Re: Mail Order Nurseries

Jim,
Your location, your connections, your expertise - but mainly, as  they say,
Location, Location, Location -
are big reasons why you have no need to rely on mailorder.

I'm not so lucky.  I need mailorder to get the items I'm looking for.  Most
people around here have never even heard of Toad Lilies.  Something very
simple, very easy to grow, and comfortably hardy.  But we put some in our MG
sale and you'd think it was an exotic.  When nurseries do try to carry
something out of the ordinary it is often passed over in favor of a Black
Eyed Susan.  Our toad lilies flew out of there because we were able to talk
them up, one on one with the customers.

Kitty

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "james singer" <jsinger@igc.org>
To: "Chat" <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2003 7:01 PM
Subject: [CHAT] Mail Order Nurseries


> I never got much beyond the seed-buying stage with mail order houses. I
> can't imagine buying bedding plants from them when the chains [Home
> Depot, Lowes, Wal-Mart] have them before one could receive them via
> mail.
>
> Rather, I've spent many, many hours roaming the countryside searching
> for local [or nearly local] retail outlets and garden club pant sales.
> I don't know why exactly. I just guess that I feel better if I can see
> the real item before I buy it. Also, I've found that one can
> occasionally find genuine buys at small, out of the way nurseries.
>
> The first ground orchids we bought, for example, were in 1-gallon pots
> from the back bench of a nursery in West Palm Beach. The pots were
> definitely overgrown--maybe 10 or 15 plants per pot--and the price was
> right [less than $5.00]. They were also blooming, so we knew what
> colors we were getting.
>
> I know this is not always practical in northern places. And it's
> certainly not practical if you are interested in bulbs other than
> daffodils, grape hyacinths, and tulips. But it works for most things
> that are well-suited to the climate.
>
> I read the negative comments about TyTy and was struck more by the
> naivete of the buyers than by the apparent veniality of the seller. I
> can't imagine buying a palm, even a trash palm like Sabal palmetto
> [state tree of Florida and South Carolina], mail order. Just doesn't
> compute.
>
> Island Jim
> Southwest Florida
> Zone 10
>
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