My Favorite Mail Order Plant Catalogue

Yesterday I mentioned that I prefer to buy plants locally whenever possible. I have had mixed success with mail order plants. The big potted plants you can buy at local nurserys cannot be shipped in the mail, the cost of shipping would be astronomical. So the plants that come by mail are bare root or small.
Even with small plants shipping is expensive. It is hard to part with a $10 or $15 shipping fee for a $10 plant. But nurseries can't ship for less, plant material and dirt are heavy. I tried selling plants on Ebay one spring and found I was losing money with most sales because I underestimated shipping costs.
But I do order from one mail order catalogue regularly, Gilbert H. Wild and Son. They send me sale catalogues several times a year and the prices during these sales are unbeatable. For example, Stella de Oro daylily is always $1.oo, Happy Returns $2.00. And the plants are always strong and good sized. I have bought most of my daylilies from their sale catalogues and they have all been excellent plants.
I also buy my peony roots from their sale catalogue, very reasonable prices and their roots are larger than several other catalogues I have tried that sell roots for two or three times the price. I like to buy three roots of a peony variety and plant them together to get a big plant quickly so a good price is very important. I don't have the patience to wait for a little $30 root to grow into a decent sized plant in five years.
I think I will try their iris this year, World Premier with dark purple falls and white frilly tops is calling out to me.

Find of the Day:

Joy in Mid-Air, what a perfect name for these lovely, ethereal earrings. These fiber, wire creations are quite large (4 1/2 inches) but almost weightless . Dancing blooms to brighten up a winter day. They are available in a variety of colors from Hypho on Etsy.