Some Good Places to Purchase Plants
There are many good sources for plants, but here are a few that I think are particularly helpful to know about.
Fedco. Fedco is my go-to place for trees and shrubs. Their prices are among the lowest in the business and their quality among the highest. One of the way they accomplish this is by shipping bareroot plants only when they are dormant, in the early spring. So you can’t just buy a shrub or tree anytime you want, but if you plan ahead you can have an inexpensive and healthy tree delivered to your doorstep right at its ideal planting time in April. You can spend ten or twenty times as much buying something locally later in the season, and it will be bigger and look more impressive, but it may not survive the transplanting process. So if you want a long-term healthy plant, rather than instant gratification, it’s worth planning ahead and purchasing from Fedco. Most of Fedco’s stock is grown in Maine by small farmers, so it comes to Massachusetts and smiles at our balmy temperatures. (Fedco also sells bare-root perennials, which need to be potted on receipt. That’s more bother than I’ve wanted to deal with, but given their quality on everything else I’m sure their perennials are good too.)
Bluestone Perennials. For herbaceous perennials, Bluestone has the best value-for-price I’ve found. Bluestone ships plants that are healthy and sturdy, packs them well, and charges very reasonable prices. If you have any interest in growing perennial flowers, get yourself on their mailing list so you’ll receive their very informative catalog. Plants are also easy to find on their well-designed website, which can also give you suggestions if you are looking for a plant to fit a particular niche. Bluestone’s shrubs are very young and small, as they will warn you, so don’t be tempted by their low prices and imagine you’ll get something more than six inches tall. Their shrubs are healthy and ready to grow, but take years to fill in. Their herbaceous perennials, in contrast, are so healthy that they usually take only a season to catch up with plants purchased locally at a garden center, which may well cost 3-5 times as much.
If you are considering a mail-order source not listed here, check them out first in the Watchdog section of the Dave’s Garden website, which provides invaluable user feedback on more than seven thousand garden companies.
New England Wildflower Society. NEWFS is the go-to place for native plants of all sorts. If you live in eastern Massachusetts and haven’t been to their Garden in the Woods in Framingham, go. Then go again at another time of year. They sell wonderful native plants both in Framingham and at their Nasami Farm in Whately. If you join as a member you will receive an informative newsletter with lots of information about courses, workshops, etc.
Edible Landscaping. Edible Landscaping offers lots of plants that are hard to find elsewhere, and is an invaluable resource for adventurous gardeners. Just remember that not everything that is edible is tasty, and sometimes a food is obscure for a reason.
R. Seawright Gardens. Located in Carlisle, MA, Seawright specializes in daylilies and hostas. Even if you don’t think you’re a fan of daylilies and hostas, it’s a treat to go visit them in midsummer when their fields are in bloom. And who knows – you may come home with some daylilies!
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