St. Lawrence Nursery/ Raintree

I was more asking what would you buy from these two nursery's. I guess your response is nothing :)

Kathy

I've ordered many trees from starkbros. Some trees tend to be on the smaller size but with a reasonable price. Very good customer service. If your tree die and they have no problem of replacing it. I have not order from Peaceful Valley yet.

Tony

Peaceful Valley is a couple of miles from my office, so I have personally been at their place many times. They have friendly and helpful people working there and a large selection of nice looking trees in the spring, plus I can't remember anyone saying anything bad about them online. So I would say Peaceful Valley is a great choice.

I think Stark is a much bigger operation.

Have you looked at either of their reviews on Dave's Garden?

Carla in Sac

I've ordered from Peaceful Valley and was happy with the trees. They carry Dave Wilson 3/4" caliper varieties. I went for the 10 for 200$ w/shipping last year. If I had more room I'd get some of the multi-grafts...

Thanks you everyone for the responses, but I did not phrase my question correctly.

I ordered from Peaceful Valley last year and although a tree of theirs died, and would not be replaced, overall the experience was positive. If I am not interested in putting together an orchard one tree from here, one there from there, and a third from some obscure source, what trees would you order from these firms.

Well, they sell a whole lot of stuff! Its hard to say what to order of all that they sell. I think both are reasonable outfits. Peaceful Valley falls short a bit in the customer service arena but the trees are from Dave Wilson and the quality is very good (and unlike Bay Laurel they don't give the roots a butcher job).

My suggestion is to propose an order and we could comment on it. Note that since you are in NC there will be things from Peaceful Valley that will not work at all for you, whereas nearly everything from Starks will work since you are in a similar climate to their nursery.

Scott

Scott,

What do you mean "butcher job"? I placed my first order from Bay Laurel this year. Shall I ask them not to trim the roots? You've got me worried now.

You may want to consider Century Farm Orchards in Altamahaw. I've ordered a number of trees from them and have been very satisfied. David Vernon is very knowlegable and will recommend trees that will do well in your area.

MHG, I don't know what Bay Laurel is doing recently about root pruning but I would let them know you did not want the roots pruned - they have a bad track record of over-pruning roots.

Scott

Sally, Yikes, you run the risk of shipping from California.

The fact that Peaceful Vally Farm and Garden Supply does not grow trees may be why they would not honor the dead tree you got from them.

Beware also a lot of the trees PVF&GS sells would not do well at all in your humid climate.

Starks is the better choice, I've gotten a no questions asked replacement mulberry tree shipped free and it it now grown up.

I ordered from Peaceful valley /groworganic.com before. I had pretty good luck with their bare root fruit trees (cherries, pluots, and a nectarine). They all looked pretty good-sized 3/4" or so. All leafed out just fine.

However their return policies are pure trash. If anything goes wrong with your tree with exception of not leafing out you are out of luck. They will not take back anything if it leafs out and dies within a day or two. They do not cover disease in the first year. etc.

The currants I bought from them died within a couple of months of planting and they basically said that they will not cover it after it leafed-out. Their prices,trees and quick responses are good but this single fact of crappy return policies and not standing behind their product after leaf-out makes me double question myself about ordering there again.

FWIW I contacted Bay Laurel regarding pruning and they said they would send my order in a larger box and not prune, however, "we want you to know that the special order trees are usually pruned before we ever receive them so you should be prepared for that."

We'll see what happens. Anyway thanks for the heads-up, Scott!