Compare garden centres in New Zealand at Canstar Blue. Kings Plant Barn, Orderings Garden Centre, Palmers, Bunnings Warehouse and Mitre 10 were compared on Overall Satisfaction, Range of Brands, Range of Products, Service & Advice and Value for Money.
You’re good to grow with Kings Plant Barn, the nation’s favourite garden centres, and the winner of Canstar Blue’s Most Satisfied Customers | Garden Centres Award 2024.
Our review compares garden centres on customer satisfaction, so you can discover what other Kiwis think about our compared garden centres before you head off shopping for garden supplies. Think of it like asking hundreds of your closest friends which garden centre chain they think is best!
Canstar Blue surveyed 1240 Kiwis who had made a purchase at a garden centre over the past 12 months for their feedback on their customer experience.
Respondents rate their satisfaction with their garden centre from zero to ten, where zero is extremely dissatisfied and ten is extremely satisfied. Brand satisfaction was rated by respondents on the following criteria:
The winning brand is the one that receives the highest Overall Satisfaction rating once all the scores from the Overall Satisfaction criteria are combined and averaged.
Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included, so not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The brands rated in this survey are listed below in order of best overall satisfaction.
Find more information on our Most Satisfied Customer methodology.
Kings Plant BarnAs the winner of this year’s Most Satisfied Customers | Garden Centres award, Kings Plant Barn is the only garden centre to achieve a top 5-Star ratings for Overall Satisfaction. It continues to impress with the same score for its Range of Products. Across all other categories it earns admirable 4-Star ratings.
Kings Plant Barn is an Auckland-based chain of garden centres that operates eight stores across the city. They offer a wide range of plants and gardening essentials.
Kings Plant Barn publishes a seasonal Scoop magazine, featuring growing hints and tips. And for in-store visitors, each Kings Plant Barn has a resident Plant Doctor. Visible due to their red Plant Doctor t-shirts, they’re available to offer their expert advice on all your plant and gardening queries.
Along with a 4-Star rating for Overall Satisfaction, Oderings Garden Centres rates highly with its customers for its Service & Advice and its Range of Brands, earning 5-Star ratings in both those categories. Along with 4 Stars for Value for Money, it earns 3 Stars for its Range of Brands.
Boasting a family history spanning 94 years, Oderings Garden Centres have become an integral part of New Zealand’s landscape-design environment. Oderings operates seven stores nationwide: five stores in Christchurch, and two in the North Island.
Oderings has its own Gardeners Club loyalty program that offers exclusive deals and discounts. And it publishes its own bi-yearly magazine, Live and Grow, that you can read online.
Orderings also operates a landscaping service in Christchurch.
Palmers is rated highly by its garden centre customers. In this year’s ratings, the NZ brand earns a sweep of top 4- and 5-Star ratings. It earns its best ratings for its Range of Brands and Products. Palmers falls short for Value for Money, and is the only brand to earn a 3-Star rating in this category.
Palmers began as a nursery in 1912, and entered the garden retail market in 1958. Still proudly Kiwi owned and operated, Palmers has 12 locations across the North Island.
Palmers sells a wide range of plants, gardening products and outdoor living equipment. It has its own loyalty scheme and posts a wide range of how-to guides on its website.
It also publishes its Edibles magazine, which is dedicated to advice on growing fresh produce.
As the final garden centre to earn a remarkable 4-Star rating for Overall Satisfaction, Bunnings performs well across the board. It’s clear customers appreciate Bunnings’ Value for Money, as the brand earns a 5-Star rating in this category. Bunnings also scores 4-Star ratings for its Range of Products and Brands, plus a 3-Star rating for Service and Advice.
Australian-owned Bunnings is one of the largest home improvement brands in New Zealand, currently operating 40 stores nationwide. Most of its locations feature a garden centre selling a wide range of plants, landscaping materials and outdoor furniture.
The Bunnings website is full of videos and articles to inspire you and provide advice on how to make the most of your garden and outside living areas.
Mitre 10Rounding out our awards ratings is Mitre 10. It’s the only garden centre to achieve a 3-Star rating for Overall Satisfaction, a rating that it replicates for its Service and Advice. Mitre 10 performs well across the remaining three categories, earning a 4-Star rating in each.
Mitre 10 has been part of the DIY landscape for half a century and operates stores across the country. Its iconic orange buildings can be found in most towns and cities.
Mitre 10 stocks a huge selection of plants, garden tools and materials, as well as outside furniture, sheds and irrigation systems.
The Mitre 10 website features a range of Easy As videos that provide guidance on DIY garden projects and growing tips.
What do you look for in a garden centre? Perhaps it’s just for a great cafe! In this year’s awards survey, over a third of respondents (36%) said the most important factor for them was Value for Money.
However, close behind, Service and Advice was the biggest driver of satisfaction for 30% of garden centre customers. This is understandable, for 38% of our consumers said they’d relied on the advice of garden centre staff in the past.
Sure, choosing a pot or bag of compost is a simple decision, but deciding on the best plant for a specific spot in your garden, be it full-sun or shady, can be a tricky decision if your fingers don’t have a verdant tinge to them.
Here is the full rundown of what the garden centres consumers in our survey said were the main things they considered when rating their purchases:
About the editor of this pageThis report was written by Canstar Content Producer, Caitlin Bingham. Caitlin is an experienced writer whose passion for creativity led her to study communication and journalism. She began her career freelancing as a content writer, before joining the Canstar team.
Have created a vegetable garden to save money by growing produce: 64%
Inspired by visiting garden centres: 54%
Compost household waste for the garden: 43%
Have relied on the advice of garden centre staff: 38%
Prefer native plants: 25%
Have removed plants/lawns so garden is easier to maintain: 22%
Collect rainwater to irrigate garden: 22%
Visits because of the café: 8%
Have employed a gardener: 5%
Canstar Blue surveyed 2531 New Zealand consumers across a range of categories to measure and track customer satisfaction, via ISO 26362 accredited research panels managed by Qualtrics. The outcomes reported are the results from respondents who had visited and made a purchase at a garden centre in the past 12 months. In this case, 1240New Zealanders. Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included. Results are comparative and it should be noted that brands receiving three stars have still achieved a satisfaction measure of at least six out of 10. Not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The ratings table is first sorted by star ratings and then by mean overall satisfaction. A rated brand may receive a ‘N/A’ (Not Applicable) rating if it does not receive the minimum number of responses for that criterion.
The past winner from Canstar Blue’s Garden Centre ratings:
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