Hi wayne,

I've had good luck w/both spring and fall planting, haven't lost a grass yet. For fall planting it is generally a good idea to get them in the ground as early as possible so they can settle in before winter. I've planted well into Oct., tho, w/o any problems but that may be pushing it a bit and probably not recommended in zone 5. Early/mid sept. would most likely be ideal.

I've purchased all of my grasses locally so no insight on purchasing online, sorry.

Wayne, I don't know about buying grasses online, but I'll make a couple of comments anyway. Bluestem seems to come highly recommended, but they're in Canada, and I don't know if plants could get hung up in customs? Maybe somebody here knows about that, or you could contact the company. Many of their grasses are only available in the spring (their Website says only cool season grasses are available in fall).

In case you don't know about it, I'd recommend looking up any company on Dave's Garden Watchdog site before buying, just to be careful. It's not a guarantee, but I like to look there before placing an order online.

Btw, I read somewhere on this forum that it's a good idea to buy locally (I don't know if this is an option for you), because you can get a bigger grass that way, rather than waiting so long for it to get a decent size. I saw one gallon pots of Calamagrostis acutiflora 'Karl Foerster' for $9.99 each at a local garden shop last weekend. I found the gallon plants online for $5.99, but then I'd have to pay shipping and I wouldn't get to pick out the ones I want. The grasses I saw at the store were 2-3 feet high, which is decent for the price, I think, so I'm going back to buy two of them.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: The Garden Watchdog

When you buy from a Canadian dealer like Bluestem, you pay an additional fee for a Phytosanitary Inspection. Bluestem charges $12 per order for this, no matter what size the order.