Nice Barbara, thanks! I'm always searching for new online sources since frankly it's the best way to find rare and unusual conifers - having a comglameration of sources. I plan on making a 'nursery review' post one of these days with detailed experiences(and photos) with all the nurseries I have bought from. Breaking them down into four or five catagories and explaining what I like about each. I may not be able to get Forest Lakes Nursery into my first review post, but perhaps it can be a revolving post where people on here share their experiences with retailers. After all, conifer nurseries are an exclusive breed and Spring will be right around the corner. Just glancing at Forest Lakes Nursery is a nice experience. Very well laid out catalog with information about the plants and nice prices as well. Have to give them an order some day. Will

In USDA 6 you can get away with fall planting of fully hardy kinds, this is the preferred time to plant whenever possible anyway. In fall plants are often taller, an entire growing season having just ended. But big tops in small pots are not preferable, if roots are circling and compacted these will have to be opened up to assure long-term success. Mauling roots in fall defeats part of the purpose of fall planting, as replacement roots from cut root ends will not appear until top growth starts in spring. If undisturbed root systems are installed (early enough) in fall, existing root tips then immediately push a considerable distance into the surrounding soil - immediately giving the new acquisition a good start. Plants installed during any other season will not get as good a grip on the ground until the first fall after planting, fall is the only time when the roots get to have all the fun - the rest of the year the energy budget is prioritized for other parts of the plant or the plant is basically sleeping (winter). Elongation of new roots formed in spring is minimal, the tops also being active at this time and taking their share of the available energy - which is at a low point because of winter having just taken place.

Not box stores driving nurseries out of business here but the seemingly unstoppable rise of that US import - the Garden Centre. True, everything is under one roof and you can buy an (overpriced ) drink while browsing...but their inventory is limited to maybe 2 types of certain perennials, a handful of common and popular favourites such as the hardy geraniums and absolutely nothing which has slipped off the top 40 list. Meanwhile, our wonderful nurseries, run by real expert plant growers, offering an unsurpassed range at half the cost (overheads) are vanishing because people apparently want to go on a coach trip - buy ornaments and jewellery and other tat and spend a morning in a coffee shop whilst being served by a clueless school-leaver on minimum wage. Even so, I can choose from a dozen small nurseries less than 25miles away which are often specialised and always a source of valuable advice. I think most of these will have vanished in my lifetime - although I still have faith in the egalitarian nature of gardening and the deep passions plants arouse in British gardeners. I have been a reluctant convert to mail order but on the plus side, I have become a lot more capable of propagating and producing my own stock. Seeing a much loved nursery close it's doors seems like a sad defeat for the free gardening spirit and a victory for capital driven, market solutions which do not sit well on this anarchist's shoulders.

The good nurseries have cold storage rooms. If temperature and humidity are just right plants can be held dormant until this time or even later. They'd probably hold them very close to 32F and 90% humidity.