Buying Online: Perfectly Packaged Plants

Ordering plants online can be confusing and sometimes the results are very disappointing. There are always those nagging questions. What is the price of the plants? How large are the plants? Will they be healthy? How are they shipped? I'm happy to report my wonderful experience with Lazy S'S Farm Nursery in Virginia.

I had a list of plants that I had coveted, but couldn't find locally. My web search led me to Lazy S'S Farm online store. I checked the Dave's Garden Watchdog list and they are ranked in the Top 5 for perennials.

With their huge selection of plants, I had no problem finding everything on my wish list. (By the way, you can save a wish list on their website and come back later to purchase.) The prices, based upon the description of the plants and shipping methods, was reasonable. I got out my credit card and placed an order.

A few days later, I decided to add a few more plants to the same order. Easy to do.

On April 8, my box of plants arrived on my covered front porch. Opening the box was surprising—in a good way. The health and size of the plants exceeded my expectations!

Look at the packaging—stakes to support the foliage; plastic covering the soil meant moisture was retained and no soil dumped out; no damage at all.

I followed the instructions to let my plants adjust in a sheltered place and gradually move them to the sunshine and then plant in the garden after danger of frost had passed (April 15). Of course, we had no significant rain in April and early May, so I had to be diligent about giving the plants a deep, thorough watering until established.

Now that all of the perennials have been in my garden for over a month, I'm still thrilled with the plants. Each is growing well, still healthy.

Would I order from Lazy S'S Farm Nursery again? Absolutely! I have no hesitation in giving a recommendation as this was my best online plant ordering experience—ever.

No free products or discounts were received from the vendor, nor was the nursery notified in advance of my review. Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

DoLeaf—Young Gardeners with a Fresh Idea

Three young entrepreneurs are on a mission to bring small, independent and specialty nurseries together for a new online shopping experience for gardeners. I like the spirit of the DoLeaf community. Sarah, Ryan and Micah not only created a different business model, but they are gardeners as well.

The advantages to the seller are apparent. The small businesses do not have to create and maintain a website to sell their plants. The DoLeaf staff takes care of the web development and support. By joining with other nurseries, a wider audience of customers is attracted to the site. When it comes to selling on the web, generating a high volume of traffic is crucial to success.

Browsing the interesting variety of plants at DoLeaf is similar to wandering through the nursery section of a farmers' market. Each nursery has a "store" where you can browse their plants. Or, you can search the selections by keyword, category, zones and other criteria. There are plants and seeds—veggies, herbs, annuals, perennials and houseplants—featured in the stores.

Micah sent me an invitation to try DoLeaf for free. Realizing the opportunity for the unique, I decided to shop for plants for my new hot colors, tropicalesque bed. The Green Sunshine store offers a good selection of intriguing plants that I have never grown.

For each plant in the Green Sunshine store, there are multiple images as well as details on growing conditions and care. I selected a Golden Lotus Banana and a Shampoo Ginger.


Both plants arrived carefully packaged and in perfect health. Information and instructions for the care of the two plants was also included.

The ginger was sent bare root as it is dormant until May. It was carefully wrapped and bagged so that there was no damage to the root. The banana arrived with beautiful foliage that was supported by cardboard. The soil was not only moist, but it arrived completely secure inside the pot instead of scattered in the box.

The two plants are now in my garden where I watch with enthusiasm for my tropicalesque bed to flourish—with red, orange and yellow blooms and lush, tropical foliage.

Based on my positive experience with DoLeaf, I now routinely browse all of the stores for interesting and unique plants to add to my garden.

The plants featured in this story were provided by DoLeaf. Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.