Yes! The first day I traveled to Florida, I spent the night in Madison, FL, because it's only a few miles from Lee, FL, where MON is. I got 15 viburnum obovatums that I planted at my daughter's home around her lanai, also several plants for me, including 3 rhododendron canescens cultivar 'Claire' because that's my daughter's name. I've ordered tons of plants from Amy since the hurricane - MON and Pine Ridge Gardens are my two favorite native nurseries. In my latest MON catalog, it says this -
"'OFF SEASON' SHIPPING -
This year we have had many requests for late spring and summer shipping. We have considered your requests and have decided to make shipping available year round. Folks in colder climates have requested their plants to be sent May-September, because our shipping season doesn't coincide with their optimum panting time. We understand this. And as we always say, we do consider your requests. This year, online and in the catalog, you will notice that we have listed all twelve months of the year for shipping. We still recommend shipping October-April. However, if you do want us to ship during the "off season," please remember your vacations so that we will not ship when you are not home. (Please drop an e-mail as to ship date.) Plants sent during the summer months will need IMMEDIATE CARE! We DO NOT guarantee shipments during the "off-season."'
Just let Amy know when you want your plants to arrive. I'd recommend you call her cell phone - she doesn't always return her e-mails. Her cell phone # is 1-850-973-0585.
MissSherry

Thank you, MissSherry! I thought I recalled your mentioning Amy and MON. I started to order from Lazy S's Farms - always had good luck with their plants, but shipping costs were extraordinarily high IMHO. So, I canceled the order. (S&H was $88 on a $200 order). Then I went to Pine Ridge, and their costs were almost as high.

Amy has the most reasonable S&H costs of those I checked (about half of what most other charge). I also checked out Prairie Moon, but they are already out of so much stuff, that they didn't have many of the things I wanted.

So, for that reason I placed my order with MON. I'm so excited to be getting plants that I've wanted for so long. They are mostly bushes and trees. Perennials I can grow from seed, but I did order an Amsonia tabernaemontana, another hibiscus coccinea (since the Sulphurs all but snubbed me for removing it this last summer), a vernonia, and a spigelia for my shady backyard. Also ordered a bottlebrush buckeye (aesculus parviflora), another asimina triloba, more buttonbush (in case my seedlings don't get big enough this year), crataegus estivalis (Eastern Mayhaw; which they tout as also being a host for the Red Spotted Purple), a witch hazel (for early spring bloom), two more lindera benzoins (I think mine bit the dust last year), Sweetbay Magnolia, Persea borbonia (Red Bay), Ptelea trifoliata (even tho I have seeds planted), Smooth Sumac (Rhus), viburnum nudum, and a couple of Aristolochia tomentosas.

Also, many of her plants are gallon size or bare root (I bet they have substantial root systems), which are larger than the ones that Lazy S's was offering. Nothing against them - their plants are wonderful and they are all quart size (bigger than a lot of nurseries), but the S&H as I said, was horrible. My shipping for all of those plants from MON was about half of LS's.

I hope I am far enough from the east coast that I don't have any problems with the laurel disease we have been discussing. Do you think I should call her and ask about it?

Thanks for your input.

Susan

I don't see any reason to call her about the laurel disease, Susan - the disease hasn't progressed beyond the immediate coastal areas yet. It's great that you're planting a redbay, being as far west as you are. I've read that there are either (or both) American chestnuts and American elms, both eastern plants, that are big and still growing successfully in western parts of the country, mainly the PNW - they escaped the diseases that have eliminated them from their native eastern habitat. In the future, if somebody figures out a way to eliminate the laurel bug/disease, then a healthy source of the plants growing in an unaffected area could be used as a seed source.
Amy's plants always have big root systems - I noticed what you did about LazyS's.
I know you're excited about your new plants! :)
MissSherry the Plantaholic

Susan I have been ordering from Amy for 3 or 4 years now and have always been pleased with all my plants.

My latest order for was an Alabama Crimson honeysuckle and two aristolochia tomentosas. They arrived in short order and in good conditiion.

Were your plants dormant? I'm expecting that the things I ordered will be dormant, which is okay with me.

Susan

I just ordered from Forestfarm.com, you should check it out.

Sharon, I have ordered from them before. Their S&H is a bit higher, and I was trying to keep my orderes east of the Rockies. Forest Farms is an excellent choice, though. MissSherry has ordered from them, too. Have you got their catalog? It's like a book!

Susan

Wow, Susan. You are really getting energetic about planting lots of things. Hope that they do well for you.

I'm going to have some help, I think(????), Linda. I finally decided that just because the neighbors have trees, doesn't mean I can't plant some, too.

The other day I checked my little wild cherry seedlings and they are getting buds on them! Yippee!

I may have to give away 2 or 3 of them because I don't think I can accommodate 5 of them. Do you have some, Linda?

Susan

Susan, If Linda doesn't want them, I would be more than happy to take them off of your hands. ;-) That's actually one of the plants that I have on my list of things to get. Boy, I got tired just reading over your list of plants. Whew, I think you're even more energetic with planting things than I am, and that's a lot! It sounds like you're going to have a paradise there.
Cathy

Susan, thanks for the offer. I already have a couple of wild cherry seedlings, and since they do turn into fairly large trees, I had probably better decline. But, I would be thrilled if you would share some of them with Cathy. If they are fairly small, they should ship fairly inexpensively with only a small amount of dirt with the roots.

I'm planning to go to Marilyn's plant sale at the Norman Farmer's Market on Sat., April 8th. I'm hoping that Randy will be home that day, so that I could pick up a couple of Black willows for you and me!!! Have you got one yet?

Randy, are you reading this?

Linda, That is very kind of you. Now I just hope that Susan thinks the same way. ;-) If you're sure you don't want them, I'd be ecstatic to get them. I just realized something. Maybe you and Susan live close to each other and so you could have just picked them up at her place instead of her having to mail them to you like she would me? I didn't even think of that until now. I'm assuming that you do live fairly close to each other since you were talking about picking up some Black Willows for her. How much do trees like that sell for? It's funny how I started out thinking that I was just going to plant milkweed for the Monarchs, but my list has grown so long it's approaching the size of Susan's list, and that's pretty long! lol I've already bought seeds of lots of nectar plants to plant outside next month. I think I will have enough nectar plants now, but I would like to get more host plants sometime. My husband will think I'm crazy because I've been having a guy cut down trees here to open it up a bit (trying to get purple martins), but now since I've gotten into butterflies and also realize that my chances of getting martins are very slim (this will be year 19 of me trying for them...ugh!), I want to plant trees. When he starts suggesting putting me in the looney bin, I'll be quick to point out that the trees I had cut down were not the same as what I want to plant. Trees and bushes on my list of ones to get are wild cherry, black willow, sassafras, poplar, and spicebush. Give me time and I might think of some more! :-) I'm still thinking about the regular plants that I want to get. I doubt if all this will happen this year, but who knows. Now that I have mostly all of my nectar plants started to put outside come April 15, I can concentrate on finishing my plant list. Thanks again, and have fun at the market. I wish I could go along (I LOVE shopping for plants!), but it would take me awhile to get there from PA. Ha!
Cathy

Linda, if I don't make it, would you mind picking up a black willow seedling for me, too?

Right now, my car is dead.

Cathy, I would be more than happy to send you a couple of the seedlings. They all have buds on them, and are only about 6" tall right now, so would ship easily. I will just wrap the rootballs in plastic and mail them off.

Susan

Oh WOW, Thanks, Susan! I wasn't sure if you'd want to do that considering I'm about a zillion states away from you! Yippee! I'll send you an email! :)
Cathy

Please do, and I will get them shipped to you.

Susan

Susanlynne sorry about being so long answering your question. My hubby had a small problem of congestive heart failure about two weeks ago and thne open heart surgery. I have not been spending too much time at the computer. I am playing now because a good friend brough me her laptop.

The three plants I got from Amy all had leaves. I potted them and they are looking real good. I have not had time to plant them yet but do hope I can get around to it in the next week or so.

Hi Linda

I'm reading this now :-). No problem getting you and Susan fixed up with some willows. I'll dig them today and get them potted.

randy

Mimi, so sorry to hear about hubby, but we hope he is doing well now. I'm sure you'll get things done as you have time and hubby recuperates. I certainly understand health issues intercepting the best laid plans for gardening.

Thanks, Randy! We were wondering where you were! Are you planning to go to the Farmer's Market on April 7th to see Marilyn with Wild Things?

Susan

Wonderful, Randy!!! Hope that you don't have plans for April the 8th. Would love to be able to pick up Susan's for her since she is "without wheels". Hopefully, you'll be able to go to the Farmer's Market, and check out Marilyn's great stuff. If you get a chance to look thru her list beforehand, e-mail her a week before the market, so that she will bring sure to bring the plants that you are interested in.

May I suggest Toadflax for the Buckeyes, Paintbrush for the Buckeyes, Pussytoes for the American Painted Ladies, Rue for the Giant Swallowtails and Black Swts, and False Nettles for the Red Admirals. I think that she may have some Antelope horn milkweed plants. And, Aromatic asters and Blackfoot daisies are hard to beat for nectar sources in dry areas.

I'm jealous that you and Susan are seeing so many butterflies, now. I've seen "1" Goatweed leafwing a couple of days ago. But, I have seen numerous Cedar waxwings, and my 1st Purple martin which is always a good sign that spring is here. :)

I have not had a chance to check out the Soapberry trees yet. Have you? The Soapberry hairstreaks should be making a show before long.

Diane, sorry to hear that your husband had to have open heart surgery. I do hope that things go well for him. I will keep him in my thoughts and prayers. Do post when you can to let us know how he is doing. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Marilyn's plant list

I was going over Marilyn's plant list today and I think I have enough on my hands until she is at Harn Homestead in OKC.

Last year, Marilyn also had some very nice-sized trees and shrubs for wildlife, too, including butterflies and moths.

I saw Cedar Waxwings for the first time ever today, high in the canopy of the budding elm trees. Also saw a tiny little bird - I almost thought it was a hummingbird, it was that small, had very thin fan-shaped tailfeathers. But, couldn't ID it.

Susan

Cathy, I'm so excited, every one of the Wild Cherry Seedlings is leafing out, so they're ALIVE!!!!! I'm so thrilled. I'll try to get yours in the mail this next week.

Susan

Linda

Soapberry haven't started leafing out yet. May be a week or so.

randy

An alternative to the tree is cardiospermum (love in a puff) in case someone else would like to attract the soapberry hairstreak, but doesn't have room for a tree.

It is considered a noxious weed in many southern states, but is an annual from zone 8b north. You could probably confine it to a pot and cut off the pods before the seeds set (the seed pods are why it is called love-in-a-puff, or balloon vine, and are quite obvious). It grows readily from seed.

Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: Cardiospermum

I got my order from MON today, but I didn't get all of the plants I ordered, and apparently got a substitute for something, but I don't know what.

I didn't get the Aristolochia tomentosas, the crataegus, vernonia, bottlebrush buckeye (aesculus parviflora), buttonbush, witch hazel, the lindera benzoins, or ptelea trifoliata.

Now before I say what I don't have entirely, I did get one plant that was not labeled. The foliage kind of looked like rosemary, but it's not rosemary. Would one of the plants I mentioned above look similar to that as a small plant? For instance, I don't know what the foliage looks like on mayhaw, vernonia, buttonbush or witch hazel.

Also, do you know if Amy sends two separate packages? I thought maybe something might be on the way under separate cover.

Susan

Whoops! I think it is an Amsonia tabaernamontana.

Susan

Susan, if you order a lot of plants, she does indeed send them in more than one box. One year UPS brought one of my boxes several days before they brought the other one - I don't know how that happened, but they both came from MON, and Amy said they were both mailed on the same day.
Did you give Amy permission to substitute? I always specify NO SUBSTITUTIONS! If they don't have something I order, then I ask for a refund for that part of my order, since I write her a check - I don't like to use PayPal. If you don't specify, they'll usually go ahead and substitute. I'm sorry you didn't get those plants, especially the aristolochia tomentosa, but maybe they'll arrive separately.
MissSherry

Whew, maybe so. But, I would think she has to pay more shipping costs to send them separately. Okay, I won't give up yet. But, I really don't want the Aronia, so will probably give it to someone else. I don't think I checked any box like you mention, so she probably did substitute, unless she sends extra free plants - is that possible? Some companies do.

Susan

Hmmmm.....I don't know about the free plants. Mary Ann at Pine Ridge Gardens sends me at least one free plant with every order, but Amy has never done that.
You could call her and ask what's going on.
MissSherry

Hi Susan

Have you talked to her about the order yet? If not, I would find out what's going on before posting anything here that might be construed as negative.

I have a lot of stuff go through the mail during the growing season and would like people to contact me about any possible problem before talking to others. There are some things out of a shippers control.

If I've screwed up and I have before, no problem, go with both barrels if I don't make it right or better than the original agreement. Just give me a chance first.

Bet she feels the same way.

randy

Got the rest of my order today and a few extras! Very happy with Amy's plants. I asked, Randy, because I wasn't sure if I would get a second order or not, but I did, so all is well.

I would recommend plants from Amy at Mail Order Natives in a New York second!

Susan

Randy, I didn't realize I said anything negative, but if anyone perceived it as negative, please forgive me. I just wondered if sometimes other plants were shipped separately - that was my primary question.

Susan

Susan...where are you going to plant ALL THAT STUFF?

I want pictures!

Paul, they are all small plants right now, but I have tried to allow for ultimate growth. I have a pretty big back yard, and after gardening in it for 8 years, it still looks kind of empty. So, I had some room for these trees.

The mystery plants I got are actually conradina (false or beach rosemary). I don't think it is hardy here, but MON reports that it is, after I checked it. It is a very nice looking foliage, like rosemary. In fact, that's what I thought it was when I first pulled one out of the box. But, I rubbed the leaves and while it has a minty smell, it is definitely not rosemary. I think it can be used for culinary purposes, though.

The plants are very nice, though. I can't wait to get Lantana 'Miss Huff' (a pink/yellow) and hamelia patens planted. Has anyone grown HP from seed? It is not hardy here either, but if I can save some seed and grow it next year, I'd love to do it.

I went ahead and got a cephalanthus occidentalis, though I have winter sown seeds. I wanted to get a jump start on nectar. The lonicera I got was just marvelous. Already has flower buds on it, and I hope it will hold them to bloom. The illicium was also very nice and at least 3' tall full of foliage.

I ordered 3 Aristolochia tomentosas, which arrived yesterday, too. Can't wait to get those planted as well.

My backyard is about 5,000 sf I would guess (2 city lots). While neighbors have lots of trees, I only have a Bradford pear, a Japanese Maple, and a contorted mulberry, all small trees. So, I really do have the room to plant them. And fortunately a lot of them will tolerate partial shade.

I have little Wild Cherry seedlings that are putting on rapid new growth and leaves right now, albeit they are only about 6" tall, they appear to be vigorous plants.

Black willow is all that I'm lacking right now. It's enough to make my brain swirl, thinking of all that I want to plant for the butterflies!

I will take pics soon, but nothing to really look at yet, since everything is still pretty much dormant.

Susan

Hi Susan

Sorry if I upset you. Guess I'm overly sensitive in that area.

I think I know where a Black Willow is :-).

randy

Sorry...but who is "Amy"?

She's the owner of Mail Order Natives, Ellen. I am eager to finish planting things, but it's kinda cool and overcast today. No excuse, right? But, I got up at 5 am and am a bit tired today. There's always tomorrow, right?

's okay, Randy! I just didn't want to come off as critical, but knew that many others here had ordered from Amy and wanted to know what to expect w/o making a tc first. I'm glad I waited because my second box came just a couple days later.

Susan

Susan, Sorry I didn't notice your post until just today. Whenever you get around to sending is fine with me, as I'm not fussy. :)

About the bird that you saw, I'll guess that it was a Golden-crowned Kinglet. I know that besides hummingbirds they're the smallest birds that I get here, although I don't see them often. I just looked in my bird book; they are only 3-1/2" long. A Ruby-crowned Kinglet is 4-1/4" long. Did you happen to notice if it had yellow at the top of its head?

Randy, I can't wait to get my black willow, or willows seedlings, either, as well as Susan's. I've had a couple of Mourning Cloaks searching around for some "host" willow trees this last week. Looking forward to getting together with you on Sat., Apr. 7th in Norman.

Susan, have you noticed any life in your "False Nettles" yet? I sure don't see anything close to any new growth yet. My Dogbanes, Frostweed, And Aristolochia clematitis, and serpentaria are starting to surface, and the A. tomentosas are starting to bud out. No native milkweeds, yet. I did overwinter a couple of Trop. mws in the garage that are leafing out. None of my Echinacea pallida have come up from wintersowing. Don't know whether to stick them in the fridge for a while, or try again.