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9 Online Nurseries You Can Trust (and 1 You Can’t)
With the increased interest in gardening and so many in-person restrictions, you may want to consider purchasing some of your plants and seeds online.
But is buying plants online worth it? Where are the best places to buy outdoor plants, shrubs and trees online? What about seeds? Are there any online nurseries to stay away from?
So many questions.
In this article, I’ll go over my experiences with ordering from several online nurseries as well as who you can trust and who you can’t.
Quick Tip: If you’re new to purchasing plants online, be sure to check out my article about the pros and cons of purchasing from online plant nurseries. That will give you a good foundation of what you need to know before you place your first order.
Where to Buy Plants Online
If you want to shop online, here are some places that I would recommend. I’ve either purchased directly from these online plant nurseries or have received recommendations and photos from other gardeners I know and trust.
Like all other online stores, some people have very good experiences, while others may have a negative experience. There’s always a risk when you shop online. That’s why most of these reviews will cover plant health, shipping methods and customer service. If you try any of the online nurseries in this list and want to share your experience, please contact me.
Fast Growing Trees
I’ve purchased trees and large shrubs from this online store several times. Fast Growing Trees is a place I’d recommend, especially because they have options for purchasing larger, more mature trees and shrubs (if you’re willing to pay a bit more).
The trees and shrubs I ordered from them were accurate to the sizes described on the website and were very healthy when they arrived.
In July, 2017 I purchased this Ginkgo Autumn Gold 4-5′ tree from Fast-Growing-Trees.com for about $100. It shipped the very next day and arrived healthy.
The tree cost more than I would pay locally for a similar tree of this age/size. But, I could not find this variety locally and was happy to pay for it.
The ginkgo tree is slow-growing in nature, but has been thriving since planting. It’s even turning bright yellow in fall before the leaves drop and it’s already quite the show-stopper.
Nature Hills Nursery
Nature Hills online nursery is an excellent place to shop for plants online. They have a GREAT selection (honestly, it’s huge) and often have free shipping on orders over a certain amount. The plants I’ve ordered were healthy but definitely on the small side. So, keep that in mind when you’re ordering.
This is true when purchasing plants from most online nurseries, though (more about this here).
What Blooms with What?
Never know what to plant together? Find out with this FREE Plant Pairing Guide and become a pro at combining plants for the best garden design possible!
Select Seeds
Select seeds has more than just seeds as one may think. I purchased some annual black-eyed susan climbing vines for just $7 each and they arrived in perfect condition. They were actually A LOT bigger than I expected and arrived in less than 2 weeks.
Overall, I’m really pleased with the prices, condition of plants and quality of plants and seeds (more on this later) from SelectSeeds. I will continue to order from them in the future.
Great Garden Plants
Great Garden Plants is a nursery that I’ve recently tried and was really impressed with their selection, prices and packaging. One of the students from my Design Your 4-Season Garden course tried this online plant nursery in June 2021 and shared photos of her delivery in the private course Facebook group.
Here’s what Jaymie says about Great Garden Plants,
“I received my order of 20 ‘Forever Purple’ coral bells from Great Garden Plants. All were good sized quart plants and overall healthy. …I felt like I tore a lot of leaves of in the unpacking process – boxes have squares that open and close to allow air to flow within the box, but it took me a few tries to learn how to close squares to get plants out with out a struggle. The containers are wrapped in plastic covering the dirt to prevent spillage. They attach a metal ring of some sort to attach the bag and tie off. The ring is a pain- its a hassle to get the plastic off. …Overall very impressed with the packaging and the plants.“
Jaymie T.
After seeing Jaymie’s photos, I decided to give Great Garden Plants a try for myself and I had a very good experience. I ordered a few Karl Foerster grass, SunSparkler Dazzleberry Sedums and a Black Tower Elderberry shrub. All were delivered in great condition and are thriving in my garden.
Great Garden Plants also boasts a free, no risk, 60-day guarantee on your purchase. It’s not the longest warranty (or the shortest) I’ve seen… it’s somewhere in the middle. I think that 60 days in ample time to act on a warranty in most cases. There’s also specific (longer) guarantees related to fall purchases and dormant plant purchases. Just send them a photo of your plant and contact them via their online chat or via email to get the process started. They will issue replacements OR refunds (minus the cost of shipping).
Because of my experience and their plant guarantee, I can confidently recommend Great Garden Plants as a reputable online nursery. They carry a lot of nice plants and take great care in packaging and shipping them!
Bluestone Perennials
Some of my gardening friends also recommend Bluestone Perennials for their selection of online plants. I have purchased from Bluestone a handful of times. The plants are potted, but still very small.
I ordered 2 Butterfly Weed plants and 1 Globe Thistle (echinops) plant in August 2019. Each plant was about $15 and shipping was about $12. My order was scheduled to ship in late September.
The 2 Butterfly Weed plants did ship on time in late September. They were SO small, though. They survived the winter, but I ended up finding butterfly weed locally and purchased 2 much larger plants so I didn’t have to wait 3 years for these tiny guys to flower. I don’t think this purchase was worth the cost.
I received a message informing me that my Globe Thistle was on backorder and would not arrive until spring. They asked if I would like to replace the plant or keep the order and I chose to keep the order. I contacted them on April 11, 2020 to check my order status and received a very quick response. They shipped my order on April 28, 2020.
I was happy that I did receive a response and a healthy plant in the mail. It was small, but ended up growing and even flowering in August of the same year.
Breck’s
I have ordered many bulbs online from Breck’s. They have a lot of really unique varieties to choose from. I’ve purchased many allium, tulip, iris and crocus bulbs from this online nursery over the years. I’ve also purchased live plants from them.
Breck’s offers lots of other live plants, too, of which I’ve purchased a few.
At one point I contacted customer service via email and the representative provided a very friendly and helpful response about a day later. Breck’s guarantees all of their purchases for LIFE. In fact, the customer service rep I spoke with stated,
“We guarantee all of our plants to reach you in perfect and healthy condition. What’s more, any item that does not grow and flourish to your complete satisfaction will be replaced free, with no time limit, for as long as you garden.”
This guarantee is certainly not the norm. Most nurseries will guarantee anywhere from a few months to a year after purchase… but for a lifetime is very impressive.
Not all plants and bulbs I’ve purchased from Breck’s have survived, though. I purchased Dutch irises and fall blooming crocuses that to my disappointment did not bloom (not a single one). After contacting support, they gave me a credit to replace my purchase with other plants.
Even though I’ve gotten some duds over the years, my experience with Breck’s has been positive and I continue to order from them. They have a lot of unique/rare plants that you can’t find elsewhere and they stand behind their “lifetime guarantee” with friendly service.
PlantingTree.com
My student Jaymie (who purchased from Great Garden Plants) also placed an order with PlantingTree.com in June 2021. She was impressed with the plants she received and shared some photos, too!
Jaymie adds,
“The prices weren’t too crazy. I got much larger specimens than expected within 4 days of ordering. They were packed very well with not a loose leaf or spec of dirt spilled. Everything is now in the ground and thriving!”
Jaymie T.
PlantingTree.com also has a detailed page about Plant Warranty. If your plants are damaged in shipping, you can contact customer service to discuss options. They also have a 30-day plant protection warranty. If your plants do not thrive, they will send you a one-time replacement (minus the cost of shipping).
Etsy
Etsy is another surprising place to find some nice plants online! Many Etsy sellers are shipping plants to your door and that’s a great thing.
Just an FYI: Etsy is a marketplace of individual sellers. So, you’ll need to make sure that the person you’re purchasing from is legitimate. The best way to do this is to check each individual seller’s reviews before you buy. You can always contact an Etsy seller directly from the product listing page if you have any questions about the item.
⚠️WARNING: Stay Away From DirectGardening⚠️
Out of all of the online nurseries I’ve tried, DirectGardening.com has been the worst. I will preface this by saying that 2020 was a difficult year for all online plant nurseries. But, I did not have a good experience with them.
In April, I ordered 2 top hat blueberry bushes (Vaccinium ‘Top Hat’) and skyracer purple moor grass (Molina caerulea ssp arundinacea ‘Skyracer’) from DirectGardening. I did not receive an email/order confirmation of any kind. I checked my order online, but it was not updated in their system. I had no idea if/when the plants would arrive. I knew it wasn’t looking good from the start.
About 3 weeks went by before I inquired about my order status. The customer service rep told me that my order would be scheduled to ship after processing if the plants were available, which usually took 2-4 weeks. I must admit this really bothered me. I thought that purchasing and paying for the plant would ensure that I would receive it, but apparently that’s not the case at DirectGardening. I stated my concern about this and did not receive any reply.
Here’s how my experience went:
- April 27: Order placed
- May 15: Requested shipping update, was told 2-4 weeks processing.
- May 15: Replied to email support. No response received.
- June 13: Moor Grass arrived dead. “3 Hardy Gladiolus” bulbs arived as a free gift, I planted these and they never grew either.
- June 20: Blueberry bushes arrived and looked like dead twigs. I planted anyway and tried to nurse to health.
- Aug 20: Blueberry bush and Moor Grass replacements arrived dead on arrival. They would not replace the replacements.
This was the absolute worst online plant ordering experience I have ever had. Save yourself the headache and stay away from DirectGardening.
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Where Buy Seeds Online
Select Seeds
I mentioned Select Seeds above for their live plants. I also love getting my seeds from them, too.
Definitely give SelectSeeds a try.
Johnny’s Selected Seeds
Johnny’s has set the standard for high seed quality over the past nearly 50 years by meeting or exceeding federal minimum requirements for germination rates, pathogen testing and traceability.
Ernst Seeds
Located in Meadowbrook, PA, Earnst Conservation Seeds has an outstanding 50 year reputation in helping to restore native landscaping.
They grow, process and sell hundreds of species of native and naturalized seeds and live plant materials for ecological restoration, sustainable landscaping, reclamation, wetlands and natural resources conservation.
Check out their seed finder tool or request a catalog on their website. They have some of the best native wildflower seed mixes available today.
Wrapping Up
Purchasing seeds, plants, shrubs and trees online certainly has its pros and cons. Most online nurseries are reputable and will provide you with a lot more variety than what you may find locally. They are are a great option to get exactly what you’re looking for. Just make sure you check their online refund policies and guarantees before making that purchase.
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What Blooms with What?
Never know what to plant together? Find out with this FREE Plant Pairing Guide and become a pro at combining plants for the best garden design possible!
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