Online Plant Purchase Supplier Recommendation

[CharSiu]

I always buy plants at two local nurseries but have quite a big area that I want to cover with larger ferns. I know online nurseries tend to be better value but am hesitant as obviously like to inspect. Can anyone recommend a supplier?

I've ordered from Farmer Gracy, Crocus and Sarah Raven. I'm about to place an order with J Parker's so interested in seeing if anyone has any comments about shopping there.

I bought a lot from Parker wholesale and they were great. Tiny - hence the price - but they filled out really quickly. My 70p dicentra were absolute bargain... especially as I needed 20 of the buggers!

I've done quite a bit of ordering from specialist nurseries, I find you get much bigger plants for the same value. They usually offer postage for about 10 pounds irrespective of the number of plants, so as long as you are buying a few plants they work out a lot cheaper.

Some I've used in the last year or two are Bluebell Arboretum (for shrubs, although a quick look says they also have ferns www.bluebellnursery.com/ ), RV Roger (apple trees but looks like they do other bareroot plants, rvroger.co.uk/), Lavender World (for the obvious www.lavenderworld.co.uk/), Trehane nurseries (for blueberries, www.trehanenursery.co.uk/ ) and Thorncroft Clematis (for Clematis thorncroftclematis.co.uk/ ). I haven't bought ferns but if I wanted to, I'd do some research into best varieties and then Google to see which suppliers come up.

I've bought from Crocus, Hayloft and J.P. Parker before. The plants from all are generally small but they often come as small plugs you need to immediately plant up and grow on before you can plant them out. From memory, I had some arrive essentially dead from JP Parker because the delivery was delayed over a hot weekend - they were quick to send replacements once I complained.

I've bought ferns (specifically) from www.alchemyferns.co.uk/ and found them to be very good.

I've bought ferns and some other plants from www.plantsforshade.co.uk and they were absolutely great. Highly recommended.

I've also had very good experiences with Crocus. For the poster asking about J.P. Parkers - I've ordered quite a few plugs from there, and on the whole I've been satisfied. They have mostly been successful, and with the exception of a few that failed to thrive, the rest have filled out pretty fast.

I have bought from patch. Seems pricier than others. I can give you a 10% off referral thing if needed.

However, my plants have survived by antigreen fingers and are lovely. When they didn't arrive perfect (normal issues) i got refunded so customer service is top notch

Beth Chatto has the best quality, I’ve found. RHS are Crocus are the same provider I think? Have been hit and miss with Sarah Raven and J Parker and they’re quite slow.

I've not had a lot of success with Crocus so will not order from then again. I did buy a couple of trees from Ornamental Trees - they turned out well.

Secret Gardening Club has been brilliant over the last couple of years. Excellent quality plants and value.

I’ve bought from various sellers on eBay and Etsy, Secret gardening club, J Bowers, Thompson and Morgan, Hayloft, Sarah Raven, YouGarden and Ashwood nurseries.

I also get a lot from Morrisons, Aldi, Poundland and B&M though those aren’t online.

I would not recommend J Parker’s as they delivered me a dead as a dodo completely brown and crunchy
I have heard many similar experiences about them.

Thompson and Morgan are fine, slow delivery, plants themselves are healthy enough but they are way, way over priced imo.

My seeds from Sarah Raven never germinated so I haven’t used her again.

Ashwood nurseries sent me the wrong plant.
I’m not sure who was at fault, whether it was them or the breeder or whoever else they bought the plant from, it was labelled as the plant I was after but it turned out to be a totally different cultivar.

Every single thing I’ve ordered from Crocus has thrived bar a clematis they’ve just replaced after a year. Good knowledge when you email. Fab packaging, quality, varieties well watered.Ornamental Trees were fab for trees- bought an apple and Amalanchier. Both planted in Oct and budding madly now.Both thriving. Just bought roses from David Austin and v impressed also with their online advice. Love Sarah Raven but £££££, plants have always done well. Ordered a load of seeds this year.Tomatoes have done well but the Ammi and Viola are doing sfa. Will see what the Cosmos do.🤔