which websites should i avoid ?

But what is it? Have you scraped the bark towards the base to see if that's green underneath.
The wire is to keep large pests away?

 

Ive ordered something from the telegraph gardening website but am not impressed that the plant is going to take two weeks to arrive

 

That's not an unusual length of time. Gardening is a game requiring patience.

Some of my best online plant purchases have been from ebay, and the prices are usually very competitive with no minimum orders, etc.

 

I like farmer gracys for bulbs and victoriana for live stuff but thats just the bits ive bought online
i got bare root stuff from marshalls and it was okay. Bare root stuff needs to go in immediately, even if just a pot

 

Avoid De Jager, bought a few bits from them this year and nothing is growing, sent an e mail three weeks ago and no reply.

It was a small order so probably they dont think I'm worth bothering with.

De Jager is the name, and I'm shaming them.

 

We are all spoilt by modern online shopping. When I was a child we had "mail order", you had to fill in a form and send it by snail mail, and it always said "allow up to 28 days for delivery".

With plants it may be that they are not immediately ready to be sent out. Sometimes I order things that won't arrive for several months, but the websites are usually clear about that and say things like "order now for delivery in April".

 

I buy loads of bulbs from Farmer Gracy; they have unusual varieties and the bulbs are always big and healthy. I get a few bare roots too. This year I've had some hardy geraniums that are doing very well and already flowering, although I do think one of the varieties was mislabelled.

 

I've bought bulbs and plants from jparkers and they're very good, if i have trouble with the condition of them just phone them up and they'll send replacements. I had trouble with some polyanthus plants some were out of the cell trays but that was the courier's fault, they sent replacements.

 

I have also had a less than ideal experience with Gardening Express and would not recommend.

My best experiences have been with Norfolk Quality Plants.

Regarding trees specifically, I have been very happy with mailordertrees.co.uk

A week ago I placed an order for the second time with Jackson Nurseries. It still hasn't been processed. Must be a busy period. But I was quite happy with the plants of my first order, so a small wait is OK.

Crocus has been OK for me, but I would say just OK rather than amazing.

The one time I ordered off Marshalls Gardens I was happy with the plants.

Proctors Nursery made a mistake with my order (they sent smaller plants instead of the 1L ones I had ordered) but were responsive via email when I contacted them about it, so. I am neutral towards them.

Farmer Gracy's were indeed very good for bulbs.

 

i need to say that ebay is one place i would never think of buying a plant from

 

28 days for anything to be delivered is unimaginable. The only time im ok with a 2 week wait is when i order items from temu or shein and its being shipped directly from China. I bought a watering can from temu for about £3 incuding shipping

 

Sometimes you have to wait for the good things.
I'm with @Escarpment and will order items for delivery in some things. In fact the next wet day I get I will be looking at bulbs for autumn delivery. I've waited over a year for a plant to be propagated and delivered.
Sometimes seeds can take over 6 months to germinate and then several years to reach flowering size.

 

I would also agree with mail order trees excellent service bought a crab apple recently and what a superb tree they sent ,lots of choice too packaging and delivery was spot on well done to them.

 

Quite a lot of nurseries list there. Look for a seller listing only plants and with feedback in the thousands.

 

Cheap, for sure, but there are "costs" - human, environmental, ethical. There's a long chain of workers involved in making and transporting anything, so when the end price is so low, they are the ones really "paying" for our cheap stuff.