I just got an order of hosta and ferns from them today. Gorgeous plants! I can't wait to plant them, but I have no time until Saturday.

chris

I also enjoy ordering from Bridgewood's Ugly Plant Sale in the fall. Plants are dirt cheap, and they aren't really all that ugly!

But my favorite, hands down, is Hallson's. Chris is over-the-top in his customer service!
Karen

I'll put a link to Cindy's thread about her visit to the greenhouse and grounds of Made In the Shade. Many pictures, and other information. There is a second part to this, might have to add that link later.

Picture is worth a thousand words.

Here is a link that might be useful: Made In The Shade visit + pictures

The second part of Cindy's visit to the greenhouse and primarily small plants.

Here is a link that might be useful: Made In The Shade = Part II

The link below is to the discussion in 2012 about buying hosta from the big box stores such as Lowes and Home Depot.

Look there to see how hosta fans feel about them as a source of plants, and the experiences they have had.

Here is a link that might be useful: Big Box Store hosta problems

Moccasin, I do not really know why you mentioned my Forum name. Here is my experience with internet purchases :

Hallsons sent nice multi-eye plants and a freebee.
Naylor Creek also sent nice plants. When only smaller plants are available they sent 2 or 3 bunched together it seemed.
Land of the Giants sent divisions of larger plants, 1 or 2 eyes. I ordered 4 this year. They are in the north and ship late. I am also in the north.
Bridgewood, I bought a few plants in that Ugly plants sale, Satisfaction has 4 eyes now after 1 1/2 years, others are still 1 eye, but were inexpensive.
I also bought from general purpose nurseries which had a page of hostas in their catalog. They arrived small like 1 year TCs and I paid full price = no good.
Most of my hostas I bought at local nurseries and hosta society sales and had good luck with them. There I see what I buy, which gets you instant satisfaction.
Bernd

Another thread asking if anyone has experience with them. Plus, a comment about the lack of a good list of plants sold. In Indiana.

Here is a link that might be useful: Geotz Farm Hosta ????

Steve in Mass., was there a reason for leaving out New Hampshire Hostas as a new england hosta nursery?

Hi, Nucci. Don't think he left it out. He put in the link to those area nurseries as RECOMMENDED BY THE NEHS. And New Hampshire Hostas is listed there.

If you have personal experience dealing with NHH, then here's the place to report it.

I just haven't made up my mind about NH Hostas, despite the fact that I have purchased a number of plants from them. I believe they do a lot of growing in greenhouses. This is because they ship fully leafed out plants at a surprisingly early date. Since the plants they sell are fully leafed out, they appear to be large when you receive them. But upon inspection most are one eyed plants, a few with two eyes. Their inventory is similar to most other nurseries. They keep up with what is new, but don't have anything rare or unusual.

They recommend that you plant their Hosta by leaving the potting soil on the plants and just popping them into the soil as is. They claim that this minimizes root disturbance. While that may be true, I just don't think this is a good idea. I think the plants should be planted in the native soil in which they will be expected to grow. As a result I end up bare rooting them and then planting in my own soil. It's just an extra step for me at planting time.

I would not ever buy another "starter" plant from them. These are just way too small and take far too long to get established. I bought a Maui Buttercups three years ago in this format and it still has one eye.

So how have their plants performed in my garden? Sort of metza-metz. Some have done well and others have stagnated. In the end, I think this is an OK place to buy Hosta, but it's far from my favorite.

I buy from them mostly when they have sales. Their sale prices are really low. Right now you can get Blue Mouse Ears for under $6 and Dawn's Early Light for $8.37. At that price you could buy two plants and plant them together for the same price you get one elsewhere. I did that with Silk Kimono last year and it worked out well. Do I think they are a top 5? No.

Steve

I always seem to end up buying from AAhostas each year, at least once. His plants arrive in good condition and grow well for me. Everyone has had great results from Hallson's as well.

bkay

I am only about 3 miles from New Hampshire Hostas, so I do not use them as a mail order nursery. Their grounds are always impeccable. I prefer not to wash the soil from a potted plant, but to "pop" them in the prepared ground.I have also had great luck with Hallson's and Casita AZul.I agree with Steve, you can't beat NHH's sale prices.

My favorite places to order online:

Northern Grown Perennials
Hallsons
AAHostas
Bentley Gardens

Have also ordered from Jim's Hostas & Casita Azul, plants were smaller than from the other listed nurseries, but plants were healthy & have grown well.
I have orders placed from Naylor Creek & In The Country Garden & Gifts, and since I haven't ordered from them before, can't really comment yet on those 2.

Wendy

Bernd: "I do not really know why you mentioned my Forum name. ....."

I mentioned it in reference to your name being the only one I recognized as still frequenting the forum....referring to the thread in that post. Other forum members of 2010 posting then may have begun lurking or changed their online habits.

We all seem to have a special way of finding the plants we buy, and for me it is of necessity through online nurseries.
It would be great if a top rated hosta nursery was within comfortable driving distance, and open to the public regularly, but I'm just dreaming.

Nucci60,

How big are the plants you get when you go to the nursery? I'm wondering if it's worth the trip. I plan to make a day trip to Mason Hollow and Hosta Amour later this Spring.

Steve

Steve, they are nice size when I buy them. Comparable to Hallsons and bigger than the ebay sellers.They have a good website and usually have specials.

I ordered several of the sale hostas from NHH for the first time this year, and was pleasantly surprised with the size and health of the plants. I had mistakenly ordered Love Pat from another company as well (at this point, I'm trying to build my collection, not have duplicates), and was thrilled to find that the $6 plant from NHH was easily 4X the size of the $10 one from Naylor's.

Now, in light of what Steve said about initial size and growth rate, I'll be curious to see which one does better.
Karen

Streakedhosta.com experience

Here is a link that might be useful: Buying from StreakedHosta

Steve, I am within a reasonable drive from NH hosta so have shopped there several times. Generally, the hosta you receive by mail or the same ones you would find if you went there in person...as you said, one or two eyes. I always scour the tables, looking for more than one eye. Mine have all done well in the garden, but it's not like getting a plant from Hallson's, IMO. They do have an assortment of hosta available in larger sizes, but those tend to be the more common ones that most of us already own, and the price goes up substantially with the size.

Has anyone had experiance with Glenbrook Farm / Ten dollar Hostas? I saw their name in another thread here and they are not far from me - seem to have a lot of reasonable plants. I'm a newbie to mail order plants and to hostas as well. Thanks.

I think that's Victoria Serafin's nursery in New York. I saw her at the convention. I kept getting in the way of her photo taking and she wasn't too happy with me. But I made up for it by purchasing two $10 Hosta from her. I bought Glory and LS Ninita. Both were good sized plants.

You can buy safely from her. That is if she has plants after the predicted frost tonight.

Steve

Oooh I hope she doesn't get hit by the frost. I actually ordered some yesterday.....jump first and ask questions later - thats me! This up and down weather has been awfull hasn't it? I am protected some by the lake; no frost here. I hope everyone else comes through it ok. Anyway thanks for the info. All these threads make me anxious about what I am getting myself into!

I always purchased from Bridgewood, strayed a bit with Bluestone when they had 1/2 price sale-got three, just placed first order with Hallson today for three more. Ordered a three more from Bridgewood today because Hallson was sold out of Queen of the Sea and Stained Glass and threw in Sun Power. Thats it for this season. Went way over my limit. LOL Those should fill out my new spaces. Have to move Empress Wu and Komodo Dragon to the larger area and will put Queen of the sea and Stained Glass in place of them.

Somehow I discovered Bridgewood Gardens today when I was searching for Hosta Gardens (I was looking for garden pics). The website is so funny, I kept reading because it was so amusing.
I came back here to Gardenweb to check that the hosta peeps were aware of it and sure enough, I found this thread. Great website. :) Unfortunately I cannot order from them as I live in Canada but I enjoyed the read just the same.

For those of us in Canada ...

I prefer to buy hostas potted and leafed out as opposed to bare root - probably because my experiences with shipping have not always been good.

In the Ottawa Valley there are a number of hosta specialists but in particular I like Budd's Garden Centre http://buddgardens.com/plants.html and the Rideau Woodland Ramble http://www.rideauwoodlandramble.com/

These are not the low priced dealers but they offer quality plants, some unusual cultivars and excellent knowledgeable service.

We travel a lot in southern michigan, and find most all are good, and especially like K Gardens just south of Grand Rapids.

We so often find HVX problems at the big box stores such as Home Depot, Meijer, and so forth that we look but seldom consider buying there.

As a note, we find that these Big Box Stores are getting their plants from, mostly, greenhouse wholesalers from SW Michigan suppliers, so perhaps this problem has a wider, from a compass viewpoint, area ???

hh

Both local specialty nurseries who do not ship; owners very knowledgeable, personable, and helpful!
Central OH: Amity Farm Hosta www.amityfarm.com/
South-Central OH: Cory's Wildflowers coryshostagardens.com/

HH,

Do you know who those greenhouse wholesalers are?

Steve

A great thread created by Steve; Since it's Hosta-buying time again, why not bump it back up? Great advice is great advice, no matter when posted. Thanks to Steve.

Don B.

I've just bought several hosta plants from Hallson's. As others have said, the plants came carefully wrapped, with lots of roots and 6 or so leaves plus a bonus plant. They contacted me to make sure they'd understood my directions on when to ship. I definitely recommend them.

I also buy hostas from Glenbrook Farm in upstate NY, close to where I live. They ship reasonably prized large plants with good roots.
Bernd

I don't see Sebright Gardens on this list. They are a great source, always large divisions, sometimes larger than any other source and I shop all of the major ones. They also carry some of the older, hard to find varieties. We can't forget them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sebright Gardens

Didn't ZKathy get some nematodes from Sebright this year?

bk

This post was edited by bkay2000 on Sat, Aug 9, 14 at 17:17

I did discard a Vanilla Cream that Sebright delivered May 14th of this year after it showed signs of nematode infection. It was in a pot sunk into the ground. So far I have no other evidence of nematodes in my garden.

The other hostas I got from Sebright - Valerie's Vanity, Midnight Sun, Piedmont Gold and Surprised by Joy - are showing no evidence of nematodes.
Kathy

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to thread

This post was edited by zkathy on Sat, Aug 9, 14 at 22:40

Mocc: [chuckles]

and I got a bonus obsession.

Does not that sum up the passion for hosta?

[chortles quite loudly]

Dave

This one is worth bumping this time of year.

bk

I don't see Wade & Gatton listed, yet I remember someone posting pics of the Hostas they received from them either last year or the year before and the divisions looked HUGE. Anyone have any input on them?

Mocc has bought a lot from them. Maybe she will comment.

I think you buy by the eye. The more eyes, the more you pay.

They are famous for the number of different hosta they have. They have many older varieties that no one else has.

bk

hostatakeover......I buy direct from Wade and Gatton, not mail order so I don't know what size plants they ship out. Fortunately I live about an hour from them so they are the best source for me here in Ohio.

I have been very happy with their hostas. They do charge extra for eyes over two. If they have more they will split them for you. They don't always have the newest hostas but they do have a huge selection!

These are all from Wade and Gatton with the exception of Stiletto. They are all one or two eyes.

I need to amend the statement that there was NO hosta nursery within driving distance of me.
Well, if you consider the drive from Mobile to Birmingham "within driving distance" as I have been known to drive greater distances than THAT mere 250 miles one way. Pffffft. Nothing.

So I have HOSTAS ON THE HILL, in Leeds, Alabama, a mere trifle east of I-65 at Birmingham.
Judy Feldman, the owner, has her nursery at her residence. She has a website and is active in Dixie Regional Hosta, as well as AHS. Within the state, I believe she can ship. Out of state, I am not sure, I guess it would depend........I received my 2 orders via USPS Priority Mail. However, this year, I plan to be up her way for a couple of days, and want the pleasure of actually LOOKING at the very plant I choose to take home with me! That has to be a thrill for you too, I bet, BKay? And to see a real display garden in early spring, in my area, how do hostas grow for other people--down here, I mean......of course, Birmingham is a whole number zone cooler than we are, but that's as good as it gets for a local nursery specializing in hostas.

I notice the Dixie Regional list of hosta nurseries includes one other hosta nursery in Alabama, up in Huntsville. If I'd known that last August, I'd have skipped the Space Museum and gone straight to look at hostas.

Most of the ones I have are from shades of green and hosta choice. Both in SW ontario. Both have lots of choice. I like shades of green's website as they have the pictures as well as a description. Plants are good size and healthy.

Northern Grown Perennials has free shipping on orders placed in March, 2015.

I ordered Hostas from them in 2013 and they sent really nice plants.

2013 order from Northern Grown Perennials.

Over the last 6 years I received nice plants from Land of the Giants (Jeff Miller), Hallsons, Naylor Creek, Glenbrook Farm (@ glenbrookplants,com), Green Mountain Hosta Nursery and Green Hill Farm (Bob Solberg). I only had good quality and healthy plants from those, all are still growing beautifully around my house.

Bernd

Thank you, Pearl. Wow, that batch of Hostas are fantastic. Great array of form and color! I've never ordered from Wade and Gatton before and I like to try EVERY mail order Hosta I find, so I placed a sizable order (for me) with them last month.

Naylor Creek and Land of the Giants are renowned for shipping nicely sized Hostas.

Bridgewood has become my go-to hosta seller. If I'm not picking something up in the neighborhood swap, I go to Bridgewood (which is close enough to my home and zone). I got an email last week that 2015 spring shipping is starting (to points south of me). The
'ugly plant sale' always has something I can't live without. I also like that he deliberately sells 1 eye plants; I use to infill my hosta plots.

This is a great thread for a newbie. We're being teased with warm weather in NJ, & I'm in the mood for hostas!

Bridgewood now goes by Crownsville Nursery with Bridgewood Gardens Hostas. www.crownsvillenursery.com I have bought a number of plants during their Ugly Plant Sale the last two summers and have been very pleased with them.

Who has a reputation for selling virus free hostas?

Reading this was like a trip down memory lane.

bkay