I agree with raimeiken's recommendations and have also found nice plants at Summerwinds.

Treeland and Summerwinds both carry plants from Monrovia.

Also if you get there just after they get delivery from their sources, HD and Lowes can be good sources for more common plants. After sitting in the store for a while, the lack of care takes its toll so be cautious.

We like Baker's the best.

I don't have green thumb but the plants we purchased from Baker's all survived, it says a lot about their quality. The staff at Baker's are very knowledgable and helpful.

When you purchase big trees, make sure write your name on the tree trucks instead of only on the tags; this is the lesson we learned after purchasing trees from MV.

It's been almost 10 years since I've been to a MV location so maybe they've changed but my experiences were bad enough that I haven't been back. Plants looked fine but the service...they had chickens around I guess to eat bugs and an employee was using a slingshot to hunt the chickens...while customers (me) were walking around. After hearing a ball bearing zip pass me I look over and the shirtless dude flashes me a toothless (seriously) grin. As close to a Deliverance experience as I care to have. Haven't been back.

To me plants are plants. You can get a good or bad one pretty much anywhere. Like dig421 said, at the big box stores you're often getting plants almost right off the truck for many common plants.

To expand your choices and save some money...call around to see what discount is given to designers. You're designing your landscape yourself so you're a designer. I've gotten up to 25% off. Designer discounts are often higher than landscaper/contractor discounts because the designer makes the buying choices. Designer is not a licensed job so to show you're a designer you just need a web site and/or business card. That can be had for $10-50. I just use my web site.

Being a designer can also get you into the wholesale nurseries and better prices. For that you may need a reseller's permit as some wholesalers don't charge sales tax. AZ calls this a "transaction privilege tax license"...eye roll. You still have to pay the tax by sending it in yourself. It's a hassle but perfectly legal and way less hard than it seems. The permit is free (or was last time I got one). Call wholesalers you want to visit to check on what they want first. Using a wholesaler is kind of fun...seeing where the retailers get their plants, looking behind the curtain...but you kind of have to know what plants you want ahead of time. Not a place to bring kids.

However...you don't get the long no questions asked return policy at the wholesalers (or at some non-big box retailers). Plants here can die pretty fast from a watering problem or winter frost so being able to return plants can also be a money saver. Save receipts, but returning the pots is not required (but easier). To me wholesale is still a better deal.

Moon Valley grows their stuff mostly in California.

I was badly treated by then a while back and have not gone back.

I've used Summerwinds and Bakers recently, and any Big Box garden shop for the common stuff.

yeah be aware of the return policies from the nurseries. Big box stores you can easily return if it's within a year, but the other places either have no return policy or it's just 3 months and sometimes you'll only get that guarantee if they plant it for you which you have to pay for.

We have used MV and have had good experiences both times. All of our plants and trees have done well with the exception of a ficus that was killed in a severe frost.

OK. Thanks everyone.

When I lived in Scottsdale I used Harper's exclusively (pre HD & Lowes days). If I had a significant project I'd still go to them. I'm in Chandler and really like Desert Horizons on Ellsworth & QC. I buy mostly from Summerwinds, Treeland or Whitfill because of proximity; HD or Lowes for price. My exp w/ MV has been opposite of Waterbugs, I had sales guys who were very bus.like but didn't know what they were talking about (coming from someone who knows little).