To get the best information from your question, we should know what part of the country you are in (which state), and what kind of plants you are interested in growing. Woody, herbaceous, plugs, liners, bareroot cuttings, etc.

Your state probably has a nursery association, with lists of wholesale growers in your general vicinity.

I am located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Zone 8. I would like to try a wide variety of plants and then determine what works best for this area. Is buying plants from an online dealer a bad idea?

I am located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Zone 8. I would like to try a wide variety of plants and then determine what works best for this area. Is buying plants from an online dealer a bad idea?

Hmmmm. Seems like you have that backwards, lol. 'Trying' a wide variety of plants and THEN determining what does best can mean a lot of wasted time, effort, and money. Since you are obviously still in the experimental stage, you might want to do some market research first. Anyway, that's what I would do. Visit some area growers and see what's happening in their world. You could visit some garden centers, too, and pick some brains about what their customers want.

I've never grown a great deal of ANYthing that I wasn't pretty darned sure would do great in my location in the first place.

I preferred to have a more personal relationship with suppliers when I was in the nursery biz. I did have bare root cuttings shipped to me via the mail, but always talked to the growers on the phone. Hmmmm, the exception to that rule was when I was ordering plugs and seed from Park Seed Wholesale. No need to talk to anyone for that.

We still don't know if you are going to do flowering perennials or woody landscape plants. There are some things that I just wouldn't buy on line, or even without seeing them first. Especially if I was purchasing 1000 woody liners from someone for the first time. There are TONS of nurseries in and around Va. Beach. I wouldn't think you would need to shop on line. You're challenge will be to find something that all of the big guys don't bother with, but consumers are clamering for. ;-)

Thank you for your advice! :-)