your favorite mailorder nursery

the time for ordering catalogue is there , finding new places to order, new suppliers , great places we didn't know about . Canadian nurseries for unusual plants or seeds , please lets all share our favorite address . Thank you to all of you and anxious to see what will be the surprise comming out of this . Arlette

I dont do a lot of mail ordering but Garden Import usually has a great perennial selection, often a bit pricey but good quality in my experience. I also order, mainly bulbs, from Botanus.

I find my local nursery's are bringing in so much interesting plant material I can usualy find what I want unless it is a very specific variety like a couple of hostas I am looking for next year.

I dont order seed so no help there.

Over years of mail order seeds, I have found Stokes Seeds, and West Coast Seeds to be the best for germination rates, etc, but they have a pretty standard selection, not much for the gardener who wants something no-one else has!
Plants: DL:

www.beachwooddaylily.com

again, not many "newest latest" but huge plants and good pricing.

Lots of good stuff from Botanus, but their daylilies are not good - TC, and very small. Everything else from them, I've been happy with.

I, too, do most of my shopping locally now that the selection is better. But here are a few of my fav mail order companies, if needed.

Seeds:
Dominion Seed House: http://www.dominion-seed-house.com/en-CA/index.aspx?CatID=9
Not Canadian, but for unusuals I like Thompson & Morgan: http://seeds.thompson-morgan.com/
For perennial seed I like Garden's North: http://gardensnorth.com/site/index.htm

General:
Again, I shop mostly locally, but if I'm looking for something in particular I've had success with the following companies (close to my zone):
Peonies: http://www.paeonia.com/home.htm
Daylilies: http://www.vivacesnordiques.com/page4.html
Hostas: http://www.hostachoicegardens.com/pages/815635/index.htm
Lilies: http://www.lilynook.mb.ca/

Also for daylilies and hostas these two local nurseries are great. They offer mailorder, b ut I can't vouch for their mail order service as I've never used it:
Whitehouse Perennials: http://www.whitehouseperennials.com/
Budd Gardens: http://buddgardens.com/website/front.html


Spring Bulbs:
Dominion Seed House: http://www.dominion-seed-house.com/en-CA/cat/index.aspx?&CatID=151&InfoID=1372
Vesey's: http://www.veseys.com/store.cfm?cat=17
Gardenimport usually have decent bulb prices: http://www.gardenimport.com/index.php



This message was edited Nov 20, 2005 8:02 PM

Ditto on most of what has been said. Don't order daylilies from Botanus. Another good lily place is Valley K. Lily Nook and Valley K are my two main lily sources. Not the only, but the most reliable so far. Lindenberg has been iffy the last few years. Dominion and Vesey are good for some things, and they make it right without a hassle when they do it wrong. Halifax seeds is another that I order from, mostly supplies. Parks has a Canadian shipping point, makes it easy and lots of choices. And then, I go out of Canada for a few special things. The best order I got this year came from Holes. $$$little pricey, but they arrived in perfect condition, just the right size.

I'd hesitate to order daylilies from Budd Gardens, as their prices suggest that they may be TC, also they do NOT have a good guarantee, it is only for while in transit, and does not say anything about being true to name, etc - this can be very important, in my limited experience!!
By comparison, a company that guarantees that your order will be "true to name" means that they promise to give you the daylily that you ordered!
And "field grown" means not TC. It's a good idea to ask. One place sent me a reply to that question "some of our daylilies are TC, but we don't know which ones..."
caveat emptor - buyer beware!

2zwus, we have a thread on this somewhere back a bit. Appreciate the info you sent me on Beachwood. I may order from them, but would prefer to order some from a colder zone if I can find what I want there. But if I see one that I have to have, and Beachwood has it, I will probably throw caution and reason to the wind. First I will concentrate on seeds, like I need a few more......

That's a good point, 2zeus, I hesitate to buy the newer dalilies that are 'very inexpensive
' now because of a very pale looking 'Edge of Darkness' that flowered last year. After reading up on tissue culture, everything kind of came together. However, I can tell you that Suzanne Patry's daylilies from Whitehouse are certainly field grown....she has a couple of hayfields full of the lovelies!

Sandy

I'm not seriously into daylilies; so can't really comment on Budd Gardens for them, but that's where I've bought most of my hostas. But I'm also close enough that I can drive there in 10 minutes and I know that Don Budd is a keen Hosta grower himself. Their main business is NOT mail order though they DO send things out on request.

I WOULD be particularly interested in which Hosta growers (sellers) people have found do good mail order business.Have promised my daughter Sara who lives in Vancouver a "Sara" hosta.

Ann

Ann, from what I understand, one CAN very successfully grow hostas from TC, unlike DL...and I certainly mean to cast no aspersions whatsoever on them, only passing on what has worked for me as far as reading between the lines goes, in mail order.

For alpines and rock garden subjects, you can't beat Beaver Creek Greenhouses in BC. The packing is immaculate and you always get a freebe with your orders. They offer many hardy cacti as well. Alpines Mont Echo in Quebec is also quite good for alpine plants. For perennials I order from The Perennial Garden in BC. or Fraser Thimble Farms on Saltspring Island, BC. The latter also sells trees and shrubs as well as exotics like bamboo, hardy orchids, some really funky bulbs, etc. A google search will find their on-line websites with no problem. The Plant Farm, also on Salt Spring island, has a wonderful selection of bamboo, hosta, beardless iris, rhododendrons and daylilies.

2zeus - I appreciate the information and didn't take it as casting aspersions. As I'm not so much into Daylilies, I'm still learning about the TC issues.

Ann

I used to order from The Perennial Garden too but sad to say this year I noticed they changed their focus and are no longer doing mail order. They always had a great selection and shipped nice healthy plants :-(
http://www.perennialgardener.com/

Sandy

I don't have much experience with regards to mail ordering but have ordered from Gratrix. I have also visited Tom Gratrix's lily farm when I had occasion to be in the area. Tom and his staff are wonderful to deal with and he stands by his products with a 2yr guarantee. I know of several people who deal with this nursery and they've never had a reason to complain. Quite a site to see if one should visit this place,,,,,fields of lilies!

http://www.gratrixgardenlilies.com/

One of my favs is our Perrynguyen's business Flora Exotica for tropical plants: http://www.floraexotica.ca/ Gardenwatchdog rating http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/3617/

Plants of Perfection is another one: http://www.plantsofperfection.com/ Gardenwatchdog rating http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/1904/

I've been *very* impressed with the tropical plants I've received from both of the above suppliers.

I haven't yet ordered from CannaAskForMore but I've drooled over his selection many times and he has a wonderful feedback from his customers: http://www.guildwoodcannas.com

This message was edited Jan 6, 2006 3:18 PM

Thanks Pam, I had forgotten about those. Lots of wish list making going to be happening.

Gotta start putting money in my piggybank. ;) I love when these lists pop up......so many places to visit come January. :)

Just a couple to add to the above. William Dam seeds. Just make sure you order early & there is no online ordering as their website has not been updated in a long time. I also order from Patrick Studio Inc. as they always have some unusual seeds. They no longer mail order plants.

Ordered from Lilies in the Valley for the first time this year & I was totally satisfied.

Todd and Sandy and everyone else.......Ken and Elke have the Perennial Gardens nursery up for sale! E

I have ordered quite a few roses from Pickering Nursery, In Port Hope.

www.pickeringnurseries.com


The ones that grew fine were beautiful and the ones that didn't , I was offered my money back or a credit.... They could not replace them as they were all sold out. I chose the credit....


Anna

I've ordered from Perennial gardens for years. although this was the first year I didn't. They seemed so successful with more offerings each year. I'm surprised they put it up for sale. I guess that leaves one less tempting mail order company.

Anybody got some loose change? Perennial Gardens sale price is 3/4 of a million!

I have ordered from Pickering since 1980 and though there have been thin patches (wrongly labelled plants the worst); now that they have moved to Port Hope, things seem to be looking up. I got a shipment from them early this last week; all the roses fantastically healthy and fresh. I am so glad they are doing limited fall shipping again!

Because I like growing weird things from seed, i often order from chilterns in England http://www.edirectory.co.uk/chilternseeds/pages/index.asp?cid=211 they have the most intriguing listings of anyone I know.

also secret seeds http://WWW.SECRETSEEDS.COM/

Both these companies get seed to me faster than anywhere else (including some places right here in BC) and on the oddness/value scale, I don't think they are too bad.

I used to order from Van Dusen, but THEIR oddness/value ratio has slipped way over into a place I won't follow.

On the other hand, the Alpine Garden Club of BC (whch has members from all over the world) costs 25 bucks a year to belong. Their is a seed exchange: contributors get 60 free packets of seed; non contributors 30.
The seeds are not all alpines; lots of other things from perennials to trees (vitex agnus castus being my favourite score)

Last of all, I heartily recommend Ferncliff Gardens http://www.ferncliffgardens.com/ for peonies, iris, daylilies and dahlias. I am not a daylily or dahlia fancier, so can't speak to those; the peonies and the iris tend to be older cultivars; but they offer clumps of truly astonishing size. I ordered iris from Chapmans http://www.chapmaniris.com/ (that was good, btw) and McMillens both of Ontario this year - the pieces I go were only 5-8 bucks each; but they were little nuggets. I paid about 10 bucks each at Ferncliff, but got iris dug that morning, all about 4-6 inches long with lots of little offsets on each side of the main rhizome.

AND TWO nice bonus plants. this is a thing peculiar to iris growers, it seems; they give you an extra. Catch Pickering throwing in an extra rose!!!

I'm beginning (well, continuing) to ramble...enough!!!

Pretty good ramblin it was too. Thanks so much for reminding me about the Alpine Garden Club.

I found another one to try, but haven't tried them and they have no feedback as yet. This person just subscribed to DG in October, and sells their seeds. Subscribers name is foxtrap99, the rep for 'Seeds & More'.

And hey, Arlette, where are you? busy ordering seeds?

Hi Echoes
I got this link from a local gardening group I also belong to

http://www.thegurugarden.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?LNG=fr-c-FR-C&Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=PSFSS

interesting selection of seeds available. Do you know anything about these guys???
m

LOL.........Yo echoes I've sure got this thread on watch now! ;)

I'll never say anything in a public forum about Guru Gardens again. But no, not one of my favourites.

Should have said, Sorry "I don't feel that I can say what I think about that company here, due to past circumstances" and didn't mean to be circumspect. I tend to be short on words of explanation at times. Whatever I could have said, it wouldn't have been enough to sound right.


This message was edited Dec 5, 2005 10:21 AM

Hortensia,
Go look at Echoes journal, ifyou haven't already done so.

Inanda

Me??? ;)

Edited in regret.

This message was edited Dec 5, 2005 7:52 AM

think the ghost of the Canadian gardening past will strike again? :S

(edited to say don't answer that, I'll try to behave and now back to regular programing).



This message was edited Dec 4, 2005 6:45 PM

Edited so as not to offend. My apologies.

This message was edited Dec 5, 2005 7:48 AM

Echoes - I think Seeds and More are on eBay as well. Last year I bought 2 types of Rose seeds (Rosa rugosa rubra & Rosa glauca rubrifolia), Tatarian Maple and Lupin seeds. All were winter sown, germinated and seedlings planted out into nursery bed for now. No problems here.

Thanks Durtcom, I was thinking of getting a couple of things there. Maybe you want to give them a little nod in the GardenWatchdog?

Pacific Rim is my favorite Canadian nursery
Pacific Rim est ma nursery canadienne préférée

http://www.hillkeep.ca/plantsindex.htm

Looks like a Canadian product label up above (wee bit green here since I barely passed French class ;)




.....so UUallace, from Cincinnati, Ohio, curiousity now abounds here: "Where are you from???"

I realize I am introducing a foreign note of directness to this thread -- but where I come from they say - say it or shut up.

I found this sequence of responses patronizing and irritating. I know and knew nothing about this company and, asking, got in response a lot of smark alecky --- dig in the ribs --- nudge nudge responses. this is the kind of stuff that gives forums a bad name. If you wanted to send each other in crowd high signs, you should have done this through d-mails' This is what grownups would have done.

I started to go on from here, but really, I'm just too mad.
M

Hortensia,

We didn.t mean to make you cross - no mad. A couple of years ago things became so heated that Dave actually removed an entire thread about this. Think we are just feeling shut in at the moment with very cold -33 with wind chill here. Plus our ancient special cars are off the road to keep them salt and rust free so are feeling quite house bound at the mo.

To be truthful, we have been irritating and should have left it alone.
inanda

inanda

On the American side your question could have been answered honestly and directly by echoes (if she was an American talking about an American company). The joking around was an attempt to remind her that this could be a landmine and to be careful. It wasn't meant to freeze anyone out...just to serve as a reminder.

This message was edited Dec 5, 2005 2:13 PM