Can you ever really be sure of a mail order plant company until you have tried them out ?
Sometimes you just have to take a chance and see what happens otherwise you will never know!
Some plants you just can't find in your area so this is another avenue to take and I have learned a great deal from my experiences !
Take a good experience from a company you have used a few times .. that can lead you to take another chance with this company on a plant not seen even with extensive searches on the net .. no one had descriptive information on "Silver Lining" brunnera .. and I was just so curious that I trusted Chris (Christine Lepard) at Canning Perennials and ordered that one to go with yet another Jack Frost, and Mr. Morse which was another one I had no experience with.
Add a completely different plant .. pulmonaria Moonshine and I was really wondering how they would look after unwrapping and planting them.
Bingo ! .. they were amazing .. so big and healthy .. I had ordered before from Chris and knew her plants were exceptional for mail order ones and she did not let me down with this order.
So a POSITIVE YES ! to this company !
Floral and Hardy is another Ontario based company which was a great experience .. fantastic one on one contact with the owners made it a really pleasant experience. I love King's Ransom brunnera .. Sweet Tea heucherella, as well as Brass Lantern, plus Autumn Leaves huechera.To top it off , as in customer appreciation they added a sweet little hosta .. now how good can it get ?
Last year Northern Lights ornamental grass from Canning Perennials mixed with Soloman's Seal, brunnera, heuchera .. you can not see the difference between mail order and local garden center plants, now can you ?
The whole "swath" intermixed in this curve felt right at home ..
I also have to mention Vesey Seeds in PEI .. they are a wonderful company to deal with as well .. any problems and they will do their very best to make right .. so they are a big yes ! as well.
Last year Northern Lights ornamental grass from Canning Perennials mixed with Soloman's Seal, brunnera, heuchera .. you can not see the difference between mail order and local garden center plants, now can you ?
The whole "swath" intermixed in this curve felt right at home ..
I also have to mention Vesey Seeds in PEI .. they are a wonderful company to deal with as well .. any problems and they will do their very best to make right .. so they are a big yes ! as well.Black sheep companies I will not deal with again ..
Brecks .. totally lost my order .. another woman's order arrived and after phoning the company I was told to keep that one and the plants I ordered were no longer available .. great .. nothing this other woman ordered was anything I liked .. so I shared with a garden friend and funny enough she said nothing quite turned out ... BIG surprise ?
I found out that Brecks and Henry Fields and possibly Spring Garden are all the same company talk about cause for confusion ?? .. NOPE ... simply cause for not dealing with those companies again ... what plants I did get (Henry Fields) were so small, almost nonexistent smothered in peat moss .. I was kicking myself .. but .. it was a learning experience .. I know now !
So .... anyone else with good/bad experience ? Lessons learned ??
14 comments:
really beautiful plants! I have never mail order any. I might as well give it a try.
I usually don't order by mail. I haven't had the best of luck. I think you are brave.
Thanks for all of the great references on plants. I know I cannot order from these companies but I was wondering which Brunneras to get.
I see we have both changed our headers. I couldn't handle the red anymore, had to get into spring colors.
Eileen
Ordered a rose for thompson and morgan last year...it was quite large and seems to have done well. This year I place a good size order with bluestoneperennials, first time with them...I read their reviews and went with that...we shall see...thanks for sharing your experiences, I wish others would..hey this would be a great post topic!
It is hard to know these companies until you have experienced them. Gurnsey id an old company also but the plants are so tiny. I love your Silver Lining Brunnera with its beautiful leaves.Have a great weekend Joy!
I only order from companies in the northern states, and have better luck with that. I have always had good luck with Vesey Seeds, and my local PineTree Garden Seeds.
I've also had good experiences with Veseys (and one bad experience with Brecks--ordered some Angelique tulip bulbs and half of them didn't grow, other half were sickly. Luckily I ordered when they had a special deal on and they were very cheap).
For seeds I like Stokes, they have a super selection and reasonable prices. Park Seed is pretty good too.
Dave's Garden has reviews of thousands of mail order companies worldwide (The Garden Watchdog, a useful place to check out unfamiliar companies and share your experiences.
Have I mentioned lately, dear Lady, what a TALENTED!!! woman you are when it comes to creating foliage beds?? Wow, reminds of the first time I ever saw your blog and was dazzled. :)
Have a great weekend!
I agree when you order you are taking a chance. Thankfully I have found a company in my state that sends wonderful plants that I have had great success with. I will continue to do business with them.
I don't mail order plants, but do have bulbs shipped to me. It looks like you found some reputable companies in which to deal. Your garden is really pretty BTW with all the variety.
Thanks for the advice. I will look up these companies.
nellie
Hello there fer : ) I would find a company that doesn't penalize you for a small order .. some companies insist on a certain level spent .. but if you find one that does a small order that is a testing ground to see what they are like ! give it a try: )
Hello there Lisa ! .. I just had to try girl .. we had some very lean years here for choice and I so wanted some out of the ordinary plants .. I have been lucky to find good companies : )
Eileen girl I love my brunnera and I am looking for Emerald Mist now which I know a few of the good companies have .. plus Redstone Falls heucherella !! you know I have to have that one : )
Yes .. and as soon as St. Paddy's Day is over I will calm it down to a nice fresh clean start with the design .. I'm just sill with holidays ;-)
Hey Darla girl : ) thanks for telling your experience ! .. I love Bluestone's website .. good information there .. and you researched before hand so I bet they are a great company .. let me know how it turns out ? .. and yes i would love to hear of more experience too !
Lona girl thanks ! .. yes , old company doesn't mean good company that is so true ;-( you just have to give it a whirl to see .. I am trying another new one this year a few hours away from here .. they have a few I really want and I'm not sure will be here .. so I will post on that later on : )
Sandy that is great you buy from Vesey !! I have dealt with them for years and they always do their best for me .. it is better to use companies that aren't too far from you .. they can't hide as well when something goes wrong ? LOL
Rosemary thank you for letting me know ! Brecks is mixed up with other companies that have one parent company that is not great .. stand alone companies like Vesey are the better ones for sure and it really helps to read reviews just like you have said ! thanks for your input girl !
Ms S you are too sweet : ) thank you ! .. BUT .. I have made some huge mistakes in my front bed lately so now I have to rethink that design .. got carried away with hydrangea and they over shadow the smaller more detailed plants .. so that is a Spring job for sure!
Lola there is the key ingredient .. dealing with a company within your state .. you can nail them a lot easier than a company across the country : ) haha .. it is wonderful to find one you are happy with !
Thanks Donna : ) .. Yes ! some bulbs you just can't find locally .. I have had a terrible time trying to find the exact tulip I fell in love with two years ago .. but I will try again this Fall ..eekk ! did I say FALL ??LOL
Nellie I can vouch from my experience that these companies delivered really good plants ! Try a small order just to have an idea!
Another vote for Bluestone! I've had nothing but success with them. I also use Santa Rosa Gardens for ornamental grasses and Rare Finds Nursery for harder to find perennials, shrubs, etc. Thrilled to have found your blog!
Hello there ONG !
Thank you : ) I am a huge fan of ornamental grasses too and squeeze them in where I can and probably shouldn't ? haha .. we just can't help ourselves loving certain plants no matter the space we have !
Thanks for your input : )
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