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Dear Gardeners,
Welcome to our St. Louis plant nursery, garden center, and online plant shop.
Here, the discerning gardener finds exceptional plants, unmatched service, and the largest selection of perennials anywhere. At Sugar Creek Gardens, you’ll find quality and expertise as rare and unusual as some of our 2,500 + varieties. We specialize in exceptional and rare perennials, trees, and shrubs. You’ll also find an extensive selection of Missouri native plants, roses, annuals, vines, ornamental grasses, vegetables, herbs, and houseplants. Our goal at Sugar Creek is to offer you the most remarkable, the newest and the oddest in plants from around the world. See a few of the varieties here >>>
You will also find fun and unique ornaments for your gardens, decorative pots and all types of arbors and obelisks along with the right tools, highest quality soils, organic fertilizers with the finest ingredients, and health-supporting products for your gardens to flourish.
We offer in-house shopping and online shopping for nursery pickup. We do not ship plants.
Garden Design and Delivery
We offer free garden design consultations at the nursery along with at-home garden and landscape design consultations for a fee. Our skilled designers have extensive knowledge of perennials, annuals, trees, and shrubs.
We Plan, You Plant, Free Garden Consultations at the Nursery. This unique design service is the perfect start for a perennial garden, natural area or to rejuvenate a tired landscape. Read more about our free garden consultations here >>>
At Home Garden Consultations and Design Services. Are you dreaming of a perennial garden overflowing with billowing flowers, fabulous containers for your patio, or possibly you have a wet spot and are considering a rain garden, but don’t know where to start. We can help. Our Garden Designers can design a planting scheme, working closely with you to choose the right plants. Fees are based on the services selected. Read more about our landscape design and other services here >>>
Delivery. We offer delivery of plants. Delivery fees are based on items delivered and the location of delivery. Please give us a call for more information.
For more information or to set up an appointment call 314-965-3070.
Take the Guess Work Out of Plant Selection
We strive to give you the best. Our offering of plants has been selected from the finest available. We carefully choose our selections. We take many plant-finding quests, including visiting trial gardens, university gardens, and botanical gardens. Our close relationships with industry experts keep us in the know of the newest and best. You can expect to find plants with exquisite beauty, exceptional vigor, and superior flowering.
We’ve done the work for you. Visit our nursery, you’ll find the best plants for the St Louis area labeled with descriptions, growing instructions, care tips, and images. You can also find this information here, on this website. For plant suggestions for specific uses visit the There’s A Plant For That section of this website. You’ll find suggestions for Missouri native plants, deer-resistant plants, plants for shade, and many other plants for your particular garden use.
You’ll Find Locally Grown Plants
To bring you the freshest, healthiest plants most of our plants are St. Louis area locally grown.
Our Story
Born from an obsession for horticulture that literally overgrew her home, Ann Lapides opened Sugar Creek Gardens in 1990 at the Kirkwood Farmers Market with just a garden umbrella, cash box, and a few hundred plants cultivated in her backyard and basement. An out-of-control hobbyist, Ann gave away many plants for years, and as a young mother saw an opportunity to open a business while still caring for her three small children.
In 1991 Henry and Anne Lonnemann invited Ann to open her nursery on their property in Brentwood Mo., which had previously been operated as Lonnemann Betz, a perennial plant nursery. A location rich with history, Henry’s mother sold perennials during the Depression to help make ends meet.
In 1994 Sugar Creek moved to Woodlawn Avenue in Kirkwood, where the original greenhouses were built to grow cut flowers for the 1904 World’s Fair (and rumor has it the house was a speakeasy during Prohibition). Ann’s daughter Abby Lapides joined Sugar Creek full time in 2008 after years of working after school and during breaks. Abby’s passion for plants took root as she watched her family grow their perennial business from a stall at the local farmer’s market to the nursery it is today.
We’re Humbled and Honored To Be Voted #1 Best Garden Center in St Louis
Over the years we have received multiple recognitions as an excellent local St. Louis plant nursery and garden center, including being voted the #1 Best Garden Center in St. Louis and being named the area’s Best Garden Center. Sugar Creek Gardens has been featured in newspapers and magazines including County Folks Grower, Kirkwood Lifestyle, and named St Louis Best Garden Center by the Riverfront Times. Kirkwood Lifestyle featured owner Abby Lapides, here’s what they said about her:
Do you know who else loves butterflies and nature? Abby Lapides. If you haven’t met her yet, stop by to see her at Sugar Creek Gardens. Abby’s love for insects, animals, and the environment is remarkable. And her seemingly unlimited knowledge of plants is incredible. I’ve never even heard of a nativar plant until Abby explained what they are in her article.
You can get to know Abby by reading her article ‘Sowing the Seeds of Love’ read it here >>>
Here’s what the Riverfront Times said about us:
The greater St. Louis area has no end of gardening resources, with a bounty of garden centers, the Missouri Botanical Garden and the University of Missouri Extension. But few places strike the balance between being an approachable store filled with crowd pleasers and a niche center full of native plants — and none do it better than Sugar Creek Gardens (1011 North Woodlawn Avenue, Kirkwood; 314-965-3070). Sugar Creek sits at the site of the greenhouses built to grow flowers and greenery for the 1904 World’s Fair. In addition to selling plants both common and esoteric, the center offers garden consultations and design services at no cost. It’s a pleasure to walk in and find a treasure, but shoppers can also order plants for pickup or delivery online. Sugar Creek also has a superior website that’s easily navigable and broken into helpful categories such as pollinator, rabbit-resident, best perennials and much more.
Here’s what others say about us:
If you’re looking for flowering perennials, Sugar Creek Gardens is your paradise. The store offers a dazzling selection of native Missouri wildflowers that thrive in our bizarre weather conditions. But their real specialty is rare perennials and shrubs that will send a shiver down the spine of a garden enthusiast.
