I've ordered from them many times - all of my experiences with them have been great. The plants can be small (but I was ordering tubes, so I knew it going in). They were clearly grown as such. Call them and talk to them - they are very open to phone discussions. Their customer service is superb - lots of follow up both email and phone to alert me to delivery times, changes, etc.
Cistus in Oregon also good, as is Joy Creek. Not sure if the experience would be different with any of them shipping transcontinentally.
Lots of comments on Dave's Garden if you care to look there, as well.

Forestfarm is very good to work with if there is a problem. The main problem about them is they are so big and offer so much, so hard for them to keep track of everything. About every year I have ordered, I get some plant that is mislabeled or with a failed graft. But that has been a minor inconvenience since they offer plants I can't get anywhere else. If they are around in future years, I'll continue to order from them, but now I take a break since the rare trees I buy just die until I create a forest.

I have ordered ONCE from FF. Was HIGHLY P.O.'ed. Hack job on half the plants to make them fit. Roots were not in good shape on one. Missing central leader on two of them. Stupid shipping costs. VERY poor communication. IMO, the only good thing about them is the selection of rare plants. I personally, avoid them.

Sooner Plant Farm. Excellent service, good selection, many are grown in root pruning containers, excellent communication, helpful, but shipping is on the high side as well, but perhaps better for you than shipping from Oregon where FF is located. But at least I have been happy with the plants I have gotten from them. Been happy with them.

Whitman Farms (in Oregon), see much the same as for Sooner Plant Farm. Great selection of rarities. Happy with what I got.

Arktrees

I was always happy with the things I got from ForestFarm, but the shipping to anyone in the East/Midwest is $$$$. So, I would only order things from them you can't get locally.

You'll have to try them to find out.

I've never ordered from Forest Farm but their communication during an inquiry was phenomonal. They even took pictures of the plants I was after (they were 5 gallon).

The plants I ordered for Sooner Plant Farm where some of the worst root bound plants I EVER got. The owner had great communication and gave me a refund but pretty much ignored me on replacement plants. Can't say I'd recommend them as their prices are high, shipping is high and in my case the quality was extremely terrible. I guess I left with bad taste after he said I won't be happy with any plants he sends. The two oaks where from his source Green Leaf so its their fault too.

I have a mixed perception of Whitman. The communication is fast but spotty (for example will miss answering questions). Half of my large order was good, the other half was below average. Replaced a couple plants without issue.

In general I think mail order for decidious trees sucks. The only one I've been impressed with is Topariy Gardens. But they specifically specialize in JMs.

I've had much better luck with mail order for conifers.

There's a sources forum here on GardenWeb where you can check for more information plus there is also Gardener's Watchdog elsewhere on the internet.

whaas,
Want to specify on Sooner Plant Farm. Everything I got from them I made sure were in root pruning pots. I would not be surprised if standard pots were rootbound, since it is next to impossible to get anything in a standard pot that is not rootbound. TIFWIW

Also, I have only ordered one plant from Whitman's. So take it with a grain of salt.

One more source for yearly plants. I bought several year one trees from mail Order Natives, and was happy with what I got. They were in "tubes" but the tubes were such that they did not have circling roots. Cost, and shipping were excellent as well.

Arktrees

The only reason I consider them is it seems like all our nurseries here carry maybe 1 or two specimens of rarish plants, and then a sea of Leyland Cypress everywhere else!

I didn't see that option but good tip for the future.

I noticed one of the plants I got late winter is still available in the same size pot. DUDE, up-pot your stock!

there have got to be nurseries.. in the great MD area.. that carry more than leylands ...

perhaps a new post to our eastern friends.. as to where the best road trip would be.. might get you the ability to SEE what you are getting ... rather than shipping them from the left coast ...

ken

Ordered from them several times. Generally (if not always, can't recall) tube size. If it wasn't for me or my cats ;), they'd probably all be alive still. Regardless, the ones I *really* wanted to survive have done so (some Redwoods and Sequoias I shipped to my parents' in New Jersey).

i ordered 2 tube sized Angel Red pomegranates from them about 2-3 years ago. shipped quickly, very healthy, lots of roots.

In my experience Garden Watchdog (not possessive tense, as above, in case you are googling for it) is extremely useful in checking up on whether companies are worth doing business with. If a company is not listed there, there's either a big problem with them (TyTy and their ilk), or they are a very small/new company.

Wrong spelling actually not a problem: when you try to feed Google the mistake (Gardener's Watchdog) it actually offers it up in the autocompleting dropdown list, then opens with the correct site (Garden Watchdog) at the top of the results page when you click on the erroneous phrase.

Forestfarm is my favorite mail order source. There may be cheaper but Forestfarm has been a sure thing for me. Seven of their tube or one gallon plants are growing in my yard right now.

Never got a bad plant from ff.

Dax

Generally good (most of my 60+ trees are from FF), but the last ones I received were badly root-bound & required extensive "repairs" -- soaking the rootballs in water to remove all the soil, untangling/cutting off the girdling roots, etc. Those trees then sulked for yrs before recovering (a southwestern white pine and a pond pine).

Just shows just about any supplier is prone to the potted plant/girdling root problem. Bare-root plants are generally OK in this regard.

Another reason I buy all my trees from HD ....

:)!

I've thought about ordering from FF, but haven't yet.

LOVE Forest Farm! I won't order from anyone else uness they didn't sell something I wanted.

I ordered all, but one, of my trees from them, about 19, arrived zero root bound. They were SO easy to plant.

Plus the trees' roots were insane. As I stretched out the roots when we were planting, my husband had to keep digging the holes wider and wider to accommodate the size of the roots. Some of the roots were 3 ft long. It was crazy. He made the holes wide enough so that each of the roots could stretch out completely.

NONE of the trees ended up getting transplant shock either. They've grown so much their first season with me. I'm ecstatic.

Well I'm glad all of you had good luck with them. I certainly got a very expensive turd of an order from them. Go figure......

Aktrees none of the positive reviews on here of FF make your negative experience less valid. I can believe that a nursery screws up sometimes..

It reminds me of a product review I gave on Amazon recently. The product was rated 1 star. Out of the numerous negative reviews, my positive review was in stark contrast to almost all the others. I said at the end of my review that just because my experience has been positive, that does not reflect on the other reviewers who had a negative experience.

The OP needs to hear all reviews, positive and negative, otherwise he wont get the full picture..

Although the selection is limited. I'm impressed with mail order natives, got 8 trees this spring and they are all thriving, especially the southern red cedar it is already almost 5' for 6 bucks that's hard to beat. I will definitely be purchasing more. They do have some harder to find specimens I would like to try from FF though.

Sometimes its not the nursery its just that some folks might have different levels of expectations based upon numerous factors...cost, application, etc.

That is true whaas, but hacking the hell out of them is not an expectation thing. Nor was the very poor root system of one. Nor was the ZERO communication that was contrary to what they claimed. Nor the excuses that were made that turned to be simply not true, that I was able to prove was the case by digging up their local weather records.

FTR, I was able to save everything, but not in the form that I had wanted and ordered them. i.e. not the tree form that I wanted

Arktrees

I actually meant it the other way round where some folks don't care or know.

There is a mail order nursery that is going to go un-named that many many folks said they never had root issues but I ordered multiple plants, multiple times and have had issues everytime without exception. My guess is they just don't get it.

Yes, if they aren't even opening the roots up and looking at them they won't be seeing what you were talking about.