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In our quest to fill our home and garden with amazing fruit trees, we've had to take a leap of faith and order from nurseries online as local stores simply did not offer the products we were looking for.
As such, we had to do some research into which stores were the best for our needs.
One problem we noted when researching plants online is that most nurseries don't actually have listed photos of the exact plant you are going to buy. They have stock images, sure, but not the plant that is going to arrive at your doorstep. You generally just get a listed size measurement (either height or pot size in gallons) and that's that. So we have ordered on faith, held our breath, and hoped for the best.
As it turns out, many of the nurseries we've ordered from have turned out to be quite wonderful and exceeded our expectations all around. So in this one, we thought we'd make a running list of all of the nurseries we've ordered from online in case you need some peace of mind when making your next purchase!
Note: We tend to only buy fruiting species online, such as citrus trees, vines, bushes, etc. We are unable to make any statements of quality for other plant types. It does seem like some of these companies could possibly source from several nurseries around the country, depending on plant type, so your mileage will vary.
Fast Growing Trees
Fast Growing Trees feels like one of those online stores that shouldn't be real. To say they have everything may actually be an understatement. This one feels like they really have everything.
On the tropical fruit tree tab alone, they have plants like banana trees, vanilla bean plants, guava trees, lychee, mamey sapote, and so much more- and that's just me taking a random sampling of some of the obscure ones found in a quick search while writing this article. The collection is simply massive, in a large variety of plant categories, and is my idea of shopping heaven.
So whenever anyone asks where I sourced my obscure fruit trees from, like Alphonso mango, Longan, and more, the answer is simple- Fast Growing Trees.
One of my favorite parts of Fast Growing Trees is that a lot of the trees often come in different size options. So if you're a bit flush with cash and want to cut off months or years of growing time, you may be able to pay for a slightly larger tree at the start. But this one gets even better as we've noticed that the store has frequent sales, and sometimes you may be able to get a discount on a larger tree at the start.
We were able to buy a 4-5 foot tall pink guava tree for just a few dollars more than the 2-3 foot tall tree simply by catching a sale. But, as a bonus, this one always seems to ship us plants that are on the larger side of that range, and it showed up at a towering six feet and already producing fruit! (Seriously, it was so tall we had to top it off because we could barely get it through our backdoor when potted.)
To say we are impressed is an understatement, and I regularly buy obscure fruit trees from this one.
That said, out of all of the nurseries we buy from, we've heard the most variety of comments with regard to Fast Growing Trees. Some, like us, have never had an issue (and, when we did, like a blueberry bush not making it, they quickly replaced our order). Others were less impressed with their products, which were admittedly not fruit trees.
If anything, this one feels like it could have the most variability based on plant types and where they are sourced from. But for fruiting trees, we've had great experiences.
Plants we've bought from Fast Growing Trees: Paw paw tree, Alphonso mango tree, Pink guava tree, Kumquat tree, Lychee tree, Dragonfruit cactus, Longan tree
Four Winds Growers
For those who are looking to purchase citrus trees, it is hard to beat Four Winds Growers. This one has been our go-to for all things citrus over the years, and has an impressive library of about 60 unique species. (They stock more fruit trees beyond citrus, but it seems like citrus is their specialty.)
From rootstock to key lime, meyer lemon, Australian finger lime, makrut, yuzu, calamodin, and so much more, citrus lovers will be in heaven here and it is very tempting to just fill your cart with everything. Likewise, the trees often come in at respectable price points, which, in my research at least, seems much less than Fast Growing Trees, above.
Size options can be a bit limited here, with most citrus trees being sold at the 2-3 foot size mark. Still, we've had some trees delivered with fruit on them, so depending on the species, some may be already at fruiting maturity while others may need a year or three to continue to grow to production size. (This is a your mileage may vary situation depending on tree type, so don't bank on that.)
Still, Four Winds Growers has always shipped us incredibly healthy trees, often at the higher end of the size range, making us happy customers for the quality and value.
Plants we've bought from Four Winds Growers: Passionfruit vines, Australian finger lime tree, Santa Teresa lemon tree, Yuzu tree, Calamansi tree, Kumquat tree, Fig trees, Meyer lemon tree, Key lime tree.
Stark Bros.
Stark Bros. is another large online nursery with a huge stock of products, and on the fruit tree and bush side of things trends slightly towards species you may be familiar with- think cherry, apple, etc.
While this one does stock more exotic products, such as an impressive lineup of pawpaws that we purchased, their variety of the classics is truly hard to beat. We know friends who purchased numerous unique species of apple trees from Stark with great results, which we love for those who are looking for options in a wealth of categories- conventional or otherwise.
Plants we've bought from Stark Bros.: Pawpaw tree, blueberry bushes
One Green World
One Green World brands itself as selling “unique plants, shrubs, and trees” and after looking through their inventory, we fully agree with that tagline.
Although this one has a large collection of plants, we stumbled upon them when looking for two very specific products- cold-tolerant kiwi vines (male and female) and Maypops (the North American equivalent of passionfruit).
Their collection of these two plant types is quite impressive, and not only did they have both at the time of my order, they had many different species, too! So, much like Four Wind Growers, this one made it easy to load up my cart with a variety, click ship, and have my products delivered quickly.
Finally, One Green World had great customer support when one of our kiwi vines died after delivery. I believe it got shocked during shipment and didn't recover, and they quickly shipped us a replacement at no extra charge. All told, excellent customer service here.
Plants we've bought from One Green World: Kiwi vines, yuzu tree, Maypop vines
Cold Hardy Cactus
My finding Cold Hardy Cactus came after a day looking up whether or not prickly pear cacti can thrive in Zone 7. As part of this deep dive, I found out that there are some species of cacti that not only thrive in cooler climates (handling sometimes brutal winter dips), but also produce fruit!
So, no one should be surprised that the aptly named Cold Hardy Cactus store ended up in my search results at some point, with an impressive collection of winter-hardy cacti and succulents.
My favorite thing about this store is the depth of its product line. You really can go down the rabbit hole of all manner of species here with various shapes, sizes, flower colors, and, of course, edible fruit. In a way, the store is almost a bit too much because there really is a lot to sort through. Descriptions can also be on the sparser side, so you would do well to research the scientific name a bit more on your own to ensure the cactus is right for what you're looking for (particularly for zone and fruiting concerns).
Still, this is a great store to buy unique (and small) cacti to start in your garden, and while we are still in our likely multi-year wait for them to reach maturity to flower and fruit, they are beautiful additions planted next to our beehives. (Yes, we thought it'd be a fun animal deterrent. No, we're not sure if it actually is working.)
Plants we've bought from Cold Hardy Cactus: Prickly pear cacti
Do you have a favorite online nursery to buy plants from? Comment to share!