southernstates.com
Second Place: Strange’s Florist
Third Place: Lowe’s
If you like to squint at your 0.18-acre backyard and pretend it’s a proper Virginia estate; if you tend a tomato patch and call yourself a farmer; if you daydream about one day getting the pony, the goats, and hell, a few alpacas … then Southern States is your store. Southern States carries plenty of grass seed, mulch and petunias. But it also sells necessaries for the rural life, such as poultry grit, canning kits and troughs. If you wander by in early spring, you’ll find tubs full of cheeping chicks and fuzzy bunnies. Go ahead, you can pet them. This venerable company has local cred — it was founded in Richmond in 1923 and remains farmer-owned. If you’re a garden geek, Strange’s is the place to go for perennials, veggies and plant remedies. And you can’t beat Lowe’s for basic, low-priced backyard essentials.