Depends on the plant, but likely not. Usually plants are sold in quart or gallon containers at nurseries. I think quarts are roughly 4 or 4.5" wide. Some of the rock garden type plants are sold in 3.5" containers.

Unless the plant is particularly slow growing, I don't think getting a quart vs. a gallon would set you back more than one growing season.

Mail-order plants are generally pretty small. If you have access to good local nurseries that have what you want, I recommend buying your materials there for a couple reasons: (a) support your local economy, and (b) often it's a better deal - you can often get clearance rack plants this time of year very inexpensively and/or you can divide those larger pots of perennials into multiple smaller plants.

heres how it works ...

what you are getting this fall ... is what .. most likely.. would be up-potted to one gallon next spring ....

which would probably be equivalent to a 2 gallon by fall ...

in the nursery trade ... the amount you pay .. is equivalent to time or age ...

so your presumable 'cheaper' fall plants ... are just younger ...

if you want immediate gratification .. then pay the piper ...

all that said.. if you have good local nurseries.. fall is bargain time.. they would rather sell them cheap ... then have to hoik them around the nursery.. store them for winter.. lose half to mother natures whims .... etc ... in this case.. some money in hand.. is better than investing more time.. read that money ... rather than 'handling' them all winter ...

but most important with mail order.. you should be buying things that are simply not available locally ... support your local peeps.. collect nationally ... and when it all boils down.. shipping large plants will become very expensive ... and if you have the budget.. knock yourself out.. just dont think it will be cheap ....

i am a collector.. if i had $250 dollars [oh how i wish for those days back] .. i would order ten $25 conifers ... mail order.. because i could not find them locally [most of the growers are out OR way, rather than MI] ...

or i could go find a one COMMON conifer locally at 4 to 6 feet for $250 .... the instant gratification idea ...

so mail order enables my collector gene ... saves me money.. and opens whole new worlds of availability of the rare and unusual ...

so again.. this falls quart plant.. is next springs one gallon.. which is next falls 2 gallon ....

ken

ps: i forgot to followup on my night octopus thought.. lol ... wonder what post that was ...

Shipping costs are expensive. So are those pretty, glossy plant catalogues. Those costs are not built into the price at the local nursery, so usually, you get much more plant, with a better root system, in a more substantial growing mix. Unless you are a collector and buying the rare and unusual, you should do a lot better at your local nursery.
Also, if you are new to gardening, most of the plants they sell will be unusual for you. In a few years, who knows.
And there is a lot to be said for selecting plants personally. It is easy to select a robust plant by eye.

Honestly, I do most of my plant buying on-line, or I did until my go-go company, Bluestone, recently changed their procedures. For the most part, I found that perennials, especially from Bluestone, easily caught up quickly to nursery-bought specimens.

I was more hesitant to buy shrubs from them, because obviously they are *much* smaller than nursery shrubs. However, I have bought several shrubs on-line that actually grew much more quickly than I had imagined they would - viburnums, hydrangeas, callicarpas, etc.

If, however, I am going for instant (or, more instant) impact, I will buy locally. For example, I am looking to put in a shrub border that will hide a wooded compost area, so I am looking locally for shrubs that while not huge, will be at least 3 feet and get a good start on hiding things. Depending where I go and what size they have (some slower-growing specimens are smaller and more expensive), I'm paying anywhere from $20 to $40. There are of course, even larger and more expensive items, but I like to keep it under $45-$50 when I have to buy so many at one time.

So I think it depends on what your usage and expectations are. If I am putting a hydrangea or even an evergreen into a mixed bed, I can wait a bit longer for it to catch up. If I am planting a shrub border or making/adding to a foundation planting, I want faster impact so I will buy bigger locally.

One reason I started with on-line buying is that the prices, including shipping, were better (not quite the case now, especially, again, with Bluestone) and often the return policy was better. I have found lately that I do buy more stuff locally, but overall, I don't buy nearly as much stuff in general as I used to. And my shift to easier-care shrubs (as opposed to perennial-only beds) has made me look closer to home for those bigger-impact shrubs.

If you do decide to go with the on-line buying, make sure to check Garden Watchdog for nurseries before you buy. It's a great resource for choosing a dependable on-line nursery.

Dee

The big advantage of buying at a local nursery is that you get to pick out just that plant that appeals to your aesthetics as opposed to the one sitting next to it.

But I pretty much agree with Ken: buy locally what's available from local nurseries, mail order what you can't find. I do think mail order plants tend to be smaller but after a season or two they catch up. Then again, most of my mail ordering is done in the spring and a lot of it comes dormant. And you need to figure in the shipping costs when you price things out. The last couple of years, shipping has really gotten out of hand at some mail order places. Great local nurseries often offer easier to use guarantees and speaking with their full time staff offers a wealth of information about how that plant does in the local area. And nothing beats seeing a plant in person for deciding if you like the color, leaves, etc.

The Washington DC-Baltimore region is blessed with a number of great nurseries of the "marvelous" kind. And if you are willing to make a day trip of it, there are even more within reach. And from early March to June, there are a huge number of local plant sales ranging from garden club�s to the rarified ones like at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington DC and Paca House in Annapolis. Over on the Mid Atlantic Gardening Forum, you can find several long-time threads on local nurseries like the one on the link here. And that thread doesn't mention about half of the nurseries worth visiting. There are even more if you search by local nursery and a particular type of plant--evergreens, azaleas, etc.

Almost all of the nurseries will have "going into winter" sales with great bargains. You have to go with an open mind because you don�t know what will be left. But last fall I got six perennials at the Beltsville, MD, Behnke�s clearance sale (not far from you in Annapolis) for $4 each, the cheapest of which was regularly $15.

One caution on mail ordering: If you aren't "recently" familiar with a mail order company, always check it out on Garden Watchdog (just do a Google search on the name and the website will come up; Gardenweb won't allow links to anything on D*vesgarden). The website will give you a good idea of the quality of mail order company's plants and customer service. For example, a couple of years ago I ordered some hard to find stuff from what had been a great mail order nursery�Wayside Gardens. Turned out terribly. When I posted a review on Watchdog, turned out I wasn�t alone in finding that they were no longer a great plant place. Wish I checked before I ordered.

Of course, my favorite way of acquiring plants is swapping, either locally or by mail. That has the lowest costs (which fits my budget really well) and you would be amazed what people will offer. Check out the Plant Exchange Forum on Garden Web and the exchange pages on specialty forums.

Wow, I can�t believe I wrote all of this. Back to my day job.

Here is a link that might be useful: Just one of many threads oon great local nurseries

Not only does buying locally increase the likelihood of the right plant for your area as minamarie points out, but plants bought locally have gotten used to your local conditions even if they came in on a truck 1 to 3 days ago.

I have mail ordered plants that arrived looking beautiful but of course had been in a box for 3 days and before that in a nursery in Michigan, for example, and did not acclimate easily to my totally different conditions in Louisiana. I put the mailorder plants in the shade, watered immediately, etc, etc. Some successes, some failures.

I see kimka's wonderful info above on real nurseries in your area. Here real nurseries are out in the country and are open in "High Season" ONLY on Saturday morning so you could try calling to check availability of what you are looking for and check their hours at that time of year (which might change week to week).

Real nurseries in my area have beautiful, robust plants often twice the size of the box stores and half the price, the right plant for my area growing happily in my local conditions, and the staff gives me more expert advice than I can get at a box store. Seeds for interesting, different plants are what I buy mailorder, but chacun a son gout! We are all different, with different interests and opinions. Good luck!

I really want to thank all of you for your comments. Each of you have provided important lessons. I now understand more about growth, size, pricing, local resources, etc. As a new gardener with three beds in the works (30x20,30x30,26x8) -- and tons to learn, you've really been a huge help. These forums are a god send. I have purchased the majority of my plants locally and then purchased a few online that I couldn't readily find. But Friday I had business about an hour away -- went to a garden center with a fantastic selection, and found all the plants I ordered online. Next time I'll know to first call around to local resources, it's definitely worth a road trip for some large plant and to support our local folks. Again, many, many thanks for all your comments!

I own a nursery in Canada which specializes in perennials. I often compare our prices to that of Canadian mail order companies and our prices are always much less expensive on the same items. The difference? No shipping costs, no soiless mix as a growing medium and much, much larger plants, with extensive, healthy root systems ready to take off in the garden.
Even our small, starter first-year plants are much larger and much less expensive than anything I have ever bought online.
I continue to wonder how I can grow a plant and sell it for a profit at a much, much lower price than anything on offer from mail order companies. The difference, I believe, is the glossy catalogue. Instead of a pretty catalogue with pictures of what to expect when the plant matures, we offer instead mature gardens- about 20 of them- for customers to walk and browse.
We also offer a much more extensive variety.
And in general, when I buy plants, I still like to use my eye. We make several purchases each year from various wholesale nurseries and the quality is always higher when I can afford the time to shop myself for the nursery.
I am a strong advocate for supporting local nurseries. And I wonder why, if you want particular hard-to-find plants that you don't work with a local nursery? They can't stock what you want if you are not a customer and do not tell them what you are interested in.
I don't intend any of this as an advertisement for our nursery. We do not do mail order.

Ninamarie, so glad to see you encourage people to work with their locally owned (not big box) nurseries. I have rarely been turned away by the owner or manager of a good nursery regarding special orders of a particular plants, gadget, or the only brand of potting mix that I will use.