Re: Re: todays experience

LOL - I know she did. BTW the transplants from Seed Savers Exchange in
Iowa are excellent quality also. I get their seeds and plants both.
seedsavers.org


Pam Evans
Kemp, TX
zone 8A
----- Original Message -----
From: Kitty
Sent: 5/7/2004 12:00:46 PM
To: gardenchat@hort.net
Subject: Re: [CHAT] todays experience

> I think she meant Gene Bush ;+)

> Donna,

> I have ordered boatloads via mailorder.  Just like Marge said, give them a

> try with a small order.  If a company treats the small orders well, they

> will most likely be good with any size.  She's right about Plant Delights -

> great place, but some high prices. All good products and they back them up.

> Closer to you and me is Arrowhead in Michigan.  Great selection - send for

> their catalog.  He ships in pot, well established plants.  My goodness, you

> should SEE the giant Petasites (Butterbur) he sent me!

> 

> What Marge said about local places is true in most areas, but since you're

> in such a large metropolitan area you stand a better chance of finding

> something interesting locally than I do.  If I see one more Shasta Daisy

> I'll scream!  You'll never find a Deinanthe or Glaucidium around here, or

> even a woodland peony.  There's another exceptional one for you.  Get Seneca

> Hil's catalog; it's small but interesting items.

> 

> Shipping from the west coast IS high.  One way around that is Greer Garden's

> thick catalogue of some ordinary and some hard to find items.  Get the

> catalog.  Don't order - yet.  At Christmas order a 20% off gift certificate

> for yourself and then place your spring order. You still pay the 30%

> shipping but the 20% savings offsets that.  Excellent quality at Greer, too.

> 

> Kitty

> 

> 

> 

> ----- Original Message ----- 

> From: "Marge Talt" <mtalt@hort.net>

> To: <gardenchat@hort.net>

> Sent: Friday, May 07, 2004 4:30 AM

> Subject: Re: [CHAT] todays experience

> 

> 

> > > From: Donna  <justme@prairieinet.net>

> > > It was from a place called Plant Delights. I felt they were kind of

> > > expensive, still do, but the variety they offer is something not

> > > available here. I am still amazed they were sent in pots. I did

> > have to

> > > browse a tad and see if it was just a new plug and surprised to see

> > they

> > > were established plants in the pots. Maybe cause I waited so long

> > to get

> > > them delivered.

> > ----------

> >

> > Well,  Donna, you picked a good nursery for a first order.  Tony's

> > one of the best in the business.  He's gotten quite expensive these

> > days IMO, but he sends out good plants that are established and if

> > that's not what you get, you need to tell him so.  I'm  a Tony Avent

> > fan:-)  His nursery funds his botanical garden, which is pretty durn

> > fabulous.  He's said his goal is to grow every plant that can be

> > grown in his climate and I think he's well on the way.  He does list

> > a lot of unusual plants.  Just wish his prices and shipping had not

> > risen quite as much as they have in the past couple of years.  But,

> > also, he makes no bones about the nursery being a business who's

> > objective is making a profit - absolutely nothing wrong with that,

> > either.  His book, "So You Want To Start A Nursery' was just

> > published by Timber Press a few months ago.  Highly recommended for

> > anybody thinking along those lines.  He told me it's even being used

> > as a text book by some universities!

> >

> > I think you'll find that all the good mailorder nurseries send out

> > established plants.  They are often small because shipping is so durn

> > high these days, but their root systems ought to be well developed.

> > Some nurseries ship in the growing pots and some, particularly with

> > larger plants, remove the pots and some of the potting soil to save

> > on weight for shipping.  If they do that, then the rootballs are well

> > wrapped.

> >

> > A good mailorder nursery tells you what size plants they are

> > shipping.  Of course, size also has to do with the plant; some plants

> > aren't big to start with and some are.

> >

> > I've been buying plants mailorder for nearly 30 years; it's really

> > the only way to get a lot of things which local establishments don't

> > find it profitable to sell for a wide variety of reasons seldom

> > having to do with whether the plant grows well locally.  Most local

> > places that do not grow their own buy wholesale from a limited number

> > of growers who grow the most 'popular' and easy to grow plants -

> > their object is making money and not offering unusual plants for the

> > discerning gardener:-)

> >

> > So support our marvelous mailorder nurseries - they are the people

> > who are growing plants, often as very small operations, who know the

> > plants they grow and propagate them.  Well, some are marvelous and

> > some, like Kitty's recent experience, are not so marvelous - they may

> > or may not be able to get their act in gear, but I agree with Kitty,

> > one order is enough if they are going to handle it the way hers was

> > handled.  But, I think you shouldn't balk at giving the better ones a

> > try.  Just order the minimum on your first order to see what they

> > ship.

> >

> > Tho' shipping from the west cost is high, I have been really pleased

> > with what I've gotten from Heronswood, Collector's Nursery and

> > Digging Dog Nursery...check them out.  I got my first order from Lazy

> > S'S and am pleased with their plants as well, plus Debby has been

> > fantastic about keeping me abreast of progress on one of the Paris I

> > ordered who was being recalcitrant about waking up....it just got

> > here today with nice fat nose showing above soil.

> >

> > And, of course, do not forget our own Gene Blake's Munchkin Nursery -

> > he's not all that far away from you so if it grows for him, it's

> > likely to grow for you.

> >

> > So many nurseries; so many plants; not enough $$$.

> >

> > Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland

> > mtalt@hort.net

> > Editor:  Gardening in Shade

> > -----------------------------------------------

> > Current Article: Battling Bambi

> > http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/shade_gardening

> > ------------------------------------------------

> > Complete Index of Articles by Category and Date

> > http://mtalt.hort.net/article-index.html

> > ------------------------------------------------

> > All Suite101.com garden topics :

> > http://www.suite101.com/topics.cfm/635

> >

> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------

> > Support hort.net -- join the hort.net fund drive!

> > http://www.hort.net/funds/

> 

> ---------------------------------------------------------------------

> Support hort.net -- join the hort.net fund drive!

> http://www.hort.net/funds/

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Support hort.net -- join the hort.net fund drive!
http://www.hort.net/funds/
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index