I have received very nice plants at reasonable prices from Santa Rosa Gardens. Their website is www.santarosagardens.com. In late June/early July, they put a lot of their perennials on sale for only $2.99 each. There are probably some left even now at that price. They also have a flat shipping charge of only $7.99 no matter how much you order, which is a big plus.

I was actually going to suggest Santa Rosa as well. Got some great plants from them this year dirt cheap. Some of them are even as low as $1.99. You totally cannot beat that! My other go to's are Lazy S farms and Avant gardens. Hope that helps!

Santa Rosa Gardens has the best prices by far. They have good shipping and customer service too.

Romence Gardens sends huge plants that even have blooms often.

Forest Farm is good too.

I've gotten great plants from Lazys's and Joy Creek Nursery. Neither are particularly cheap, but I'm often looking for very specific, unusual plants that are off the beaten path.

Well Sweep is very reasonably priced and they have an amazing selction. They're actually local for me so I've never used them as a mail order nursery but I can vouch for the health of their plants. I buy a few things from them each year and if you're also into growing culinary herbs no oone else comes close to the breadth of their selections.

I'll add my voice to Santa Rosa Gardens. I've ordered from them multiple times and have been impressed not only with the prices but also the selection/variety as well as the packaging. Of all the things I ordered only one plant ever didn't make it and they replaced it, no questions asked, the very next season. Their customer service is first rate so the whole buying experience is favorable.

After discovering SRG I gave up Bluestone altogether.

May I ask what their new practices are that you don't like ?

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone! Looks like Santa Rosa is having a sale now, so we'll send in a test order to see how we like them. Will check out the other places, too.

Sammy, the tripling of prices at Bluestone is the biggest problem. But I also don't like the cocopots, as much as I appreciate their efforts to go green. I tried planting directly in the ground, and most plants seem to be unable to grow through the pots. When I try to remove them, I always do damage to the roots. Finally, the plants don't seem to be as healthy as they used to be when I bought from them in years past. I was a huge fan before, so I'm very sad to see this decline.

Thank you ... I am in the process of replanting a 30' x 15' bed and even tho. I am trying my best to buy local , Im finding it very tempting to go mail order . Perhaps I'll visit Santa Rosas web site and look over the offerings.

Interesting observations about Bluestone plants and completely opposite from what I've experienced. I absolutely love the coir pots. In fact when I received my plants this spring, most were already growing through the pots. Unlike the peat pots of old which never seemed to decay, the coir pots disintegrate within a season (I dug some up from last year).

As I've stated in other posts, taking advantage of discounts, coupons etc. my Bluestone perennials and shrubs including postage averaged about $5+cents per plant. Can't beat that.

Finally, if anything, I thought the quality and size of their plants this year was far superior to past years. When I opened my box I was amazed at the size and health. Plus all those plants ordered this past spring are now AT LEAST the size of something I would have purchased in a gallon container. To boot, everything has bloomed beautifully or is about to bloom including my 4 foot delphinium currently in bloom. I usually do not expect much of a showing at all the first year from mail order plants.

I guess, to each his own.

Kevin

*Some* Bluestone plants grow through the pots just fine. Others seem stuck in there for ever...well, for at least two years now. It just depends on how tough the roots are, which seems relatively unrelated to the health of the plants otherwise. I'll try to post of pic of my coreopsis moonbeam later--great plants, beautiful blooms, but the shoots are all relegated to a 4"x4" area.

And if SRG has plants for $2.99 with a flat shipping rate, then you most certainly can beat $5+/plant.

I ordered from Bluestone this year. What a mess! Here's a photo of some of it. They don't secure the plants well before they ship. There were plants out of their pots and soil all over. Most of the plants lived, but I had to root cuttings of my sedum they sent broken. Santa Rosa Gardens has much better packaging and shipping.

I echo other recs for SRG. Someone on this forum posted about their $2.99 sale so I put in a order. I was happy with the plants I received (coreopsis, agastache, penstemon, briza grass). Right after my order arrived, their sale prices dropped to $2.49, so it's an even better deal now.

Another option to consider is your local Lowes or Home Depot. My Lowes is clearing out most of their nursery stock at half price. A lot of it is very sad looking, but if you're careful about choosing, you can get some great bargains. I'm reworking about a 1/4 acre, so I need to shop carefully. So far I've picked up gaura, penstemons, agastache, dianthus, sedums, lavender and just this morning, a Buddleia Flutterby Petite. Some of the stock is mislabelled or not labelled, or particularly beaten up - you can bargain with the employees to get these plants for next to nothing ($1 for a Homestead Purple verbena).

Cheryl

I will add a vote for SRG and depending on what you would like you can pick up somethings from Gilbert H Wild. they have low shipping, good customer service and prices.

I have not ordered from Bluestone in awhile. But I have had bad luck with a few higher price online places with horrible results and I am a seasoned gardener. I feel for the newbie gardeners paying high prices for the poor quality some of these vendors are offering.

Garden Crossing is toted as one of the best and they have the worst for my money. 20 bucks for a tiny struggling plant is not my idea of quality. Add the high cost of shipping and handling and you could go broke with a barren garden fast.

pbl stated:
"And if SRG has plants for $2.99 with a flat shipping rate, then you most certainly can beat $5+/plant."

Not everything on their website is $2.99. In fact, all the plants I would be interested in are much more. I don't buy plants just because they're cheap. I buy plants I want.

Kevin

I think what people are talking about is the total lack of concern for their customers that Bluestone has shown. Most people hate those pots they are using, yet they will not listen to them. I can't believe the sloppy packaging I received. If you can get a better plant cheaper at Santa Rosa Gardens, it would be stupid not to take advantage of that offer.

I hate to be negative, because I love perennials, but I've gotten sick of buying plants online. So many Bluestone AND Santa Rosa plants have died on me I finally started requesting replacements, and then when replacements died, got tired of it altogether. In all fairness, there are some cultivars that are still going strong, but it's less than half of the varieties purchased over time.

I had a little better luck buying daylilies on the Lily Auction, but even then seed crosses from 3 sellers got zero germination and fans from one particular seller were awful.

Now I mostly buy plants at the nurseries (a few) or purchase seeds online (and sometimes do trades). If a seed strain fails to germinate, or grows poorly (and that would be quite a few) I'm only out a few dollars.

I just checked out the Santa Rosa website and I didn't see anything I wanted either. About the only thing I was in the market for were Butterfly Bushes, but I ran into problems last time I ordered mail order because the color didn't turn out to be right. So this time I went local when they were in bloom to pick out what I was looking for.

Terrene, itâÂÂs interesting that you should say that. I noticed the complaints about Bluestone and I went to my records to check and see what my history has been with that company. I find I have a record of the majority of my purchases from them and it works out to be 13 shrubs, 35 perennials, 9 vines and 5 bulbs. Total of 62 plant varieties. That doesnâÂÂt count multiples and different varieties of some of those.

So out of 62 plants, 14 of them are doing very well and of those 14 are some of my favorites in my garden.

Another 24 are still living and growing but the jury is either still out on some of them, as in, I might have them in the wrong place, or IâÂÂm giving them another year to see if they need maturity, etc. Or, they are just doing okay. Some of them, like a Tiger Lily is bothered by the RLLB, 3 shrubs r still n containers. Etc.

24 of them are no longer in the garden. Butâ¦14 of those have good reasons to be dead or gone. I have clay soil and dry conditions so IâÂÂm not surprised that primula, lobelia, some salvias and agastaches didnâÂÂt keep come back. Polemium, the variegated version, seems to give everyone trouble. I killed a couple. I gave away a few I didn't end up liking, etc.

So that leaves 10 out of 60 that I was unhappy with. Anything that was BluestoneâÂÂs fault, they replaced or refunded. Some were what I consider now, inferior varieties. Lots of plants I choose are variegated and they seem to have problems with anything that is variegated. Either the variegation is wrong or they are not vigorous. I also have had problems with Clematis IâÂÂve bought there. IâÂÂve gotten the wrong one a few times. A couple of plants were borderline hardy. Then there are Ajugas, which I have no explanation for at all. Every one IâÂÂve ever bought died on me. And not just from Bluestone.

So all in all, I think I did pretty well with Bluestone. They were still offering packs of 3 when I was ordering. I got to try a lot of iffy plants and always on sale, so it didnâÂÂt cost me that much to find out if they would work for me. Part of my education. I really enjoy starting shrubs in a small size and seeing them mature and who else sells them that size? Not many.

I haven't ordered since their prices increased dramatically and I don't think I've even had one of their coir pots yet. I do check out their website and on a sale, I'd probably buy something I needed.

This post was edited by prairiemoon2 on Fri, Jul 26, 13 at 21:29

I'm with you, pbl. I hate those bluestone pots, too. The inground thing is true but also any time that I get a plant in one of those and don't immediately plant it it just doesn't do well. I need a pot that a plant can sit in for a while until I'm ready to plant it. Mortality rate seems to be pretty high when plants are just sitting in those. they do fine if I repot them into a different vendor's pot, even recovering in some cases. I have cut all of my bluestone pots off this year. The only reason I would order from them again is if it was something that I just couldn't find anywhere else. Much rather order from Santa Rosa.

Hey PM2 I've lost plenty of nursery plants and seedlings too, so I don't mean to single out Bluestone or Santa Rosa or any other particular vendor. Some of the losses may have resulted from some maltreatment on my part, or the vagaries of weather or perhaps they got eaten by voles. And some perennials, like Guara are not long-lived anyway.

It's just that I've gotten a bit skeptical of the beautiful photos that seduce me into buying what turns out to be marginal plants and have developed a certain appreciation for those stalwart perennials that have performed well in the garden for the better part of a decade - or more. (I have irises and a peony that came from the owner of my previous house and they're 30+ years old).

terrene I hear you on using seeds. I'm planning on trying winter sowing this year for the first time.

But having said that, there are plants I'm interested in that are difficult to start from seed. For example, I'd like to try Astrantia major "Haspen's Blood" so for that I'll likely have to buy from am online souce.

Where are you folks getting seeds for interesting perennials?

I had never heard of SRG before seeing this thread. Thank you all! I placed an order for two dozen asclepia tuberosas and two dozen of something else I can't remember now -- but I can't wait for fall planting!

Years ago, I would order plants from Burpee. One year they had gorgeous blue lysmachias on the catalog cover, and I fell for them and ordered quite a few. When the box came, it looked like echinaceamaniac's photo above. I couldn't save even one, I got a full refund from Burpee and never ordered from them again.

I have gotten some nice things, very well packaged, from Greenwood Nursery in the last few years, but Santa Rosa Gardens looks very promising. Thanks again!

I placed an order from bluestone during their spring sale and I was quite pleased. Since I couldnt plant right away, I put the pots in a large tray snd made sure the pots stayed moist. Some plants, upon planting, I cut the corners of the pots.

I was also pleased with my spring sale order from SRG. The only poor looking plant was a coreopsis--I looked at it and thought that I would not have bought it if I had seen it in person. All the heucheras looked great though.

ETA: I will be ordering from Arrowhead Alpines tomorrow to take advantage of their epimedium sale. I plant to try out about 5 varieties. Some are still quite expensive...but I've been wanting to grow some for a while so I am taking the plunge.

Here's BS pulmonaria majeste today, purchased during their spring sale this year.

This post was edited by trovesoftrilliums on Sat, Jul 27, 13 at 19:24

PBL, I have bought seeds of many native species from such nurseries as Prairie Moon Nursery, Everwilde, and Prairie Nursery, and other seeds from Diane's, Parks, Ebay, and the Lily Auction. All of the Echinacea purpurea seed strains have come from Swallowtail seeds.

Have also done many trades, with some excellent and not so excellent results, because it seems that seeds from trades have the greatest variation in quality. Commercial seeds have some variation as well however!

Of course there are many nice cultivars in the nursery trade that you cannot produce from seed, so I like to buy those - just don't like it when they croak!

Terrene, I feel the same way you do. I have grown very cautious when it comes to new hybrids. Most of the time, in my experience, they are more hyph than performance.

Trovesoftrilliums, you are in for a treat with the epimediums. One of my favorite backbone plants in the garden. I like that Pulmonaria.

Also don't care for the coir pots from Bluestone. I sat a few on a hot, sunny windowsill and noticed white mold on the outside of the pots by day four. I rip them off before planting.

Santa Rosa is probably my main go to for cheap (during the sales) online plants. Never had a problem.
Once, I ordered 2 Coreopsis Sienna Sunset, and when they came one was blooming yellow. I sent them a photo of it. The next day they sent an email with my new shipping date for my replacement plants. I was very happily surprised to find not 2 but 3 Sienna Sunsets had been sent. Total - five plants for $2.99.

Surprised that Garden Harvest Supply hasn't been mentioned yet. Nice selection of heucheras. Great reputation on the watchdog, too. They've never failed me either.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Harvest Supply

I buy seeds from Swallowtail seeds. I like them and they have many good ones!

Nutmeg - I got 3 Sienna Sunsets from SRG, one with yellowish blooms. I have planted them, assuming that growing conditions might have affected color. It sounds like I should contact SRG and report the bloom color. Thanks for mentioning your problem.

Cheryl

I have now placed small orders from both SRG and Romence. The latter wasn't especially cheap, but I wanted the full size versions of both Joe Pye Weed and Aruncus, and those have apparently gotten hard to find! Will update here when I receive both of them.

Also will check out Swallowtail....

For interesting perennial seed varieties, I recommend Gardens North. Actually I take that back. I highly recommend Gardens North.
http://gardensnorth.com/site/
Lots of stuff there for the adventurous perennial grower.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://gardensnorth.com/site/

Romence Gardens! Gallon sized plants too not dinky ones! Great packing too! :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Romence

I just got the shipment from Romence, and I thought I'd post a pic that demonstrates, among other things, what a rip-off Bluestone has become. I got these full priced (I know, I know--but I only wanted two plants, so it wasn't that bad), which meant that they were exactly the same price as the same order would have been from Bluestone, including shipping. But check out what Romence sent me:
{{gwi:254667}}

I put the little pot that is about the same size as Bluestone's cocopots (not sure of dimensions) on the right for comparison. Bluestone has never sent me anything this beautiful before. Of course, these weren't especially cheap, but at the same price Bluestone should really be ashamed of themselves!

Awesome. What are the plants you ordered?

I ordered a Helianthus 'Happy Days' and here is what I got out of the box from Romence Gardens. It already had blooms on it! I was surprised too. LOL.

Gorgeous!

Mine were Joe Pye Weed 'Gateway' and Goat's beard.

That Joe Pye Weed looks nice. I had one before. I might have to get another next Spring.