Weird Dude's Plant Zoo

Weird Dude's Plant Zoo offers a wide range of unusual plants at reasonable prices. Plants purchased late in the season last year continue to thrive despite traveling in the heat of August and the lack of rain. Check out the website for many treasures.

I sent in a order last month and was happy with the quality of plants I received. I'll definately order from them again.

I'd like to give a positive for the selection of unusual, hard - to - find plants Wierd Dude's offers, but I have to give a neutral for the abominable condition in which they arrived. I ordered a selection of gingers. Every plant was haphazardly wrapped in dried out newspaper. I didn't think the panda ginger was still alive as all the leaves were dessicated and crispy. There were some blooms, but they too were dried out like cardboard. Every plant looked neglected, underwatered, and every leaf was brown and dry. Most of the soil from the plants was rolling around in the bottom of the box as no precautions were taken to keep it in the pots. There were insects of every conceivable variety including silverfish and a slug (though how he survived the dryness I'll never know) crawling around the plants and the box. I was scared to stick my hands in there for fear of what I might find. Everything needed to be trimmed back severely to remove dead growth and I was left with a very nice selection of sticks. A month later, after much TLC and trimming, they've all mostly managed to bounce back. Except for the zingiber "midnight", which barely seems to be hanging on in spite of my best efforts. So, if you like the unusual this is a great place to buy from. I see that they have a great rating, maybe I'm the one exception. I can't recommend ordering from them, and I won't again. I will say that they allowed me to substitute a plant after the initial order, so they were helpful in that regard. Their plants are expensive, and not worth the price. It took me a month to post my rating because I truly wanted to like this company, but after dealing with Ecolage I guess I'm spoiled. I don't think one should receive an expensive box that needs such drastic and desperate help just to keep the plants alive upon receipt. Sorry, I have to be honest here.

We were very concerned that this customer never contacted us directly to express any dissatisfaction or to give us any chance to remedy what she saw as a problem. We had pleasant email correspondence before shipping her order, both with her and with her mother who said that she had placed the order for "Liila" as a gift, so this customer had to know that we were accessible and responsive. We read her comment here and emailed her on 5/19/05, telling her this and that we were disappointed that she gave us no opportunity to resolve her problem. It is now 6/6/05 and we still have never heard from her.

We personally select and pack every order which leaves this nursery. Her order was not the most lush we have ever shipped, because of the particular selection of plants which was ordered and because of the time of year (late March) in the non-Floridian climate of Virginia in an unusually cool and cloudy spring. However, all of the plants shipped were healthy and appropriately watered before we packed them. We did not see any insects on packing. If a garden slug slipped through, we certainly apologize, but as any nursery owner can attest, slugs sometimes get into the drain holes of pots and it would be cost prohibitive to de-pot and inspect every plant for the rare stray slug.

We want to address the statement that the plants were shipped packed in "dried out newspaper". We order from other nurseries as well, and have received plants packed in wet newspaper. We know from experience that plants in a dark box wrapped in moist or wet newspaper can easily develop fungal disease in transit. Newspaper is a good cushioning mechanism when dry but loses all of its shock-absorbent qualities when moist or wet, and as stated, can promote disease in transit if wet.

We do our very best to take care of our customers if we have been deficient in some way. We wish that this customer had given us an opportunity to resolve her problems.

Marty Harper & Debbie Gartzke
Co-Owners of Weird Dude's Plant Zoo, L.L.C.

A friend and I recently visited this nursery and spent a wonderful afternoon following Weird Dude around while he explained everything from proper Latin prounciation to healing properites of mulch. This experience, plus the opportunity to purchase unique and healthy plants made for a special day. I look forward to returning but more importantly I look forward to purchasing plants from The Weird Dude's Plant Zoo on a reqular basis.

I recently stopped in at this nursery and picked up a few plants. The ones I selected were healthy, good-sized and slightly on the high end of reasonably priced. The owner was knowledgeable and helpful.

Excellent experience! I ordered a few canna and a amorphophallus which the growing bulb was really big for the price. Great shipping and nice people to deal with. I will recommend them to my friends. Steve

I cannot say enough good things about this company. I started ordering from them 3 years ago when I first got interested in gardening. I ordered, I received confirmation, an e-mail told me when my order would arrive. I was absolutely THRILLED with every plant that arrived, THEN I found out how lucky I was when co-workers told me of their plant ordering experiences. Every plant I have ordered from Wierd Dude's has arrived in excellant condition and their prices are great. They also answered any of my questions and made suggestions. They may be WIERD but they're also WONDERFUL.

I just received a number of plants from Marty that are all in great shape. He has a number of woodies that I have not been able to find anywhere else on the web or mail order. Well packed, nice sized plants for the cost. Highly recommended.

The plants I ordered were very large, very healthy, very reasonably priced, and promptly shipped...what more could one ssk for?

I Ordered a dozen Thuja plicata 'Green Giant'. They arrived the week I asked them to in great condition.

I did visit this establishment last summer and was astounded by the variety of unusual plants at very good prices. My only complaint was that a few of the plants were too large. Nice problem!

I have been especially pleased with the plants I received from the Weird Dude's Plant Zoo: I ordered hellebores, ajuga chocolate chip, and fallopia, all extremely healthy in quart and gallon-size pots. Prices are great, too. For example, gallon-sized royal heritage strain hellebores were $10. About the same time I received these plants, I received a catalog from wayside gardens offering one gallon 'Royal Heritage' strain hellebores for $29.00. Weird Dude's does not send fancy garden guides or fancy packaging with the plants--just good old newsprint, but they arrive in great shape, and overnight here in Washington, DC. Shipping is $12 for up to $60. They send you an email when they receive your order to let you know when they are coming, and send another email when they have shipped.