Buying plants over net

[seedcorn]

Son asked me about buying plants over net. He is looking at the butterfly garden set from Direct Gardening. Anyone have experience with Them? I know it is nursery over runs-I’m ok with that. Also understand they are sending starts, not plants. Starts will take 1-2 years to even approach what he thinks. With economy, 2 young kids, $$ is tight. He’s too impatient to wait for me to bring starts down. Thoughts?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Have you checked to see that the plants in that set are OK for his area? Just a thought.

I have no experience with that company. I've ordered tomato and pepper live plants and had them shipped in. They generally arrive in good shape. The one time the tomatoes looked rough they came back fine but they did look rough on arrival.

You are talking perennials, I've ordered from Stark Bros and other places, I'm sure you have too. Those are usually bare root and usually arrive in good shape. I suspect these will be potted plants, not bare root, so more like the tomatoes and peppers.

If they are packaged properly and they don't get hung up or damaged in shipping they should be OK from that aspect. Direct Gardening controls the packaging aspect of that, not the shipping. Have you checked the reviews and do you see any that you believe?

 

[Jared712]

If he understands its starts and is willing to wait it might be worthwhile.

What about a butterfly seed mix? Might be more cost friendly and give a similar result.

 

[seedcorn]

Not sure what he understands. Bull headed like his mother. Doesn’t want annuals. Plant once, there forever.....

 

[ducks4you]

I would check with your local University Extension office and, like @Ridgerunner said, see what grows best in your area. THEN, see if you can find it locally.
OR...perish the thought...let him do chores, save up and buy them himself.

 

[digitS']

Dave's Garden says that it's owned by Burgess:

Burgess Seed

• Burgess Seed
• Direct Gardening
• Dutch Gardens
• Farmer Seed and Nursery
• Four Seasons Nursery
• Honeycreek Nurseries
• House of Wesley
• Inter-State Nurseries
• Kelly Nurseries
• Richard Owen Nursery / Exciting Gardens
• Royal Dutch

It's rather an incredible conglomerate. If you think that you are doing comparison shopping, that may not be true. How close is your son to Bloomington Illinois? Maybe they have a retail store.

I have ordered dahlias from both Dutch and Royal Dutch. Happy enough with one order, disappointed with the other. Quality of the roots were nothing to write home about but they grew. Disappointed that the blazingly beautiful pictures in the catalog wasn't what grew with one of them. They are not at Swan Island standards.

Only a few positives and more negatives in Dave's Garden regarding the companies.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

after having repeated negative results from particular bulb companies i gave up on them. it doesn't matter if they offer free replacements or not if they never send you what their description says.

order 6 bulbs and have 2 of the 6 come up completely wrong. it takes me a lot of work to maintain what i have going here let alone having to go back and remove plants or replant them somehow so i can pick out the ones that are correct. so, i gave up and have moved on from that style of gardening.

it took me almost 9 years before i finally got back to one garden at last this past late summer to remove some daffodils that had the abovementioned issue. they were too many anyways by this time. i spread them out and they look nice now and i can keep an eye on them and cull out the ones i don't need any more of (ha right! ).

 

[ducks4you]

Dave's Garden says that it's owned by Burgess:

Burgess Seed

• Burgess Seed
• Direct Gardening
• Dutch Gardens
• Farmer Seed and Nursery
• Four Seasons Nursery
• Honeycreek Nurseries
• House of Wesley
• Inter-State Nurseries
• Kelly Nurseries
• Richard Owen Nursery / Exciting Gardens
• Royal Dutch

It's rather an incredible conglomerate. If you think that you are doing comparison shopping, that may not be true. How close is your son to Bloomington Illinois? Maybe they have a retail store.

Steve

WHAT?!?!? I live an hour from Bloomington, IL.
Didn't KNOW there was a National Seed company there.

 

[ducks4you]

Regarding butterfly gardens, it really is simple:
1) Spring, have milkweed established the year before.
Monarch's need to eat ONLY THIS in the spring.
2) Flowers the rest of the year that attract other butterflies and feed Monarchs before they fly south again.

Top 25 Butterfly Garden Plants - Flowers to Attract Butterflies

Check out our picks for the top 25 must-have butterfly plants and flowers for your garden available for sale at Plant Delights Nursery.

www.plantdelights.com

Study up or pay $ for a mix.
You might be able to find milkweed and dig it up in a public area or ditch.
People steal rose cuttings from properties with abandoned houses all of the time bc they are tough. So it milkweed.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

I used to buy roses from a very popular and reputable company - can't remember the name now. Anyway, they stopped guaranteeing their plants and their quality dropped alot in 2011 and 2012. Never ordered from them again.