Shipping policy

Active shipping season:  During the online store’s active shipping season, we will try our best to ship your order within 7 days.  Most orders are delivered to the shipping company by the following Saturday or Monday after the completion of the order.  The active shipping season generally occurs from late April to mid December.

Difficult winter shipping season:  During the winter months, the timing for shipping orders is dependent on the local forecast for the relevant sections of the United States.  An example of a shipping delay could be for an order to Washington state which may be delayed if the areas between it and North Carolina have a forecast of severe freezing temperature for the upcoming week. We will notify the customer, if their shipment is expected to be delayed for more than two weeks.

True to name plants:  We strive to grow true-to-name plants and go to great efforts to ensure we are up to date on current nomenclature (seems like taxonomists change families and genera on a daily basis) and that the cultivars are correct as well.  Feel free to contact us if you find a name you think is incorrect.  Your feedback is always appreciated.

Two-day vs ground shipping:  Sadly, shipping is expensive and is out of our control.  Keep in mind when you see the shipping costs that the price you see combines actual shipping cost plus box, packing materials, and boxing.  We keep the additional costs to shipping as low as we can.  Shipping companies no longer offer any type of guarantee regarding arriving on time with the exception of FedEx 2nd day. (1st day is guaranteed and I guarantee you would have a heart attack seeing that price!)  Some plants are much better than others in regards to shipping time.  Fedex ground is generally the best option for keeping your shipping prices as low as possible.  East coast shipping appears to be fairly good via ground, but FedEx does not guarantee a delivery date.

Sizes of plants:  All plants are shipped in ½ gallon pots – we do not bareroot the plants.  We try our best to show you an example of the MINIMUM sized plant you will receive on our website.  Sizes vary widely from one cultivar to the next.  Most plants are 2 years old (a few are 1 year), well rooted into the pots (grown for at least a full growing season in the pot we ship to you).  In some cases we prune the plants prior to shipping.  This is to produce a better plant for you in the long run.  

What to do when plants arrive:  First thing to do is remove the plants from the box, remove the plastic bag from around the pot, and give the plants a drink and place in a fairly bright location.  Depending on time of year, it is very likely you will be receiving plants that are in soft growth that require protection from the cold. We recommend planting two weeks after your last anticipated frost date.  Be sure to plant in the shade vs sun location that the plants require.  Water every week or 2 (or less if not needed) until plants have established (through the first summer).

We ship to the continental US only.  Additionally the west coast has a different set of conditions we must meet for shipping.  We have the permits to do so, but it may take a few days longer getting your orders ready on our end. 

Please be aware: Placing a plant in the shopping cart doesn’t guarantee you will get the plant.  Plants remain in available inventory until you complete checkout.  Plants can be purchased by someone else before that time.  We recommend – on really rare items – to checkout asap, then shop again.  

In alignment with our environmental practices we only use cardboard boxes and packing materials made from 100% recycled cardboard and compostable plastic bags (our plant containers are the only item not compostable). We are dedicated to making our world a cleaner and greener place!

Boxing information: If you are interested in calculating the number of boxes you will receive (this is useful if you see a large freight bill - it means there are multiple boxes - freight price is a total of all your boxes) you can use this information as a general guide:

  • Plants less than 8” fix 4 plants/box
  • Plants 8-11” fit 3 plants/box
  • Plants 11-28” fit 2 plants/box
  • Plants over 28” fit 1 plant per box

You will find plant size at the end of description for each plant.

General info:  We are a small nursery with two nursery locations.  Our retail location is at 3504 Edgemont Rd, Wendell, North Carolina 27591  We hope that you will visit there and pick up larger landscape sized plants in larger containers.  Our other site is a production site and not open to the public – this is the site where we ship our mail order plants.  Thanks for your understanding