I bought directly from Iseli at wholesale prices. I met minimum order requirements and quantity for shipping. I originally planned on buying Iseli plants from a local nursery but the prices were out of sight. I couldnt even get a discount for such a large order. Guess I didnt realize the markup on the retail level. I paid HALF the price by ordering direct from Iseli myself. Only problem is that I had to purchase all my plants at once versus sporadically to meet order requirements. I think I have enough space to get it all planted comfortably. I have some newly build planting areas surrounding the house and in the back yard. Plus, I have plans for a few more planting beds. The pictures dont show much planting space. I'll post before and after pictures and some along the way.

That is FANtastic. Just a stunning order lol, holy sh(t.

Your back is going to be sooo sore lol. :)

Any chance you'd give a ballpark estimate on direct cost? I'm guessing 20 Gs.

haloperidol, if I may ask, what are Iseli's requirements for purchasing directly from them?

PlantMarker

Hey Haldol...experience has taught me that wholesalers don't necessarily want their prices posted. If you are willing to show us the cost you may want to consider emailing one of us the price list to send out to others. Just click our underlined name to reach our Member Page, if we have chosen to receive email from forum members there will be a "Send Me an Email" link at the right. But you knew all that!

Just trying to keep you out of trouble,

Barbara

To order from Iseli several requirements must be met.

1. Iseli Nursery is a WHOLESALE grower/distributor. No retail sales to general public. They're serious too!

2. Submitting proof of business in the form of a business license is required.

3. A minimum order of shipping units and costs must be achieved.

My father's small tree nursery/farm and fruit orchard allows us to buy wholesale. Iseli plants make up the display garden in front of the main greenhouse and office. Unfortunately, a lot of those plants where purchased retail prior to starting the operation.

I didnt plan on posting prices. Please forgive me for NOT doing so. The last thing I want to do is cause trouble. We plan to continue ordering from Iseli Nursery in the future and don't want to jeopardize our relationship.

Yeah that's why I asked for a ballpark figure. It would be hard to estimate any individual costs and given potential copy cats amongst us an idea how much overtime we need to work - LOL.

Even if I had the money I couldn't make one of these orders. I have no room for even medium sized plants now and I'm pretty happy watching most of them grow from scratch.

I would however like a couple larger specimens, namely Picea omorika 'Pendula Bruns' and Abies koreana 'Blaue Pfiff'.

Thanks again for sharing,

Sparky

NO TIME TONIGHT..

ALL BLACK POTS MUST STAY OUT OF THE SUN ...

TWO DAY LEEWAY imho ....

MORE TOMORROW ...

KEN

Very nice assortment.

I would agree with Ken's hastily issued warning. Put the black pots in the garage or out of the sun somewhere. Make sure all plants are watered unless you plan on getting them in the ground in the next day or so (no sense soaking them and then trying to move them). And, yes, go for the B&B first.

Got to be the largest single order for an individual most of us have seen.

tj

A mini-digger might save you time and back-ache.You wouldn't want to see the end result lying on a stretcher,would you?Then again,if you're born into the nurery trade,I'm sure you can handle it.Good planting! T.

I can give a little incite on retail verses wholesale prices.

The nursery I do business in Kansas City sells a good selection of rare conifers. If they pay $30.00 from the wholesaler they sell it for $90.00.

As a part time employee I can get a 40% discount.

In 2006 with the 40% off a 8 foot Picea omorika 'Pendula Burns' cost me $249.00. A 10 foot Cham. nootkatensis 'Strict Weeping' $249.00. The 7 foot Pinus strobus 'Angel Falls' grown in the wooden box retailed for $765.00.I paid $300.00 for it. My most expensive conifer. The conifers grown in the wooden box are pricey as haloperidol knows.

Todays prices I would imagine are considerably higher as are trucking costs.

I don't mind posting prices but I am sure you can understand why haloperidol is reluctant to do so. Everybody know his source...and the repercussions that can result in doing so if he gives you the inside scoop on pricing. Let's give the man some slack in that regard.

I am growing quite a few of the above mentioned conifers haloperidol has listed. Some will have special needs if expected to live. I am sure others will have advice to give so I'll leave it at that.

haloperidol...I hope you have one of those heavy duty nursery 2-wheel carts. Those big B&B conifers weigh a ton. One word of advice is to cut the bottom portion of the burlap out...don't cut twine. After you set on pre*dug hole...level and pack dirt around bottom till it is stabilized. Then cut twine and pull out. With that done the remaining burlap will be easy to discard.

Dave

ok ... more time ...

i will try to NOT let my jealousy get in the way ...

first ... since you knew this order was coming.. please tell me you already have a site plan laid out ... yikes if you dont ...

i would plant in this order ...

B&B first ... most likely to dry out ...

then i would do pots... roots can get too hot if a heat wave rolls through ...

then i would deal with the big crates ... i would presume those will be most forgiving based on the amount of soil/media ... in fact.. i have seen them sitting in retail parking lots all summer long.. with barely any problems ....

shall i presume.. since the family is in the nursery trade .. that you are all set on how to PROPERLY plant them????

if not.. ask ...

does that also mean you have power tools.. and muscular men to help??? i had a friend who bought such a load .. then dug all the holes.. then hired a local friendly landscape co. to come move all the huge plants to the holes.. and position them ... relatively cheap.. compared to the total investment ...

buy a garden dolly if you dont have one ...

for the crates ..... IF IT WERE ME .... i would think long and hard about wriggling the crate in there.. removing the sides .... and then leaving the bottom right where it sits ... but i can come to no conclusion about it right now ... it would be the disturbance of the root ball.. versus speculation about the effect of rotting wood 3 feet down in the hole ...

the easiest way to hold them over.. would be to order a load of mulch .... bunch them all up .... and then cover all the pots/BB/crates with mulch .. and then dampen it ... this will temper ambient temps on pots .... and give you much more time to get it all done ...

cant think of anything else right now ...

please send us process pix.. and final outcome ...

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!

KEN

ps: where are you ....

pps: spewed eh???? ... lol ... any pix of them jammed on the truck ....

ppps: out the gate... you have front yard to work with???

pppps: Chamaecyparis thyoides 'Heatherbun' -- place it where you can see its winter purple ....

Immediate graftification. I like that. It's definitely cheaper for me to graft though, obviously. Glad to know your family is in the nursery business. You have a nice collection of plants. It's borderline unbelievable. I've never seen an order such as this one.

My advice. Don't worry about bud break. You're so far south that unless it stays below 20 or 10 or 0 or somewhere there for weeks on end, none of your plants will be effected. Keep a hose around and water the hell out of them, a lot!!! I also (could be helpful, I don't know) use a tarp to move plants around. It's helpful to keep the rest of the garden clean. You can drag stuff easily (on their side in your case) and fool around yanking the plants out of their pots and trimming roots or whatever... right there on the mat. Now I'm 35 and strong as a bull.

Great advice above. I can't wait to see this either when it's done, especially.

Super scores homey!

Dax

Wow. What fun you will be having. How exciting. you have fabulous taste. Beautiful plants. I would go ahead and get them in the ground. Have fun! Think of those of us up north while you are planting. We have to wait another month up here!

I think I just wet myself.....

To all of us gardeners on a budget, this is no less then conifer porn, if you'll pardon the expression. I can see revisiting this link often over the next few weeks. :)

I'll add my vote to progress and final images, I can't WAIT to see how dramatically it changes things. Shocking I'm sure.

Daily updates? Clearly you'll need a rest a lot while you work! :)

Sparky

For easy placement of wooden crated conifers 2 wheel dolly them as close to the pre*dug hole as possible. Make sure no dirt is thrown in this area as you want the box at ground level. Remove all 4 sides leaving the bottom intact. Wrap the sides of the exposed root ball/square with twine as the dirt is not stable enough to stay in place. I have yet to see any of these wooden crated conifers root bound enough to hold dirt in place. Depending on size of plant...if small just lift of wooden bottom and deposit in hole...if to heavy to pick up cut a piece of ply wood for a ramp to slide down into hole. Level then pack enough dirt into the hole to stabilize then remove twine. Do not plant any of the wooden crate with the conifer.

The use of a tarp, as Dax mentioned, is beneficial to keep dirt off grass and keeps clean up at a minimum. You probably already know but remember to keep root flare 2 inches above grade on all your plantings.

Dave

The very yellow pine in the wooden planter- what is it? I don't normally like the yellows due to the deficient vibe the give- but that is NICE.
Thanks!

my guess is Pinus sylvestris 'Gold Coin'

caught my eye too

ken

Yellow pine in planter is Pinus contorta 'Chief Joseph'

Any chance for a few specific photos, closer up?

I'd love to see

Cedrus deodara 'Scott
Cedrus libani 'Home Park'
Picea pungens 'Shiloh-Weeping'
Picea omorika 'Pendula Bruns'
Pinus mugo 'Jakobsen'

How well will Abies, an alpine conifer, do in Zone 7b Arkansas?

Any comments to its survivability?

Dave

Yep that is definitely Chief Joseph. How far south can Pinus contorta be grown?

Yes that is interesting eh Dave? Given you have a hard time growing Abies yet he's further south. Looks like it's just the token attempt though. Goodluck Mr. Cis! :)

Sparky, Check the Iseli's web site for terrific pictures!

...Haldol...in your last picture, what is the cultivar front row, second from left? Stunning blue, low and wide.

Thanks,
Barbara

Here is a link that might be useful: Cedrus libani 'HomePark'

Thanks Barbara. :)

I'll hazard a guess at your question, I think it's either

Picea pungens 'Procumbens'

or

maybe one of the weeping Colorado spruce.

Barbara, Sparky was right.....Picea pungens 'Procumbens'

Whoo-hoo! Thanks for the ID. There just happens to be a 'Procumbens' arriving tomorrow from Forest Lakes Nursery.
Again, his catalog is at:

Here is a link that might be useful: Forest Lakes Nursery

OMG....you got your government STIMULUS check didn't you...LOL...LOL

Im totally jealous!!!!!!

Who wouldn't be...........

totally,

Dax

I am surprised to see that Chief Joseph is green in summer, only yellow in winter! I think it is like a lrch that lasts.
I am now in search of a very yellow CV that stays yellow in summer...

I will get in line behind all the other envious conifer freaks. I have our local nursery on call to let me know when the Iseli truck arrives.

I'm about 16 hours away from Iseli et al and I work for a landscaper (or I should say I *think* I still work for a landscaper) so I can buy wholesale too. My big fantasy is to drive up to Oregon and handpick the stuff I want from Iseli, Bizon and Stanley & Sons. Wouldn't that be fun? I just $10,000 to spend. Ha!

Any update on the progress of this project? Did I miss an update thread? I'd sure love to see those beauties in the ground!

Can I ask....4th pic down....middle front/staked....what is that?

Frankly, I think your just being mean. Like wagging a steak in front of starving, emaciated dog, tisk, tisk ;)

Well, I just unloaded my Iseli order on Tuesday (as well as two other semi's) at the garden center, so I seen this kind of stuff before...Nice plants, but it makes my back hurt...

That is a very lovely batch of plants, and certainly it can induce a serious case of conifer envy. Let me help you guys put it in perspective. I belong to a Garden Railway club, and we all wind up planting some little conifers on our layouts. And most of the club members, like myself, have a few hundred dollars wrapped up in locomotives and rolling stock, and then there are a few guys who buy locomotives at 2 grand a pop or better. And when we visit each other's layouts, we oooh and aaahh those big beautiful locos, and then we go home and have all kinds of fun with our own more affordable stuff.

Of course, my little locomotives aren't going to grow up in a few years into big locomotives. But that's ok with me!

brian

How incredible!! PLEASE post follow up pictures, I'm eager to see how everything's settling in!

Also, what is the upright, pyramidal yellow pine that came in the wooden box?

oops I see the posting further up on the Chief Joseph but still want to see pictures!!!

i want pix this spring ....

any info on loses..

and every other tidbit you are willing to share ...
ken

yes yes what happened to this guy???

Really? Pics? please?

Or did Iseli not like all the details?

I'm sure this person probably left the forum over a possible combination of things.

Iseli associated folks are on this site and probably didn't like this arrangement discussed so openly like this. And we can be a pretty rabid bunch sometimes. When a supplier or good deal gets exposed we can lunge pretty hard sometimes at the person to try and get the same deal. I mean let's be honest....we'd probably all like to be able to buy more mature specimens for our collections at wholesale

So while this person probably posted all the pictures and story originally out of pride and maybe even a little "Hey look at me and look what I got", the fun with it was probably over pretty quick.

But I would really like to see this person's garden and how it all turned out.

mark

I don't believe the guy left because of an Iseli issue.

"My father's small tree nursery/farm and fruit orchard allows us to buy wholesale."

Based on the above quote, the Iseli transaction is all above-board and there is no reason Iseli would get mad. He didn't quote any exact prices and everyone knows that wholesale cost is much less than retail prices.

I searched the Conifers forum with haloperidol's user ID and haloperidol has not posted anything else in this forum. A site-wide search found one other post in the Maples forum on March 12th, 2009.

It's very possible the guy had a heart attack from planting all of those huge specimens and that's why he has not posted again since then.
My .02

In my mind that IS wholesale, lol. If you're going to buy 50+ specimens and have them all shipped to the same place, it would seem to me that it would fit the business model of at least some wholesalers, if not Iseli's 'Walmart' model. This order must have cost $5,000-$10,000 even at wholesale prices, so it might make sense for a wholesaler to work this kind of deal. If you really want to get a 'head start' on conifers, have a LOT of money, space, time and back strength, basically you can just get a business liscense and place a $5,000+ order and arrange a shipment.

I'll be honest though, looking back at this order - given the circumstances(variable weather inc. warm/hot temps), and the enormous task of digging all of those huge holes, moving the plants around, mulching, removing them from their huge pots, etc. it seems the most likely result for our original poster here was death by gardening.

I'm a big, young fellow with a strong back but a task like this is actually very daunting and not something I would want to have to get done in a short period of time.

-Will

It seems like the GardenWeb search feature isn't working right now.

Here is a link that might be useful: an earlier haloperidol post (10/15/08)

"I'm sure this person probably left the forum over a possible combination of things".

Don't look for a response from him.

No he is not buried close to one of his conifers.

Let the thread die.

Dave

I was asked not to speak of this topic anymore and replying to this is going against my word. The whole situation was kinda weird! I still really don't quite understand?

My health is fine. Didn't originally post this out of pride or for "Hey look at me and look what I got". We receive shippments of plants all the time. I was simply trying to show how nice the Iseli specimens were.

So please let this thread die.

Sorry folks!

Since quotes from my post are being used several times let me make one last comment....I said what I did mostly in whimsy, something that doesn't often translate well on the web

So I didn't mean to make an offending comment. Like others I'd mostly just like to see how his garden turned out.

My last post on this thread.......

mark

Can a mod just close this thread then?