For people new to plant buying, making a purchase from an online retailer can feel like a gamble. Most sites show a beautiful picture of a mature plant and give a decent description of what conditions the plant will grow in, but most don’t do a very good job at telling you exactly what you are getting for your money.
You might see a picture of large apple tree overflowing with juicy, red apples. Its safe to assume that for $24.99 they are not sending you that tree…but what size plant can you expect?
What about small plants? How will they be packaged? What if they are bare root? What keeps them from being crushed or broken? How do they ship soil?
Many people are scared to buy a plant without looking at it for fear of what they might receive.
I’ve placed a small order from Michigan Bulb (a popular online retailer) and took some pictures to give you an idea of what to expect.
I placed my order on February 18th. My order was shipped on March 23rd. It arrived via UPS in a box like this:
My box of plants from a popular online retailer arrived!!
It was like Christmas! I couldn’t wait to open them and see what was inside! When I unpacked the box, I found my small plants safely packaged like this:
My plants were carefully packaged to protect them from damage.
Each plant was individually boxed and there were plastic air pouches inside the large box for extra padding as well.
My plant order from an online retailer.
These plants were shipped in soil. The soil was wrapped in a thick plastic shrink wrap. When I cut the shrink wrap off, the soil was moist. The plants arrived in very good condition…except for one problem. They were no longer dormant.
The label on the box said that the plants were shipped from a location in Ohio. I am also in Ohio. The temperatures were still very cold during the day and well below freezing at night. These plants must have been in a greenhouse.
Getting plants that have already emerged from dormancy is a common problem with springtime plant orders.
Although these plants are ready for springtime planting, the weather outside was not. The plants in my landscape were still very much asleep. There was not an emerging bud to be found. If I were to plant my new arrivals outside, the frost and sub-freezing temperatures would surely do damage.
I potted my plants in small containers and put them near a window.
My plants potted up, patiently waiting for spring.
Once the weather grew a bit milder, I began to harden them off. On warmer days, I put the plants outside for a few hours at a time. I gradually increased the time until they were able to stay outside safely all night. Then they were ready to be planted in my landscape.
Notice how I put all my small pots inside a plastic bin? This kept the water from running all over my table when I watered them and made it really easy to bring them outside and inside as needed.
An 8 1/2 inch lilac bush.
The plants were about the size I expected for the price I paid. The largest plant was a red french hybrid lilac. I paid just under $4.00 for it and it was about 8 and 1/2 inches tall.
A couple of the things I ordered were shipped bare root. These came in a bag and looked like small root clippings.
Creeping red phlox bare root in a bag.
There was a pamphlet in my box that gave me general planting instructions for my plants. The pamphlet said that bare root plants such as the red phlox shown above can be stored in the refrigerator until planting conditions were ideal. I opted to plant mine right away with the others.
My bare root strawberries one week after planting.
Overall, my order was exactly how I expected it be. The prices were (of course) not as low as I would expect from a wholesale supplier. This was a retail order and my order was pretty small. Everything arrived in a timely manner, was packaged well and each plant was clearly labeled.
Each box/bag was clearly labeled.
I believe this to be an accurate description of the typical online plant buying experience. Of course there are a few careless sellers out there and sometimes things go wrong, but this should give you a general idea of what to expect.
Please feel free to post your buying experiences in the comment section below.
Hi, my name is Kim. I am looking to buy 1000 bare rooted camarosa strawberries plants at wholesale pricing. Does anyone here sell them? Please email I’d love to connect thanks.!
Hi mike,
A big fan of your Japanese maple videos and recently seen you buying in over 500 red Japanese maples?
I live in Ireland and an aware you don’t ship plants but am wondering if maybe your supplier would.
I have always grown and airlayred maples as a hobby and now looking to start a little backyard business over here as you once did.
Thanks
Gary
Gary,
I’m guessing that there are wholesale suppliers in Ireland that can help you, but I highly recommend that you start here, http://freeplants.com/wanted.htm, that will put you in the loop on everything that we have going on behind the scenes, things that you don’t see on the surface.
Does anyone know of a site that does reviews of online nursery’s? I would like to see reviews of plant sites before I order. I have lost too much money with some of these places.
Lynda,
Dave’s Garden has a review area such as you are looking for.
Another review. The order I received from michigan bulb was iris and they sent late so I had to plant in my greenhouse. 3 were even later and those three didn’t live. I told them they looked dead when I received them and they said the bulbs were dormat and wouldn’t show growth till spring. Thsi spring I contacted them and told them about the ones that didn’t live and they told me they have a 30 day warranty. They refunded me a partial amount in money to be spent only with them. I won’t order from them again. I will keep reporting as I get results. I am glad when people let me know their experiences. I can’t afford to throw my money away on dead plants. I want to know how these companys operate. Thanks everyone.
As I said I would report as I found the companies I ordered from. Last fall I ordered shrubs from wayside gardens. I ordered early enough that I could plant them and they could become established before winter. Well they didn’t send them till winter had set in and I tried to plant them but they didn’t make it. I am having to “jump through hoops” to try to get them to replace the plants. I just received trees form stark Brothers and they were packed wonderfully and look so very healthy. They are on my go to list now.
I like the idea of letting others know what to look for when ordering plants. So far I have good luck with Gurney’s. A couple of the plants I ordered from Michigan bulb didn’t live but they sent it after winter set in in my area. I wasn’t given the option of when to ship. I have just contcted them and still don’t know if they will replace the plants. I wouldn’t recomend ordering plants from Gardens alive. They charged my credit card in a very strange way and ended up charging me more than the order and with them charging at odd intervals I couldn’t check to see if it added up right. With other things I have had good luck with them. I have orders in with about 3 or 4 other nurseries and I will report how they are.
MIKE you covered about shipping plants in summer but most people buy house plants in long lonely winter but you did not cover how to ship plants in winter.
Thanks
I only ordered once from Michigan Bulb. Never, ever again as what I received was JUNK! Bulbs that one needed a magnifying glass to see.
The story from Danelle sounds like Direct Gardening or one of their dozens of sister companies. I made a mistake recently of ordering from them and WILL be keeping my receipt until the 11th hour of the 11th month before I ask for replacements. Their return process requiring the Original shipping label is very poor business practice – just like most of what they sent me.
I have had some very good on-line experiences – Wellspring, Logees, Lazy SS, Sacred Succelents, Accents for Home & Garden and Gardinos are all companies I will do business with in the future.
I ordered from this company and I can say that I received a great order. I like them better than some other online company that I ordered from. I ordered strawberries and the first order was an empty bag of peat, call them up and they sent me another order.
The fruit tress that I ordered was well packet and still moist. They are about 2-3 feet tall and I planted them last month. Great company.
I wish names of these nurseries would be mentioned so I can be hesitant or excited to order from them
Lynda
Thanks for the heads up information and horror stories of what to expect. It’s very interesting that you picked Michigan Bulb. They are careless sellers and at the top of my list. I’ve ordered from them before and never will again. Why? Because they are very expensive, shipping is not cheap, the orders arrive late (up front they’ve got your money), but the most disturbing aspect is that the plants arrived half dead and wilted, and to boot never secured and packaged properly. The soil was loose, all over the cardboard box exposing the bare dried up roots. With the exception of one single plant -they never took root after I attempted to repot and water them carefully. After I complained about their pitiful condition they eventually sent me replacement plants and guess what? The replacement plants arrived in the exact same pitiful condition as before! So, that was it and never again. No wonder they’ve been through bankruptcy proceedings in the past.
My situation was exactly the opposite of yours. Day before yesterday in the afternoon I received bare-root plants ordered from a small nursery in Washington. They were dormant and it was 103 degrees here in west Texas! Of course I was worried they had baked in the mail truck, but soaked roots & planted them in pots (too hot here to plant shrubs till fall) and put in house near a window– today a little green is peeking from some buds so life looks promising!
well I have ordered alot of plants from this company and more died than lived, after many replacements they finally told me not order from them anymore. Plus they have around 15 sister companies that all ship the same items and same size so please do the research before you buy. Oh and the plants I received where not even that nice looking but rather 2 to 3 inch dead looking sticks, a few once in awhile weren’t too bad but I was very disappointed in there products. Live and learn. Glad you brought this up Mike. Thank you, margie Miller.
Mike, I have to agree with you about mail order plant purchases. They are disappointments waiting for you to send your dollars! Though I’ve truly been completely satisfied with Michigan Bulb, I’ve had nothing but headaches from Exciting Gardens also/known/as Richard Owens Nursery. Every single plant I’ve received from them looked like a dehydrated peanut hull packed in mysterious wood shavings and I’ve have had only a 5% success rate with their plants. And the ridiculous return policy – the aggrivation is not worth the effort. My mother was an avid gardener and always said to buy plants from local growers if you expect it to grow in your own garden. Love your emails. Keep ’em coming!
Pam,
I’m sorry to hear that. I hear from a lot of people who are sadly disappointed with plants they buy mail order/online and it’s really not fair the sellers that do a good job of it.
I got several orders from that same company this spring and had a similar experience. I did have one order that was projected to arrive weeks ago that still has not arrived. I called and it had not been sent yet. No good reason given. And of course that was the only one that I had already sold one to someone. Also, did you notice that the lilacs sold as red was a Charles Joly, the one sold as lavender was a Nadezdha and the one sold as white was a Beauty of Moscow? These names are not known until you get them. And the Beauty of Moscow is not really white. It has pink buds and a pink tinge when bloomed out. Their super clearance prices are almost affordable to us. I think what happens is they are packaged up for spring and left in their boxes until the spring mailing rush is done. Thus, the super sale was on the ones left over. Some of mine had started to grow in the box with very pale new growth. Definitely not frost proof. Here in the foothills of CA we haven’t had a frost in months!! May 15 is our normal last frost date.
Love your letters and read them with interest. Someday I hope to be able to afford your materials. Especially for wholesale to small grower resources. I ordered a flat of Crape Myrtle plants from one guy who called himself “super Ron”. They were shipped without any plastic and the tiny plugs were all dried out. Didn’t help that the shipper put the box in the sun in my yard instead of under the porch. Got 4 survivors out of 100 plants and he wouldn’t do a thing for me. Not even give me a discount on a new flat. I asked him if he could slip the flat in a plastic bag (trash bag?) and he wouldn’t even do that. Not so super.
Over the past 5 years, I have mail-ordered plants from the following: White Flower Farm, Spring Hill Nursery, Swan Island Dahlias, American Meadows, The Antique Rose Emporium and David Austen Roses. So far, I have only had one or two disappointments, and those were due to my own mistakes (not planting in the right location). This year, I have some foxgloves, dahlias, and rose bushes that have come in. I think it is important to be sure the company you’re ordering from is shipping the plants/trees/etc. at the proper time for planting. I’ve actually had someone from David Austen Roses refuse to ship me a couple of rose bushes when it was “too late” to plant in my zone.
Cynthia,
I’m happy to hear of your positive experience of buy plants online. That’s how it should work!
And here for years I’d ignored all the opportunities to order plants (or learn to sell them?) online.
I’d been burned by a full-page ad for gloriously “Giant Blueberry” trees a few years ago, only to receive a bag of sticks in some sawdust, all but one of which failed to ‘wake up’. I was unsuccessful in my attempt to get a refund/exchange, due to my having thrown away the original packaging, which included the mandatory ‘shipping’ summary of my order.
– So…armed with Mike’s info, it sounds like it’s time for me to get back in there and try again!
MAHY THANKS FOR YOUR INFORM.
I WANT BUY “MAGIC DOG WOOD TREE”
PLEASE HELP ME!
ANY TIME,ANY WHERE,I CAN VISIT FOR PICK UP!
PLEASE INFORM US,
B/RGDS
CHANG
Mike,
I had the same feeling as some of your people. I ordered 20 blueberry plants from one of the growers who list on the grower group. I have ordered from other companies before and got some questionable results. My blueberries came in well packaged, but looked a little weak. I got them potted like you said to pot them and they are growing beautifully. I will order from the blueberry lady
again next year. She only ships quality plants.
Ok, who were they, I have never received plants from on online popular nursery that look like this and there are a couple of things I would like to order. Hmmm.
Sorry I skipped over who they were I do order bulbs from them with great success.
I coffee trees from one online vendor, that a trusted information source online promoted with a special price. I wanted 6 coffee trees but the shipping to buy this many made it beyond my budget, so I only ordered 3 to afford the shipping (the vendor can’t really control the cost to ship plants, and the shipping wasn’t terribly high, just higher than my budget then allowed). When the trees arrived, I was pleasantly surprised: Not only did the young trees (about 4 inches tall) arrive healthy and well packaged in tiny 2 inch pots, but there was 2 trees in each pot, giving me the 6 trees I desired!
I was so pleased with that purchase (my first online plant purchase) that I ordered several citrus trees, pineapple plant and a banana plant from another online vendor offering wholesale prices. First they were being shipped from Michigan, so while it was plenty warm enough to ship here in South Carolina, I had to wait weeks for the plants to be shipped. This wasn’t a huge deal to me, as I prefer healthy plants to speedy service in this case, however healthy plants were not what I received at all. The good thing was the trees came with a 1 year guarantee, so the trees that arrived dead were replaced at no cost to me. The bad part was, the receive replacement plants I had to return the original receipt, this came on the package when shipped. So when later in that year, another of the plants died, I didn’t have an original receipt to place a return order. I called the company and was told no original receipt, no return! I explained the situation and they said most customers wait until the year it almost over to place a singular return order. My bad I guess? The plants also came with an extra surprise….white flies. Being new to ordering plants and such from any source, I didn’t know to quarantine the new plants, so by the time I knew what was happening, my entire grow room was infested. Thankfully white flies are more of a nuisance than a danger to plants, at least in my case, but what a headache!
I learned a LOT from those two orders, and now I do my research before ordering. If the advertising sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Thanks Amber for sharing your experience, and for all your hard work with Mike. And Mike, as always I truly appreciate your teacher’s heart. You’ve expanded my knowledge greatly and helped me grow things I never thought I could grow!
Have fun playing in the dirt!!
Dannelle,
Thanks for sharing your story, it’s one told by many. Your kind words are truly appreciated.