What is the best mail order nursery?

Mail order is the same as saying online nursery. Before the internet became so popular, many nurseries used to send printed catalogs, so the name has stuck. We rank the top 20 mail order nurseries from first to worst. http://buyevergreenshrubs.com/

Are there different types of online nurseries?

YES! There are 3 different types. 1) Wholesale growers who have a retail website. 2) Your typical retail nursery but many online do not have a retail storefront. 3) Drop Shippers. Websites that don’t have their own fields with plants and use third party nurseries to ship their orders. Nature Hills Nursery is an example.

Can you order houseplants online?

Yes! Literally hundreds of different houseplants are for sale online with delivery to your door. You can compare prices from our top 6 places to buy houseplants online for over 170 popular houseplants. http://buyevergreenshrubs.com/live-houseplants/

Where can I buy plants at the lowest prices online?

Just remember you usually get what you pay for. In order of our ratings high to low, here are 3 ‘low-cost’ online nurseries. Arborday.org, Greenwood Nursery, TYTY Nurseries.

The Best Places To Buy Plants Online In 2025

2025 Top Rated Online Plant Nurseries

Where’s the best place to buy plants online?

From first to worst, our Top 20 online nursery rankings are below. We also list 11 other nurseries that we monitor below the rankings.

Unboxing Plants. Links are below to pictures and reviews from the many recent orders we placed with our top-rated online nurseries.

Trying to figure out what trees and shrubs you want can be overwhelming. So many choices with new introductions every year. There’s A LOT to choose from! Shopping online you’ll find just about every variety of tree or shrub but who has the best quality at the best prices?

We have worked with online nurseries since 2009, including 3 of the largest online plant nurseries in the country. We have also visited (to evaluate) or ordered plants from over 37 online garden centers. We know what to look for and don’t hold back what we dig up (pun intended).

Rank	Online Nursery	Rating	Change
1		93	N/C
2		90	+1
3		86.5	+1
4		84	+1
5		80.5	-4
6		79.5	N/C
7		79	+1
8		79	-1
9		79	+2
10		78.5	-1
11		77.5	-1
12		77	N/C
13		76	N/C
14		76	N/C
15		76	+1
16		75.5	-1
17		75	N/C
18		73.5	N/C
19		70.5	+1
20		69	-1

Other nurseries we review:

Four Winds Growers

In our opinion, Four Winds Growers Nursery is the place to go online to buy a wide variety of dwarf and semi-dwarf citrus trees. We have ordered from them 3 times and have always been impressed with the plants they send. If you think it’s too cold where you live, think again. Just bring it indoors for winter and keep the tree near a southern-facing, sunny window. I have 13 Meyer lemons maturing on my 5-year-old tree right now. I am constantly amazed at how it keeps coming back year after year after being inside my home for months. The only downside is that I now need to borrow a neighbor’s hand truck to move it indoors. A small inconvenience.

Proven Winners

One of the premier brand names in the landscape world, Proven Winners is now selling many of their plants directly to consumers.

Nature Hills Nursery

A drop ship model, meaning they send orders to real nurseries that ship out the plants. They are a middleman with an added fee for themselves.

Gardener Direct

Editor’s Rating: 6.1 Stars (out of 10)

Cons

F Grade from the Better Business Bureau
Long and confusing terms of service

Their latest grade was a D-.

Direct Gardening

They have consistently been one of our worst-ranked online nurseries.

McKay Nursery

Great reputation as a wholesale grower. Their regional landscape division also has a good reputation. Their retail online nursery? Not so much.

Pixie Gardens

Based in Conyers, GA, they have been making a concerted effort to build up their online nursery.

Citrus.com

Good selection and prices for dwarf and semi-dwarf citrus trees. Attractive prices and good quality. You can shop citrus trees for sale and compare the best prices from our top-rated nurseries.

Bluestone Perennials

One of our top nurseries for perennials.

American Meadows

Great online store for perennials & annuals.

Plant Addicts

They are a drop shipper based in Omaha, NE. The 2 friends who own it built the site and gathered supplier connections while working at Nature Hills Nursery.

Lively Root

LivelyRoot.com is one of our 6 best places to buy houseplants online.

They offer a wide selection of the most popular and even hard-to-find plants. Their prices are awesome, they carry different sizes and they offer free shipping on orders over $49.

They also offer a lot of helpful tips and advice for finding and caring for the best houseplants for your situation.

Disclosure

All company names and logos are trademarks™ or registered® trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.

Before you place an order please make sure you verify when your plants will ship. Do it before giving them your money. Even southern nurseries that can ship year-round face some exceptions & delays with extreme temperature conditions. Also make sure you know if you are buying bareroot, it’s most likely to be delivered in late spring.

If a site says something like; ‘ships 7 to 10 days weather permitting’ call them to verify the shipping status.

This is why we list the location of the nursery in each of their reviews. In most cases, it lets you know where your plants will be shipped from. Southern nurseries get a month or two head start on their growing season from their counterparts up north. Also, most northern nurseries will start shipping later in spring while many in the south can ship year-round.

Unboxing Orders

We continually place orders for plants from our top-rated nurseries. You can view pictures and read the complete unboxing review for each by clicking on any of the links below. Unboxing is listed in chronological order, with the most recent orders on top.

Unboxing Garden Goods Direct Rattlesnake Plant

Unboxing Windmill Palm from My Perfect Plants Nursery

Unboxing Houseplant from Lively Root

Unboxing Meyer Lemon tree from Planting Tree Nursery

Unboxing perennials from Jackson & Perkins

Unboxing Loropetalum Shrubs from Perfect Plants Nursery

Unboxing Loropetalum Shrub From PlantingTree.com

Unboxing Snake Houseplant ($15 for a 2-foot tall plant!) September, 2021

Unboxing From Fast-Growing-Trees.com June, 2021

Unboxing From MyPerfectPlants.com May, 2021

Unboxing Order From Great Garden Plants April, 2021

Unboxing Evergreen Shrub From PlantsByMail.com Nursery

Unboxing Blueberry Shrubs From Perfect Plants Nursery

Unboxing Meyer Lemon from Fast Growing Trees

Unboxing Meyer Lemon from Four Winds Growers

Unboxing Tabletop Christmas Tree from Jackson & Perkins

Unboxing Camellias from Garden Goods Direct

Unboxing Rosemary & Blueberry Bush From Planting Tree

Unboxing 4 Plants Ordered From The Tree Center

Frequently Asked Questions

We worked with 5 of the largest online plant nurseries in the country for over 12 years. We have also visited (to evaluate) or ordered plants from over 32 online garden centers and wholesale growers. We know what to look for and we don’t hold back what we dig up (pun intended). This site is dedicated to helping you buy plants online with confidence at the lowest prices.

Our Grading Scale:

Disclaimer

All the information on this website – BuyEvergreenShrubs.com – is published in good faith and for general information purposes only. Buy Evergreen Shrubs does not make any warranties about the completeness, reliability, and accuracy of this information. Any action you take upon the information you find on this website (BuyEvergreenShrubs.com), is strictly at your own risk. Buy Evergreen Shrubs will not be liable for any losses and/or damages in connection with the use of our website.

About the Author

About
Latest Posts

Doug Hall

President at Target Marketing Solutions

Doug Hall owns BuyEvergreenShrubs.com and has over 14 years experience working with some of the largest online plant nurseries. Doug has consulted for, visited and evaluated quality from over 50 plant nurseries. He also has extensive direct marketing experience.