What are the plants?

Garden Watchdog over on Daves has them rated 92 out of 100. Only 3 out of 48 reveiws were negative.

jb

I've been to Big Dipper. Nice folks. Great hosta house. Their perennials out in the yard aren't what you'd find in a regular retail nursery. Quite messy actually with weeds, some gone to seed etc. (People could say the same about most yards at some point, mine for sure.)

I've heard that they save their best stock for shipping out orders. Very high overall ratings, as Jr balloon says. I got several hostas there and am pleased as punch with their performance.

I ordered from them a year or so ago. The plants arrived fast and in goodshape. The only problem was they were the wrong plant..... I couldn't be certain if it was their fault as I didn't print out a copy of the order. I was late in the evening when I ordered them and I might have had a glass of wine or two~~~~~~~~ So I drove down there the next day and was a bit surprised at the messy nursery but they exchanged the plants, no problem. I took they home, planted them and they grew and now I have lots! These turned out to be the worlds most expensive 'Walkers Low' catmint what with all the driving and shipping costs and my time factored in :(

Thanks for the info -- I'm going to give them a try.

Ron, they have some clematis I can't find locally, plus some groundcover plants I'm considering, and a couple of perennial varieties that I haven't seen at area nurseries.

With the cost of gas, I'm likely to do more mail-order. Glad to hear about the "watchdog" site, too.

Thanks again.

For something you might be interested in, if you haven't seen it already...

It has 4+ pages of Clematis listings, for instance.

Here is a link that might be useful: Timber Press: The Plant Locator® Western Region

I, too, was unimpressed by what's for sale on-site. Mail order is probably better (the prices are much better, too).

Local walk-in nurseries have way more interesting plants every year than I could possibly afford or get planted. Then there is the small/specialty growers who come to all the various farmer's/Saturday markets, other events like Florabundance (held this past weekend).

Just visiting garden centers, if you can't find treasures by making the rounds of Molbak's, Wells-Medina, Sky, Swanson's and others then you must have something very specific you are looking for. I look at magnolias specifically, often stocked in comparatively small assortments. Yes: everybody has the same range over and over, but most also have at least a few less usual ones--the one here and two there I find each year are plenty.

Here is a link that might be useful: Specialy Nursery Association of Western Washington - specialtynurseries.org

I've order several times and been most happy with selection and customer service. Nice folks, I'd recommend them.

I live close by so drop in often. I've found a lot of unusual gems there but you do have to look hard as some areas are a little disorganized. The greenhouses are very neat and orderly. It seems that is where most of the mail-order sized plants are.
As of last weekend they seemed to be doing a huge outdoor clean up. Things were looking great and like usual I found a few things to bring home.
Laura

I visited last year and was turned off by the poor quality plants sitting ignored in blocks of pots. Many looked like rescue plants instead of nursery stock, yet they wanted full price for them. A lot of plants had died and weeds were growing in the empty pots. Part of the grounds is very swampy and you need to be ready to wade thru the muck if you want to see what's there. I'm told they keep the "good stuff" away from the main site & reserve it for mail orders. Altho the people were nice, it's not someplace I plan to visit again.

Patrick

Nice pond next door, between them and the highway.