which websites should i avoid ?

There are a lot of websites selling plants but i keep reading that sometimes you get a bad quality plant or there is a suspicion that the plant may not be the correct speicies or root stock.

Are there any websites that you think we should not buy plants from or ones that you have had a bad experience with ?

 

Ebay has some excellent plantsellers. I also like Sarah Raven (when there's a sale on!) and Crocus. Had some lovely plants from J Parker recently too - that company seems to have improved lately.
Can't say that any sites have disappointed me other than things being out of stock.

 

I was disappointed with Gardening Express a while ago as the packaging was awful and plants were damaged.

Crocus are good but a bit pricey. I like Hardy's Cottage Garden Plants.

 

I'm not sure there are many that are consistently bad or consistently good.
Even good companies can occasionally get it wrong.

I think it's more about how they deal with problems should they occur.

 

I've bought plants face to face and have had wrongly named plants.
@hi2u_uk which do you currently use or avoid.
A year or so back I got some iffy plants from Parkers, this year I bought from them again and excellent plants.
I tend to avoid EBay for everything, but sometimes it's the only source for something.

 

The problem is that i have been using a variety and not keeping track. There are definitely some plants which i think have died too soon . And i have had sellers who refuse to send plants because they have none which they believe are of good enough quality to send to customers.

Im thinking about this because i have one plant which arrived in winter . It didnt look great but i thought that was due to the time of year . Its now summer and it still is not improving so im thinking of replacing it but now wondering if this is due to the seller having poor quality control. i need to search my email account to see who it was from

 

@hi2u_uk what is the plant that's struggling? It's still quite early in the year so it might pick up yet. I know some of my plants are only just leafing up and I may have a casualty, but it has till mid summer.

 

Chatto and plantsforshade (Long Acre plants) are both good.

 

@hi2u_uk which retailer would not send plants they were unhappy with please? That sounds like a decent retailer!

 

I use different retailers for different plants. Knoll Gardens for grasses and perennials, Crocus for shrubs when they have seasonal reductions, Peter Nyssen for bulbs, Style Roses for roses, Hardy's Cottage Plants for perennials and Plantagogo for Heucheras. A retailer who doesn't send out plants they are unhappy with shouldn't be listing them . A good retailer often lists these as "currently unavailable" or "under propagation", or not at all.

 

it was rhs plants

 

RHS plants are supplied by Crocus.

 

This is the issue in that i dont know how these online retailers work. it seems that they weren't aware that they didnt have any good quality plants left. Their computer said the plant was available which is why it was advertised on the website but it was only when a human went to look they found it wasn't ok. I imagine some retailers may just send the plant. Websites tend to show bushy plants with leaves, flowers etc but quite often all i get is a stick in soil. Sometimes i manage to grow them but in some instances they have failed which is why im asking which retailers do people have success with. Personally i think gardening websites could be accused of poor representation of their products

 

OK Didnt realise this