Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've had great luck with Stark brothers for grape cultivars.
I've had great experience with Stark Brothers recently as well.
I ordered a bare-root gooseberry bush, and it arrived quick and packaged very well. It was way bigger than I was expecting, and came with nicely printed planting instructions.
I soaked the roots for a few hours, and when I went to plant it, I noticed that all the tiny closed buds covering the bush had already started to open with green growth.
Needless to say, I'm very happy so far!
Check with garden watchdog. That's a section of Dave's Garden. Last time I was there, they let you run 6 names without joining.
I've joined the site and it didn't cost anything. If it now costs to join, that is new.
The nursery sites with really lovely low prices are, rule of thumb, not the best places to buy. Not unless you have several friends who have had good luck with the site. Most of the really good sites do not do extensive advertising and don't send out unsolicited color catalogs, just a hint about who to be suspicious about.
OP, if you would post what sort of plants you want, maybe someone here can recommend the best places to buy. I've got a few places to buy really nice plants for cheap, but the best nurseries specialize so you can only get one type of plant there.
I've had great luck with Stark brothers for grape cultivars. Great luck with Chestnut Hill tree farm here in Florida for blueberries, peaches, and many other fruit trees.
Not my zone <. Let somebody else enjoy your advice!
Quote:
Originally Posted by TerraDown
I also ordered from Direct Gardening years back, and had a similar experience. They are also associated with another online nursery that I can't remember the name of right now.
OP, if you would post what sort of plants you want, maybe someone here can recommend the best places to buy. I've got a few places to buy really nice plants for cheap, but the best nurseries specialize so you can only get one type of plant there.
I'm basically looking for whatever perennial for zone 2 that blooms nicely (fragrance is a plus) and/or lets form a living wall. I ordered arborvitae, purple leaf plum hedge, mock orange, dwarf flowering cherry, and Indian currant coralberry - it's what they claim can survive zone2 . All arrived dead dead, so I was unable to test the hardiness.
Its even worse when you get to the big box stores; not only do the employees have no idea what they are talking about, but they are selling plants that are not hardy in that zone.
Yeah, I noticed some plants at Lowe's this year that I know just won't grow around here...delphiniums, for one.
Are Breck's and Spring Hill still around? And just as good as decades ago, when we got pinks and bulbs and daylilies?
All are still thriving.
I ordered from Spring Hill last June and they took my money at that time (and I state this only because with many companies I use, they don't charge your credit card until they actually SHIP your order -- not when you PLACE the order). The catalog I ordered from stated that they had a 1-year guarantee, so I was pretty confident in ordering. I anxiously checked in every few days to see when my plants (many flowers, some heuchera/coral bells plants) would be shipped. It got later, and later, and later, and by August I was emailing the customer service rep every couple of days. Also by that time I was checking the web site EVERY DAY to see when my items would be shipped -- and every day, the shipping date would be 1 day later than it had been the day before, which meant, of course, that the shipping info was USELESS. I was frustrated beyond belief.
I FINALLY got my plants in early October (four months after I'd paid for them!), which was right about the time of our first frost (I was supposed to get them by September 11th at the latest). I got everything into the ground right away, but of course would not be able to tell until this spring how the plants would actually do. AND at that time, I found out that their ONE-YEAR GUARANTEE had been changed to a 30-DAY GUARANTEE -- which, of course, is absolutely USELESS for plants that you get in the fall and won't see any blooming/growing until the following spring.
Needless to say, I was furious. I emailed the customer service rep again within the 30-day window and told her I was dissatisfied with EVERYTHING and would likely want replacements come the spring. That was the ONLY way I could do it, since their 1-year guarantee had somehow disappeared. (Of course I told her that if everything came up in the spring, as it was supposed to, I would not need any replacements, but there was no way I would KNOW anything until the spring. I also asked her how on earth their 30-day guarantee was any good, when it will take many many months to see if things grow? No response to that.)
So what happened? The heucheras (most of them, anyway) appear to be doing well, but out of 100 or so tulips that I planted, maybe TEN came up. And I still haven't seen any of the other flowers I planted -- still waiting on them.
I emailed the customer service rep (same one from last fall) last Wednesday evening to let her know what was going on. She had emailed me many times last fall saying "we will make it right, just work with us, we will make it right." No response from her last Thursday or Friday. I will be calling and complaining on Monday if, as expected, I still haven't heard from her.
Never again will I buy from that company or any of their related companies.
Why did I buy from them in the first place? Their prices were great (now I know why -- you have no idea if anything will actually GROW) AND they would send "baby" plants, whereas my local stores (nurseries and Home Depot, which I've actually had good luck with) sell mostly mature plants, and their prices reflect that. This year, I'm sticking with my local places.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
. Let somebody else enjoy your advice! 
