I got a densiflora 'Low glow' from girard's last year,,,nice size plant,,,growing right away,,,,but color is not glowing,,,saw others with image search,,,were same,,so I hope color brightens up next year.
ron

low glow does not glow ...

its just a nice snowball cake form ...

mine was abused by a groundhog ... and its mature form is not quite what it used to be .... but had i given it a few extra feet... maybe that would change ...

i dont understand the gratuitous FU .... crikey ...

they were my first conifer girlfriend.. great peeps.. and superb enablers ... i will always have great memories ...

but i never mail ordered.. i visited ... chose my own plants .... just a short 350 mile round trip ... or so .... the variegated robur is sublime ....

absolutely great peeps ...

ken

ps: your news is a year old ... try to keep up ...

Here is a link that might be useful: link

You mean I won't be able to get this stellar quality anymore?

Too bad for the original owners who put their heart and soul into the business only to be ran into the ground. Darn shame.

Just messing with you ken...no FU intended. I remember seeing a lot of pics like whaas shows above...I was really on the fence about ordering from Girard's, but your backing of them got me to pull the trigger and order. Plants were 50/50...half good, half not so much. Got a real nice bare root Cornus kousa 'Satomi' from them... I will always remember that order though as my gateway drug! I was hooked

But seriously, a year? No....they were still shipping this past spring...didn't see anyone posting it

I have been there almost 2 years ago. They are very nice people. I do agree that the plants were far from good quality as I know now after getting few orders from Western Evergreen and Conifer kingdom. Their 'Skylands' still looks nothing like 'Skylands', but I did get very nice 'Louie' and thuja occidentalis 'Wansdyke Silver' out of the trip, as well as few other things. They have absolutely gorgeous picea abies 'Crastonii' or 'Virgata' on property. They just call it rattail spruce. It is about 35 years old and one of the most beautiful trees I ever saw. I am so sorry that I did not get a picture.

What you often run into with mail order is a percentage of over the hill stuff that would have been more or less quickly sold off at a discount or even discarded if it were a garden center that was trying to keep things looking fresh, make room for future inventory or avoid carrying a lot of stock over into another year. Mail order is best left for items not being found within driving distance, where they can be inspected in person before purchase.

I lived near Geneva for some years and was able to buy in person. These comments all concern conifers, but for local gardeners, Girard's sold many other types of plants. They specialized in breeding azaleas, such as Hot Shot, and carried a big selection of cold hardy Zone 5 and 6 such plants. The plants I bought were fine. They carried a lot of ornamental grasses, still hard to find locally 15 years ago, and water plants. I would check to see whether they still carry their own bred plants. If the current owner is not a plant breeder, that may be part of the problem.

This was necessary to bump, because...?

A reason to show update of Low Glow

ha ron

ok, those are good reasons!