drive there to pick it out .. lol ... though i doubt wholesalers would buy into that ....

i used to drive the circuit of retail nurseries.. and 'tag' plants for purchase later in the year ....

ken

Ken, did you pay for them in advance? If not, I'm surprised they would do this.

sometimes a deposit ... i mean.. after all ... they have the darn plant ... they can take the tag off after a date certain.. and sell it ... they have nothing to lose ...

nothing after we had a relationship ...

and BTW ... i meant retail .. i highly doubt wholesalers would do it ...

so the tag might say: ken ardian 4/15/2017 ..... and if i havent been in contact .. and gary shows up on 5/1 ... SOLD ....

ken

"how can I see -- in person or in a photo -- the exact shrub that will be shipped by the grower?"

I doubt that you can. Other than perhaps tagging a few specimen trees during a pre-ordering visit, most retail nursery buyers themselves do not see the plants before they arrive on site. The process just doesn't work that way. It is not until the trucks are unloaded at the retailer that the individual plants are seen "in the green" and that is when any decisions are made about the quality of the plants and if they are accepted by the retailer or returned to the grower/wholesaler as unsatisfactory. The vast majority are accepted.

And most large growing operations - the plant wholesalers - are not open to the general public so there is little chance you can preview any plants at the source.

You have some huge growers down there - not in your backyard, but San Marcos and Monrovia are within driving distance, and there are others. If you can find a landscaper or garden designer that orders from these places, you may be able to pay that person to accompany you and shop with you. That way you can pick out the exact plants. At some wholesale/growing operations, you can get onto the site and wander around, you just can't buy anything. If you were able to do that, you can do some recon and then go back with the person who can buy, thereby cutting down the time on the clock. Also, some growers will email photos of exact specimens (not for small stuff). When I wanted two special order trees from a local wholesaler, I gave them my specs and the grower emailed photos and I chose my two trees (these were #15s). It's all about relationships. At this point, our local growers and wholesalers let me shop there by myself because I am knowledgeable, don't waste their time, and have spent years ingratiating myself, sometimes showing up with breakfast goodies or snacks. When I have garden tours or parties here outside I often invite the local nursery peeps, who recognize plants that they sold me years ago. When my garden was part of the ACS National Meeting last year, the local nursery owners were docents in my garden! This is likely WAY more involved than you want to get, but just letting you know that it is possible. I have a friend who used to be the director of a botanical garden, and she continues to shop at growers like Iseli and Buchholz by herself because they know her from previous buying trips. A group of us are going to go to the ACS regional meeting in Portland next summer and we've made plans to visit the growers, all of whom are welcoming us. The botanical society affiliation is the key there. Also, the wholesalers around here are much more willing to tag stuff without payment than the retailers are, as retail has much more impulse buying than wholesale does, and the wholesalers carry way more inventory. Sorry to be so long winded...

It's SOP for wholesalers to allow their professional customers to tag individual trees and blocks of shrubs. But no professional would expect a nursery or grower to hang on to inventory for months, whether paid for or not. And a wholesale grower can't stop operations to cater to a retail customer.

You're talking about something that takes space, time, water, and maybe even fertilizer or pesticides. Once someone tags a plant at a nursery, it should be gone within thirty days. Nurseries depend upon a reasonable turnaround.

I've had the opportunity to be on both ends of the scenario....as a wholesale grower and as a landscape designer.

My container nursery was only eleven acres, when someone bought a number of plants from me, I wanted them gone! On the other hand, as a design-build professional, I liked to hand pick my specimen trees for a project, but no more than a couple of weeks in advance.

'And a wholesale grower can't stop operations to cater to a retail customer.'

That is the key line!

The shrubs at my local nursery may not be the size or the shape/form that I want.

If I could see the shrubs in the grower's stock. I could select the exact shrub(s) to be shipped to my local nursery

"The shrubs at my local nursery may not be the size or the shape/form that I want."

Then you might have to expand your search area to include more retail nurseries :-) Almost without exception, wholesale growers/nurseries in my area are closed to any retail customers. As mentioned above, these tend not to have any onsite sales staff like a retailer does and are active, ongoing growing operations and there are considerable liabilities involved if allowing the general public to just roam the premises. There was a long running thread on the Professional Gardening forum as to why Joe Gardener couldn't shop and buy wholesale and it explained the situation very thoroughly

There are a couple of ways you can sometimes get around this - some wholesale growers are open to landscapers or folks in the trade, like garden designers. Having a landscaper in your pocket that has a relationship with the wholesalers could get you in for a trip to pick out specific plants. But by far your best approach is to make friends with the plant buyer at your better local nursery. They DO have a close relationship with the wholesale growers they favor or use regularly and they can request from them plants that meet your specifications. But many do not themselves visit the wholesalers on a routine basis but rely on ordering from a weekly availability listing. Actual wholesale grower visits by the buyers are usually reserved for the pre-ordering season in early to midfall (or sometimes in winter, depending on location). Few retail nurseries have dedicated buyers - during the sales season these folks are busy managing and tending their stock and selling the plants as well. They just don't have the time to make a lot of onsite wholesaler visits, which can be hundreds of miles away!

GArdengal I'm not sure where you are but as ACS members we can all get into most of the Oregon growers. In fact, I've never been turned down. We call and ask nicely. Also, there is a very large (though not very interesting )grower/wholesaler here who is open to Master Gardeners.

The only way to choose individual specimens is to shop in person.

Sara, as an ACS member you are likely considered part of the "nursery/landscape trade", which would then allow access :-) But barring a similar association or some sort of other nursery/landscape affiliation, one's chances of access to a wholesale grower are very limited to non-existent.

I have been on both side of this coin - as a retail nursery plant buyer, as a regional sales rep for a wholesale grower and as garden designer (with a nurseryman's license for those wholesalers that require that sort of documentation/authorization). Being able to access a wholesale growing operation as just a retail customer without any of these keys to access is probably not a very realistic expectation. Some may allow it but most won't.

Yeah but it only costs $38 to join the ACS (or the Maple or Rhododendron Societies) and so it's easily achievable to gain an affiliation. And the two wholesalers here who welcome me with open arms are because of relationships, not because of Society connections. Another thing that helps is to join the local botanical gardens - there are often opportunities to meet growers and other folks from the trade there. The Chair of the SFBG trustees runs a huge growing operation, for example.

And Ron - getting photos from the growers is not that difficult, as I noted. You just won't be able to get them for #5 Nandina domestica...

What is "ACS"?

American Conifer Society

Could also be the American Camellia Society

or the American Chemical Society (which provides garden-related advice and publications)

And Ron - getting photos from the growers is not that difficult, as I noted. You just won't be able to get them for #5 Nandina domestica...

O.P. appears to be wanting to choose which individual specimens they will be sent rather than just seeing what particular kinds look like.

I just got this photo from Monrovia Growers:

Yes Ron, I got photos of the exact specimens.

This is a photo of another shrub (the same variety as the previous one) from Monrovia Growers:

Yes Ron, I got photos of the exact specimens

So you think he can order and be guaranteed that the same individual plant in the picture is what they are going to send him? I haven't encountered this level of service in the past.

Why are you calling me Ron, anyway? Since that isn't my current screen name it just makes it confusing.

Sara Malone Zone 9b said: "Yeah but it only costs $38 to join the ACS (or the Maple or Rhododendron)...".

There's a "RON" in "RhododendRON"

I got the exact specimens that I saw in photos.

If anyone was confused, now they're not!

Any ordinary people from zone 4 here? When do you start making pilgrimages to local retail nurseries to see your dream specimens 'in the green'? March? April? May?

I don't know (I'm not in zone 4).

WHY CAN'T PEOPLE FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS?

I sent my local nursery the grower's photograph of the shrub (below) that I wanted them to order.

Yesterday, my local nursery called saying that the shrub had been delivered and was ready for me to pick up.

This morning, I went to my local nursery only to discover that they had ordered the WRONG plant -- WRONG size (I wanted 30" tall; they got 16" tall), WRONG shape (branches were hacked off), and WRONG price -- so I told them that I didn't want the WRONG plant.

I told them to re-order the RIGHT shrub but it won't be delivered until January or February.