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mail source for zone 6 native trees and shrubs

21 years ago

I am spearheading the planting of a native tree/plant arboretum at our local public school (zone 6 in Southern Illinois) and was just told that I have to spend my entire budget within the next three weeks or I'll lose the rest of the money. Yikes.

I've about exhausted the native species available from our local nurseries, so now I need to find another source (quickly) which would be willing to receive money ahead of time and then allow me to order later, i.e. next fall or spring. We are especially interested in flowering and fruiting trees and shrubs which attract birds, butterflies and other wildlife.

If any of you out there have been impressed by any plant vendors near zone 6 because of their variety, quality, prices and/or spirit of cooperation, please let me know how to contact them. Thanks. lisa_devon

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Comments (6)

kicsibaba
21 years ago
I've been happy with my orders from Musser Forests - their prices are reasonable and the stock I received about a month ago is doing quite well.

They are done shipping for this season so they may be willing to take your money now and ship later!

Here is a link that might be useful: Musser Forests Natives Selection
Elaine_NJ6
21 years ago
I order from Cold Stream Farm in Michigan. It's a small operation that sells bareroot plants very cheap but very high quality ($3 or $4 for a dogwood tree). I'm sure they'd be happy to take your money now and ship in fall, and they're terrific to deal with. Phone # is 231-464-5809.
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Luckily, I had my plant spreadsheet open, this is the one I am going to try to plant this year: http://www.rarefindnursery.com/index.php/trees-shrubs/magnolia/magnolia-frosty-pale-purple.html OK, if you were in Denmark or Poland I might say forget it, but if you really are in a 8a borderline 7b location in SE Europe, with fairly hot summers, I would say, yes, try one. Try to give it a position sheltered from north winds, but also protected from morning sunlight in winter. By 'try one', I mean the hardiest clone of it you can find. Later in spring I will probably post a picture of the damage to my M. skinneriana after 0F. It was not really a cold winter per se here, but we had a terrible cold spell in January. The first week of January was the coldest first week in Baltimore ever recorded, since 1871. I am not sure how much of the top will be able to regrow, most of the leaves are definitely brown now. Amazingly, without fertilization, the top had almost regrown to 2m/6.5 ft. after the polar vortex winter killed it to the ground. Took just 2 good, wet growing seasons. I see the same fast regrowth with M. dianica...but...again, most normal people don't want something in their garden that is looking damaged so often. So I wouldn't recommend these shrubs as standard garden material around here.
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I'm not sure about how big or how fast they grow--never growing one myself, but where I used to work, there were clusters of Linden trees and the fragrance from the flowers would be intoxicating on warm spring mornings.--I always used to think it was jasmine. Magnolia virginiana as mentioned above is also great for its heavy, luxuriant fragrance.--And while I love the blooms on M. grandiflora, I find the fragrance of virginiana to be much more intense,heavy, and pervasive. Also, I would suggest that you possibly consider a variety of aromatic plants to lengthen the season because most anything you plant is going to have a limited season of optimal fragrance. Also a word of caution in your attempt to get fragrant trees, shrubs or herbs--keep in mind that some flowers and aromas are particularly attractive to bees. I would do a little research on whatever you go with to make sure you're not attracting every bee in the neighborhood to the deck area. Good luck!
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john_mo
21 years ago
I can recommend Shooting Star Nursery, located in Georgetown Kentucky (near Frankfort). They offer an exceptional diversity of native woodies, and I have placed several orders with them and have been very satisfied with the results.

Here is a link that might be useful: shooting star nursery
lisa_devon
Original Author
21 years ago
Thank you guys for your suggestions. I'll follow up on them and see how much money I can spend before June 30. It's still not too late if anybody else has ideas. Thanks. lisa_devon
birdgardner
21 years ago
I was real displeased by Musser. They sent a puny beech tree which fell out of its pot in transit and fried - no response at all to my letter.

Now I wholeheartely recommend Missouri Wildflowers Nursery. They have shrubs and perennials, not sure about trees. Lots of bird and butterly attractors. Nice plants, nice people, good prices.
terryr
21 years ago
I was just at the Musser site. They are still sending out potted plants. Another good one is Sunlight gardens in TN. I ordered from both when I lived in TN. I wasn't especially happy with Musser. Good price, but extremely small plants. Sunlight's plants were small also, but seemed of better quality. You could also order from ForestFarm.com. Prices are a little high, mostly because of shipping, but the plants I received were of exceptional quality. They probably aren't sending out plants now, but like the others said, I'm sure they'd take your money and send them in the fall.

Terry

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