Where do you all buy your exotics ? Plant Delights is so expensive and their shipping is very costly. Is there anywhere else that has these plants that are good quality? I want them for my containers.
hilary
colcasias,elephant ears,and bananas
I am real close to Plants Delight love going to open house in the spring and fall. I will be getting an elephant ear this summer from my aunt in Alabama maybe I can get you a piece also.
Check plant trading and just put up a want list, someone might have what you are looking for .
Lavina
Thank you Lavina.. That is so sweet of you. I envy you that you get to go to Plant Delights. If I lived closer, I'd buy from them. It's the shipping that makes their plants so out of reach. They have wonderful plants in their catalog, though.
hilary
I like Natural Selections Exotics better. The plants I got from Plant Delights were itty bitty and a couple of them were barely rooted and died. Also try Zone 9 Tropicals and Lazy S's Farms, they both have nice plants. All these are in GWD.
You could try Singing Springs Nursery. They have a good reputation in GardenWatchDog:
http://www.singingspringsnursery.com
And carry some of the things you are looking for. I am waiting on my first order from them but know someone who has good luck with them.
Calalily, I agree with you on Plant Delights........I was very disappointed with the stuff I got when I ordered from them........and I ordered 2 different times. won't again. Itty-bitty is right about some.....the EE's and Alo's and Xanthasoma were very disappointing.......I don't think any of them made it. Wahhhhhh.............
thanks everyone. gotta love the net. keeps us from getting so burned plus I think the quality of things are getting better for consumers as they know "news" travels fast these days....
hilary
I love Van Engelen prices and quality. Also has a good rep with watch dog.
Ebay. Alot of times the sellers have websites and will give a link to it.
I wouldn't spend 2 cents at Plant Delights. Greatly overpriced and customer service is dismal. I bet, however, their open houses are great events. From the catalogs, it seems like they have great gardens.
Edited to add that I DID spend 2 cents at PD when I first discovered plant shopping by mail/online. I placed an order, then cancelled it. PD sent order anyway in error and billed me for it. When I brought it to their attention, they expected me to pay for return shipping. I had to because plants weren't going to work (that is why I cancelled the order to begin with) and return shipping was less than cost of unwanted plants. I gave them the name of person who took cancellation, but she was conveniently no longer there. Customer service person actually said to me that for all she knew, I was lying about the whole thing, and she just couldn't take everybody's word that called with a convoluted story, I hung up the phone.
This message was edited May 2, 2006 2:29 PM
vossner, you are right, they are greatly overpriced-always has been. I went to one of their openhouses a long time ago, and they do have nice gardens. Tony Avent started that business-what? 8-9 yrs ago? He used to do a column Sat am's in the local paper about gardening, and then he started going out all over the world looking for new plants and I have a feeling that the business is not his first love. His is a nice person, extrememly knowledgeable about unusual plants and a very quirky sense of humor, but his place is way too expensive.
Hi, all. I live about 3 hours from Raleigh and am going to Plant Delights this weekend for their open house. We go every year and always come away with a little something. But not much because they ARE very expensive!! This year for Christmas, my sister gave me a $40 gift certificate to PD. Guess that will buy me two plants--LOL!
It's a great trip for us there though. The gardens are really funky and lots of imagination. The place is always PACKED with people dragging little red wagons stuffed with plants. Tony must make a fortune at those open houses!
I'm going to check out your other links for tropicals. Thanks!
hag49..
I have EE out my ears.
I could certainly part with some, if you want.
Dee