Can you recommend a good online plant shop please?

[Cherryblossom200]

Hi all,

I've never bought plants online before, but I have no choice as the plants I'm looking for a bit more unusual. But for obvious reasons I'm a bit nervous as I don't know if the quality is any good.

If anyone can recommend a good value online plant shop that would be great please.😊

Thanks

Crocus, and no-one has mentioned Primrose, which I also use. David Austin for Roses, or Peter Beale, and I recently found a great hosta place, called Sienna Hostas.

I have also used Claire Austin (daughter of David) for perennials but a bit disappointed with the quality.

I agree with Sarah Raven. The bits I've bought from there haven't been great and they arrive at random. Though I think part of the problem is that the plants I bought were often small plug plants and I killed them off. My cheap plants from Sainsburys were always fine.

For bulbs, I've used Farmer Gracy and was quite happy. For large batches of bulbs, Clare Bulbs, which someone on here recommended, were even better. My garden isn't huge but I did a big order to split with a few colleagues and it was great value.

Last year i ordered plants from hayloft which were very disappointing. 3l pots, but the plants were only just potted on (and probably didn't even need to be). And a couple of shrubs which were very awkward with only 2 branches growing very low and horizontal to the ground. I think only 1 out of about 6 is thriving.

I've also used thomson and Morgan's, j parkers, crocus, and long acre plants (shade plants) with no problems.

I've had mixed experience with Thompson and Morgan - one-third of plants were fine, one-third ok and the last third dead.

I now use YouGarden and have had good experiences with them.

I think I'm going to buy some of my trees from Ornamental trees, reviews all look really good.

The tree I want they have at seagrave nurseries, photos of it look huge and great value for money. But all I see are really bad reviews, so I think I'll avoid like the plague!

I bought a tree and three shrubs from Ornamental Trees last summer and they are looking good so far.

They took ages to arrive, but that wasn't their fault. The carrier damaged the first lot in transit so returned them before they even arrived here. The customer service from Ornamental Trees was good, it just took them a while to source replacements.

I've also had good trees from Mail Order Trees.

Farmer Gracy
Thompson and Morgan
Marshall's

I'm not too sure about Sarah Raven as there's a current thread about delivery disappointments and there was a thread about her website last year.

We once used Primrose , never again.

I have always had good success with Sarah Raven but agree with the random delivery. Hayloft has been mixed with some plants not surviving. Otherwise look for specialist nurseries. Ornamental trees were excellent but sadly the drought killed one of mine last summer.

I've had great plants/trees from:
Crocus
Hayloft
Ornamental Trees
Grasslands
Burncoose
Charella Gardens
ebay
Taylors clematis

Not so good:
J Parkers
Sarah Raven
Thompson & Morgan
Trees Online

I’ve had good plants from
Burncoose
l”plants for shade” (?Longacre)
Hayloft.

JParker have been good but only if you know what you’re doing. Good value plants, but cheap therefore small, so need a bit of care before being let loose in the garden. But what appears like a handful of compost on arrival grows away well.

I just received a rose and a couple of other flowers from RHS, all were in amazing condition and well packaged. I was very impressed and will definitely use again. Price wise I found it fairly competitive 👍

Some of the things mentioned in the article are bog-standard, others are more uncommon. `The RHS website has lists of stockists if you enter the name of the plant. Nice garden, but some of the planting choices area bit pedestrian, I think

Real Seeds is a lovely seed shop- lots of unusual varieties and they all set seed you can collect. They do a giant mange tout which is delicious.

I second that! Bought expensive bulbs from her a couple of years ago, and totally the wrong colour came up!

Ordered Farmer Gracey bulbs recently and they came quickly, very nicely packaged, and with a lovely card however the proof will be in the flowering!

Crocus by a country mile. It’s the only online retailer who seems to actually deliver within a few days because they sell stuff they actually have it stock, and it’s all been good quality too. So many of the others sell stuff that’s not yet ready to dispatch, it’s still growing, so they don’t give very definite delivery time frames at all. I have to avoid ordering from them (the likes of Thompson Morgan, Hayloft, Sarah Raven etc) of I know I’m going on holiday within a couple of months of ordering, as I have no idea when the plants will show up.

Another vote here for Farmer Gracey! Packaged beautifully and always a discount voucher enclosed. Beautiful and unusual flowers and plants. Includes care guides etc. Lots arrive from the Netherlands

Burncoose has several of the plants in the article you link. They're good. A local independent nursery might be worth trying too?

I'm unhelpfully neg-rating here, but IMO: yes, Sarah Raven is really not good any more. Crocus is overpriced and often disappointing. Dobbies might be fine if you don't really care whether or not you're actually getting what you ordered - they don't have any quality control over varieties so will cheerfully send you something under a completely wrong label. Personally, I wouldn't order anything very specific from companies like these or like Parkers/Gardening Express. You won't be sure it's the actual variety you wanted, and for shrubs or trees, that can be a costly mistake.

I just received my first order from Burncoose (normally favour Crocus) and I’m really impressed. Ordered a Cornus Kousa tree and it’s gorgeous. Well packaged and in very good condition. Even came the next day!😱

I’ve done a few now. I lot of my garden is jparkers because I went for small and cheap starting out. It’s been particularly good for cheap bare roots or perennial plugs and bulbs - possibly less so for shrubs. That said, I’ve got lots of hydrangea Annabelle for around £4 in 9cm pots which have done well. Crocus would be double that for the same size but you’d probably generally only get the bigger plants at £££. At 9cm year 1 is underwhelming but year 2 onwards seems fab.

I’ve just discovered cowells garden centre and had some really lovely plants from there. I was really pleased. I also had some excellent plants from burncoose but pricier for established camellia.

I think for a large area picking some cheap and some more expensive plants works out well. I’ve managed to kill a fair few of my cheaper ones but not so fussed.