Best way to ship plants?

Ok, here is another of my dumb questions. What is the best way to send plants? Grandma always wrapped hers up in wet paper towel till she got home, but she usually got back before dark LOL. How do you make sure they don't dry out and do you remove most of the soil?
Thanks

Hi Laylarose,
I've sent many plants through the mail over the years and I usually mail them as follows. Some things need a bit of creativity for mailing, ie..large, odd-shaped, fragile ones, however, generally I usually rinse off the roots and wrap them in wet paper towels. Then I wrap the paper-toweled roots in either tin foil (with the fold at the bottom) or in a plastic grocery bag. I use a baggie tie or tape to gently make a tighter fold at the top of the bag where it meets the stems. If the weather is warm, I spritz the leaves with a gentle mist of water or add a damp paper towel between the leaves. Some fragile plants are packaged then slid down into a papel towel tube, then placed in a mailing box. Since I don't like the plants hitting loose around inside the box, I usually tape the plastic bag (or tin foil) to the mailing Priority box with heavy-duty tape..that way the plants aren't being thrown around. I sometimes add crumbled-up newspaper to take away dead space inside the box.

If I send someone cuttings started with rooting hormone and in soil, I cut a baggie in half, add some wet soil to the closed corner, add the cutting, then wrap the baggie around and tape shut, so it sort of looks like a hotdog shape. I also tape these to the bottom/side of the Priority box.

The most important thing I do is tie an identification label around each packaged plant, with common and Latin name. I also include a note to briefly say what's enclosed and what the trade is about, with my email address.
I'm sure other people will give you more ideas about how they successfully mail plants. Good luck :)
Trish

Thanks LOL ya'll have to bear with me I wear my purple hat all the time now adays. When I get some prettys up would like to trade, but probably won't be till next year got a late start this time. Bookmarked this so I will know how it is done.
Thanks so much,
Anna (laylarose)