Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Plants on Ebay

We've bought a lot of things on Ebay: a digital camera, Carolina basketball tickets, books, and dishes. For a long time, though, it never occurred to me that people sell plants there too. But they do.

Teresa wanted a Sweetshrub (Carolina Allspice) for her flowerbed, and after a fruitless (sorry) search around Greensboro, I found Lee's Nursery on Ebay and ordered one. Since Lee will combine shipping ($7 for 1-10 plants) there was no reason to just buy one plant...clever rationalization, huh? So I scrolled through the listings and found a dwarf burning bush, a mock orange, and some Nikko Blue hydrangeas. Just the things to fill in some gaps in the back border.

Lee had good feedback from other buyers, and at $3 a plant, I figured I couldn't go wrong. They shipped on Tuesday and arrived on Thursday by priority mail. The plants were as advertised, 1-2 feet long (hydrangeas smaller) and in great condition as far as I can tell. Only the burning bush had leaves when they arrived, but the mock orange has since put out several buds. The others are green when I scrape the stems, so hopefully they will leaf out soon!

The plants are about the size you would find in a 1 gallon pot, maybe a little smaller, and pruned back if still dormant.

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