Hi, I started buying my stuff online because I worried about the diseases and "pests" I would end up with when buying Big Box Store plants. They may be high quality to start with, but then they are transported and come into contact with any number of other plants and produce, which can cause cross contamination. I always ended up with those little nasty gnat things in my houseplants and then had to buy stuff to get rid of them. The other aspect is that most of these big box stores will not have any kind of guarantee on the plants. You can take them home, plant them and have them die overnight and you will not be reimbursed for them. That being said, I also had my share of disappointments online (I NEVER had good luck with catalogs at all). But...I've found a good place, with decent prices, a satisfaction guarantee and the best customer service anywhere. They even have a Master Gardener on staff to ask questions of and an extensive blog section (Latest News) with all kinds of pertinent information dating clear back to 2008 (I think!). I won't buy anywhere else now...unless I get too late a start and just want to plop something in the ground and hope for the best :) Hope this helps! Here is a link that might be useful: THE Best Garden Supply Ever!

I get Annie's catalog every year. Seems like everything is $5 bucks for any amount of seed, one seed or 10 seeds. You never get a lot of seeds, and everything in there looks surreal. Most of it only grows in zones 9-11, but there are a few in zone 6. Her stuff is expensive, and beautiful. It's her trip, I'm not judging, it just seems out of touch with reality. I can get thousands of seeds way cheaper. She just seems to find really hard to find plants and sell them at a high price. We grow hard to find plants and sell them at a cheap price. Not knocking it, she just has a better selection. Her prices are high bc of her overhead. We don't use expensive heaters and grow what we can by natural selection and for zone 6 and up. I just don't really want to pay the electric company to grow what Mother Nature can grow if you just pay some attention to it, so somebody's gotta pay for that electric bill, and the hoop houses. I still can't understand why they need to be so high when most people who shop are women and under 5'7". They don't need to be 20' high. Hot air rises, seems silly. Check out Elliot Coleman who grows in Vermont with no lights, no heat, and sells to high-end restaurants in the middle of winter. It's more impressive.

Hmmmm. Seems like you have that backwards, lol. 'Trying' a wide variety of plants and THEN determining what does best can mean a lot of wasted time, effort, and money. Since you are obviously still in the experimental stage, you might want to do some market research first. Anyway, that's what I would do. Visit some area growers and see what's happening in their world. You could visit some garden centers, too, and pick some brains about what their customers want. I've never grown a great deal of ANYthing that I wasn't pretty darned sure would do great in my location in the first place. I preferred to have a more personal relationship with suppliers when I was in the nursery biz. I did have bare root cuttings shipped to me via the mail, but always talked to the growers on the phone. Hmmmm, the exception to that rule was when I was ordering plugs and seed from Park Seed Wholesale. No need to talk to anyone for that. We still don't know if you are going to do flowering perennials or woody landscape plants. There are some things that I just wouldn't buy on line, or even without seeing them first. Especially if I was purchasing 1000 woody liners from someone for the first time. There are TONS of nurseries in and around Va. Beach. I wouldn't think you would need to shop on line. You're challenge will be to find something that all of the big guys don't bother with, but consumers are clamering for. ;-)

We (almost) have to as I live on a small island in the Caribbean where I found today, only one on island company that will order, ship and install and the quote today for my frameless glass shower door - 12" fixed panel, 36" door (total 48" wide) and 72" high was $3400 plus installation !!!! The company I think I am ordering from is Hovoson and I think I found it here on this forum but as I have not ordered ye,t I have no idea if they are good or not but it's a start. I enclosed the link Piaa Happy Here is a link that might be useful: Online Shower Doors