Woody ornamental plant & tree sources

Hello All -

I used to order ornamental trees and shrubs all the time, from Coenosium Gardens, Arborvillage, Greer Gardens, Carroll Gardens, and Girard Nurseries. Boy, do I feel old. Most, if not all of these outfits have closed or retired from the business. I am at a loss! Can anyone recommend a place or places where one can find unusual or exceptional cultivars of, say Maple trees, or Spruce trees, or Witchhazels, or Ash trees, or . . . ? I do patronize and like Klehm's Song Sparrow, and RareFind Nursery, but if anyone has any suggestions, I sure would appreciate it. I'm in the Northeast. THANKS!
Photo is of Acer negundo 'Kelly's Gold'

The closing of nurseries does seem to be an unfortunate trend. I also recently read that horticulture programs at universities across the US have seen a steep decline in student numbers over the past several years. I don't do a lot of mail order and have not ordered from either of these businesses, but I've heard Conifer Kingdom and Woodlanders do a nice job.

www.coniferkingdom.com

www.woodlanders.net

I order tons of mail order. My winter hobby is surfing the net for strange plants.
In addition to the ones you & Pseudo mention, I can suggest off the top of my head and in no certain order (and sticking with nurseries with significant offerings of woody plants):
Forest Farm
Far Reaches Farm
Fraser Thimble Farm
Fairweather Gardens
Broken Arrow
Camellia Forest
Avant Gardens
Arrowhead Alpines - despite the name 'alpines', they've got lots of strange woody plants too
Lazy S
Digging Dog
Bloom River
Dragonfly Farms
Evergreen Gardenworks
I'm sure there are others - I'm just brainstorming freely.
Happy browsing!

And I used to have all those catalogues you mentioned...

Wow - northwest of Scranton and southwest of Binghamton. No wonder you mail order. Hello from a fellow/former Keystone Stater - Perkiomenville at your service.

Weerobin took all the ones I would have mentioned. What neither he nor Pseudo have ventured, though, is:

If you know someone who is in the trade, and buys from the nurseries that supply the mailorder places, you can find a lot of plants. You have to be more patient than pulling it up on your smartphone and having it at your door the next day, though.

Ha! Nobody mentioned Classic Viburnums (Upland, NE) yet. Gary is da man...

Having just received a beautiful viburnum schensianum today from Gary at Classic Viburnums this morning, I would never forget him or his nursery. I've consistently received superior plants from Classic Viburnums. But on this occasion, I thought the poster was inquiring about more 'general' nurseries...
So just to be clear, I'm happy to confirm that if you're looking for viburnums, Classic Viburnums is always the first option!

Wow, thanks a million to all of you! I got plenty of surfing ahead of me.

I was heartbroken at the closing of some of the nurseries I mentioned, and had developed a "phone relationship" with several of those proprietors.

Interesting, and sad, Pseudo, about the decline in horticulture majors.

Weerobin, that's quite a list! I'm looking forward to checking them out!

ViburnumValley, thanks for the Viburnum connection! I do like them, but was sorry to see a whole bunch of our native Arrowwood Viburnums die off in the last few years. I grew up seeing them in the fields, then several years ago noticed strange caterpillars on them, and they were stripped in a matter of weeks. So far, my doublefile and juddii (sp?) are fine, but the snowball, along with the natives, are long gone. Sorry, off topic, but the mention of viburnums got me started . . .

Anyway, thanks again!

Photo is Picea pungens 'Thomsen', cotinus coggygria 'royal purple' and Acer negundo 'Kelly's Gold' against an incoming storm sky.

That is a colorful hillside. The lowly A. negundo do has produced some nice varieties. I've long wanted to try 'Flamingo', but never see it in the nursery trade...except mail order...

Thanks, Pseudo.

I had a Flamingo negundo once that succumbed to a particularly rough winter. I have thought to try one again, but also felt that it didn't have as much pink as I wanted. Really looked more like a white and green variegation. But I understand that varies year-to-year, and I really didn't have it around long enough to get to know it.

a couple maple sources I use are;

topiary gardens, ny - Diana the owner is the best, mostly small jm's - huge selection.

davidsans, il - also a large selection of trees of all sizes.

Ordered a couple jm's from greers this spring, last year for them.

Plant Delights is one of my favorites :
http://www.plantdelights.com
They are in N Carolina.
I love Forest Farm too but they are in the Pacific NW. I think Plant D lights is one of the best for the East!

This message was edited Jun 14, 2015 5:40 PM

For huge plants, $10 Fed Ex shipping on full orders (yes, no matter how large the order), and very low prices, Plant and Gnome:

http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/2494/

No one beats his prices for very large and excellent plants. You have a choice of bareroot or containerized. If he has what I want (check the price list for his full inventory) he is unbeatable.

I have happily ordered multiple times from Forest Farm and Classic Viburnums. Forest Farm plants are priced well under others, probably to make up somewhat for the pricey shipping, but the plants are great. Classic Viburnums is the place to go for the 200 plus taxa of viburnums. Some of them are not in commerce anywhere because Gay and Sue Ladman hybridized them. I have two compact carlesi that I was the first to possess. I think his prices are great. I got five viburnums, one a five gallon, for $179 with shipping. I was back a few weeks later for the carlesis, which have performed like champs.