Where to Buy Plants Online
Where to Buy Plants Online
Hopefully this post will give you some informed information about buying plants online or through a mail order nursery.
Our youngest, third generation nurseryman
Sorry, I had to include this photo of one of Ohio’s youngest nurseryman. This is our youngest grandson Gavin, and this little irishmen is 2-1/2 years old and he is a corker! This photo was snapped by my photographer daughter-in-law Lorelei McGroarty.
This topic of buying plants online is a “hot potato” and I’m asking for your input. I don’t want this to turn into a vendor bashing event and I really don’t want vendor’s mentioned here because that just opens this up to spam issues. What I really want to know are;
Have you purchased plants online?
Were you happy with the plants that you received?
We’re you happy with the customer service you received from the vendor? (please don’t mention the vendor, your post won’t be approved)
Where do you like to buy plants? Big box store, local garden center etc.?
People often ask where they can buy plants online and I am usually really reluctant to mention any vendors because I’ve heard way too many horror stories and I don’t buy from retail vendors who sell online or via mail order.
I’ve been in this business most of my life and at one time I worked for a local nursery that sold plants bare root. We dug all of the plants in the fall, hauled them into the barns completely bare root, then when the digging was done we started sorting and grading the plants and tying them in bundles of 10 or 25 plants per bundle. Once all of that was done we started shipping them out to wholesale customers. Some of the customers were re-wholesalers, some were garden centers, some were retail mail order plant sellers.
Digging plants bare root and selling them completely bare root, no soil or mulch covering the roots, is a common practice in the nursery industry and it is acceptable. Providing the plants are handled properly, cared for properly and always, always, always kept in a high humidity environment.
And there lies the problem. Bare root plants should be kept in an environment where the humidity is at a constant 90% or higher. That’s really difficult to do. Especially in a nursery barn or in the back of truck during transit. Now keep in mind most bare root plants are shipped during the winter, mostly the end of the winter months, but none the less it’s cold outside when bare root plants are shipped. That means that during transit, in the truck, the trucks have to be, or at least should be heated to keep the bare root plants from freezing.
If the truck is not heated the plants can freeze doing serious damage to their exposed roots. If the truck is heated, chances are the heat is going to lower the humidity in the back of the truck because the truck driver is unlikely to find a garden hose and wet down the roots along the way because . . . he is a truck driver, not a gardener and not a nurseryman. He or she has no clue how to care for plants. It’s not what they do.
Then of course once the plants arrive to their destination back into a barn they go, stored until they are sold again. Hopefully the person in charge of the plants in that barn knows how to properly care for them while they are in his/her custody.
Now, when buying plants online, you have no idea where those plants came from, who grew them, and whether or not they spent 6 days on the road as the country music song suggests.
You just don’t know.
So when you are looking for a place to buy plants online, I suggest that you first spend time reading the companies web site. Look for a guarantee. Read that guarantee carefully. As I mentioned I don’t buy plants online from nurseries that sell to retail buyers. I know the drill too well. But I was once looking at such a site and I couldn’t believe what I was reading as I was reading their guarantee. As I recall is said something along the lines of “it’s not unsual to lose 30% of the plants that you buy”.
It really said that! I am not making this up! Whaaaaaaaaaaat?
When I buy plants I expect 100% of them to live. Do they? Not always, but if they don’t it’s probably because I did something wrong and killed them. Usually not paying as much attention to them as I should.
In other words I buy from growers who I expect to send me very healthy, well care for plants. I buy from wholesale suppliers and they know they can’t pull the wool over the eyes of other people in the industry. I wish I could say the same for some of the online nurseries that sell to retail plant buyers because there are good growers out there who sell to the public. There are also some that give them a really bad way to go.
I do my absolute best not to buy plants that have been in bare root storage because I know it often sets them back. I like to get nursery stock that is fresh right out of the ground or pulled from it’s pot the day it went into the packing box.
So that’s what I have to say about looking for a place to buy plants online. Pay more attention to their guarantee and their overall reputation than you do the pretty pictures.
Tell me about your experiences. Are they good or bad? Don’t bash vendor’s. That’s not the meaning of this post.
I buy oplants online all the time with great success. I look for small family operations who guarantee their plants, dig them fresh when they’re ordered, and communicate well with their customers (I read reviews on them before I buy.) I avoid mail order nurseries with a few exceptions. It’s too bad you don’t want names mentioned because there are a few who are running businesses that should be examples to anyone who wants to go into the business–they’re great!
Arthur, you’re a smart buyer and you are doing it exactly right. Believe it or not, if I were to allow people to post names of companies this posted would get spammed off the map. That’s the reality of the internet.
Dear mr Arthur. I happend to see your experenince with Mr. Mikle in his blog.Shall appreciate if you could mail me few retailers of plants of vrious variety from where you buy online. I am in UAE and looking forward to buy few line of plants.
Please advice. Thanks and regads
Arthur,
Could you please send me the information on where you buy your plants online.
I have tried a few places and have not had the success I was hoping for.
Thanks
Debbie, check with our Backyard Growers. I love to promote them. http://www.mikesbackyardnursery.com/category/backyard-nurseries/#
Can you supply name of where you order plants. I am interested in camellias.
Celeste, all of my sources are wholesale growers and they won’t sell to you unless you are a member of the trade. When you get my system, http://freeplants.com/wanted.htm, I tell you exactly how to order from these deeply discounted nurseries so they will sell to you.
My neighbor, and I decided that we wanted to plant colorful leafed trees in our respective yards. An acquaintance of my neighbor told him about this place online that sells trees, and plants. We ordered a few tress of three different varieties. When we received these trees I noticed that they were dry twigs. These supposed trees’ roots were not in packets of soil or pots, they had been simply placed in a box. These twigs were approximately 18″ to 24″ in length. My neighbor’s friend told him to place them in pots with store bought soil, and that these will grow. These twigs never grew, and it was a great waste of our time, and money. Never again.
Alamody, the shameful thing is that there are online and mail order plant nurseries that do an incedible job. But others, not so much.
Same thing happened to me…I thought I found a a deal $1.50 for supposed to be 3ft trees, they were dry twigs, I soaked them then potted and took care of them but got nothing.
I had the same experience. I like mail order, but not sure I will do it again. I have also purchased seeds where some didn’t grow. I am in Zone 3 and my area gets a short summer and Chinook winds in winter (which can dry out bushes & even trees if not properly prepared).
I buy plants from local growers and have had good luck with them. I did buy seeds online from one of the more popular nurseries., but haven’t used them yet.
Dear Mike,
I don´t know if you have noticed it, but I live in Reykjavík,Iceland, the small island up there, east of Greenland.
I love your articles and videos and you have taught me a lot. It is not allowed to import rooted plants from abroad to Iceland unless you have a health certificate which it seems if very expensive unless you buy a lot each time.
I have a few hectares of land in the countryside where I grow trees and I have ordered small seedlings that have been sent across the country in the mail with very good results. I have also grown my own trees from seed or cuttings, but never sold any.
I am close to retirement and sometimes i think it would be nice to be able to make a little money selling plants, but I think I would have to grow them all from seed or cuttings which would be a lot of work, – but growing things is one of my passions.
Mike, I hope I will keep receiving your posts, they are such an inspiration.
Best regards,
Margret (Magga)
Magga, my name is Diana and my Mother is from Iceland!!!! I still have an Uncle who lives there!!! I would absolutely love to correspond with you!!! Please send me an email!!….looking forward to your response!!
Diana
Mike,
Call this a dreadful learning experience. Last year I ordered in over $1,000.00 of plants from on-line sources. Those offering a catalog and giving me the opportunity to dream of expanding my stock plants thus also my nursery selection.
I was very careful to examine their guarantee and comments of their business. The one big thing I did not consider was where their plants came from. I figured they would assume responsibility for where they bought their stock.
The results of my efforts was to say the least disappointing. I lost over 95% even though I followed acceptable techniques. What was also disappointing was when I contacted the companies to request replacements all but one made it just too difficult to comply. I had 25 out of 30 fruit trees fail. The company replaced them for half price and shipped replacements. Out of the replacements one tree survived. I’m not buying on-line from nursery brokers again. I’ll buy locally or since I’m a member of the board I’ll buy from board members. The prices are fair even including shipping and I’ve had a very high success rate from plants bought from Board Nurseries.
This is a great topic and I’ll follow with interest to see how other folks have faired buying on-line.
Sincerely,
Rocky
Rocky,
I appreciate your input and I’m sorry you had bad experiences. That’s why I brought this up because I’ve heard the same thing over and over and over. As you learned, when you buy from a small grower who actually cares about the plants that they grow and the customers that they sell them to. It makes all the difference in the world when you buy from somebody that actually cares.
Dear Mike
I was recently given a link to one of your articles and have really enjoyed reading all the articles on your site and newsletters!
I was wondering whether your book or other paid info packages include good sources for inexpensive Japanese Maples **in Canada**. I’ve done a fair bit of “googling” and can’t find any yet. It must be hard (red tape) and expensive to ship here from the US, right?
Thanks for any help.
Natalia, I do have some Canadian sources that I share with my customers. But more importantly I need people in Canada to start growing all kinds of plants and offering them for sale to our Canadian members. I get this request a lot, and you are right, shipping plants across the border is not something that most growers will do because of the extra inspections.
We have members that sell to other members, but I really need more growers in Canada to step up and meet this demand.
http://freeplants.com/wanted.htm
Mike I have been reading your information for years,,I would like to buy some red maples I live in Texas and have a big green house,,When should I buy now or in the spring>>> Thx Doug Walker
Doug, Japanese maples need to go dormant so no matter when you buy them you really don’t want them in your greenhouse. I like fall buying, but in your zone spring buyng will work better for you than it does me. We have too many late freezes in the spring and most of the Japanese maplet hat I buy come from the west coast and are leafed out in the spring. I actually buy now, or have dormant plants shipped in February. In Texas I suggest shading those young plants for the first growing season.
I have bought plants online/catalogue retail and have had mixed results;. Generally, I find, you get what you pay for.
I live in a heavily developed suburban area, but am lucky in that the last working farm in my county (a nursery) is just a mile away. I get nice plants for a fair price there. If I need a lot of bedding plants (when I was a novice gardener, I used to put in 15-17 flats of annuals each year), I drive 1.5 hours west to a nursery that does cash/carry wholesale to retail customers (for about a 30% discount of big box store prices and 1/2 what the local farmer charges.
For specialty items (fruit trees and shrubs, rare or new perennials) I stick with the local farm (he’ll even special order stuff for me) and a somewhat pricier local nursery that carries newer releases. (I usually buy from the latter around now, when they heavily discount perennials to clear out inventory for the winter).
In fact, its time for me to visit both places this weekend!
I divide the heck out of anything I buy before it goes in the ground.
Thank you for sharing your experience, that’s what I wanted to hear.
Love the pic!!!!
Judy
Hi Mike! I know you have a lot on your mind and I do not know if you will get a chance to read this or not, but I spoke with you several years ago and you were very kind and informative given my situation.
I am the guy who had that accident in the woods when the tree came back over and fell on top of me, leaving me paralyzed from the chest down and a moderate brain injury. Thanks for all of your help Mike and I did learn a lot about plant propagation, but because of my isolation due to my injuries, it was difficult to sell the plants below my house and make any legitimate income, especially since I did not have many plants to sell. I do live in quite a rural area, but it is a very good location if I could expand the business a bit and if word would spread a bit. I would have to become an official business however, before I could attract the proper clientele. I have not done anything in the recent future because chronic pain plays quite a role in my life for fourteen years or so. I have not even done any painting in years either nor have not even written a book yet. I wish that I knew so much more about your life as I am sure that would be a best seller! Bye for now Mike,
Todd
Todd, plants may or may not be the best thing for you to do to earn extra income, depending on how much you can do. But I assure you, there is something you can do. If you can grow small plants in pots, there is a market for them. You just have to get the word out and let people know what you have for sale. There always seems to be a market for flowering shrubs. Of course my products contain a wealth of information about how to do all of that. The book that I now sell is hot off the press, I just wrote it this summer. Lots of updated info.
OMG he is so cute I just became a grandma and I’m loving every minute. Your grandson is really cute I bet he’s going to be a big help in the garden.
Oh yeah! The 2 year old is a natural Mike! He is already to show his talent in Hollywood.
Your grandson is precious! And I’m sure gardening will be in his blood. I always enjoy your newsletter and apprecite all you share.
Hi Mike,
I have not personally ordered plants, but I worked at a retail nursery that ordered bareroot plants and I did the potting of those plants. Nearly everything we got was in good shape and grew well after planting, but we ordered mainly from large wholesale nurseries. I would like to support small business, but also want to be sure i’m getting good quality.
I recently purchased your system and I want to start ordering plants soon, but I am still reviewing all the info. I have been wondering if it is possible to get mature plants, (a little bigger than liners) bareroot?
I plan to ck with the other backyard growers. Thanks for all the great info you send us, it is very helpful.
I haven’t had good luck with buying mail order. Usually what I’ve purchased doesn’t make it through the winter. The pictures are always bigger than what is received. A good selling tool, but bad for the buyer.
I’d like to try some of your Japanese red maples. Please let me know if you will sell a few. Just for my personal use. I am not young enough to be starting a business, but I still enjoy my gardening when I can. Please let me know. Bonnie
I am looking for a plant that my mother used to grow in South Carolina years ago. She called it vine okra. It was the color and size of Zuccine Squash, but had spines running down the length of it. To eat you cut off the spines and fry up like regular okra. Do you have any idea where I could get seeds for this plant or what it is really called?
Hi Mike: You can remove the website as I am not the gardener there anymore. Back problems and my wife has altzimer so I am the care giver full time. I had purchased tapes from you before but not signed up for the growers board. I would like to purchase some plants from you and I enjoy your postings, however I am short on cash and cannot afford to do it at this tme. Is there someway around to buy plants. You mentioned in your e-mail to me that there are people in my area who would like to buy from me. Help me
John Hurley
Hi Mike,
What I want to do is plant these red maples in my yard to encircle a place for me to paint, read or what ever, like a sanctuary, with an arch with climbing roses. Can you just sell me some small ones and when I can plant?
Thanks
Vicky, At this time I am not shipping any plants. I’m just not set up for it and I really can’t spare any of the trees that I just bought. I won’t have any problem at all selling them when I’m ready. See if we have any members near you that have an ad on my site.
http://www.mikesbackyardnursery.com/category/backyard-nurseries/
So where do we order from then?
Hi Mike. That’s a good looking grandson you got there. I live in Zone 7 (upstate SC) and have a small greenhouse 10×20. I also have some raised bed areas. I would like tou se a large portion of them to grow some Japanese Maples. I understand your aversion to posting links. The web is a wonderful and horrible place to do business, If you have a moment, could you send me the link to the company you used to purchase the maples in your video. the pre root balled trees are so much easier to work with. They say if you want to succeed, you need to emulate someone who is succeeding. WWMD. (What Would Mike Do?) Have a great day and thanks for all the tips.
I got a bonsai grape vine plant. It grows new leaves for a while then the leaves fall off. It has done this twice. Am I watering too often, or not enough?
Thanks for any info you can give me.
Lorraine
Hi Mike, I usually buy from a small nursery even though their plants are a little more expensive but their plants look so much healthier and their professional plant specialists is always right there to answer any questions. The big box place never takes good care of their plants they seem to always be on the verge of death and you will wait at least 20 minutes for someone to locate the professional nursery person. I have also ordered plants on line and have been very pleased with my orders. Several items were bare root but they were packed carefully w/moist dirt in a plastic bag to stay moist. The small tree grew w/n 2 yrs as they said it would and it looks beautiful. The only problem was; as it bloomed I realized that the tree was not the same tree I ordered. I recently locted my receipt to see what can be done if anything. I do read the fine print and the guarantee’s. I also bought seeds from one of the on line retailer and I had never grew plants from seeds but they grew beautifully. I would definitely buy on line again.
Tammy, I’m glad to hear that! Not everybody has such positive experiences.
I have purchased plants online and from catalogs but have always been disappointed with what I received for my hard earned money. When I called or wrote to them they had dozens of excuses and would not back up their guarantees. Sorry you don’t want names mentioned because these people need to be put out of business. They don’t even grow the plants they sell and of course when I received the “plants” they were dead twigs and never eve showed any signs of new growth. Oh and the best part is that they asked me to return the plants to get a refund. Talk about good customer service.!!! I will never buy from ANY mailorder catalog, printed or online again. I am going to try your Backyard Growing System myself. Have a blessed day. God have favored your undertakings. Frankie
How do I know I will get a full refund???
Mike, I enjoy your articles and videos. I want to start a backyard nursery and sell over the internet. A friend tells me that I can not transport plants across state lines. Can you guide me as to where to find information on this? I also have some moringa trees from which I want to sell the leaves and the pods.
Thanks
Ranga,
You can transport plants across the state lines but there are guidlines etc. you must meet. I give you all of these details in my system. http://freeplants.com/wanted.htm
Blessings Mike to you & your wonderful family!!!! I’m trying to encourage many to get involved in membership with you but (you know the drill- they want information without taking the responsibilty & want to keep wasting ones time. However, thank you for all you do. I remember your grandson shortly after he was born,in the pictures you shared! You are a BLESSED MAN-THE LEGAGECY you are establishing is making room for such a MAGNIFICANT UNFOLDMENT!Give your wonderful wife a kiss for being your HELPMEET !!Stay in couraged- Donna lee
Hi Mike,
I ordered yrs ago online but was very dissapointed with the twigs i recieved. Never tried it again since but thanks to you and the info you share, I think i may try again. I started following you about a year ago when I acciddently found you on the internet. I started growing plants and had some pretty darn nice looking ones if i have to say lol. That is until the end of Aug. this yr. when hurricane isaac came roaring in on us and dumped so much rain on us, then moved straight north dumping the same amount of rain. When the winds died down i made the mistake of telling my husband that it was all uphill from here. Big mistake!!! Well guess what happened next. We heard on the news that the Percy Quinne Damn north of us was about to break and we had 90 min. To leave. We left, we flooded, we returned to a hugh mess but we survived. Thank the Good Lord above for that. Everthing looked pretty good at first until about a week after, then slowly but surely no matter what i did everything started dieing, even all the grass in my yard. I have 2 sago palms that survived. How did those 2 live when they where under the same water for the same amount of time as everything else is beyond me. Anyway with this knowledge i can now go online and search for a new start! Thanks for sharing all your knowledge!!! May God Bess You for all your kindness to so many!!!
No.I don’t ever purchase plants online I always get them from my local garden centers and they usually look great.
Mike:
I am new to your website but love it and your easy going, natural approach to presentations. I have a mixed experience. I buy from big box, small greenhouses, raise my own plants and work at a greenhouse that specializes in natives and low water use plants. About online orders: I have had great luck and awful luck. Some companies send their plants in packaging that protects and cushions their merchandise. Some sling their stock into plastic bags, send in 90+ heat and what I receive is dry, dead and cooked. But, locally I can get good plants – some brought in from who knows where, some locally grown (not only from the greenhoue where I work, but there are a couple others here too). Lots of cuttings and seed grown things done locally. My preference – locally grown over any ordered, no matter how it is packaged and sent. My motto when dealing online – expect the worst and you might be surprised. Otherwide – you will be disappointed.
I am looking for a supplier for blackberries
cuttings
thanks
sonny
As with most others, I’ve had both good and bad experiences. I shop from local nurseries online. I live in Vermont and many local nurseries are sold out by the time plants are available at the nursery, so pre-ordering online is the best way to go.
Right now I’m looking for Goji Berry plants but am not finding on local nursery websites so I’ll have to find somplace new. The larger nursery websites offer the berry but information on the mature size of the plant, best soil conditions and such vary a great deal from nursery to nursery. Wish me luck!