It is happening in the US too. It is a lot of issues mainly finance. It has taken awhile for the Walmart effect to hit the garden business.

This year my local nursery that use to have so many selections of out of the norm of the usual bushes, and annuals was disappointng. This yr had the same thing our Big Box stores are selling at a higher price. I was alright paying double the price at the nursery for a coleus that was not the average 10 cent pack of seeds variety I could grow or buy cheap at Lowes or Home Depot.

The online nurseries are passing on the new higher postage costs and online plants are always small. So we now pay more and get less.

Last issue is the small online nurseries are being brought out by the big corporation and the plants and the service is lacking.

Yes, I was disappointed when I heard the Garden Gallery in Burlington was closing. There is the other Garden Gallery in Dundas and they made it sound like they were merging - but the Burlington one was larger and always had more variety IMHO.

Rouge21_gw, thank you for posting. I am in Toronto, and I also visit Humber multiple times a year. In fact, I was there just this week. I didn't know that they were closing.

I could always count on Humber having varieties that no one else did. Even though they weren't an inexpensive place to shop, they did carry different sizes of some plants, so I could opt for a small size if I didn't want to spring for an expensive gallon pot.

For others in the Toronto area, here are a couple of other independent nurseries you might want to try :

• Valleyview. They closed their Scarborough location a year or two ago, but they have a large location in east Markham, just off Highway 7 near the Pickering town line. They don't have the variety of perennials that Humber does, though.
• Tree Valley. It's on Stouffville side road. I've bought basic daylilies there for a very good price.

I do like and shop at Sheridan Nurseries, but I get sticker shock at some of their prices. They seem even higher this year..

'mcdonald', I live within 15 minutes of all three nurseries you mention in you post and visit them frequently but there still will be a big gap for me when Humber closes :(.

(And were you aware that the Sheridan in Unionville is operating on borrowed time? It was to have closed by 2018 but it was given a "reprieve" by the developer to remain open for at least 2019. And another excellent nursery which has also been sold for development is PLANT WORLD in Etobicoke :( ).

And I see that LOST HORIZONS is still for sale after now going on maybe 4 years, I worry about the future of this wonderful nursery.

Rouge21, yes, I heard about Sheridan in Unionville. It’ll be a real shame when they go. But they were supposedly relocating to Stouffville. I don’t know whether that‘s still true. If it is, I’d make the trek up there, though it won’t be as convenient.

Reeves is another independent that disappeared.

I haven’t been to Lost Horizons, and I’ve been to Plant World only once, years ago, to look at house plants. i guess I’d better check them out while I can :(

It seems to be a sign of the times. I have never been to Humber, but I was regularly in Burlington. Harper’s in Ancaster is still there, under new management, but the years that they produced their own seed grown plants, species peonies, hundreds of hellebores, are long gone. Their selection of perennials is much smaller, with more annuals, veggies and big planters. And I too fear for Lost Horizons, by far the most interesting nursery this part of Ontario. It is a fairly long drive for me, but so worth it.

But they were supposedly relocating to Stouffville

That is true but it will occupy less than half the area as it does now.

Another one of my go to independent nurseries has called it quits this summer :(.

PLANT PARADISE COUNTRY GARDENS in CALEDON Ontario Canada

Yep, pretty much all my mail order 'go-to' nurseries are now closed. It's very depressing. Where can I waste my money now?

I guess I just have to grow everything from seed..and hope I can locate seed.

RIP Santa Rosa Gardens (at least non-wholesale arm)...per email today.

And just announced yesterday that this is the last year for JOHNS GARDENS in Uxbridge ON. This ndependent nursery had an excellent selection of annuals, perennials and Japanese Maples. It will be missed lots.

Even in our neighborhood the trends seem obvious. Developers are over riding what used to be building codes that a certain distance from the building to the lot line was required. People evidently want bigger houses and smaller yards because they are paying a pretty penny for them.

I have a garden in the front that many people walk by and enjoy, but oddly, kids in the neighborhood never show an interest at all. Teens either. They have their phones and their earbuds in, are jogging past sometimes. People who talk with me about the garden are either already gardeners or they are middle aged or older who want to garden and can't.