Heronswood is one of my favorite nurseries, eventhough the selection of plants is much diminished from the yesteryear days when Dan Hinkley owned it and traveled the world to collect and introduce to American gardens many rare and exotic plants that we had never before encountered or had even read about. Under his guidance, the Heronswood catalog was a book, containing hundreds of pages, with detailed descriptions. There were no pix or line drawings, all text.

The nursery was purchased several years ago by George Ball, d/b/a Burpee Seed Co. and the resulting company is derisively called Burpeewood, by all of the old-time Heronswood customers.

But, be that as it may, I have continued to patronize them, both by mail-order and in person and have been very pleased with the quality of their plants and very good, no quibble, service. Once the carrier crushed a carton and destroyed half of the contents. It was left on the front porch, unannounced, so I had no chance to note the damage on the delivery schedule. They never questioned the claim and sent replacements the following day.

While their prices may seem a bit inflated at first blush, I have always felt that I received good value for my dollar. As with any vendor, I always compare prices, plant sizes and shipping costs with other reputable sources before I place a phone call. I almost always order plants via phone and ask dozens of questions and receive satisfactory answers, before placing an order!

Their Garden Watchdog rating is relatively poor. With all the great nurseries out there with really good reputations/ratings, I'd personally only use Heronswood as a last resort (if they were offering a plant that I couldn't find elsewhere). It just wouldn't make sense to me to deal with a nursery that has a high percentage of dissatisfied customers when there are lots of nurseries out there with raving reviews. Their higher prices reinforce my feelings.

Just a thought but if you see a plant in the Heronswood catalog that interests you, you may want to check with one of Scott McMahan's nurseries here in Georgia. He and Dan Hinkley have gone on plant collecting trips together in Asia. There's McMahan's Nursery and the new GardenHood in Atlanta.

How to order

STILL CANT SEE HOW TO ORDER

Very late to this party but the topic came up in another search. There is NO Heronswood Nursery!! What is currently available under that name (pirated when Burpees purchased the operation in 2003) are very typical and quite mediocre Burpees plants. Nothing special and most can be found at any other perennial nursery.. Heronswood Nursery - as it once existed in its mail order heyday - no longer exists. And the negative comments seen on Garden Watchdog relate to Burpees, not the proper Heronswood. This was at one time a preeminent mail order nursery, perhaps the best in the country. Burpees purchased it and ran it into the ground!!

Heronswood Nursery catalogs are no longer available and are considered a bit of a collectors' item if you can find them.