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    And again, Welcome!

Please read the information on this page before you:

Enter our Online Store

Last update to this specific, important page 6-12-09

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1. All about our Shopping Cart.  We accept Visa, MC, Checks, Money Orders.   Orders are charged immediately online. If you have problems with our shopping cart, contact Tech Support 

Payment by check or money order is due within 14 days.

Our shopping cart is secured by RapidSSL

Strong 128 / 256 bit encryption, industry standard SSL

 

2. Shipping and Handling Method and Rates and A Chart of Sample Rates

We ship 2-3 day USPS Priority Mail March thru November.  We charge a combination shipping AND handling fee (where some companies work handling fee into the cost of the plant).  We have an $8.10 handling minimum (which would cover up to 6 plants.). We do not force you to buy more plants than you want or have an order minimum but do have a minimum handling fee as we can't afford to process very small orders otherwise. 

          2a.  Shipping schedule  We ship by USDA planting zone in Spring and then ASAP June thru November.  We don't ship to the West Coast states during the heat of summer.  See the above link for more details.

         2b.  We ship in summer to most of the country but in the heat of summer the customer must bear some responsibility in providing a shady place for the postman to leave the box. We strongly encourage you to print the following:  Message to Mailman  to alert him that you're expecting a shipment and what to do with it.    Or make a note under 'Comments' when you check out and we'll put your note to the Mailman on the box!  Plants left in the sun WILL be damaged.

        2c.  Pick Up at the Nursery unfortunately is no longer available.

        2d.  Back Orders   This is one of the most difficult issues facing plant shippers. About 95% of our orders go out as scheduled but sometimes we do have plants that aren't ready at ship time.   Please take a moment to read the information at this link as you will be asked how you want us to handle plants that aren't available at ship time when you check out if you have a small order. 

3.  All about our Plants - for detailed information. 99% of our plants are shipped in quart pots which are 1.68Pints (794 ml) liquid measure.  The few exceptions are clearly marked in the plant description.

4.  Plant Guarantee - we guarantee that plants arrive in good condition and are properly identified.  Please contact us immediately if a plant arrives in poor condition.  Please do not plant a "poor/damaged" plant thinking you can bring it around and then weeks later, contact us.  We are happy to replace any plant that arrives damaged or in poor shape but want the opportunity to counsel you immediately on it's care and have the opportunity to check plants and/or staff procedures here to make sure there is no problem that would go out to other customers or to contact the Post Office for compensation if damage appears to be their fault.  We can not replace plants that arrived in poor condition unless notified immediately or plants that have been in the customer's care for more than a week after arrival.

5.  Restocking/Cancellation Fee  We do charge a 10-20% cancellation fee on cancelled orders which primarily covers the credit cards fees involved in processing and then canceling an order but also covers office and staff time, especially if orders have been pulled for shipment..

6.  Pot Size:  It is now the law that Nurseries post the pot size they're using and give liquid equivalent.  We applaud our worthy competitors who have their pot sizes and equivalents clearly available to customers!  We use a "trade quart" pot  which is 1.68Pints (794 ml) liquid measure. The top of the pot (4 3/16") which is the same size as the classic nursery quart but the sides taper down a bit and the bottom is somewhat smaller which makes it a nice size for root development but reduces some soil amount in the bottom of the pot to make the plants lighter for shipping.  They are also the same height as a classic nursery quart, 5 1/2" tall.  If we deviate from this pot size we make it very clear on the page where the plants are listed but 99% of our plants ship in the pot as described above.

7.  How to Unpack and Care for your New Plants.  

8.  Sometimes, a perfectly nice customer and a perfectly wonderful business, for whatever reason, just aren't a good match.   If we feel that, based on a previous transaction, that we will not be able to make you happy, we do reserve the right to refuse future orders. 

Back Buttons - We are huge believers in using your Browser's Back Button -- it returns you to exactly where you were on the previous page.  

This is very useful on our long, long pages.  Get in the habit of using the 'Back Button' -- it works on the whole Internet of course, not just here.   When you click on a link, use your Back Button to return to the previous page and you will return to the exact line you were on.  No website link can do that!  Links can only return you to the top of the page or possibly to a set mid point --  a tedious process if you were at the bottom of a long page!

Think 'Back Button'   

It always takes you "Back to Where You Were"!

Companion CD is no longer available

With so many people now with fast Internet, the demand just dwindled too low to make this worthwhile to produce for Dial Up Customers.

If you just a want a printed list, here's our Plant List.

We do not have a Printed Catalogue but our website is set up in a format (800 pixels wide) so that it is printable!  So you can actually print your own catalogue selecting only the pages you're interested in and not wasting paper/trees on those you don't want.  We just have way too many plants to offer a printed catalogue.  The cost would be prohibitive and we're honestly against so much wasted paper:  Here's some eye opening information about catalogs at www.savephoenix.org

We don't offer a paper catalogue.

Catalogue Printing the environmental way

"Catalogers printed 19.5 billion catalogs last year (2006), which is enough for every man, woman, and child to receive 71 each year. What’s worst is that most of these catalogs contain no recycled content and just end up in the trash unused."

If you need help with Common Names

NCSU Perennials by Common Name

NCSU Shrubs by Common Names 

or try our favorite search engine Google

or Search our Site

Remember, we're all stewards of the planet.  No plant is worth jeopardizing natural areas!   If we police ourselves, others won't have to do that for us!  Garden responsibly.  Know your State's Invasive Plant List.  A thug in one state is often well-behaved in another for various reasons.  We remove plants that seem to be problems across the country but we rely on our customers to also know what plants are taboo for their state.   A 'Noxious Weed' classification in one state may label a plant that's a well-behaved plant in another state.  Perfect example:  Digitalis purpurea - Common Biennial Foxglove is an asset to most gardens but is listed as a Noxious Weed in the West. And some plants, even Natives, (Acalypha virginica for example) manage to show up on both the Endangered List and the Noxious Weed list simultaneously for the same area!   This is epitome of contradictions making Acalpha virginica an Endangered Noxious Weed!  We do not, in any way, make light of any of this but mention this to show how complicated keeping track of it is.  We do our best but trying to monitor all of our 2000+ plants for all 50 states is a huge job and we have to rely on our customers to be concerned and informed and work with us.   We give you links here so you can easily check on the plants you're interested in for your state.

If the plant is problematic all over, we discontinue it. 

  If a plant is showing as a weed in a few places but not widespread, we'll add this symbol  to the listing with a link to the USDA site so you can make an informed decision about growing it in your state and on your specific property where it might not be a problem at all.

Native Plants:  We list plants as Natives if they're Native to some part of the US.  Plants that are Native to one part of the US but not to another part may be aggressive growers in those States not having the growing conditions, natural predators, pests, etc. that would keep them in check. We can't even say, across the board, that all Natives are good, even in their own state:  Example:  Frageria virginiana, Virginia Strawberry, grows in all 50 states but is also on the Noxious weed list for the Northeast -- where it's from!    

You can see if a plant is Native to your area at the following link. Just click on your state without adding in a plant and you will get a list of all Natives for your State.  We are in the process of a massive change to our website being more specific about whether a plant is a pure Native species or a cultivar (select form of a species) or a hybrid of 2 or more Native Species. 

  Native to some part of the US     A Cultivar or select form of a US Native     A hybrid of 2 US Natives. 

Link to USDA site so you can check exact states where various Natives Grow.

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