I LOVE receiving and perusing the catalogs-I have learned so much just from reading them like books. Having said that, unless there is a freebie deal (Gurneys this year had coupon on the cover for $25 or $20 free stuff-no strings), I only buy local. I love going to nurseries in the area. I go to Home Depot and discount stores, but don't often buy unless I get a great price or unless they have annuals I want. But if you go to a good nursery, not only are the selection and health of the plants better, the people are invaluable sources of information as well. I have also found that each nursery usually has a deeply discounted section of plants that are not as 'nice' as the ones in the normal sale sections, but they are still viable and well worth the money.

Also, this is my first year participating in the Seed Swap forum here. I usually am not patient when it comes to seeds-I would rather buy a plant. But it is really hard to pass up being able to choose from a wider selection of plants and just the greatness of the feeling that there are so many gardeners supporting you. So wish me success with wintersowing :)

Finally, look for plant swaps, plant sales, gardening clubs, and garden shows in your area. These are also great resources and usually cheaper ways to get gorgeous plants.

Hope that helps.

Like Putzer, I enjoy looking at catalogs, and I buy from local nurseries too. I seldom buy from stores. I have mailed ordered a few things from a nursery in my state, but I really prefer to buy local. For one thing, I'd rather see what I'm getting before I pay for it. I am lucky though, I have a lot of really good nurseries within a 25 minute drive. The catalogs are great to look at, but remember, so many will 'touch-up' the photos, plus stretch the bloom time.
Good luck with your choices!

Kat

I've ordered from a couple catalogs: Spring Hill, Wayside, and White Flower Farm. The last two- the quality of what I received was wonderful. I would NOT recomment S.H.

I would say, unless you're going to get a bareroot plant/tuber/bulb, you're probably better off buying locally. I haven't purchased any annual plants from a catalog. I have purchased seeds and have been happy with them. But I enjoy trading seeds and doing swaps, so I don't really need to purchase many.

I enjoy the whole experience of going to the nursery. I like walking through the greenhouse and seeing all the plants laid out. They often have wonderful combinations that I never would have thought of. Plus, like others mentioned, the people are so helpful. Home Depot's selection is decent and their prices can be pretty low compared with nurseries. But sometimes the quality isn't there. I find Lowes quality to be much higher than H.D., plus their selection is better. Prices are lower on some things but higher on others. If I'm going to buy plants, I usually end up purchasing from a local nursery. I just enjoy the experience there better; but I do make a few purchases from Lowes.

I think you should purchase from wherever you have the most success and are the most satisfied with. I know some gardeners who only get their plants at Walmart or HD and have great success. And others only use mail order catalogs. Your best bet might be to place a small order with one or two of your favorite catalogs just to test the quality. Then go from there.

Have fun!

Tracy

This year I made orders at three mail order places. Two were mainly just for herbs.
I love local nurseries, and we go out and search for plants when we get the chance...but I grow hundreds of herbs as perennial plants, and most of them are not stocked locally. The only nursery nearby that focused particularly on herbs closed last year, and the main supplier, the local Monestary has somewhat scaled back on varieties they grow as the monks are aging and growing is harder for them.
Personally, I tend to avoid big-box plant buying (unless it's a discount or a houseplant as not many local nurseries have houseplants here). Many of the big-box places here are not buying their plants from local wholesalers. So I don't consider that shopping at them is "buying locally".

GGG

I just received my first mail order catalogs, so I haven't done that yet. I noticed the veggies in the catalog first, so I'll most assuredly do that. But I did buy some Jasmine seeds online last week (waiting anxiously!) while waiting for the catalogs.

I am new to my area and rural, so I'm not familiar with nurseries in town, except one that closes seasonally. I should check and see if they're open yet.

So, like some of you, I buy from H.D. and Walmart. The Lowes is farther away, but it might be worth the trip.
I like to have things growing in all stages, so I can be constantly working on something - I planted bulbs this morning, rose bushes a week ago, and my herb seeds sprouted yesterday - so much spring action! Yay!

Given the question, I think I'd prefer to buy at the local nursery, if I can afford it and if they're open.

I suspect that the primary reason some of us purchase plants and seeds from mail order companies is the selection. You will never find anything out of the ordinary at the big box stores, for instance. In some markets, even the locally owned garden centers tend to play it safe and offer plant material that the typical consumer recognizes and is fond of. Many just can't afford to watch obscure or cutting edge plants sit and sit, going down in quality every day.

New hybrids and cultivars are introduced every year; some of them are vastly improved and greatly interesting. That makes shopping by catalogs worth it.

Those who are new to buying plants via mail order are often disappointed at the size and quality of the product. Even those catalog businesses with the highest of reputations must send out small material, and it will often suffer a bit in the shipping and handling process. But remember, if you are buying a few very specialized specimen plants, then the anticipation of opening that box is tremendous! On the other hand, if I need fairly large numbers of something fairly ordinary, I always purchase locally. Locally owned, locally grown.

I once ordered some trees from a catalog. They all came as 12" sticks with fungus rot on the tips. I cut the rot off and planted them, and years later, the yard was filled with lush, beautiful trees with very short trunks...haha. They formed a great screen from the street.

I never ordered a tree from a catalog again, though, but perennials I always get from Bluestone and they are great...better selection than the local places, but then again, I can get things at the garden centers that are not in the catalogs. You get to know what to buy from where, so you have a lot of different shopping enjoyment!

One tip is that if a catalog doesn't list the botanical name for a plant, they probably aren't a place to buy from. That's just my experience.

Especially for the_farmers_wife:

I had to comment on the mail order option. I've moved around a bit, and have not found many nurseries around my current location in Virginia. Last year I decided to go with Mail Order plants. The quality from http://www.highcountrygardens.com/ was fantastic. They are from NM. I also ordered from Burpee and Jackson and Perkins. The quality was good overall. You'll be surprised at the progress they make in a short time. I also started flowers from seed last year. (One of the first times I've done it from seed.) Of course I also succumb to the local or big box flowers.

Here is a link that might be useful: High Country Gardens

The pictures in the catalogues are oh so pretty, but you rarely get what you pay for. I have ordered from Brecks (they are okay) Springhhill (They advertised a corkscrew vine and but I discovered what I got was a totally different species), Wayside (I ordered the Sunset Sunrise Echinacea last year and it took 3 shipments before they sent them to me alive). I won't order from anyone again. What I do now, is look for rare or interesting plants in my catalogue and then ask the better local nurseries if they carry them--most of the time, they do.

I spent ALOT of money at Lowes last year but I did get some INCREDIBLE deals. They often will put plants at 90% off. It is worth the trip for me (not very close by). For instance, the columbine were finished flowering in the store and they marked the 4" pots to 90% off. They ended up being like $.29 each! I also got a lot of other perennials such as Jackson & Perkins lilies that were originally $10 each for like $1.

So when keep an eye on what comes in at your Lowes and figure that by the time the plant has finished flowering from the season, it will be substancially marked down.

Thanks, heather_gardener, I'll check out that link. My jasmine seeds came about a week ago and it's sprouting already. They threw in a pack of ladybird poppy, which I'll try out when I get more peat. And this weekend, we finally ordered our veggie seed from Henryfields, because they had a $25 offer for a $50 purchase, which is a heck of a deal! Since it's nearly all seeds, I'm optimistic. One purchase is a blueberry plant, and after reading some of the above experiences, I'm nervous! They don't ship to our zone for about 2 weeks, so I have to wait a bit. Tomorrow I buy seed for the non-row crops (squash, melon, etc) so we can start 'em early.

I also continue to drive by the local nursery, still not open, but there's lots of action, so I can't wait! Last year she let me sample about 4 kinds of mint, so that will probably be the first thing we buy!

We also bought 5 trees at HD this weekend - 3 pine and 2 fruit. Not huge, but a super, super deal!

Spring is here!!! : )

I buy what I want wherever I can find it. I buy from Lowe's and HD--mostly Lowe's, and I try to arrive within 12 hours of the truck delivery before the lack of watering gets to them. I don't buy from Wal-Mart because I'm boycotting them for about a bazillion reasons.

I buy from locally owned nurseries, because they carry more interesting selections than the big box stores, and I can often get a gallon-sized plant for the price of a 4" plant by mail order. I would buy more from the locally-owned nurseries if they had more of the plants I wanted.

I buy from reputable mail order sources (You can read all my comments under "nevadagdn" at Garden Watchdog--www.gardenwatchdog.com). I like Park Seed (at least for seeds--the jury is still out on the plants/bulbs because I won't receive them until later in the year). I also like lots of other seed companies, although I confess that Henry Field's, Jung's, Gurneys and the other "tabloid catalog" companies are not among those I prefer.

For plants, I prefer some of the more specialist suppliers, and some of the more expensive suppliers. While higher prices aren't a guarantee of quality, I can say that I've never had a bad plant from Plant Delights, Heronswood, Annie's Annuals, High Country Gardens, YuccaDo, Klehm's Songsparrow Farm or Forestfarm. That doesn't mean I haven't had plants from those suppliers die, but it does mean that the cause of death was me "experimenting" again...