Hi Keepitlow,
hope more posts to follow here for you.
In past i have bought from paradise now closed, edible landscaping, Bass - trees of joy, UcDavis and reiceved some from reliable forum members who know what they have.
Im very picky to knowing what i have. ; )
Ebay i won several auctions from several forum members knowing exactly who was selling them but 1 has to be careful in that regards as i learned a lesson the hard way early on with ebay.
As for big box stores i stay away personally cause i have read years ago you might not get what your expecting.
Not ranting about anything bad about them its just me i want to know after caring for them several years down the road that they are what they were originally purchased as.
I did have a bad dealing once and that tree was properly disposed of.
Im sure there are good nurseries that others have purchased from and hope they chime in for you.
Martin

As a general rule, I would agree that there is significant risk at buying from any box store. I have purchased an Alma tree that produced lousy tasting "purple" figs from Home Depot that originated from a nursery in Texas. Also, purchased a wannabe Celeste that had figs with big open eyes that were the size of large chicken eggs. Neither of these were true to type.

However, in my area we have several very reputable wholesale nurseries that do have some of their trees being sold in these box stores. Any tree, in any box store with a yellow identification that indicates that it came from Saxon Becnel and Sons......is as good and reliable as it gets. Also, those tagged as coming from Star Nursery (in Belle Chase, La.), or Bracy's Nursery (in Amite,La.). I would not hesitate purchasing a citrus or fig tree from a box store that has one of those listed nursery identification tags on it. Nice trees that are true to type from these sources are readily available at the box stores in my area.

Dan

I bought my first two fig trees last spring, mail order from Rolling River Nursery (California). Trees were about 3 three feet tall and arrived quickly in good condition. I bought container types, but they offer 27 varieties for many climates. All are priced at $20. Both trees are doing very well and I thought it was well worth the cost of shipping. We would buy more if we had the room.
Good luck with your search.
Jennifer

Here is a link that might be useful: Rolling River Nursery Figs

Click on any of the named nurseries starting at the MIDDLE of this linked page

Here is a link that might be useful: Fig Resources

Thanks for all the help!