I've been trying - with no luck - to find an excellent online resource full of plants good for my Texas area. All the big ones like Park, Burpee, etc, have plants good for the North, not the South. Does anyone know of a better online resource for plants?
Internet Catalog Nurseries for Texas/Southwest?
http://www.plantsofthesouthwest.com/
good for seeds... plants I get local or trade at swaps...
I have been watching this thread as this was a wish I had. I try to buy from southern growers. The plants will be more appropriate and acclimated. My interest was in heirlooms and herbs. I have found few. I have found a few in the southeast ~ not sure why there aren't many commercial growers in Texas.
Thanks, Mitch, I'll check it out. And Posdster, I can tell you it drives me nuts. In my journal I have a "wish list" that I add to when I learn of a plant that might do great for my garden, but can't find many plants that I would like to try at local nurseries, nor in many online and catalog nurseries I've searched. And while I don't mind starting from seed, some plants take so many years to mature it would be nice to buy bare root and potted, too.
In addition, my local plant options are mostly commercial houses like Lowes and Walmart, and they only carry the popular stuff that sells, and don't carry much at all "off season." What I mean is, come fall, most plants are cleared out to make way for holiday decorations even though fall planting is very good for this area. :( I only have a few local nurseries, and well - they too, only stock what sells. How many crape myrtles and roses can you count?
Larisa, you might want to check out these local nurseries in a month or so, when they get their new stock, I especially like Redentas Garden. I hope that helps.
Josephine.
Designs in Nature
5501 East IH20
Fort Worth, Texas 76140
(817) 561-9248
[HYPERLINK@www.thetreeplace.com]
Green Mamas Organic Garden Market
5324 Davis Blvd.
North Richland Hills, Texas 76180
(817) 514-7336
[HYPERLINK@www.greenmamas.com]
Main Street Home and Garden
603 West Main Street
Decatur, Texas 76234
(940) 627-0235
Petal Pusher’s Garden Emporium
813 Straus Road
Cedar Hill, Texas 75104
(972) 291-7650
Redenta's Garden
5111 W. Arkansas Lane
Arlington, Texas 76016
(817) 451-2149
Redenta's Garden
2001 Skillman St.
Dallas, Texas 75206
(214) 823-9421
[HYPERLINK@www.redentas.com]
Rohde¹s Nursery & Nature Store
1651 Wall Street
Garland, Texas 75041
(972) 864-4445
[HYPERLINK@www.beorganic.com]
Stuart Nursery and Landscaping
2317 Fort Worth Highway
Weatherford, Texas
(817) 596-0003
[HYPERLINK@www.stuartnurseryinc.com]
Tinker Grove Gardens
6230 Colleyville Blvd.
Colleyville, Texas
817 488-3525
Tim¹s Landscaping INC.
7319 W Vickery Blvd.
Benbrook, Texas 76116-9219
Weatherford Gardens
2106 Fort Worth Highway
Weatherford, Texas
(817) 594-6055
Metro (817) 341-0152
Weston Gardens in Bloom
8101 Anglin Drive
Fort Worth, Texas 76140
(817)572-0549
[HYPERLINK@www.westongardens.com]
Don't forget my favorite, Caldwell's Nursery in Rosenberg. Kay Dee has a fantastic place.
http://www.caldwellhort.com/
Hi Kip, How are you?!
I was going to add Schumacher's. It's a propagation nursery and they do take internet order (I think) and ship. They have the biggest selection of any nursery I've ever been to. Chip Schumacher has been a plant collector for a long time and he propagates everything he gets. I haven't had a newsletter from him in a long time though, so I'm wondering if his health is not good. Schumacher's is just a little north of New Braunsfels near highway 46. I think it's on 1886, but I'm not sure.
Mary Lee
Here's the web site for Schumacher's. Always check on current days and times open before you go there. And even though it's may be open at 9 a.m. on the days listed, the people who can really answer your questions may not always be there that early. Sometimes you have to wait for them to get there later. They're changing their pricing, so if signs with prices aren't up for everything you want, just ask.
http://www.hillcountrygardens.com/newsletter/newsletter_20061207.html
Saddly they dont mail order but I have made the trip before for a special tree.. It is a lot of fun to go there and muse around. I am going to head there again sometime this Spring to look for mesquite trees that will like to live here.
well I see I will not be going to Mitch's place in the spring in the future! *giggle allergic to mesquite of all things.
Sorry... I ahve a whole Southwestern bed I am adding/filling in cactus, agave, loads of the big sages and such... need a one just to make it feel right - with a wagon wheel under it...
Well, poo, I'm such a computer junky and hate to drive to shop. Looks like I'm gonna hafta, because my wish list is getting bigger! I just wish I had anything to trade, I'm starting from scratch so I don't. :(
Thanks for the link to Hill Country Gardens. That will have to be a trip this spring.
One of my favorites for native and adapted plants:
http://www.yuccado.com/
These guys are in NC but sell some TX natives:
http://www.plantdelights.com/
such as at the bottom of this page:
http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/page88.html
and another not TX but with some natives:
http://www.highcountrygardens.com/index.html
David
Kipper, I simply can't wait to make it to Caldwells in richmond. personally I am not a fan of Scumachers in New Braunfels...I lived there but I much preferred Schultz nursery in Marion, texas, outside of New Braunfels....but maybe I am not very crazy about Texas natives. The only one I adore and grows down here, too, is the Canyon Daisy..........cut it back to the ground every year and it gets about 4 ft. tall and 4 ft. wide covered in the tiniest little yellow dear blooms one could find. I have some to my family in New Bruanfels to mix with Day Lilies, artemisia and pentsemon....looks great in New Braunfels...
That is true Scumachers is a big native place... only go there if you are interested in the native plants with a few thrown in. With the heat up here and the cost of water I am more less going all native. There are soo many colors and types they really are fun to work with - and they love it here. No extra babying they already love it here.
David, I love you. And I love Plant Delights Nursery!!!
That is JUST the online nursery I was looking for. OMG, the variety, the selection...I'm currently going through their whole plant list page by page and my wishlists with their "todo" items is growing!!
Larissa, you don,t have to have anything to trade to come to the swap. Many people have extra plants and are happy to share, so don't be shy about coming, we are all friends who love plants and are glad to give them good happy homes.
Sometimes people will accept potting soil or perlite in exchange if you feel better about giving something in exchange.
Josephine.
Well, then, I'll hafta make the next swap! When is it? lol
Here is the link to the one at College Station http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/689537/
and another one about discussion on the topic, http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/687143/
all these threads are right here on the Texas Forum.
We normally have one for the DFW area in the Fall.
Natives of Texas, a nursery close to Medina, specializes in native Texas plants. I'm uncertain if they ship plants. I have driven there and bought a number of hard to find plants. Their website is www.nattivesoftexas.com. The plants were of good quality, but rather small, and were all propagated on site. I got a Blanco crabapple there,as well as the yellow buckeye that is endemic to the Edwards plateau. The drive there from here is beautiful, and we always stop at the apple orchard shop in Medina.
Sweet Briar Nursery, which can be found by using a search engine, is in Belton, and has a good selection of native plants. I know Reid sells seeds over the internet, and he has plants on his site. I don't know if he ships the plants. He specializes in plants that grow well in the Belton area. I've bought from him and found the plants to be vigorous and well rooted.
The Wichita Valley Nursery in Wichita Falls, which has a nice internet site with lots of natives listed but does not ship plants, I think, is an excellent source of natives. It's so far from me that I haven't visited it yet, but probably isn't too far from you.
I really can't recommend Natives of Texas too highly. It's a family nursery, which was run for many years by the late Betty Winningham. Check out their demonstration gardens. Lots of wonderful plants that they grow themselves. If you don't see a native you're interested in, go ahead and ask. They might have it somewhere. And one of the employees is knowledgeable about butterfly host plants. They don't normally do mail order, unfortunately. It's actually closer to Kerrville. There are also two places in Medina. One is Love Creek Orchards, mentioned above, which has a gift shop, bakery (love their apple pastries!) and also sells some native trees....that's where I bought my beautiful Bigtooth Maple. Then by the river (or is it a creek?) in Medina is another nursery that has great natives, a demonstration garden, etc. I think its called Medina Garden Nursery.
Larissa, did you know you can run many different searches within the Garden Watchdog?
For example, here's a search for "native/wildflower" plants from vendors located in Texas: http://davesgarden.com/gwd/advanced.php?state=tx&country=XX&category=25&search_text=&sorter=company_name&submit=Search
Here's another search - this one is for companes that specialize in (or carry an extensive list of) drought-tolerant plants: http://davesgarden.com/gwd/advanced.php?state=xx&country=XX&category=145&search_text=&sorter=company_name&submit=Search
If you find a plant you want, you can look for it in PlantScout - there's a better-than-average chance that at least one (and maybe several) participating vendors offer it: http://davesgarden.com/ps/
Terry, I did search - no offence, but the list was not helpful.
For example, the native/wildflower search in Texas:
Bonnie's Greenhouse Waco, Texas - it's no more than a one page flyer with a phone number, it's not an interactive site by any stretch of the imagination.
Butterfly Gardens by Robyn Spring, Texas - CLOSED - says so right in the search.
Joshua's Native Plants Houston, Texas - clicking on the link gives me a "page cannot be displayed" error.
Naconiche Gardens Nacogdoches, Texas - Site was slow, weird to navigate, and had very few plants, and the search didn't work.
Native Ornamentals Mertzon, Texas - quote: "We do not have a web address listed for this company."
Natives of Texas Kerrville, Texas - Neat site, but they do not do mail order.
PlantStop.com Plantersville, Texas - another "page cannot be displayed" error.
Ransom Gardens Houston, Texas - yet another "page cannot be displayed." Quote: Editor's Comment:
As of April 2006, URL is no longer working. If anyone has a status update on Ransom Gardens, please contact the Garden Watchdog editors.
No offence, but if it's been dead for almost a year maybe it's time to remove the link. All these dead links made me give up. But I continue...for you, Terry.
Rohde's Nursery & Nature Store Garland, Texas - This site sells landscaping supplies and books online - not plants.
Solas Gardens Houston, Texas - It's a five page "brochure" site with a phone number to call them, there is no online ordering or catalog to view.
Tejas Native Bulbs Austin, Texas - Catalog extremely limited, only 29 plants in their whole catalog - most of them variations of cultivars of the same family.
Teresa Salvia - That site is no longer in business, and the URL has been taken by a "squatter" with a "link farm" to other sites trying to make money off of clicks.
Your other searches you listed lists many of the same ones in this one, plus many "we don't have a link for these guys" and others I didn't bother with, it's too time consuming to click link after link after link to find one that works.
Terry, the search leads much to be desired. There is no way to filter the products you are looking for (say, no, I am not interested in fertilizer sold to Texans) in the search, there is no way to filter walk-ins from internet order nurseries, there is no system other than "hey, contact us, will ya" if the link is no longer valid or has any other issues, and it seems if you are contacted, you leave it up with a ? anyway. Sorry, but I gave up in it.
Larissa, thank you for the feedback. Those that are closed or their status is uncertain, I've noted on their entries.
We can all lament the lack of zippy navigation, better plant selection or jazzier vendor websites - but that's not the fault of the Watchdog ;o) We can't make companies have better websites or search tools on their sites, or dicatate the breadth and scope of their offerings.
What we can do (as the DG community) is help keep our directory as updated and comprehensive as possible. To that end, we appreciate when our members and visitors bring dead links, non-working phone numbers, and other updates to our attention. (We do go through the "?" status companies on a regular basis, and mark them closed. But with 5,500 entries to maintain, it can take us a while to get from "?" back around and mark them as "closed".)
Sadly, you are not likely to find a wide variety of Texas-based mailorder vendors that meet your requirements as you've articulated them; my guess is the Watchdog contains just about all of the native mailorder sources in existence today. (We're always happy to add more if you come upon them!)
One other question for you: companies such as Natives of Texas (in Kerrville), Solas, and Rohde's do have a plantlist. Did you call them to confirm they don't ship plants? (Just because they don't have a shopping cart doesn't mean they don't offer mailorder sales of their plant material.) If you know for a fact they don't, we can take care of them - the Watchdog is intended only for mailorder/online ordering companies.
I looked at the first link that Terry provided and I found that Rhode's Nursery has quite a long list of plants and they are in Garland, so they are in your area.
Solas Gardens is small, but it is totally beautiful, and a pleasure to see.
I didn't look at all of them, but the two I saw were quite nice, I really don't know what you were expecting.
Ok, I think what I am looking for and what others here are talking about are completely different.
What I am saying is, I know that if I get into my car and drive or get on the telephone and call, with hours of hunting I can find what I am looking for. I was not asking how to find the plants.
I was looking for a big outfit that served those in the lower zones. It's just that places like Park Seed, etc, are easy to navigate, have lots of choices, plant finders, plant information - it's just all geared to the North. I was looking for something similar geared toward the South. It's clear there is no such thing.
Ahhhh - I thought you were looking for only native plants from a Texas-based mailorder source (In which case, you've pretty much reached "the end of the internet" with what we discussed ;o)
Plant Delights and Yucca Do are probably two of the larger mailorder sources of plants suited to zones 7/8 and warmer (with some offerings for more temperate zones.) Some other possibilities (if you're looking for tropical-esque plants) would be these:
Almost Eden: http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/2433/
Crownsville Nursery: http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/22/
Kartuz Greenhouses: http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/167/
Logee's Greenhouses: http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/35/
Top Tropicals: http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/2785/
Zone 9 Tropicals: http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/4456/
Thanks, Terry, I'll be sure to check 'em out!
(I'm still glowing from my visit to Plant Delights.)
Oh, you need to order their catalog. The cover is always ....ummmm, well.....thought-provoking. Just depends on which side of that issue's political football you are, you might view it as a riot.....or not ;o)