Container plants, tropicals, and poolside greenery — chosen to survive a Memphis summer.
Garden & Patio Plants in Memphis, TN
We stock plants for the spaces we build: containers, patio edges, and the ground around ponds and fountains. Plants that handle our heat, our humidity, and being planted near water.
Built for Memphis Heat
Long humid summers kill plenty of pretty plants. We stock what actually gets through August.
Chosen to Work Near Water
Some plants belong next to a pond. Some will crack your liner in five years. We know which.
Container Gardening Done Right
Pot material, drainage, and soil volume decide whether a container makes it. We’ll set you up properly.
Designed As One Space
Plants, containers, lighting, furniture, and water features planned together instead of bought piecemeal.
Plants and Water Features
What to Plant Near a Pond — and What Will Wreck It
This is the advice we give most often and the advice almost nobody gets before they plant. A water feature changes what should go around it, and some of the most popular landscape plants in Memphis are exactly wrong next to one.
Willows are the classic mistake. They’re drawn to water, their roots are aggressive and shallow, and they will find and compromise a pond liner. Running bamboo does the same thing faster. Heavy deciduous leaf-droppers planted upwind will fill your skimmer every autumn and load the pond with tannins and decaying organic matter — which becomes next spring’s algae bloom.
What works instead: evergreen structure that doesn’t shed into the water, ornamental grasses that echo the movement, Japanese maples for canopy without volume, and bold-leafed tropicals that thrive in our humidity and read naturally against stone and water.
Elegant scale and canopy near water without an aggressive root system or heavy leaf load.
Movement, sound, and softened edges. Excellent along stream and pond margins.
Elephant ear, canna, banana, and hibiscus. Memphis humidity is exactly what they want.
Willows, running bamboo, cottonwoods, and heavy leaf-droppers upwind of the water.
What We Carry
Plants for Containers, Patios, and Poolside
Selection is seasonal and rotates constantly. Call ahead at (901) 286-3302 if you’re after something specific, or come see what’s looking best right now.
Tropical Foliage
Flowering Tropicals
Ornamental Grasses
Ferns & Shade Plants
Japanese Maples
Evergreen Structure
Perennials
Seasonal Color
Herbs & Edibles
Why Shop With Us
A Smaller Selection, Chosen on Purpose
We’re not a full-line nursery and we won’t pretend to be. What we stock is what works in the spaces we design and build — containers, patio edges, poolside beds, and the ground around water features.
That focus is the point. You’ll get fewer options and better answers, from people who will still be looking at this planting in three years when they come out to service the pond.
Focused, Not Endless
A curated selection for outdoor living spaces rather than an aisle of everything.
Water-Feature Fluent
We know what belongs near a pond and what will damage one.
Container Expertise
Pot material, drainage, and soil volume matter more than most people realize in our freeze-thaw winters.
One Coordinated Space
Plants specified alongside furniture, containers, lighting, and water features.
Continuing the Palladio Tradition
Our Design Center occupies the former Palladio Memphis on South Cox Street, for years the place Memphians came for garden and outdoor furnishings. We’re carrying that forward, now with a team that designs, builds, and maintains water features across the Mid-South.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common Questions About Garden and Patio Plants
What Memphis homeowners ask us most often about containers and planting near water.
Tropical foliage genuinely thrives here — elephant ear, canna, banana, and hibiscus treat our summers as ideal. For perennials, daylilies, salvia, coneflower, and ornamental grasses are dependable. The plants that struggle are usually those wanting dry heat or cool nights.
Willows and running bamboo above all — both have aggressive roots that seek water and can compromise a liner. Also avoid heavy leaf-droppers upwind of the water; autumn leaf load is a direct cause of the following spring’s algae problems.
Glazed ceramic, fiberglass, and concrete handle our freeze-thaw cycles well. Unglazed terracotta absorbs water and cracks when it freezes. Whatever the material, drainage holes are non-negotiable and bigger containers are more forgiving than small ones — more soil volume means more buffer against a hot week.
Once nights are reliably above roughly 50°F, generally May here. Our last frost typically falls in late March, but tropicals sulk in cold soil even after frost risk passes.
No, and deliberately so. We carry plants that work in the outdoor living spaces we design and build. For a broad general nursery selection, Memphis has excellent options and we’re happy to point you toward them.
Yes. We design and install complete outdoor living spaces, and planting can be part of that or handled on its own alongside a water feature project. You can schedule a design consultation any time.
Plan A Visit
How to Get Started
Sun exposure and existing plantings tell us most of what we need.
Sun, drainage, and proximity to water all change the answer.
Buy what you need, or let us design and install the whole space.
Visit Us Today
Shop Garden and Patio Plants in Midtown Memphis
Our plants are at the Memphis Water Gardens Design Center, 741 S Cox St, Memphis, TN 38104, at the former Palladio Memphis location. We are an easy trip from East Memphis, Germantown, Collierville, Bartlett, Cordova, Arlington, Lakeland, Southaven, and Olive Branch.
741 S Cox St., Memphis, TN 38104
Phone : (901) 286-3302
Monday - Saturday: 9:00am to 4:00pm (Closed Sunday)
Plants That Belong Where You’re Putting Them
Bring photos of your patio, your containers, or the ground around your pond. We’ll help you choose plants that still look right in three years.