I doubt you'll find online sources for plants, but more than likely your local greenhouses will carry a number of varieties. Vera

Purple, sounds great. Cuttings on the floor!! I do not consider cleaning felled plants, stealing. lol. Are their plants in order? Or here and there? It was nice they took you on a tour. I'd need a cart. lol Are price tags on the plants? Out of all the family owned nurseries here, only one is around..Opened year round...sounds like GHW's set up. Numerous gh's. Three large, connected gh's hold succulents and tropicals. Outdoors, there's gh after gh, but they're dedicated to annuals/perrenials, etc. These gh's are closed during winter months. I like visiting during winter..never know what you'll find. One time, they had an extremely underpotted Philo 'congo' for 4.00. They were huge. Of course, the Philo jumped in my cart. lol. Roots were 2' long, growing from drainage holes. Oh, they also have a very rare Pony Tail Palm. He received this plant in the 30's. I asked what it cost..he jokingly said, you'd have to take a second mortgage. lol. Many nursery-people wanted this tree. They offered him large $$, but he couldn't part with it. Here's the thing. Four tiny off-shoots were growing beside mom. I asked if he'd consider selling a baby. His reply was, in all the years he and others worked w/this plant, the babies never rooted. Still, I'd have paid 10,00 for a tiny baby. Last time we visited, the Ponytail was stacked among numerous, tall tropicals. Bunched together. The bulb is larger than a bowling ball, the pot way too small. The medium looked like concrete. I still want a baby, lol. Atown..Sorry, didn't mean to rant..lol. Keep us posted if/when you decide to purchase a plant from an online nursery. There are so many to choose from. BTW, if you find a nursery other than one Purple and I mentioned, please check gardenwatchdog prior to ordering. Read feedback on the nursery. Most nurseries are legit, but some are NOT. Toni

OK,, so looks like we all can agree that buying smaller banana trees would be a good option for you. Now that being said,,,, sounds like you're going to need a lot of bananas to fill your garden. If I was in your shoes, I'd think about buying six small trees and set them up where you want them to grow. Get them started and in the mean time, do more research on propogation and division. I'm no banana expert, but I do know that starting with a number like six, and using good techique, within 4 years you could completely fill a yard. Now a yard full of bananas may be a little extreme. But a least multiply them to the extent you want to fill and with the others, you would could trade them online or locally for other plant varietes that might suit you. Either way good luck and have fun with it. I've never spent $55 on any plant. My victory is in doing things the cheap way and making new freinds and trading with them. OH and by the way, if you want a tropical garden, don't forget canna, ginger and elephant ear. I think canna is a must have. I love canna. 6 plant for six bucks just about anywhere. I buy my elephant ear at the grocery store. If it's available, it'll be in the fresh vegetable section under the name of "taro". Yep, the same plant Hawaians make poi out of.

Hello :) Possibly this will help you in New Jersey - www.Fedcoseeds.com is very conscious of their offerings and is a very reputable company here in Maine. If you telephone or email they will send any of the catalogs you would like - trees, herbs, tubers... Recently I was been able to find a list sorted by soil/sun needs of the Native Maine plants at www.maine.gov, makes me wonder if New Jersey offers a convenient list for you as well or if any on the Maine site would help you, if yoiu are looking for that also. We are finally living our dream and I found I had to remind myself of what is invasive. Hope this helps :) Here is a link that might be useful: Fedco Seeds Catalog Page