Far Reaches Farm

I think I would buy from Far Reaches Farm merely to read their catalog. Some very funny and cheeky writing going on there. And the good news is the plants are great too. I like Far Reaches for what I call a "Discovery Nursery' that is one where I find all sorts of things that I didn't even know existed. Some of favorite garden specimens are from this nursery. And if you have a chance to visit the nursery in Port Townsend, their shade garden will likely leave you gobsmacked!

The plants were excellent quality and packaging is exceptional. Not the cheapests! but plants you won't find anywhere else.

I am new to Far Reaches Farm and was really looking forward to placing an order. When I chose "shop" one of the choices on the left was the "Complete Plant List". I thought this would be an ideal choice for me as I wanted to get an overview of what they had. Over the next 45 minutes, I very slowly went through each name one by one, making notes of those I wanted more information on. In some cases I tried to find additional comments on the internet. When I was done,. I had compiled a list of 58 different plants. Now mind you, I didn't think I was going to actually order all 58 plants. This nursery is apparently in Zone 9 and I am in Zone 6b/7a, so I figured many plants would be too tender for my climate. I envisioned whittling down my list to about 10-15 plants, and then go on place an order. So far so good, right? Well, I spent the next 30 minutes actually clicking on the 58 plants I had chosen from the bare bones master list. I was a bit surprised that the first five plants were sold out, but figured I was just unlucky in my plant choices. However, you can imagine my dismay when 10, 15, 20, and ultimately 57 OUT OF 58 PLANTS WERE SOLD OUT!! Now I certainly can appreciate that some popular plants would sell out as the season progresses. However, it is only April 17th! Moreover, this nursery is not new. You would think by now that would have a good handle on what sells well and what doesn't, and stock their plants accordingly. If 57 out of 58 plants chosen randomly are sold out, something is very, very wrong. When plants are sold out, they should be IMMEDIATELY taken off the complete plant list. If Far Reaches Farm wants to maintain a special list of plants that are expected back in stock and that people could put on their "want lists" that would be fine. but as it stands now no such list exists on this nursery's website. Just for the record, the one plant that was in stock----Roscoea humeana----was $30.00 a pop. I have seen it listed and indeed have purchased it from Edelweiss Perennials and others for less than half that price. So, essentially because Far Reaches Farm has a "complete plant list" which is misleading and has nothing to do with actual availability, I wasted over an hour for absolutely nothing. That's a big "negative" in my book, but I will leave a "neutral" since an order was never placed. Still, I think they need to know that no one appreciates their time being wasted and this certainly is not a professional way to run a business The fact that even one person was unable to complete an order after all the years they have been in business is concerning.

My first time ordering from this company. The plants arrived in great condition and needless to say I called twice prior to shipping to add additional plants and they were prompt and accommodating, Will certainly order from them again!

Posted on October 18, 2013, updated September 20, 2019 Have ordered from Far Reaches several times and have always been very pleased. These folks have many rare and unusual plants not found elsewhere similar to those stocked by Heronswood Nursery pre 2006. Plants are reasonably priced for their size and well packed. Shipping was on date promised and they do answer emails. A gift plant is also included with each order. I always look forward to seeing what new plants they will list on their website - some I have never seen for sale anywhere else.

How is this company not on the top 30 list?! I seriously think that list needs revised, there are some so so companies on there yet gems like Far Reaches Farm aren't front and center! They are one of my top two favorite places to order plants from, and I order so many plants via mail that most people would suggest that I have a serious problem, especially my mail man! Their selection is mouth watering, the quality is through the roof, and everything arrives perfectly! Do yourself a favor and order some plants from them!

far reaches farm has all the rare/unusual specimens on my plant lust list. they did a killer packing job on my big leafy tabularis order earlier this year. every tender, delicate but giant leaf on that bad boy made it to me fully intact! i was expecting broken stems or tattered leaves, but was left totally amazed at the excellent condition of all the plants in my order upon arrival. i am a repeat customer for sure!

My husband, sister, and I went on a day trip to visit Far Reaches Farm. It was amazing. We spent at least 3 hours wandering around, viewing the extensive, labelled gardens, including an enormous shade area. The plants were unbelievable. I can't speak to their shipping, since we were on site, but I am sure it's fine. Anyway, I could have spent thousands of dollars there because of their selection. They are plant explorers and find unusual plants around the world, they grow their own stock, and they sell the best of the best. We saw and bought some unusual and wonderful plants. Wow!

I'm not sure why it took me so long to find Far Reaches but I'm glad that I did! They have an extensive inventory of rare and unusual plants, many of which have been wild-collected on plant hunting expeditions by themselves and other professional plantspeople. As a biologist that does research in forest ecology, I'm really intrigued by these new introductions, even if they are of species that are already well-known. As an example, my recent order contained a Corylopsis sinensis they had collected in China that I was delighted to see had some red pigment in its foliage, a trait that I was not aware existed in the species. The staff was happy to answer my inquiry about some of their plants. Even if you're plant nerd that might not be interested in making an order, go visit their website- it contains a lot of great information and their commentary is hilarious. The plants themselves were in excellent shape, and the mesh-style cardboard they use in shipping is probably the most secure packing I've seen from a mail-order nursery. Highly recommended!

I stumbled across Far Reaches Farm's website and noted they had a few obscure plants that I was after. The problem was, I was heading out on a 2-week trip, and wasn't sure if the plants I wanted would still be in stock upon my return. Fortunately, I found they have an option for delaying shipment until the desired date of the buyer's choosing, so I placed an order immediately, and specified a shipping date that suited my travel schedule. The desired shipping date was honored, and my plants arrived on time, very competently packed, and in excellent condition via Fed-Ex 3-day service. Given my experience, I can recommend this vendor highly.

Far Reaches Farm has many hard-to-find species and varieties, at reasonable prices for mail order plants of the size and quality. For example, I ordered Ugni molinae from Far Reaches and another mail-order nursery; Far Reaches' plants were a few dollars more ($12 compared to $9, if memory serves), but were three times the size, including much better developed root systems. I have ordered multiple times - at least once a year since discovering them several years ago - and each time the service has been excellent, shipment has been prompt, and plants have arrived in good shape and true-to-type.

Posted on March 21, 2015, updated June 4, 2016 Yesterday, the first day of spring, three inches of snow fell in NYC. Today I was feeling unwell, and at two in the afternoon FedEx delivered a box from Far Reaches Farm. It contained three snowdrops--one had flowered already, one with no buds showing, and the third with full fat buds. I am so pleased with these plants--they way they were grown, they way they were packed and shipped. Far Reaches Farm deserves a higher ranking than positive, they are outstanding in every way from the ease at which an order is placed to the box I am holding in my hand. Last year, they had Lapageria vines that sold out before I had a chance to order mine. I hope they will be available again this year. My first order was such a wonderful experience that I cannot wait to order again (Lapageria, hint.) I also made a want list of some of their plants. This list will certainly dwindle as summer approaches. Thank you for growing and selling such wonderful plants. Kudos to all!

This reviews purpose is to inform anyone thinking of ordering from this company to try to avoid this problem .If you dont mind ordering by early May when everything may not be quite up in your garden go with them otherwise they will coerce you to an exhorbedent chage to get your plants when you origionally wanted them. It is about 40% of the order total for shipping with the "warm rate" then you get a e-mailed that you have to wait till fall when you can't enjoy your plants and they can't get much needed growth and proper hardening time in your garden to survive the winter especially for margional plants . Why give people an option of choseing a lower ship rate when in the end if they want their plants they end of paying the heigher rate. I have ordered many plants for about 2 decades from places near and far between late may and august that took 5-7 business days from all over to get to me without incident. This is the only company that does this warm weathr rate I have come across. I had this exact problem last year and complaned ,got my plants delivered without the warm rate and everything was fine in fact many have come to thrive in the garden this year .This year I am giving in to the heigher charges since I just want my plants when I was orgionally quoted as getting them. This year I even made sure to order earlyier. My plants should come on 6/6 but again thats when they should have arrived exactly with the flat rate since I ordered on may 22 ed.

I purchased plants last fall. Three of them did not survive the winter for some reason. I contacted the company and I was told they would be replacing the plants. Their customer service is wonderful!

I ordered begonia in early March 2016, asking for them to be sent when weather would improve in April. The plants arrived and were in excellent shape, well grown and developed. They were excellently packed and shipped as promised. I would highly recommend Far Reaches and hope to order from them again.

Posted on December 15, 2015, updated March 14, 2016 Posted on October 10, 2015, updated December 15, 2015 Very happy with the five species peonies I just received. Several of these are quite rare and hard to find. All were sized as described. Two were absolutely massive. Will definitely look to order from them again in the future.

Nice selection of plants. Received healthy plants and would order from them again.

I received my order from Far Reaches yesterday. I was very impressed by the careful preparation and wrapping of the plants. It was like opening a bunch of presents I bought for myself. Of course I had forgotten what I ordered, so each was a surprise. The first treat was a Trillium. It was large, multi-stemmed and flowering. I was impressed with every plant I received. They were large and of great quality, with excellent labeling. I will definitely be ordering again.

Far Reaches Farm - OMGosh where to start. I guess it's best to confess first - Hello my name is Nancy and I'm a plantaholic. That being said, this is one of my favorite places to shop both in person and online. I'm fortunate to live only a few hours away and have been on "field trips" with my Master Gardener friends. Sue, Kelly (definitely male, and of the Hawaiian shirt and kilt wearing ilk) and the other personnel have made us feel so welcome - greeting us in person, lots of plant advice, and even special tours of the growing houses and gardens! You can't help drooling over the new things they have in the wings and walking through the gardens with your mouth hanging open - taking enough time only to close it and stutter out "What's the name of that plant, and do you have any in stock?". In case you didn't know, they have actually taken trips to hunt for plants in exotic places, and bring back many marvelous species. They climb through mountains in remote areas to find things that are more unusual and that will grow in more than tropical locales. And if you're lucky enough to be able to attend a workshop or lecture with them, you usually get to hear about these trips, injected with their humorous style also found on the plant descriptions. There's nothing not to love about this couple of plant nerds. I echo the caution of several other reviewers - it's easy to get carried away and believe that some of the plants will grow for you that you just shouldn't take home. But isn't that just part of gardening for all of us?

Excellent plants, and excellent service! Their Pharoah-quality wrap job ensured that my Lingholms arrived completely undamaged, and I found my poppies in excellent health and well-grown to boot. I had a last minute kerfuffle and had to change the shipping date on short notice; no problem whatsoever! I highly recommend Far Reaches.

I ordered late in the season, mainly to have the plants overwinter and enjoy them in 2015. I was very pleased when my order arrived quickly, and with super plants! I now have Podophyllum delavayi, a plant that is terminally sold out elsewhere. Looking forward to 2015!

I received my second order from Far Reaches Farm on Monday- it was shipped the previous Monday as we had agreed on, 7 days from WA to NJ. This is good, as 2-3 day shipping is quite a bit more expensive. The plants (or should I say treasures) were in great shape, with some even labelled "Going Dormant", a good idea, as nothing showing this time of year may scare some people. Packing is great- it took at least an hour to unwrap everything- for a gardener it's better than Christmas! Their labelling of the plants is excellent- in most cases the description (for those who haven't been to their website the descriptions are masterpieces of garden literature in the Dan Hinkley school of writing) is on the label, along with site requirements. This is most important when you are outside trying to figure out where to put these gems and the computer is inside. I would highly recommend Far Reaches, just wish I lived closer as they only ship smaller plants. But there's plenty of selection in the smaller plants, many of which you won't find anywhere else.

I am fortunate to live just a ferry ride away from this nursery. Their selection of plants is one of the most unusual I've ever seen, AND the plants are all in top shape. I've bought from them at the nursery, and when I can't make it over, I've had them shipped. In both cases, the plants were not root bound, and when they were planted, they flourished. Great selection of 'deer resistant' plants, and spectacular shade plants. Truly one of the most interesting and unique places around. Highly rated!

I received a gift certificate for Far Reaches Farm from my family and spent several weeks window shopping on their extensive, well-written website. Once I was ready to place my order, there was some confusion about how to apply the gift certificate online, however, after a couple of very helpful email exchanges with Tulip my order was placed. Since I live in TN the recommended shipping method was 2-day, but I opted for the longer ground delivery due to the cost. My shipment arrived in 4 days and all plants were in excellent condition and HUGE - and as a previous post mentioned, a bonus plant! I'm very pleased with the service and plants and would definitely order from them in the future!

I was looking for dark-flowered dieramas and lapagerias, and Far Reaches Farm popped up in my Google search. Since I do not buy any plants from an online nursery that I had not done business with in the past without reviewing others' comments on DG, I went through the feedback for Far Reaches Farm. They were overwhelmingly positive. So I felt good about ordering from them. I also added a tree dahlia (Dahlia imperialis 'California Angel') to the order. The shipping charges were reasonable, they came well-packaged and quickly, and the plants were in fantastic shape. I have to agree with the other reviewers. They are an A+ nursery to order from. I would definitely order from them again.

Posted on July 22, 2012, updated January 4, 2014 Far Reaches Farm is a great nursery, wonderful people. I placed my first order with them at the beginning of the year, and I just received my second order from them a few days ago. They emailed me to let me know the status of my order, and when it was being delivered. I placed a large order, as a thank you they sent me several bonus plants. They even emailed me afterwards to make sure all the plants had arrived in good condition. They have a great selection of hard to find, rare plants, exotic and native. I had a great experience buying from this company!

I have not only ordered a number of times with this company but have also shopped on site at their location. Great service. Wonderful plants. I have had great luck with all the plants I have bought from them. I will even confess to buying more plants than I should have. Lots of great and different plants.

Posted on May 30, 2013, updated May 30, 2013 Far Reaches Farm has a dazzling array of plants that you don't often find in the trade - or even never find! Well, never except for here or this sentiment doesn't make any sense! The owners are friendly and helpful and have expert knowledge of their plants. The web site offers to send you notices when out-of-stock items are back in stock and the feature seems to work because I was notified about an item. They also have a wish list feature for registered users of the site. I wish every nursery had that feature! I know a few that do and I make heavy use of it. The web site also allows viewing their inventory several different ways, such as alphabetical, by common name, by Latin name, new plants, by hardiness, etc. And you can control the number of items that display on each page which is great for anyone still coping with a slow internet connection. I have one suggestion for the web site. Display the hardiness zone and maybe the light requirements with the summarized description. Their prices are very reasonable for a nursery that specializes in the uncommon. What's a better deal, after all, a Polygonatum that you can't find anywhere else for $16 or $12.95 for a 72-cell size Echinacea from a major retail mail-order house? And Far Reaches offers 9 different kinds of Polygonatum! And zero Echinacea... I chose the standard shipping which was FedEx ground. The travel time from WA to CT was too long for an impatient person such as me. Far Reaches recommends the upgraded, faster shipping but the cost is non-trivial. I have to ponder if they could offer Priority Mail for the same price as FedEx ground and reduce the in-transit time to 2-3 days. I'm just pondering, mind you... In short - well no, it's too late for that... In closing I will absolutely be ordering from Far Reaches again. They are likely to become one of the top 3 places I go when I'm searching for an unusual perennial. And there are about 40 items on my wish list, so far. P.S. I forgot one minor disappointment. Far Reaches is lucky to be located in the nearly Mediterranean climate of Washington. As such their web site taunts me mercilessly with super cool plants that I just can't grow here in my wet winter on the zone 5/6 border. To attenuate this problem I have a suggestion. Add to the web site a checkbox labeled "I'm from CT and I have a sickness. I want to buy plants that won't live through the generally miserable winter and cold, wet spring." Use a small font and I think it's doable. Checking that box will hide all of the cool plants that would meet their maker over the winter. That way I wouldn't even be tempted to say, "Hey, hardy to zone 8. I can grow that!"

Far Reaches has a marvelous collection of plants for all conditions, but I particularly like their shade plants. I am lucky enough to live nearby, so I get to shop in person, rather than on-line, but I have never seen any plant there that wasn't in tip-top condition. I have been buying from them for five years and have had 100% success with the plants I've purchased from them. If you are anywhere near Seattle, they are worth a special trip to see their full selection and their amazing shade display garden. An added plus, Kelly and Sue are very, very knowledgeable and fun to talk with too.

Posted on April 27, 2012, updated May 28, 2013 FABULOUS nursery! While browsing their online catalogue, I found quite a few temptations that I have not seen available anywhere else. I ordered a boxful of plants and every single one was large, well packed, and healthy. They sent me the largest potted Anemonella I have ever seen, at least 3-4x larger than more expensive competitors. I will be keeping a close eye on their plant list for any goodies that are added or those I might have overlooked. I will definitely be a repeat customer in the future!

I just received my first order from Far Reaches Farm. I live most of the year in Minnesota and have been working on a second garden in Washington State. Not only was the FRF website a joy to explore, the people at the company were kind enough to consult with me regarding plants for my new garden zone. Everyone I spoke to was unfailingly helpful and courteous. Once placed (and timed to arrive in WA the same time I could be there!), my order arrived a day earlier than I had any right to expect (a huge bonus since time was of the essence) and was packaged perfectly in large root-friendly containers. Every plant looked fresh, bursting with health, and ready to go in the ground. Not a single stem or leaf was damaged or deformed by shipping. I highly recommend Far Reaches Farm and will order from them again soon!

I have just received my first order from Far Reaches Farm and I am simply stunned! I got six potted bulbs of rarer types of Galanthus (Blewbury Tart and John Grey) and the latter is in bloom with the biggest blooms I have ever seen on Galanthus! Such a treat in these gloomy days here in Pacific Northwest. Plants were shipped yesterday (MLK Day) and arrived today very well packed and in excellent condition. I also got a freebie bare root Polygonatum. I strongly recommend Far Reaches Farm and will definitely purchase again!

I recently placed an order with this nursery, and I was so pleased that I added them to this data base. They have a wide variety of unusual perennials (I found them when I googled sources for Algerian iris) the website is easy to use and informative, and the package arrived in great shape. The plants were in perfect shape and were mulched with crushed hazelnut shells. They even threw in a bonus primula. I would definitely recommend giving Far Reaches a try.