Used to buy exotic ferns online, now I just find them at the local nursery

For years I was ordering rare ferns from specialty sites, spending like $30 a plant plus shipping. Half of them would show up dead or sick, and I'd waste weeks trying to nurse them back. Then last spring I walked into a small greenhouse in our town and found the same varieties for $12 each, already thriving. The owner even showed me how to split them for more plants. Why was I paying triple for the privilege of having plants die in transit? Has anyone else had better luck buying local instead of chasing weird cultivars online?

2 comments

2 Comments

robinl904d agoTop Commenter

Wait, didn't you used to love the hunt for rare ferns online too? I was totally that person buying from obscure sites and feeling like a plant explorer. Then last year I picked up a silver lace fern at the local hardware store for $8, and it's still going strong three seasons later. Those online plants always came looking sad and wilted, but the nursery ones are already fat and happy when I grab them. Now I just walk in, chat with the staff about what's new, and grab something healthy for a fair price. It's way more fun and way less stressful than crossing my fingers every time a box shows up.

roberts.diana10h ago

Oh man, I feel this so hard. That hunt was definitely fun for a minute, but now I look back and realize how much of a headache it was. You know, I had a similar experience with a rare blue star fern I ordered from some boutique site - it arrived looking like a sad, brown mess and I spent two months trying to resurrect it before it finally gave up. Now I just walk into the little nursery down the street, and they've got the same ferns for like $10, already big and bushy. It's honestly such a relief to skip the whole "will it survive shipping" anxiety. And the owner there taught me how to propagate them too, which is way more satisfying than crossing my fingers over a box.