Since Alabama doesn't have a gardening forum, I will participate in the Georgia Forum, if that's OK with all of you.
How many of you agree or disagree, with a nursery who will go strictly by the " proper planting time " according to the chart of growing zones, instead of listening to the person who lives in that zone, and knows the climate in that zone ? In other words, take me for example. I have lived in this part of Alabama all my life. I know how cold winters get, I know how hot summers get, I know when it is warm enough each spring to start planting.....reguardless of what information is listed for a growing zone. Yet, there are many many nurseries who will not ship an order because they claim it's either too soon to plant or too late to plant, according to " The Book ". Don't you think we know our own home climate better than any chart of statistics. Don't you think that when we place an order, we should get that order, especially if we have already paid for it.
In my opinion, the only good, that zone information provides, is what can or cannot grow in our climate.....period.
For new gardeners maybe they need to be told when and when not to plant. But for us pros, we know.
I just recently, on May 18th, ordered some canna rhizomes that were on sale with Brecks. . On the 29th, I went to their website to check the order status, and it was listed that the order would be sent " According to my Zone " in February of 2010. I sent an e-mail asking that the order be sent now, but they would not do it. So, I canceled the order. It seems odd to me, that one nursery, like Brecks will say it's too late to be planting cannas, but another one will say it's not too late. I personally know that there are certain things that can be planted at just about anytime of the year.....reguardless of what any book or chart may say.
Growing Zones vs Individual Knowlege of Your Climate
Welcome to the modern world. The big shippers use computers, operate by minimum wage employees. They can only do what the computer is programmed to do. So when your order goes into the computer, it spits out the shipping date according to its program. In fair ness to those companies, part of it is cost cutting, individual attention costs more. But also live plant shippers get a lot of negative feedback from folks whose plants do not grow properly. Many times, it is the growers problem, altho some shippers are notorius for taking shortcuts. But the shippers tend to play it safe, by using recommended planting times and conditions.
Well, it might be a little late to jump in on this band wagon, but I completely agree. I ordered some Jose Lilacs from SpringHill nursery last spring, and they waited until the last of Oct to mail them out. We had that unusual cold in November and our winter was hard. The poor little tiny things didn't make it. So, although I've never ordered from them before ... they do have that lifetime guarantee, so when they didn't come up this spring I decided to test them on it. Guess what? They're replacing them and shipping them this fall. LOL .
Some mail order nurseries get orders out immediately while others are probably out of stock and use excuse after excuse. Eventually you learn which ones you can count on and which ones you can't.
If you can find it close to home you will be better off in the long run (bigger plant, cheaper price, and you get to visually inspect it for the best of the bunch) but sometimes you have to use mail order.
With the internet as a valuable tool, it is now a good idea to get some opinions on mail order places before placing an order or ordering the minimum to find out how well they perform. There are several places I never order from anymore due to poor performances.