FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

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Question: When will you be getting in the plants listed on this website ? The plants on the website are grown here rather than brought in. Many of them are unavailable from any wholesale nursery, and the only way to be able to offer them to you is by propagating them ourselves. Being a small nursery, quantities of some are limited.
 Question: What size are the plants that you ship ? The majority of plants are grown in the two larger pots illustrated, that are 5" and 5½" deep.All of the plants are grown here. Our goal is to send you plants that are well established in these pots, neither too young nor too old. Some of the plants we offer are bare-root divisions. Whether a plant is offered in a pot or bare-root is indicated for each plant on our plant-list page. The bare-rooted plants are sent carefully wrapped in moist newspaper and plastic sheeting to keep them in good condition. If they cannot be planted out for more than a couple of weeks it would be best to either put them into slightly larger pots or heel them in temporarily. Heeling-in is simply removing them from their pots or unwrapping the bare-root plants, and setting them into the ground for a short amount of time, a few days or weeks, until replanting where you want them to grow. The spot chosen to heel-in a plant does not have to be ideal, just well drained and sheltered. Let's stop here, because we are getting into the subject of the next question.

Question: How do I care for the plants after their arrival ?  You do not need to remove them from their pots when they arrive, however it is important to unpack them from their shipping carton and remove any packing material the same day they arrive. Setting them upright out of direct sunlight and placing them where they will not freeze is important. Because they have been in a box for several days while on their way to you, even plants that need to grow in full sun need to be gently re-introduced to it when they first arrive at your home. Some of these plants will have come out of our greenhouse, and our timing of the seasons may be either later or earlier than the timing of your spring season.
    They may not need water as soon as you receive them. One way we judge whether plants need to be watered is by their weight, and you can do the same thing: pick each plant up, and if any one of them seems much lighter than the rest look at it closely or briefly remove it from its pot to see if it is too dry. If it is not too dry, very likely the other heavier plants in similarly sized pots are not too dry. If the lightest pot is dry, water it and proceed to check the next lightest pot. We check the moisture content of the soil of all the plants before they are shipped. However we avoid shipping plants with too much water, both to avoid extra shipping costs of the higher weight, and also to discourage any rot that could be caused by excess moisture.

Question: What is your guarantee ? Our responsibility as a mail order nursery is to grow plants and pack them carefully so that they reach you in the best condition to grow successfully in your garden. If we fail to do this and you are in any way dissatisfied with your order, please let us know and we will correct the problem immediately.
Question: If a plant is marked as “sold out,” when will it be available again ? If you want a plant that is sold out, let us know. We will gladly make a note of what you want and notify you when it becomes available again. Although we are constantly propagating plants, some take longer than others to reach the shipping size. So some might be ready later in the same season, while others might not be until the following season.
Question: How can I request a ship date ? Although there isn't a place on our shopping cart to request a ship date, if you have a date in mind, we would like to know what it is. Please send us a separate email after ordering the plants to tell us what you would like. Orders can be sent anytime you want other than in the middle of summer. Or you can leave it to us and we will choose a date that is appropriate for your climate. In the acknowledgement we send to you after receiving your order, the approximate time we plan to send your plants will be noted.
    If you live where winters are mild and you want to receive your plants in winter, we can do it, just be sure to let us know this is what you want. The majority of our shipping is done in either spring or fall. In spring, orders are sent to southern states earlier than to northern states. This makes sense because gardeners in the north usually do not want to receive plants while late spring frosts are still possible. In fall, we do the reverse, shipping to northern states earlier than to southern states. This makes sense because gardeners in the north want to get plants into the ground well ahead of cold weather, while gardeners in the south usually do not want to receive plants until the autumn days start to cool off. We will gladly make an exception to these guidelines for you, so an order can be sent anytime you want as long as we have some advance notice, and other than in the middle of summer.
Question: Do you send plants outside the United States ? If you are ordering from outside the United States, it's better if you send us an email of the plants you want instead of ordering on-line from our website.
   Our plants can be sent to gardeners outside the United States. A Phytosanitary Certificate is required. Its cost seems high for just a few plants, although its cost doesn't go up with more plants being inspected. In the past we've been willing to send plants first and bill later for the “phyto.” We've learned the hard way, that we must ask for this amount up-front, and will return any excess after the plants are shipped. Because the inspector only comes here once every few weeks, you need to be flexible as to when your plants are shipped.
Question: What is the advantage if there is any, for a nursery to grow its plants in the ground instead of in containers ?Field-growing our mother plants   Because we propagate and grow these plants rather than buying them already grown, it is important not to get the “mother-plants,” the ones that supply the cuttings and divisions, mixed up or to become confused which plant is which. So planting them in the ground, especially in rows, helps to keep their identities clear and accurate. When they are growing in pots it would be easier to mix them up. The photo shown to the left illustrates how we field-grow some of the mother plants. It takes extra work to grow plants in the ground, however some of the advantages make the effort worthwhile. Yes, it seems a bit old fashioned. Yet there is nothing quite as satisfying as getting your hands into good rich, loamy soil, is there ?
Question: Why do you sometimes list the USDA Hardiness Zones where a plant will grow differently for the eastern half of the U.S. than for the western half ? Zone maps that only layout low temperatures or high temperatures across the country don't forecast very well how some plants will survive. Two additionally important factors are summer humidity and whether or not summer temperatures cool off at night or remain hot. In the West summer humidity is generally low and nighttime temperatures generally cool off drastically from what they are during the daytime. In the Southeast and lower Midwest humidity and temperatures often remain high 24 hours a day during the summer. Some plants just melt away in this extreme and prolonged humidity and heat. One of the plants on our list that this applies to is Aurinia 'Dudley Nevill Variegated.' We list is as growing in USDA Zones 3 - 7 for the eastern half of the country, and in USDA Zones 3 - 9 for the western half. In the Southeast, in places warmer than Zone 7, it will fade away during the hottest, most humid part of summer. While in the West it will survive well over summer in places much warmer than Zone 7. To find your zone on the USDA Hardiness Zone map or on the Heat Zone map, click here to go to our links page.

There is a flip side to this. Because of this difference in climates, there are plenty of plants that gardeners in many parts of the West can't grow nearly as easily as can gardeners in the Southeast. One good example of this applies to our area on the Olympic Peninsula, where this nursery is located. One of the most beautiful plants of the Southeast, Lagerstroemia indica, crepe myrtle (how "Southern Living" magazine spells it), or crape myrtle (how "Sunset" magazine spells it), will not grow here even though it is listed as being hardy for our climate. You never see it in anyone's garden and none of the nurseries ever offer it for sale, the reason being our lack of summer heat. It survives our winters easily, but it doesn't like our summers even when given special conditions of a hot patio where heat is trapped and reflected onto the plant. It just won't grow happily nor ever flower.

Question: If you had to generalize, how would you describe the gardening that people do in your town of Sequim ? Just in case you are wondering how to pronounce it, the name of our town is spoken as if it had no “e,” in other words, as if it were spelled either squim or skwim. It is growing quickly, however is still rural and many people have an acre or two instead of yards. Vegetable gardens are planted by many residents. Just about everyone has fruit trees as well as a few lavender plants. Dahlias are extremely popular, along with many other flowers.
    Here are a couple of pictures of the small prairie, between mountains and salt water, where our town is located.
Dungeness River valley from the top of Blue Mt., elevation 6007 ft.
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