There are some great mail-order nurseries in Tennessee that I frequent. I try to stay within the State when I buy plants. But I also luv to stroll the aisles of the local nurseries, the Farmers' Market, and the Big Box stores for plants too.

There is nothing like observing, feeling and smelling plants in a nursery. But when it comes to more unusual plants, often I have to shop online. So I do both.

i do both plus drive 3 hours to go to 3 great nurseries.

Box stores and chains for cheery common annuals and perennials, and the occasional clearance plant or shrub. Get a mail order gift certificate every Christmas and birthday from a friend in NJ. Really like a couple of other online vendors for what the local stores don't carry. And mamajack's co-ops. Since I live so close to her, I can order more interesting stuff, then go pickup and drool over her gardens. Get the best of both that way.

I have to vote Team Both. I make a couple of trips to local nurseries in the spring and early summer for new perennials and an occasional annual. I tried coleus from Al's in Woodburn this spring. Boy am I glad I decided to try them after years of killing them. With the help of the Coleus Forum they are alive and growing beautifully.
Most of the plants I collect (sedum, sempervivum and some alpine plants) I buy online, they are hard to find locally and not much of a selection. I also like to trade through the mail.
I did find a nursery about 2 hours away that has a wonderful selection of alpine plants. It made for an all day outing that was such a treat.

i buy from both!- but sell by 'word of mouth',.,.We have a lot of 'know nothing' and 'shonky' nurseries here,[especially on-liners],.,.but...everybody gets to know a good 'backyard' local plant seller,dont they?

I am team both.. can not find the choice of coleus locally like I can online

I buy most of my plants locally. There are many nurseries about 5 - 30 miles around here with good variety. I even find some good stuff at Lowes, I also get wonderful variety at the organized swaps and gardenclub trades/sales. (Does the trip to Austin and getting cuttings from Bubbles count?) Still have to get my clematis online ( do they not realize there are more varieties than Jackmanii. Henryii and Ramona?) through Mamajacks co ops and other vendors.And garden supplies are also mainly online

This pot was about $6 (75% off) at Lowes.

Dominika, clematis

Have to vote Both since up until this year it has been pretty much 50/50. Now I am leaning more heavily towards local because of the shipping costs. A couple of local nurseries and resellers do carry some of the more interesting newer varieties which satisfies my unusual perennials addiction! For annuals I start my own if I want the unusual.

While your article said not to vote for both, I really must. For most plants, I try to purchase locally. I like to be able to see the plants first and make sure they are healthy and disease/bug free. When our local nurseries don't have the cultivars I want, I usually talk with the owners and ask that they order in what I seek. This is easy here because we have only four garden centers and I am long-time friends with three of the four owners. I think ordering in exactly what I want via a local nursery would be a lot more difficult if we lived somewhere else. Sometimes, however, buying locally is impossible. There are times when the plants I want are either so new or so rare in our locale that our local nurseries do not have access through their growers. This is particularly the case for three categories of plants: roses, irises, and clematis. For these plants, I purchase online or directly from growers in other parts of the country. There just are NO growers in our vicinity that offer a good selection of cultivars for any of these plants. Soooo, I'm truly "both"...

No worries. I actually rolled my eyes while typing out the instructions, knowing that people were going to be Team Both anyway!

Good to see you, Evey!

Hey, Evey and Trish! I have to vote both as well. I try locally first, and by that, I mean within my state or general driving area. We are fortunate to have some great "local" nurseries, but when I can't find what I want, then it's to the computer I go, Hi, Ho!

The Green industry dont give much choice but to buy from everybody! The fall season is the time when all the catalogs hit and as time goes on the items in the catalogs get cheaper. and beat up.I love to shop Lowe's bargain items in the back of the store.Even though they are bargains, it well worth your while to buy a plant when it 90% off!There use to lots of retail garden stores, but the box stores ran them out of business ... Still the box store dont meet the demand so mail order is still your best bet. They also give more refunds than the box stores do. I am a Hosta collector so I am very careful of who I buy Hostas from due to the HVX virus.. The Box stores are notorious for selling virus Hostas.

Speaking of Lowe's bargains, I found lots of Black and Blue salvias on sale there for $1.50, nice healthy looking plants, too. I bought one for a friend who's been eyeing mine, even though I told her to take some cuttings. I try to buy only sale items at Lowe's or HD, as their prices are getting ridiculous on seasonal plants. Starting as much as possible from seed.

that we're TOTALLY ignoring Trish' instructions. I am mostly team on line as I have specific seed wants and I want to buy certain plants from the most highly recommended Canadian suppliers. that being said, I go on a marathon nursery centre tour every May where we hop on a bus and tour small independent garden centers in the area.

Hi Trish.....my vote is for both as well. We have Forest Hill not far from where I live.....home of 100's & 100's of nurseries where I enjoy spring & fall plant shopping.

I'm both. I work at a Walmart and admittedly the selection is boring but there is the occasional jewel at a great price so I'm a finicky shopper there.
I keep purchasing the small perennial plants through co-op on Cubits and Yahoo but I'm slowly coming the the conclusion that I am ill equiped or interested in being a baby plant mama so I will pick and choose some local plants at the spendier nursery at end of season as their perennials are marked 50% off as the varieties begin to go dormant. My plant the next season will be bigger and another year older/established so I'm ahead on that already.

Bulbs and iris I have to go online or I'd never have anything remotely interesting. Just getting into clems and roses and those are online right now as well.