Recent Reviews in the Green Pages

Huge bulbs, immaculately packed and first year growing had 5+ foot tall plants from many of the larger varieties. Very happy with multiple purchases

My first time ordering from Bluestone Perennials, thanks to their fabulous generosity and the gift certificates they provide for the photo contest. So, after scoring a fantastic gift certificate after my finish last year, I set off to their website to make selections. There are so many to choose from, it was a hard pick.

The packaging of the plants are top notch. All of my selections arrived intact, sturdy and well cared for. Even after some mishandling by the shipper. Everything is biodegradable too, from the box, to the pots the plants are planted. Awesome!!!

I can say, this probably will not be my last order.

Here are a couple shots of the packaging and the plants.

Bought seeds for a hard to find dwarf tomato variety, they arrived lightning fast and generous quantity of seeds.

When the book J.D. Vertrees wrote about Japanese Maples was first published in 1978 its readers, even passionate and highly experienced gardeners, must have wondered how in the world they could ever acquire some of these trees. In Oklahoma City in those days the only varieties available commercially were 'Bloodgood', 'Crimson Queen' and a green leafed version with various names.
In the years since, however, Japanese Maples have not only gone mainstream… they have become sought after collectibles… and the focal point of many fine gardens.
Robert Jamgochian, and Mendocino Maples, has been instrumental in making this possible. For over 25 years Robert has been grafting thousands of exotic maple trees until, presently, Mendocino Maples currently offers 45 maple species… from which there are more than 250 varieties to choose from.
I ordered two Acer palmatum varieties from Mendocino this spring. 'Kasagiyama' is an upright, bush form of red-leafed maple with unique foliage color. 'Sharp's Pygmy' is, perhaps, the smallest dwarf form… seldom exceeding three feet in height. I received the 'Sharp's Pygmy' the other day and want you to see the quality of the plant that came in the mail [18 inches tall in a one gallon can]:

Mendocino Maples also has available a terrific selection of other maples: Trident Maple [Acer buergerianum], David's Maple [Acer davidii], Lacebark Maple [Acer griseum] and Shantung Maple [Acer truncatum] are four outstanding possibilities.
One last selection that deserves mentioning is a small maple I haven't seen since I visited Heronswood Nursery in the early 1990's. Acer pseudoplatanus 'Puget Pink' [Sycamore Maple] has a shrimp pink leaf emergence in the spring that is outstanding!
Mendocino Maples is a very highly recommended source for maple trees.

Sow True is local to me and they are a great company with a mission to support food security. I love everything they do. Wonderful variety of organic open pollinated seeds.

The deeper endeavor of gardening must be so much more than picking up anonymous packets of seeds from the chain company grocery or hardware store. No offense to these generic companies, but the work of growers today must be linked to an understanding of place, human--plant exchange, and history; the folks at Victory Seeds seem to understand this. I appreciate the notes and research that they are aiming to make available about each individual plant variety. For logistics of getting seeds by mail, I agree with so many previous comments: I appreciate the clear communication, affordable prices, and surprising promptness during an extra strained time. Thanks for all the hard work!

To the best of my knowledge all of the artists in this book live and work in the Pacific Northwest. It seems logical that a good many gardeners in that area are familiar with at least some of these artists. The rest of us can only hope there are artists close to our homes who are as accomplished as the 12 portrayed in this book.
One of the artist/gardeners, Ginny Ruffner, summed these artists up beautifully when she said, "I believe in the continuity and intrigue of all things... that comes from my art and extends to the garden."
A ceramicist creates garden rooms in which her large vases share the stage with beautiful plant groupings... a sculptor whose wood and stone art is lovingly displayed in a garden in Vancouver, WA that contains 3,200 varieties of plants... an artist in metal sculpting who created a garden that would have, "a natural setting that can come halfway to meet his sculpture"... two gardeners on Bainbridge Island who seem dedicated to creating a completely believable and extravagantly beautiful garden fantasy... a plant explorer who travels the globe; determined to offer customers plants they could not possible find anywhere else... 12 artists whose gardens are as much works of art as their primary forms of artwork.
If my words don't motivate you to look at this book perhaps these images from the Little and Lewis gardens will:











The large Gunnera leaves in photos 1&2, the Elephant Ear leaves in photo 3 and the palm-like leaves in photo 4 are examples of the concrete artistry performed by Lewis and Little.
The perfectly shaped "tree" in photo 5 deserves an explanation. I'll let Little and Lewis do it.
They describe it as follows... "The "rain tree" is an ingeniously crafted fountain in which water seeps through a crown of baby's tears and hart's tongue fern."

I've been slow to pick up on buying plants on-line [1] because the nurseries here are good to very good about carrying a broad choice of plants and [2] because I usually balk at the thought of paying fifteen to twenty-five dollars for a plant in a 3 inch square / 5 inch deep pot.
This winter, however, our record cold weather prompted more internet surfing than usual and I ended up buying ferns from Fancy Fronds. While Judith Jones and I were talking she strongly recommended I look at the Sebright Gardens website. Taking her seriously, I did.
Sebright has an attractive, easy to navigate website and an excellent selection of 3 ornamental perennials. The selection is both fascinating and a little intimidating.
Sebright offers approximately 500 varieties of hostas... 150 varieties of hardy ferns... and 100 varieties of Epimediums. They ship bare root plants and their prices appear to be very fair. Best of all, their selection of hostas is inspiring. I ordered 5 hostas and 1 fern... but if the budget permitted I could have ordered about 2 dozen more. Here are four good reasons to visit Sebright:


Hosta 'Ben Vernooj'


Hosta 'Brother Stefan'


Hosta 'Magic Island'


'Sunset' Fern [Dryopteris lepidipoda]

Do any of you recall, back in the 1990's, a 10 volume series of paperback books titled "Taylor's Guide to..........."? One of the volumes was "Taylor's Guide to Specialty Nurseries" and I was lucky enough to take it with me when I visited Seattle and Vancouver.
It is, pretty obviously, 2021 and 28 years have passed since I used that book to find outstanding Pacific Northwest nurseries... and some of those nurseries no longer exist.
One that was listed and is still in business is Fancy Fronds Nursery, owned and managed by Judith Jones.
Her website is well worth exploring... her inventory of ferns is very diversified and fascinating... and they are well worth growing in your garden.
If you've never grown ferns before I will strongly recommend:
Autumn Fern [Dryopteris erythrosora]
Ghost Fern [Athyrium 'Ghost']
Japanese Painted Fern [Anisocampium niponicum]
Sensitive Fern [Onoclea sensibilis]
Tokyo Wood Fern [Dryopteris tokyoensis]
Parsley Fern [Dryopteris filix-mas 'Parsley']

Great organization, with fast delivery even in winter of 2021 all the way across the country. Excellent selections of heirloom veges.

Issima is co-owned by Ed Bowen previously the owner of Opus Plants and Taylor Johnston previously with Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. I have bought from Ed a few times under Opus Plants and Issima. I've done both mail order and in person at the NARGS plant sale. The plant list is always interesting and includes some of their own introductions. I have only gotten healthy, well grown plants from him. He is always friendly and communicative I wouldn't hesitate to order from them.

Here is a picture of my last mail order from them fresh out of the box. Everything was healthy. It includes 3 Ajuga incisa 'Bikun' (Frosted Jade), Helianthus 'Carine', Boehmeria nipononivea 'Glow Light', and Scutellaria incana 'White Sky' which was in bloom.





They do not ship west of the Mississippi, FL or HI because they do not use the chemicals required but may ship bareroot, based on the season. You have to request ahead of placing such an order.

I ordered from Mail Order Natives 2 seasons ago and will order from them again. The plants were very healthy, reasonably priced and grew well even though they are in Florida and I am in NJ. I wouldn't hesitate to order from them again.

I watched a lady at the gardening section in Barnes & Noble pick up a book, skim through it quickly , put it back, pull out another, skim quickly, put it back... again and again and again. I finally asked her what she was doing... and she said she was looking for an easy-to-understand and easy-to-read book on gardens.

This book is not an easy book. But if you are willing... the chapter on "Garden" is well worth reading. Heinrich Engel presents a western author's take on the Japanese garden that is incredibly valuable and worth examining.

I frankly don't know whether this will interest you or drive you away... but just in front of the foreword is a Publisher's Note unlike anything I have ever seen in a book:

"At one time we urged that, in the interest of greater clarity, the manuscript be completely rewritten either by the author or else by a professional editor. But the author, pointing to the inevitable inadequacy of old words when having to use them to approach new concepts, has argued that such a rewriting would inevitably sacrifice something of his closely reasoned meaning and much of the imprint of the writer's personality, without which any book becomes a dull recital rather than a communion of minds.
... the decision to leave it as such was based on our conviction that this book is something important, something well worth the effort of understanding -- an amazingly thorough analysis and interpretation of the Japanese house and a sincere attempt to arrive thereby at certain universal architectural truths."

You may not read the entire book, but any gardener interested in Japanese gardens will be intrigued by the chapter on the garden.

I have found the staff at Orchid Species Plus easy and helpful to deal with. They have a good range of species that can be hard to find elsewhere and I have never had any issues with the health of the plants provided.

My family have been ordering and buying seeds from Burpee for a very long time. Every time, we get great results. I highly recommend getting your seeds from them.

This is a small Florida company that carries a nice selection of healthy and correctly labeled amaryllis and caladium bulbs. In the event of the rare problem, they have a cheerful and responsive customer service, which can be reached by phone or email. A pleasure doing business with them for many years.

When I contacted them asking about where the tree peonies were from, I received a prompt reply. They also stated as of Oct. 2020 they grow their own tree peonies in the US.

Just received seeds. Great variety of hard to find tomato seeds. Personal service on order. I asked if they could delay my order until a specific out of stock tomato seed i wanted became available - they went and found the seed just being processed and added to my order at no charge. Hopeful i will be as lucky as other reviewers and achieve good germination rates.

It is impossible today to stroll through a garden center or read a seed catalog without feeling the influence of six eighteenth-century men whose unbridled enthusiasm for the natural world revolutionized the way people would forever after relate to plants and gardening.
...Joseph Banks, John Bartram, Peter Collinson, Carl Linnaeus, Phillip Miller and Daniel Solander were independently pursuing individual passions for new garden plants and botanical knowledge, a mutual obsession that eventually brought them into contact with each other.
This is their story and that of the beginning of gardening in America.

I turned in a small order from Peaceful Heritage. I was pleasantly surprised to have received it quickly. They don't have a large vegetable selection but their site is easily navigate. I would gladly order from this company again.