Yes, they are a reliable seller of disease free plants. I ordered from them this past winter. I did also order some starter plugs and I must say that these were very small. Much smaller than I expected and they haven't grown much for me thus far. If you want a decent sized plant, I would order Cracker Crumbs from Naylor. The one they sent me was nicely sized.

NH Hostas sent me fully leafed out plants early in the season at the same time that Hallsons sent me dormant multieyed plants. While the NH Hostas plants looked great, I think I prefer the mutieyed dormant ones from Hallsons. By this time the Hallson's plants have surpassed those from NHH.

Here's the Cracker Crumbs from Naylor right after it arrived.
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Here's a starter plug of Brother Stefan. It's not much bigger today.

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Steve

That Brother Stefan is the smallest plug I've seen. Even the ones I got from Hosta Liners had several leaves and better roots.

I got a nice size Little Treasure from our local nursery. I had a hard time getting it to grow this year. It has finally taken off. If it had been much smaller, it probably would have been the first hosta I ever lost. I probably wouldn't recommend buying Little Treasure as a starter plug based on that.

Starter plugs are tissue cultured hostas that were born in a lab. It takes 3 to 4 years before they reach any significant size. They also require extra TLC since they are so young. If you want instant gratification you should by mature plants and not starter plugs. Many plugs will take years before you see full sized true leaves.

This picture shows 27 different starter plugs in 4" pots that I got last fall. Once the roots fill the pots I will put them in 1 gallon pots to grow more before I put them in the ground this fall or next spring.

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Placed an order in 2008, received the following in 4" pots, so maybe a year larger than starter plugs. All single division except Toy Soldier which had two. Gave them a try due to price and summer sale - definitely took an extra year to get going.

American Halo - still 1 eye
Cameo - died in winter 2008, mini
Cutting Edge - good
Dick Ward - okay
Journey's End - okay
Key Lime Pie - shipped mislabeled plant - ordered Jewel of the Nile
Spring Fling - good
Tokudama Flavocircinalis - slow grower for everyone, now 3 eyes
H. 'Toy Soldier' - good
(Comments are about their growth)

Paul

I live within driving distance of NH hostas so I've gone a few times to purchase plants. They are all one or two eyes in 4" pots, and I guess he also has the even smaller starter plugs. All mine have been healthy (no HVX or nematodes) and all have grown well- some better than others, which I imagine has more to do with the hosta cultivar than anything). That's why I'm so incredibly jealous of those of you that live near places like Hornbakers where you can just go out and pick up a huge, garden impact ready hosta!

Thanks very much for all your valuable input. If ONLY my local nurseries carried minis, I'd be in business. But, they don't. Not only that, even the best one (as I indicated in a previous post) had a very obviously HVX-infected Gold Standard hosta on their shelf, which one of their employees tried to pass off to me as "variegated". I brought my laptop in from my car and POINTED OUT pics of an infected Gold Standard on the Ohio State University Hosta Virus X webpage. The hosta was put back on their shelf. So, there aren't any Hallson's or Hornbaker's around here to buy my Cracker Crumbs or Little Treasure from :( Hence, my need to buy mail-order.

Meanwhile, the unknown blue hosta, Wide Brim, and the albomarginata (sp?) seem to be growing well, as is the rest of my garden.

Esther, I've seen cases of HVX in just about every single nursery around here- even the "higher end" ones. Actually the only one I haven't noticed it in (aside from NH hostas) is the one I saw Little Treasure at. But I'm sure they also don't know the first thing about HVX and it was just a fluke...you are definitely rolling the dice to buy a hosta from a non informed (or just non caring!) nursery. Good luck with your search!

Okay, okay, I went and dun it---I ordered some hostas from New Hampshire Hosta, after speaking to the owner on the phone and being reassured he was a responsible hosta guy. In other words, he screens for HVX big time. I have NEVER ordered hostas or any other plants by internet before, so I am a bit nervous as to what I'll get.

What did I order?

Cracker Crumbs
Little Treasure
Maui Buttercups
and
First Mate.

I wanted some white and green variegated, some gold and green variegated, some blue (I already have Blue Cadet and Undulata Mediopicta), some wide leaved and some narrow leafed. Hopefully by next year I will be able to plant another hosta where I took out the HVX infected Golden Tiara, it will be 3 years by then.

Thank you, everyone, for your invaluable help!

I don't think you will have to worry too much about your order. NHHostas has 43 positives left as feedback on DG Watchdog with 0 Neutrals and 0 Negatives.

If you really want to get into tissue culture hosta plugs at really good prices, do a search online for "BnP Co-op Buying". Brenda and Pam(Woodthrush) do a really good job running the co-op.

New Hampshire Hosta is a great place to get hostas. They send them out in a pot with the soil so no shock for your new hostas. Starter plugs can be tricky. I have around 450 cultivars and one year to be economical, I got a bunch of starter plugs from Hostas Direct. Over the next 2 seasons, I lost every one. Everything I have read advises to leave them growing in a pot for a year or so before you put them out into the general population. Personally, I won't buy starter plugs because of that experience. They really are very young small plants. Little Treasure is a sturdy hosta, Cracker Crumbs a little more delicate.

Esther, like you, I was leery of mail order hosta. My first experience 5 years ago, ended in disappointment.

Here's what changed my mind: Last year, at the AHS national convention, I met Gary from Naylor Creek. There, I purchased several of his lovely plants and they all did wonderfully. So, I dipped my toe into the water and bought 3 from Naylor on the Hosta Library auction. They all did great, so over the winter, I decided to JUMP IN!

I ordered from Hallsons (the best size plants for the money, and excellent quality), Naylor Creek (excellent quality, but smaller plants since they were newer cultivars), Jim's (decent size plants, but they were limp on arrival... all but one perked up to almost normal with an overnight soaking of the roots), Glenbrook (good quality plants), In the Country Garden & Gifts (plants were healthy, but small since they were newer cultivars).

All in all, I am quite pleased with my purchases, though I do miss the thrill of shopping locally now.

The one bit of advice I can offer you is this:
Unwrap the bare root plants as soon as they arrive. Do not allow them to cook on your front porch.
When you unwrap them, consider taking a rubber band and banding the tag to the crown.

Have a bucket of water ready to soak them in overnight. This will remind the roots to start actively taking in water again.

At this point, I chose to pot mine in potting mix with HYDRATED Soil Moist crystals. My beds were too wet to plant in at that point and spots weren't prepared yet anyway. I put the pots in a slightly shady location and made sure they stayed moist.

I started planting them this weekend. They'd been potted for about 2 weeks. So far, they look great.

I do think the key is the overnight water soak! But do NOT allow them to stay in their wrapper at this time of year!