I'll give you some info, but it would take a lot to approach a complete answer.

First, sometimes you'll get lucky and find neat plants at the big box stores (HD, Lowes, etc.), but your best bet, like you said, is local nurseries or mail order. One highly important thing I would recommend about mail order sources is to check them out at Garden Watchdog. If they don't have a decent rating or don't have a rating at all, run unless you are completely familiar with that source!! Garden Watchdog is an extremely valuable resource! You can also look for plant sources at Dave's Garden Plant Scout.

So far as a source for fruit trees, there are simply to many to list. You probably need to decide what type of fruit tree or trees you are looking for and then go from there. The Fruit and Orchard Forum might give you some guidance. Many mail order sources and reviews can also be found by searching that forum. Also, there are a number of fruit tree growers in Tennessee that can be found on the web.

Some neat mail order nurseries are Beaver Creek Nursery (www.beavercreeknursery.net) here in Knoxville, Plants Delights Nursery (www.plantdelights.com) in Raleigh NC, and Klehm's Song Sparrow Farm & Nursery (www.songsparrow.com) in Wisconsin. These are just a few examples, and many many nurseries and their ratings can be found on Gardenwatchdog.

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with local nurseries in Greeneville. Maybe someone else can help you there. Maybe if you have more specific questions or need more help after research, I can help more.

Thank You Brandon for the links. Plant Delights is awsome for shade plants. Got me thinking of doing a full fern garden up front and planting our woods also.

Our selection of nurseries here is small very small. The best ones I found were in Morristown so far. Hubby and I love to do walk thrus so any nurseries that anyone knows of east of knoxville please list them if the are open to public.

Lets see fruit trees I know I want are dark plum, bing cherry, peach and or apricot or necterine. Prefer self polinating as space is a factor since east side of property is mostly septic field. We have yet to clean out south east part that is loaded with pine trees.

Nut trees I am looking for would be pecan, almond? and maybe hazelnut. Not sure if almond will grow here. I do not know what nuseries will carry nut trees here.

Thanks

I'm not sure if they would have the varieties of trees you are looking for but you could check out The National Arbor Day Foundation's tree store. They have fruit and nut trees available but are limited to about 4' tall trees. It could be several years before they would provide fruit but they are very inexpensive and it goes to a good cause.

Here is a link that might be useful: Arbor Day

Read some of the many threads on the tree forum about this organization before buying trees form them. Although there have been exceptions, many people feel really ripped off when they get trees from The National Arbor Day Foundation. The organization seems to have a problem with quality and uniformity of quality from place to place. Their product come from multiple locations depending on its destination. Opinions are generally low about their product and whether they are truly a "good cause".

I'm not trying to compare them with TyTy (I wouldn't do that to anyone), but this conversation reminded me of one place to stay far far away from. TyTy Nursery seems to have the world's worse reputation. They apparently don't sell currently living plants, and reportedly have multiple cases of fraud filed against them.

You might check out Evergreen Nursery in Kingsport. They are only about a half hour from Greenville. They have a couple locations, but the main one is off Netherland Inn Road. They have the best selection in the area.

Greeneville/Tusculum has one of my favorite greenhouses and I live over an hour from there.
It's Anne's Greenhaus, and they produce a lot of the plants they sell. It's near Tusculum college, just to the southwest of state route 107. You'll see the greenhouses from that road. They are local and experienced and a delight to work with. (Stop at one of the small shops in Tusculum and ask for exactly where to turn.)
There are also local folks out in the boondocks who grow plants in un-named set-ups and it takes a local to take you around to them.

Up in Bristol is Urban Homestead who specialized in heirloom fruit. He has a really neet setup and can recommed for specific locations.
(Take 11E up and stop at Ridgewood BBQ on the way (not open on Sunday)
Both Ridgewood and Urban Homestead have good websites.
(And you'll get to drive by the Bristol Motor Speedway which is massive and a real surprise to drive up to.)

Am I correct in stating that there are some hardy almond varieties? Dont know if they would produce mature fruit, however. You should also check out the threads on hardy figs and pomegranates, Akewa7, if you are also interested in something a little more exotic. Last I read the verdict was still out on pomegranates producing fruit here, though.

I don't know if I'll ever buy plants at Lowe's or Home Depot again - aside from annuals.

If only you could see the rootballs on some shrubs I bought last spring.

Thank goodness they were just window dressing for pots while our house went on the market.

It's professional sources from now on for everything.

M. D. Vaden of Oregon

www.turftotrees.com

Hey Mario, what brings you to the TN forum?

I think the big box stores are like everywhere else; you get what you pay for. I have seen good healthy stock at Home Depot, Lowes, and Walmart, and I've seen junk at supposedly good nurseries. On average, the more expensive stuff is better, but the buyer needs to take it upon themself to check stuff out as much as possible and compare before they buy. One good thing about the big box stores is that if you get home and find that there's something wrong with the product, you can generally take it back with very little hastle.

So far the plants I have bought for Lowes and Walmart are doing great. The first ones were a curly leaf privet shrub. That were root bound and we planted on east side of house. The others were homestead purple vervain, which is a ground cover. It is doing great on north side. Also some hollies on west side. All are still growing even with this weather. I also just bought one of the tree shaped rosemarys since we are not have a xmas tree due to 2 kittens we got early.

We have been cutting out some unwanted pines which ends us finding stunted wanted trees. This last weekend we unveiled another 5 ft winged elm. Luckily where we are finding these are growning we want them to stay.

We have a bunch of yellow popular near the house that we are going to limb up higher so I can plant the loofah seeds I have coming. Has anyone grown these here and how did they do?

I have a alergy problem with pine pollen so most of the pines in the south east corner of property will go. Thank goodness they are mostly all located there.

It is very obvious that we have acid soil so all this brush we will be buring I shall use the ash to bring up the Ph some. I do have alot of area to cover so it will be spread real thin. I know how potent wood ash is on Ph. Some areas I will not touch with it so I can grown blueberries and such.

I want to thank everyone for the nursery suggestions. Please keep them coming if you think of any more.

PS-Hollies, rhododendrons, mountain laurel, camellias, and boxwoods all do very well in acidic soil.

Dealing with acid clay soil is some new to me. Plants I would have never been able to grow in south Fl I can grow here. Another one I am having to get use to and plan for is a full shade garden. If I plant any more shrubs it will be to barricade the gardens to keep the chickens out until I want them in them.

check out www.willisorchards.com
I have been pleasantly surprised with the quality and shipping costs are not bad at all.

if'n you want bluberries, I HIGHLY reccomend www.watersbluberryfarm.com .

Akewa,
I second the vote for Ann's Greenhouse. In the summer come to the Farmer's market in Gville behind the library. Besides local produce there are always plants & sometimes shrubs. You will meet people willing to GIVE you many plants & seeds. Some roadside stands pop up in the summer as well.( I also live in GreenEville)
Susan

Hi Susan,

I know the farmers market well. We have been there already a few times this fall. I shall check out Anns though as I have not been there yet.

Tamara