Hi Jeannie. I always check out a nursery new to me at the link below.

I always try and order from the east coast nurseries (I'm in AL) for cheaper postage and less time in transit. In recent years I've received great plants and service from Plant Delights, Niche Gardens, Singing Springs, Lazy S'S Nursery, Avant Gardens, Select Seeds, Crownsville Nursery. There are many more, of course, with good ratings...these are just the ones that had the shrubs, perennials, tropicals I wanted.

About cost, I've found that I may pay a little more sometimes but if I get a well-rooted plant that's ready to grow it beats the alternative...I'd rather not waste $5 to have to baby something along for weeks if I can spend $7 and have a thriving healthy plant delivered.

Good luck, and be sure to give feedback reports on Watchdog. You will be helping other gardeners to buy wisely. josh

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardeners Watchdog

Do check Watchdog to see who owns whom. I have never seen a "good" business improved by sharing ownership with undesirable businesses.

Burgess, Interstate, Farmer Seed are all owned by Burgess; I've not been happy with any of them although I haven't tried them for several years. Guerneys was bought by one of the BigNames, and the quality took a nosedive which IMO has not improved. I have a long memory for wasted money, and won't be ordering from any of those companies. Park's has problems - when it's good, it's very good; but I've been getting about 30% unusable (nearly or dead) plants, and seeds that weren't true to name. That's too much, and I won't be ordering from them again. I've ordered from most of the companies Josh listed, and I've gotten what I ordered, which means I will order again.

The link is to a very good write up about ordering plants through catalogs. She says it all better than I can. It's very long, because it covers the whole topic; do read the entire page.

Here is a link that might be useful: basic info for ordering plants by mail

For strawberries try Miller in Canandigua NY. Plants don't look too hot when you get them but second year they will knock your socks off. Steve in Baltimore County

Yes, Miller's is good; and I should have said to try Burpee's, which -as far as I know- is still owned and run by the family of the original Mr. Burpee. I've never had a problem with them, although I admit I rarely order plants, just seeds. Most of my ornamental plants came from Bluestone, which remains my favorite for perennials, but keep in mind they ship baby plants -- I like this, but it means you plan a year or two in advance.

This experience is from four seasons nursery which is directly affiliated with burgess seed to my understanding

My wife and I ordered close to a hundred trees from four seasons over a year ago. We ordered them in early spring, but four seasons refused to ship them until late fall, in october. We called four seasons multiple times to inform the that they needed to ship them as early as possible since we are over 7500 ft in elevation, they informed us that they would ship them early enough for us to plant them and get them established before the winter.

When we recieved our trees we already had snow on the ground, we called four seasons and informed them of this and were told to keep the original packing reciept and ship it back to them and they would replace the trees and send them again in the spring. We were told to write on the replacement request that we needed a spring shipment not fall. We did this and patiently waited until spring.

Spring came and guess what? No trees... We called four seasons and got the runaround. They refused to replace our trees stating that our year warranty had expired. We explained everything written above but to deaf ears. Instead we got a I dont give a @#$$ attitude.

These people are crooks. Their warranty is not worth the paper its written on. Their customer service is pathetic at best. They are unorganized and do not care one bit about the customers they are supposedly here to serve.

Do not do business with this company.

David Newton
Grants N.M.

DO NOT BUY FROM BURGESS, or from any of its overly-numerous "associates" that seem to be trying to avoid recognition of their involvement with a corrupt organization.

They are extremely alert to discover any element in a transaction that will "disqualify" you for warranty service. For example, as Burgess's clerk pointed out to me today, I would have to have an original shipping label to make even a minor claim. She told me that this was need as proof of purchase, although she had already pulled up my order on her computer screen and was looking at my order as we spoke. They don't need it as proof of anything. They only "want" it as an escape hatch. Nevertheless, other complaints in this forum already establish that they will avoid warranty service for almost any reason, maybe even for no reason at all.

Isn't it time for an Attorney General somewhere to file charges of operating a RICO business?

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act

For my seeds i order from Pinetree seeds in Maine. Plants and trees from Millers in NY and Bluestone in Ohio, Daylilies from Homestead Farms in MO, Iris from Schreiners in Oregon. Very happy with all of them

Yes, Pinetree is a good one. Steve in Baltimore County.