Likewise I'm another happy Kawamoto (ebay) buyer. The hardest part is waiting for the auction to end and hoping that you weren't outbid. I'd have to check my records, but I've gotten about 9 or 10 plants from Kawamoto. Not a single bad plant in the bunch!

L8r,
Don
(http://www.justplainorchids.com)

Andy's Orchids! Ecuagenera too!

Stay away from bill_asia! I bought from them against advice from this forum, but it was cheap. Turned out to be the worst eBay transaction ever for me, they do NOT know how to pack a plant, it was crammed into a box way too small, no padding at all, of course broke the spike and it was covered in black spots. I emailed them to complain and I get a reminder email to 'please post your Positive Feedback.'

Thank you for the heads up... a picture and words can be deceiving, especially with the amount of feedback some sellers have racked up. I thought it rather odd that with such low prices, the bids just weren't happening... now I know why.

I'm a stickler when it comes to packaging... I hate sending or receiving items, any items, that aren't packed well against possible damage. Packing is cheap and recyclable!

Ooh! I believe Andy's is another vendor that will be at the Chicagoland Orchid Festival! It's gonna be so great! All these highly recommended sellers... all in one place for an entire weekend! All with lots of awesome plants, and within driving distance from me! Oh yeah!

I better stop drooling over the Ebay listings, and just save my cash for the festival! LOL!

Here's another vote for Kawamoto. I've recently purchased 9 catts from their ebay auctions and all were beautiful. All budded plants came through intact and even one that was in full flower was so carefully packed the flowers came through without any damage. Their pictures of the exact plant you will be getting are very,very, nice and the descriptions are informative. You'll know exactly what you are getting and won't be disappointed.

Looks like I will have to check out Kawamoto! I've been growing orchids for 30+ years and have ordered from many no longer in business. . . but my path keeps returning to Oak Hill Gardens. Great plants at reasonable prices. One nursery with whom I had a bad experience was Camp A Lot of Noise Tropicals. Small plants and slow shipping.

I'm also a happy Kawamoto buyer. I purchased from them before they started on ebay and was happy then, but am much happier with their ebay orchids. VERY well packed orchids! Took forever to free my orchid - which is a good thing. It protected the blooms.

Never ... ever ... EVER ... have I been disappointed with a planty thing from Ecuagenera or Andy's Orchids! All are 113% thriving and have purchased $$$ to $$$$ worth of plants from both. :-)

H&R, Exotic Orchids of Maui, Carter & Holmes, are all great vendors...I buy from ebay also....~Charm

The C. Star Trek I bought from Bill_Asia eventually bloomed out looking like C. Angel Bells 'Susie'. Pretty, but not orange, and not what I paid for. They ignored my emails.

What name does Kawamoto orchids sell under?...I'd like to take a look.~Charm

Kawamoto Orchids sells under the name "kawamotoorchids". His auctions usually end on Sunday. They ended on Saturday for the Labor Day holiday weekend. I think he usually lists his plants on Wednesday.

L8r,
Don
(http://www.justplainorchids.com)

Oak Hill Gardens hands down! Also Ecuagenera, Exotic Orchids of Maui, and Dark Falls on Ebay.

I've purchased from Bill Asia (Royal Orchid Club) too and cannot recommend it. Plants have always been dessicated on arrival.

Penelope

Hi,
I don't think I have posted to this forum but had to add my 2 cents worth.
I agree about bill_asia The Royal Orchid Club... Stay away from him. I also had a bad buying experience.
From the ebayers I have purchased from I would and have purchased again from nia22d and orchidtn. The plants I have gotten from them have been huge and awesome. Also these to ebay sellers know how to wrap and pack an orchid. I have also purchased from Bloomfield Orchids. I ordered their 3 Miltonias for $30.00 special and even though the tags had been lost which I knew when I purchased them they sent me 3 huge plants.
I have been wanting to try Kawamoto Orchids for a while now and looks like I will be paying more attention to their auctions.
Good Luck!!
Doris

With this many votes for Kawamoto I just HAD to order from them. I'll let you know what my experience with them will be.

Thank you very much for all your suggestions and comments, which will benefit many readers.

Helga.

I've enjoyed looking at the auctions posted by nia22d and orchidtn, although I haven't gotten anything from them yet. I spent a little time looking at Odom's today, and all I can say is... wow! Nice selection!

Haven't looked at Bloomfield yet, or Equagenera, but do plan to. Cal-Orchid, Andy's, EFG, and several other vendors will be in the Chicago area, at Oak Hill, in September, so I kinda want to save my money until I get to see what they have available!

I never thought I'd say this, but... I'm a little tired from staring at orchid photos and reading about them all day! This has been great, though... wonderful recommendations and suggestions!

Oh, yes. Herman Pigors at Oak Hill is great. Outstanding man. James and Lauris Rose are terrific orchid people from Cal Orchids. Andy's Orchids is great for esoteric species. EFG people are nice; George Hausermann is a great guy. I'm always sadden when they moved from Villa Park to Florida. They don't grow catts anymore and more phalies and terrestrial orchids. If you are interested in Kawamoto Orchid, just visit the online. I personally like Norman's Orchids because I know Norman Fang. If you ever make it out of Illinois, make a trip down to Florida for the Redland Show. Many vendors from all over. I don't know if Miami will have their orchid show and sale next year. In the Spring, the Santa Barbara International Orchid Faire is great! Come out and explore! And spend tons of money. Oh well.

Hi Jodik.

I've purchased from nia22d on ebay. I received a beautiful Sederia Japonica from them. Nicely mounted, well-packed and in beautiful condition.

That's good to know... I check the offerings nia22d has for auction quite often... I just haven't bid yet. Nice stuff!

It's always good to know who has the healthy plants, and who packages for transit well. (If anyone ever needs any recommendations for bulb purchasing, I've got the skinny! LOL! My Amaryllid collection is quite large!)

Hausermann's will also be a part of the Chicagoland Orchid Festival... the Festival will be held at four different vendors/locations, all at the same time. I believe Oak Hill Gardens has a very comprehensive overview of the Festival posted on their website.

Oak Hill, Dowery Orchids, Byrds Orchids, Cal-Orchid, Clackamas, Andy's.

Depends what I am looking for. All my purchases are online.

Oak Hill, Andy's, and Weyman bussey!! So I am agreeing!!
deb

Speaking of Weyman Bussey, has anyone heard anything lately about his son's progress? The young man was seriously injured in a vehicle accident a couple years ago.

Any Canadians with good local vendors? I've received a couple of orders now from Cloud's Orchids. They were in great condition on arrival and seemed to acclimate to my conditions very quickly.

Tyler

Hey Guys,
Kawamoto Orchid Nursery Just posted a ton of auctions on Ebay. You got to Check It out!

I like Kawamoto orchids a lot. I have also had excellent success with Fender's Flora and Hauserman's.

Now I don't know what to do! I see a few online I'd love to get, but I should save my choices for the show... AAARRGGHHHH!!!

Hello Everyone. I have enjoyed this discussion because I have never bought any orchids on-line yet so it was good to get the names of all of these vendors that people on here trust. I have a question though. Since I have never bought any plants from the internet when I went to E-Bay to find the plants offered by Kawamoto I didn't know where to begin. Do you have to go through EVERY orchid for sale to find the ones from them? I would appreciate any answers I can get. Thanks for helping.

You can go to Kawamoto's online website and buy the plants directly out of their catalog without having to go through Ebay and bidding. I don't believe there is much difference in price and you can buy a whole box of them at a time to save shipping costs rather than paying individual shipping for each plant on Ebay. That quickly adds up to far more money.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kawamoto Orchids

If you want to view Kawamoto's items on ebay just use this link:

http://stores.ebay.com/Kawamoto-Orchids

He has a website if you don't want to wait on an auction.

Good luck,
Don
(http://www.justplainorchids.com)

I've just read this post. Lots of recommendations! I agree that Kawamoto has great plants, and bought quite a few nice Catts from them. Hausermann's is very good, too.

Tyler, I think Cloud's is the best Canadian vendor. Healthy plants and great sevice.

Jodik, try pre-ordering from the show vendors. I've done this on occasion. You aren't obligated to buy unless you have prepaid, but I've never done this, except for a very special Catt. from Ecuagenera.

Carol

cjwatson and justplaindon:

Thank you so very much for your help. I just went straight to the website. It is much easier than waiting around to win an auction. Also it sounds good that you can save on shipping charges. I have already looked into getting some things from them. Thank you again for your help.

Thanks for the suggestion, Carol... not knowing exactly what to expect, I think I'll ride it out with my list in one hand, camera in the other, and my husband close behind with wallet at the ready! LOL!

I've been drooling over Odom's Catts, and Kawamoto has some really nice choices... I'm so confused! :-)

Once we get there, and I calm down from my initial burst of excitement... and we are able to walk around a bit and see what there is to see... I'll be making my choices, carefully weighing all the information I'm absorbing now.

So far, I can't really say that any one type of orchid is better for me... all that I have are alive and well. I am determined to try another Phal, but beyond that, I'm not really sure what I'll end up getting.

I don't have a Cattleya yet... so, there's a maybe... I don't really have a favorite color or type... they're all beautiful, each in a different way... I hope to come home with a nice Phal and a few other plants... and a ton of photos!

I haven't been to too many vendors yet, but so far my favorite is still Parkside Orchids. They have such a hugh selection and great reputation.

Sarah

BTW, Kawamoto does combine shipping on his ebay auctions. I (was possed by demons and) won 6 plants and he was nice enough to combine shipping and he also threw in a free blooming size plant. I don't know if that was because I ordered so many or because I had won previous auctions with him.

The one good thing about the eBay auctions iwth Kawamoto is that you can see the actual plant that you will be getting. I suspect that his website sales will be of similar quality so it probably would not matter.

There are also a lot of other vendors on ebay who are equally good. I have just recently found Kawamoto so he is freshest on my mind and is getting a lot of "ohs and ahs" from friends who see his plants that I have purchased.

L8r,
Don
(http://www.justplainorchids.com)

Cjwatson, I didn't know Weyman was selling again! Does he have a website or is he usin abundaflora? Re; his son was 'status quo' last I heard, but that was over a year ago. At that time Weyman was living/teaching in Houston.

Sheila :)

I didn't know either, Sheila, until someone up-thread mentioned him as a favorite dealer. I wouldn't think they would list him if he wasn't selling now. It would be wonderful if he was!

Hi Guys,
Does anyone know the ebay orchid seller I.D.(Rushpo)from Hawaii. I was wondering how the quality of his plants are? I notice that his plants are really cheap. But I also notice that he has a lot of negative Feedback recently. I would appreciate any information. Thanks...

IMO it depends on what it is you find important & what you're getting. For price, I'd have to say hands down Oakhill, for species -- Andy's Orchids, etc.

looks like kawamoto only sells cattleya's. is there a good vendor on ebay for Phals?

This information is probably useless to you but for Cattleya and Laelia stuff in Australia I would go for Aranbeem Orchids or Rosella Orchids.

Both produce awesome stuff! Really world class hybrids and species.

Woogie, I've bought a couple phals from Baldanorchids (eBay). They don't have a lot of offerings, but they are varied, interesting hybrids. A few species plants too. I just puchased another yesterday.

Sheila :)

I love Aloha Orchid Nursery : 15-1213 Kahakai Blvd : Pahoa : HI : 96778 they have a web site have a great selection very resonable priced and healthy plants, they ship quickly and I have recieved a couple Jan shipments to fight the winter time blues and have never had a damaged plant pretty good for Northern Kentucky

If you want laelia and catts the best place to go is Linda Thorne of Seagrove Orchids. I used to live near her greenhouses in NC and have been there many times. Since moving to Florida, I still buy from her. We are also friends outside of orchids. She has lots of things not mentioned on her web page, so don't be afraid to call and ask, if you are interested in something not listed. Unfortunately, she has visited me since I moved to Florida, and I haven't been to see her, so I can't divulge what she may have hiding and isn't fessing up to. For what it's worth, I've bought a few of her awarded divisions, and though pricey, were well worth the money (laelia and catts). I've got one here that after only 2 years has the same number of spikes as the awarded mother plant (disclaimer, I live in the subtropics). Laura

has anyone had experience with Hawaiian Floral Nursery in Hawaii??

My 2 favorite vendors got very little mention.

1) Carmela Orchids in Hawaii because they sell Plug trays. You get 25 healthy 3" plus catts with 3 growths with or without a new lead for $25.00 if you phone Sheldon and ask for a Society discount ($28 is the normal price). Shipping for 10 such plug trays is $20.00 relatively more expensive for a smaller order. I am growing a ton of these planning to sell them for $10 to $15 when in bloom 'Saturday morning garage sale' style, put them on our raffle table, silent auction table at our Society or list them on the exchange site of this forum when in bloom (2 to 3 years).

2) SBOE (Santa Barbara Orchid Estates) I favor them over all SOCAL vendors because they grow all of their stuff outside in conditions similar to my SOCAL backyard. Their plants require no adjustment to switch to my growing conditions. Cal Orchids across the street from them has beautiful stuff but grows everything in controlled green house conditions. Some of my purchases from him lingered for a year before they elected to live in my backyard.

Nick

For Canadians, let me reiterate how much I too like Cloud's. The plants are always super healthy, and I'm told that their greenhouses are just incredibly well organized and very clean.

I bought from Hawaiian Floral Nursery for several years. They specialize in mini-catts and fragrant oncids, and I no longer grow those, but this vendor supplies good plants at reasonable prices.

Kawamoto all the way - (they will be at a show in Homestead FL this May 2015) they sent me info about the show with my recent order. Thanks for all the positive info, I will be looking into Andy's and many other today. Happy Spring!

H&R has a really nice affordable selection and I especially like seed propagated plants versus mericlones. Kawamoto always is great with a great selection. Andy's for species; you can never go wrong. Carmela has some wonderful deals all the time for catt/phal/den mericlones. Cal-Orchid has a great selection too, but can get a tad pricey at times!

Place called fantasy orchids, huge greenhouse filled with at least 7 thousand orchids are held. From common whit Phaleanopsis orchids to extremely rare orchids hat you might not ever see ever again in 40 years.