Just to be clear, I am not affiliated with nor have any incentive to promote this business other than to get people to support them as they are such a fantastic operation. Spending money here vs a bargain operation is voting with your money.

I have patronized 4 mail order nurseries so far. None have even come close to the quality of Nourse Farms!

Specifically:

1. Plant vigor: The plants they sent have a huge number of healthy buds. I ordered a tree from another nursery that came pruned in a manner that left no living buds. I don’t know how it will survive.
2. Secure Packaging: The plants come immaculately packaged. Each plant has an individually wrapped root system, then all similar plants are wrapped together around a bamboo support. For example, all of my blueberries came bundled together with each individual plant having its own soil wrapped root system. Same for strawberries, gooseberries, currants, asparagus and rhubarb.
3. Varietal tagging: Each plant was individually tagged with its variety. One nursery sent me plants with loose tags that did not stay attached so it took enormous effort to determine which one was which variety. Another nursery sent me plants in tiny pots with slip in tags. They then packed the plants sideways so most of the tags fell out of the pots.
4. Extra Support: They attached each bundle of plants to a section of bamboo that protects them all from being broken either in shipment or unpacking. The nursery from which I ordered my trees and a few brambles wrapped everything in together. Even with meticulous unpacking, some of the valuable buds were knocked off and tender young stems snapped.
5. Economical Shipping: While not packed in a manner that compromised safety, the plants were arranged in a very economical manner in regard to both space and money. In fact the nursery somehow packed 200+ plants weighing 30 pounds in a box smaller than a Rubbermaid tub.
6. Location: Located in New England grants more confidence that the plants are adapted to local winter conditions compared to those from southern nurseries.

Since some of my raspberries succumbed to an errant pass of a lawn mower, I’m excited to replace them with the great stock from Nourse Farms.