. Certainly the RGV is the best place to go for more exotic varieties of palms.  Seems from the posts I’ve seen on this forum Houston has better options than San Antonio in any case.

I went to Turners and I did see those Coco queens, but aside from that it was pretty standard things I can get here, palms and other plants.  I stopped in at Lowe’s and they had the same palms as here but larger sizes. 

[MarcusH]

On 7/19/2025 at 11:51 AM, ChrisA said:

I agree most of the stuff is the same. I like Turner’s Nursery as they sometimes have some other options in bamboo palms and different crown shaft palms. They normally have Coco Queens (Syagrus schizophylla x Syagrus romanzoffiana) which are beautiful. Unfortunately I consider that hybrid a pipe dream as the winters have been a bit too severe even along that part of the Texas Coast. There is also Padre Palms and Landscapes which only has larger palms but in a few varieties I haven’t seen at Turners, Adonidia, Bismarckia. Certainly the RGV is the best place to go for more exotic varieties of palms.  Seems from the posts I’ve seen on this forum Houston has better options than San Antonio in any case.

There is no point of offering a huge variety of different palms here in San Antonio.  San Antonians don't like to experiment with exotic palms in general also our climate keeps the number of cold hardy palms, that we can grow in our region ,  on the smaller side.  Whatever was left after 2021 is what we can and should grow.  I think that's why nurseries here in San Antonio like to stick with the palms you see in this area. 

[MarcusH]

I also want to mention that the BB stores here in SA offer a good selection of tropical palms that you can grow in containers for a relatively cheap price.  Milbergs nursery offers some more exotic tropical palms that are hardy in South Florida.  Palm Buddha, Moon Valley and Milberg offer a great selection of palms , hardy and non hardy .

[fr8train]

Does anyone know of any of the big box stores that have Butias this year? I haven't seen them anywhere. 

Also, has anyone bought anything from palm buddha? I haven't been there in like 2 years, and I don't remember anything being marked with a price. Are they reasonably priced? Do they still have Brahea? 

[ChrisA]

I’Ve seen Butia at the nearby HD. Nothing at Palm Buddha that I’ve seen has either a label or price.  I’m sure they’ve got some Brahea but God only knows where. 😆 

[Matt N- Dallas]

Lowe’s & Home Depot’s have/had Butia this year and some Lowe’s have serenoa repens. Nothing at Palm Buddha is marked and different employees will tell you different answers. Last time I asked about brahea at Palm Buddha - the guy looked at me like I was crazy. 

[Ben G.]

2 hours ago, fr8train said:

Does anyone know of any of the big box stores that have Butias this year? I haven't seen them anywhere. 

Also, has anyone bought anything from palm buddha? I haven't been there in like 2 years, and I don't remember anything being marked with a price. Are they reasonably priced? Do they still have Brahea? 

I bought a couple of sabal mexicana from Palm Buddha last year. Nothing was marked with a price. I had to talk to the owner/manager to get quotes, but that allowed haggle just a bit. I bought the two sabals below for $225 and $275 respectively:

The first one is taller, but it had one or two broken fronds, so I got it cheaper than the smaller one, which was more full.

They were as big as I could move and handle on my own. The taller one is just an inch or two taller than my privacy fence, while the smaller one is only about 4.5 feet in overall height.

They do have brahea, but I can recall how big, and I didn't ask about prices. I know they had some large brahea, I just don't recall seeing any small enough that I could have moved or planted them on my own.

[amh]

4 hours ago, fr8train said:

Does anyone know of any of the big box stores that have Butias this year? I haven't seen them anywhere. 

Also, has anyone bought anything from palm buddha? I haven't been there in like 2 years, and I don't remember anything being marked with a price. Are they reasonably priced? Do they still have Brahea? 

The home depot at 281 and 46 had 2 butias (6 gallon I think) in stock today. They are both somewhat blue/silver with purple on the trunk.

[amh]

Most of the San Antonio nurseries will only carry the same common cold hardy palm species as the bigbox stores, but Rainbow Gardens will sometimes have a few interesting plants in the tropical section.

[MarcusH]

17 hours ago, fr8train said:

Does anyone know of any of the big box stores that have Butias this year? I haven't seen them anywhere. 

Also, has anyone bought anything from palm buddha? I haven't been there in like 2 years, and I don't remember anything being marked with a price. Are they reasonably priced? Do they still have Brahea? 

Go to the HD at the Forum. They have a small group of Butias for $60 . I was there yesterday. 

[MarcusH]

I was surprised to see that our local HD offers a couple of Bottle palms outside in the garden center.  Makes a good container palm for sure.  It has a nice size to it as well.  Home Depot at the Forum.