Where do you get yours?

13 years ago

This is perhaps a very naive question, but before I venture into the wilds of the internet, I thought I would ask here.

Where do you get your plants? I live in rural southwest NH, and there are very few nurseries and none open year round with greenhouses. Houseplant sources and what they have right now: supermarkets (miniature roses and cyclamen leftover from V'day; orchids; African violets; aralia and other sad looking small foliage pots). Agway (lots of ivy; a few angelwing begonias only because one of the guys who works there is into them; more African violets; a few jade plants, a few leftover Christmas cactus). The florists who are really cut flower and wedding folks, have a few overpriced dish gardens, and nicer versions of the cyclamen and orchids.

I have ordered my roses from mailorder suppliers for years, as there are NO choices locally beyond bodybags at Home Depot and potted up hybrid teas that aren't zone 5 hardy anyway.

Is there an equivalent group of reliable suppliers by mail of house plants? I would like a good old 60's Swedish Ivy, for example. If there is such a thing as an indoor citrus, I'd like that! (my grandfather brought his lemon seedling from Italy ca 1905, I remember it dominating the south window in his bedroom in the 50's).

Can you help?

Comments (6)

jodik_gw
13 years ago
There is a plethora of trustworthy, reliable plant sources for mail order plants! Google the plant type you are looking for, and include the key word "retail" or "online catalog" or something comparable, and you should get lots of results to search through!

Ebay is another fine source for plant materials. I've bid on and won, or bought many plants over the years through Ebay, and I've been happy with every purchase, so far.

I'm sure others here have their favorite sources, and I'm sure they'll share specific names and locations... anyone?
birdsnblooms
13 years ago
Are you looking for tropical, succulents, or both?

A few places I shop.

Accentsforhomeandgarden

Almostedenplants

Ebay

Hirts

Absolutely Cactus

Mistletoe Cactus

TCterrariums

Shoal Creek Succulents

Jadepoint

Thistledown

Hope these help..Toni
Related Professionals
Carlisle Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Maple Valley Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · 70037 Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Glassmanor Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Brooklyn Center Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Wakefield Landscape Contractors · Westwood Landscape Contractors · Longview Landscape Contractors · Munster Landscape Contractors · Oak Harbor Landscape Contractors · Salem Landscape Contractors · Tyngsboro Landscape Contractors · Quartz Hill Landscape Contractors · Shafter Landscape Contractors · Queens Interior Designers & Decorators
tommyr_gw Zone 6
13 years ago
Locally, unless I can't find what I want. Then it's the internet.
User
13 years ago
Online? I dearly love to shop at Plant Delights Nursery which is in North Carolina. Tony Avent owns it, and it is adjacent to the Juniper Level Botanical Gardens. He has indoor stuff as well as outdoor. They publish a print catalog, which I love to read for the humor, but their online site is equally great. They have lots of hosta, heuchera, hoyas, and lots of cold-hardy things that are not yet common to the big box stores. I got my elephant ears from him. Lemons? I'll have to look. But most any sort of lemon can be potted and kept indoors. A pot keeps it from reaching its outdoor size. That is what the European orangeries and conservatories were built to hold, so they could have an indoor garden even when the weather was bitter cold.

While up in MA, I discovered in Chelmsford MA that Mrs. Jones over at Jones Nursery had a lot of indoor plants she had rooted or propagated. I got all my baby staghorn ferns from her, at a real bargain too. I carried them back and forth from MA to Alabama when we seasonally migrated, because I did not want to chance losing them. And I found a great big pot of begonia boliviensis there also. So if you ever come over toward Boston, Chelmsford is 25 miles outside it, probably on your route east.
marquest
13 years ago
I have received most of my plants from trades, pieces I picked up off the ground during my travels, and Some finds every now and then from Home Depot and Lowes.

If you are honest and get to know people on the forums most are willing to send for postage or trade for some outdoor plants you have to trade. There are so many generous nice internet friends I have developed over the years.

It also makes the plants special when you look at them and can remember what friend sent it to you.
lathyrus_odoratus
13 years ago
I also have some through trades, some through internet stores (including Ebay), some from friends/family, and some from local stores.

Marquest, what a nice way to look at your trades.