Avoiding Crying After Buying...Wise Mail Order Shopping

For gardeners, nothing beats the winter blues like a brightly colored garden catalog. Here are a few tips to make the most of your mail order gardening experience.

First, shop locally. Support your local merchants. The local garden center may have exactly what you are looking for. You can examine the plants and choose the best looking and healthiest specimens for your garden. Specials and sales may make the cost very competitive with mail order. Often, mail order plants are smaller or are sent bare root in order to save on shipping costs. In the local garden center, experts are a few steps away and will answer your questions promptly.

If that special plant or seed is not available locally, search the garden catalogs. Local libraries, the Minnesota State Horticulture Society, the Arboretum Library, and friends have catalogs for you to browse. If you see a plant you like, will it grow here? Although our climate may be getting warmer, we are still a Zone 4 gardening area. Plants rated for Zone 4 should survive minimum temperatures of minus 30 degrees F. Plants that are rated Zones 1, 2, and 3 should also survive in our Zone 4 climate. If you are adventurous, live right in the city, have a warmer or sheltered garden area, and are careful to protect and mulch your plants well in the winter, you might even try a Zone 5 plant (minimum winter temperature of minus 20 degrees F.) Consider your other growing conditions. Do you have sun, shade, or in-between? Is your soil sandy, loamy, or clay? Acid, alkaline, or neutral soil? Is your garden soil wet, medium, or very dry? Will that new plant be happy in your garden home? For annual flowers and vegetables, will the plants flower or mature in our short Minnesota growing season? Check with the family to see what their favorite vegetables are; do you really want to order 5 pounds of rutabaga seed? Try one or two new varieties this year, and share your experiences with your garden friends.

Order early in the season to get exactly what you want; popular items tend to sell out quickly. If you do not want a substitution should the original plant or seeds become unavailable, state so on the order. Study the garden catalog information carefully and know exactly what you are getting. Avoid catalogs that list a vague common name, but not the scientific name. Do not buy from catalogs that have no Zone listed for the plant, or tend to exaggerate the hardiness of their perennials. I have seen a catalog list “Blue Hydrangea” and suspect that it is really the Nikko Blue Hydrangea, whose flower buds are not hardy here. Know what you are getting. A “new” plant may be a brand new cultivar, an old plant newly added to the company’s catalog, or an old plant with a fancy new name. Unbelievably low prices may not be a bargain when you receive puny plants in the mail. When you find what you want, comparison shop if possible. Compare shipping costs from various catalogs and size of plant shipped (bare root, 2 ¼ inch pot, quart, gallon). Understand the company’s guarantee policy. Read the fine print.

Follow ordering instructions and fill out the order carefully. Print all information for clarity. Make sure to make a photocopy of the order, and keep it in a safe place. Some companies return a copy of your order; some do not. Do not send cash in the mail. A small order with a company new to you might be a wise idea.

Open your order and check it as soon as it is received. Report any problems immediately. Open any plastic wrapped plants to allow for air circulation; to prevent drying of roots, keep bare-root material in its original packing until planting time. Reputable companies will provide planting instructions with the order. Follow them carefully. Plant live material as soon as possible. Young plants and bare root material will require special care. Some perennials are shipped in a dormant state and look dead and dried, but will start growing with proper care. Store seeds in a cool, dry place.

Happy Gardening, Joe Baltrukonis "One of the healthiest ways to gamble is with a spade and a package of seeds."
---Dan Bennett, Comedian