Terra Bella Garden Center is your source for landscaping supplies and design ideas. Conveniently located off Dorchester Road in North Charleston we strive to provide the very best in customer service. With friendly and knowledgeable advice you won’t get at big box stores we are eager to help you discover your vision for your home.
Stop by your local garden center and speak with one of our landscaping experts today or message us below for an appointment.
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We are conveniently located off Dorchester Rd at 4716 Forest Hills Dr, North Charleston, SC 29418.
Phone: 843-725-8990
Garden Center Hours- M-F 8am-5pm
Our garden center includes an on-site nursery with popular varieties of shrubs, trees and plants that will thrive in our climate. We take great pride in offering the very best in quality and service. Our knowledgeable staff can help you select varieties that will work perfectly for your space and light conditions. Stop by and browse our selections today.
For DIY and commercial landscapers we offer great selections of soil, mulch, fertilizer, and more. Our offerings are in keeping with today’s design trends and soil requirements for our area. Not sure what you need? We love to help explain your options to include understanding how to use the right materials so your plants will thrive in our area.
Many of our customers love working in the yard but simply need some help getting started. With We Plan You Plant we can help you get a great plan together for your landscape and then you can handle the installation yourself. As your local garden center resource our knowledge of current design trends, local varieties, and height space and light requirements, we can help you develop a beautiful design that will thrive for many years to come.
Our Full Service Design and Installation includes everything you need to make your outdoor space brand new. From initial concept to completion we take every aspect of your new outdoor space into consideration when planning your design. We take great pride in using only the very best in materials and varieties that will thrive in our climate. Space flow, height space and light requirements, and soil among other thiings are taken into consideration when we plan your outdoor space. Allow us to do the heavy lifting so you can enjoy planning and living in your new outdoor space.
We would love to hear from you. If you have any questions about our products or services please fill out the form and someone will be in touch with you shortly. We can also be reached during business hours by phone at 843-725-8990
At Terra Bella Garden Center we have an experienced team of horticultural and design experts to help you with all your home exterior garden needs. We pride ourselves on exceptional customer service and seek to provide you with advice that will help your vision come to life. Our team has an extensive understanding of the various light, soil and climate conditions that exist in our area and can help you achieve a landscape that is colorful and inviting year round.
Karsten McElfresh opened Terra Bella Garden Center with 15 years of hands-on experience in the green industry and a degree in Plant and Soil Science from the University of Kentucky. His career began with the unique privilege of serving in a leading turf grass management position at Indian Hill Club on Chicago’s prestigious North Shore District. In 2003, he was honored to serve on the grounds staff for the 2003 U.S. Open Golf Championship hosted by Olympia Fields Country Club, also in Chicago. Upon his arrival to Charleston, South Carolina in 2004, Karsten was proud to assume the responsibility of Golf Course Superintendent at Wild Dunes Resort, a highly respected golf destination which typically ranks in the Top 100 Golf Resorts of the United States. Karsten’s horticultural knowledge, experience and creativity has positioned him as an industry leader and influencer within the local green industry. His opinion and services are widely respected and sought-after by professionals throughout the Lowcountry. Karsten started Terra Bella with the goal of leading a company like he manages his own life: with integrity, honesty and respect for his clients. Karsten seeks to balance his creativity and passion for the outdoor environments where people live with his love for his faith, family, and friendships.
Kristian has always had a passion for design, cooking and the outdoors. Her love of cooking led her to Charleston, where she attended Johnson and Wales University and opened a retail bakery. An opportunity to return to school allowed her to pursue her love of the outdoors and landscapes in the horticulture program at Trident Tech, where she earned a landscape design certificate. Her designs are focused on functionality and beauty with sustainable aspects. Kristian was brought on in 2012 to build Natural Tendencies’ design division to meet the growing demand.
Darren is a SCNLA Certified Professional Nurseryman and a Charleston County Master Gardener. As a member of the Coastal Carolina Camellia Society as well as the founder of the Lowcountry Fruit Growers Society, Darren is currently president of both groups. He is known as “The Citrus Guy” here in the Lowcountry as an expert in the cultivation of Citrus and currently has 55+ different varieties in his yard, mostly in containers, but some in the ground as well. He is an Exotic Tropical Fruit buff, growing things many people have never heard of, and is well versed in all other kinds of fruit as well. Darren enjoys teaching and is a blog author to be educational, sometimes funny, and hopefully always inspirational. He loves helping people with their garden problems.
Jonathan grew up outside of Richmond VA, then headed south, graduating from North Carolina State University with a B.S. in Horticultural Science and Landscape Design in 2006. He started his post-grad career at the former Carolina Nurseries, Inc in Moncks Corner and managed the local plant distribution center which supplied the majority of Charleston’s Garden Centers and Landscape Contractors. A South Carolina Certified Nursery Professional, Jonathan brings a wealth of horticultural knowledge to the Terra Bella Professionals Team, further strengthening the bond we have with our clients and maximizing the full potential of our clients properties. In his free time he enjoys traveling, cooking and spending time with friends on the water.
Winter can be tough on your outside plants, even in the mild climate of the Carolinas. Take a slow and thoughtful stroll through your landscape, garden, or greenspace; look for damage, decline, and dead-heads that could indicate exposure to chillier temperatures. Are your outside plants looking a little sad after a cold snap? Be patient. When perusing your plants, resist the urge to pluck, fix, or prune brown spots that you find on your green plants, shrubs, or trees….
Want more reasons to conserve water? If environmental sustainability isn’t enough, know that conserving the water that you use will save you money over time. Plus, optimizing water usage creates a hardy and lush landscape. For more ways to save water and create an efficient greenspace, talk to landscaping professionals in the Charleston area. Watering your Greenspaces Your greenspaces and landscape will receive some water naturally from the environment, but you will need to reinforce this with regular irrigation practices….
Got limited room for a garden? Don’t let the idyllic climate of the low-country go to waste, even if space is tight. If you lack footage horizontally, consider planting vertically; a vertical garden is a solution for anyone with more of a green-thumb than green-space. Irrigation Irrigation is of the utmost importance when it comes to a vertical garden. Roots can become crowded and dry-out fast; drip irrigation ensures they don’t wither and die. Many of the most popular vertical…
It pays to put your garden to rest before the winter, even in the mild climate of the Carolinas. Consider maintaining your winter garden in the fall, to ensure hardy and prosperous plants, beds, and landscapes in the spring. Help your garden rest through the winter with these late-season tips: Harvest what you can. Now is the time to harvest and gather what you can from your garden before the first frost. Pick and dry your herbs, flowers, and seeds,…
Probably the most recognizable symbol of the season is the Christmas tree; how will you decorate yours this season? Get inspired with some inventive ideas for the holidays that highlight the tree. Consider these Christmas tree decorating ideas for your holiday home: Choose a black and white color scheme. Choose a black and white color scheme on your tree for something chic and contemporary. Collect black baubles after the holidays when they go on sale, and pair with white icicles, silver…
The lush holiday flora and foliage is a sure sign of the festive season, but which Christmas plants will thrive in your South Carolinian home and garden? Talk to the experts at your local landscape and design center in Charleston, and learn a little about some wildly popular Christmas plants this year: Poinsettia The poster-child of holiday flora is the beautiful Poinsettia, which is actually a flowering shrub. Found widely in red and white varieties, this plant originated in Mexico…
There are certain times of year that benefit from the planting of short-season annuals; short-season annuals have a shorter life than other annuals and a fairly-narrow temperature tolerance during their peak. These annuals aren’t intended to thrive in extreme conditions or weather, but rather to serve other colorful purposes in your landscape. Maintain a beautiful look and fill your garden with short-season annuals: Create Diversity Short-season annuals allow you to create diverse displays and utilize flora and foliage that is…
For a thrush of lovely rose, purple, and white flowers in your Carolinian landscape, consider cleome, or ‘spider flowers’. These tough annuals thrive in this climate and promise low maintenance, high yield when integrated in your yards, gardens, and beds. Use spider flower in masses, as background plantings, containers, and as part of your cutting garden. Plant the hardy Cleome spider flower; use these tips to help it flourish in your landscape: Sun Cleome does best in well-drained soil, planted…
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