RE: price and quality/Best deal??





Valerie Lowery@ZEON
01/20/99 01:36 PM

Sue,
This is my rule of thumb:  if it is a common perennial, like a yarrow,
echinacea, or campanula, I will buy it locally from the cheapest source I
can.  I find that even Wal-Mart carries decent plants early in the season
if it's a well-known perennial!  If I want a mature plant (those grown in
gallon containers and bigger) for an immediate impact, I'll buy locally as
well, but from a nursery I know has taken care of the plants and not just
"potted up" a quart-sized plant into a larger container (shop around at a
more expensive nursery to get a feel on what it should look like).  It can
cost more to ship a bigger plant through the mail so it's hard to find a
company that will.  And once you do, the shipping costs are so high you'd
wish you had just bought locally.

I mostly buy through mail-order, however, because I find that they have
multiple-quantity discounts that are hard to beat.  If I'm not too fussy
about size (if I can wait a year before the plant makes an impact), I'll
buy mail order.  If I want a particular variety, and it's VERY important
that I have THAT variety, I'll go mail order.  They're usually more
reliable and will usually back up their merchandise.

When I first started, I used to buy anything anywhere.  After many wasted
hard-earned dollars, you learn quickly about what you can and cannot do.
Other fast, hard rules:

1.  Never buy plants that are for sale in little boxes in the stores.  They
are usually packaged in a little plastic bag of dirt that has a rubber band
around it.  Haven't you ever wondered how they water the poor little
things?  They don't!

2.  Never buy lily bulbs that have sprouted or are in dried up peat moss.
They are doomed before you ever get them home.

3.  If the dirt in the container has pulled away from the sides, it's a
sign that the nursery doesn't water on a regular basis.  Your plant may be
stressed.  Choose another; why take a risk?

4.  If you order through the mail and the catalog offers a bunch of plants
at a tiny price, guess what?  You get what you pay for.  I can never forget
when I ordered that $9.95 garden from Michigan Bulbs only to receive a
business-sized envelope full of twigs banded together in five's.  This was
my advertised "perennial garden."

5.  If a mail-order company won't guarantee what they sell, go elsewhere.
Too many others do.

This is enough to get a new gardener going.  Does anyone want to add to
this list?

Val in KY
zone 6a


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