I love Garden Crossings! I've ordered there a couple of times and have always been impressed with their plants. Great mailorder choice!

I'm confused.... I thought Garden Crossings was some kind of newsletter... gee, I can even see it in my mind... what the heck am I thinking of....?

Well, anyway, thanks for the recommendation. I'm going to go check them out!

:)
Dee

I second the recommendation. I have ordered plants from this supplier a few times. All the plants I received were huge and very healthy. Love them.

im going to check out that site! Today i recieved my order of clearance plants from santa rosa gardens, and was very happy with the plants! They were still moist from delivery, very healthy and i cant wait to see them in bloom next year!
Dont forget to leave feedback at daves garden! :)

I was sure to do that, Lilyfinch - I also sent GC a nice note. I'm rarely this enthusiastic about a vendor, but they are something special, for sure.

hate to be a wet blanket, but I had a different experience. When I first received my order, I was ecstatic at how they *looked*. But when I went to plant them, I was terribly dissapointed at the pots of dirt I paid high shipping for. Roots were scaringly minimal.

Probably shipments this time of year are strongly rooted, so your experience will probably be different.

They must send plants in pots of gold. LOL. Their prices are shameful on many of their plants...

They are asking $29.95 for one Brunnera "Jack Frost." I got that same plant for $9.99 in gallon pots this year. That's outrageous!

They want $19.95 for one Buddleia 'Blue Chip'!!!

They want $29.95 for one Sedum "Mr. Goodbud." They have the same plants at Lowes in full bloom right now for about 10 bucks! A sedum is one of the easiest of all plants to propagate. There is no way someone should be required to pay 30 dollars for that plant!

Are the ones at Lowes in a 10 inch pot though?
For mine, I was really pleased with the sizes of their plants, each had a nice root system, and I got mine back in May. They have great clematis plants, which is what I got, along with some other perennials. The clems are VERY nice, good roots, and lots of top growth too.

Mine had lots of roots, too. And the price for a 10 inch pot plant is not unreasonable, when the plant from that 10 inch pot is over 2 feet tall and just as wide! When another vendor wants nearly $30 to ship a $6.99 plant, I'd say GC's shipping charges were actually very reasonable. Sorry some had a bad experience! Also, GC is listed as one of the top 10 vendors from Dave's Garden poll of actual customers. Further, my Lowes has never had plants that look as good as those I ordered from GC!

I'm glad you're happy with the plants, however I can't see spending the $$/fuel to have large plants shipped all over the country unless it is a very special item not available at local nurseries. JMO.

Asclepias incarnata is also extremely easy to propogate (via seed), and will occasionally bloom the first year. Whether it blooms or not doesn't matter to the female Monarchs though, they love to lay their eggs on the tender young plants. The caterpillars seem to prefer the tender foliage of young plants or growing tips.

I needed/wanted instant gratification in this case. My town is smallish and badly impacted economically. Thus our Lowes, while adequate, is quite limited in plant selections. We have no large plant nurseries here. I'd have paid more to travel to a large city for my plants than I did to have these shipped to me, without the assurance I'd find what I wanted.

Garden Crossings' solid reputation for great plants at reasonable prices and fair shipping was firmly in place before I ever posted about them - I'm sure they don't need me to defend them further.

I have to say I'm really very disappointed with the negative tone from some responders here...

disappointed about alternate views?? If someone has a different experience or philosophy, that is negative? I am positively sure I will be purchasing my plants elsewhere. LOL

This forum is for sharing gardening information. I think that's what is occurring. People reading about this vendor may want to be exposed to multiple viewpoints.

now that we're into it, I have to say I detect a hint of marketing in some of these posts. Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I think this is an advertisement. "...sorry to be posting in the wrong place..." (paraphrase... original quote no longer visible in preview mode) then, why do so? "reasonable prices"... no way!

So sorry that I let my enthusiasm go unchecked! I do tend to do that when pleasantly surprised, which doesn't happen very often. I also apologise for sounding like an advertisement - once when I found a new bathtub cleaner that really worked, I did the me thing until my friends began rolling their eyes, lol!

And wendyb - let's keep Garden Web friendly...

Pat

No marketing here either! I order plants from many places and usually they are very small starter plugs. So, I get really excited too when one does live up to my expectations.
I also get really excited when the vendor sends out a "bonus" plant, which most don't, and I wish most did. :)

Garden Crossings is charging about 30 dollars for one Sedum "Mr. Goodbud." I don't know why that is so shocking to me, but I can't believe it!

The plant I bought at Lowes is in full bloom and beautiful. A mail order place would have to clip all the blooms off and shove it in a box. You will never get a plant that nice from Garden Crossings.

If you add in shipping, you'll end up paying 40 dollars for one of these sedums that you can get for about 10 dollars in full bloom right now.

I did not mean to sound negative on this thread - just present an alternate point of view. If you don't have much selection in your local retail outlets, then it's understandable you would purchase mail order.

At this point, I've got many nice commercial cultivars that have reached a mature size. I've got the patience and even enjoy growing lots of things from seed. When I do buy online (like the Bluestone spring sale), don't mind the small size and appreciate the price. I know that most of them will grow to an impressive size in a year anyway.

So, Pat, which bathroom cleaner WAS that? teehee.

Cynthia

(psst, Cynthia, it was ScrubFree! There's a better one out there now, but don't get me started, I have mouth-runoff, LOL!!!!)

Pat