Flower Power

All power to the grandmas, mums, dads, grandpas, dogs, newlyweds, bored teenagers, and lost children who end up at this place. All power to them all, and their homegrown tomatoes and their pansy window flower pots. This place reminds me that people LOVE their plants, and are happy to spend a weekend hunting for a car space in a hot parking lot, just to get themselves some green, and some big bags of over-​fed soil.
Flower Power is big, crowded and hard to wheel a trolley around in. But it does its best to offer EVERYTHING, and in that respect it does a more convincing job than Bunnings (at least in terms of plants, not so much in terms of pots and gardening accessories). My gripe is that it’s not cheap at all, even though going to a big warehouse makes you feel like you’re getting a good deal — but the price tags tell another story. The health of the plants is generally quite good, though. The staff seem quite knowledgable but generally you will be left alone to wander (for hours, if you like), in this sprawling place.

I buy my soil, fertilizers, potting mix and pots here. For a good selection of these and at reasonable prices, you need to travel. Travel here! I can’t say I can give this nursery 4 – 5 stars, as the death of four plants out of my several potted plants at home and several harmless (but ugly looking) spiders greeted my hand whilst picking pots, prejudiced my review. However, a few things stand out for me about this place. It has a diverse selection of plants, accessories, tools and ornaments housed in a large and expansive facility. This is, I believe, is the reference to their «power». Also, if you go there often enough then being «a garden lover» yields you discounts for future purchases. So this place is like the inner-​west oasis for gardener and plant lovers. I discovered this place many years ago when I decided to desconstruct my unloved garden where I once lived in Croydon, to restore it (or a perfect facsimile of it) to its «federation» glory. I’ll spare you the gory gardening details, but I’ll share with you my astonishment at discovering this gardening facility. It provided me with all my gravel needs, bark/​off cuts, soil, paving/​bricks, seeds, herbs, native flowers and plants, roses, shrubbery and it even rewarded me by encouraging me to return for future discounts arising from those purchases. If you love paper, then this place is ideal for all your gardening reference needs.
It’s perfect for the family, with an aviary, café and a selection of items to buy for furnishing your indoor/​outdoor living.
Travel here by car, but it’s worth the trip. If you’re buying plants then you can excuse the carbon impact by offsetting it against the purchases you made (*smile*).

In retrospect, flower power the movement was at least slightly ridiculous, if not totally so. Aside from Woodstock and Easy Rider, it is is hard to see the value of kids crowding out Haight-​Ashbury, especially when considered against what was going on in Detroit with Motown and across the spectrum of the Civil Rights movement. A heavy introduction for a review of a nursery, sure. But I didn’t choose to name the store Flower Power, did I now?
With the exception of the Ray-​Ban wearing sunflower on the logo, there is nothing hippyish or psychedelic about this garden store, which is spread across an impressive grounds featuring endless rows of flowers, plants, bushes and other shrubs type of things (those are the Latin names, by the way), and of course the requisite pots to house these living things. And of course, all the necessary fertilisers and products to protect and promote the growth of your beloved plant children. As for your human children, I can speak from experience that this is a fun place to run around and explore in: it’s been around since I was in short short shorts.
For the non-​garden and semi-​garden portions of your house, Flower Power sells a range of furniture and homewares items, lest the remainder of your house feel neglected.