Buying plants by mail: shopper tips

Catalogs & suppliers · Published 2026-10-21

Detail of a 1912 California seed catalog cover showing large white, red and pink aster flowers — A Los Angeles seed and plant company's catalog cover, 1912. Image: Germain Seed and Plant Company, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Buying plants by mail opens up varieties no garden centre stocks, but a box of living plants is not like other online shopping. Plants have seasons, sizes vary enormously, and some of the consumer rules you might expect do not apply. These tips will help you order well and know your options if something goes wrong.

Before you order

Know your conditions

Look up your zone on the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, and note your average last spring frost and first fall frost dates from your local extension service. Know how much sun each bed gets and what your soil is like. A plant that is wrong for your conditions is a poor buy at any price.

Make a list and a budget

Catalogs are designed to tempt. Write down what you need, how many, and where each will go, then order to the list. It is easy to order more plants than you can plant in the few days after they arrive.

Check your state's rules

Some states restrict particular plants, such as invasive species or hosts of regulated pests, and suppliers may be unable to ship them to you. Reputable nurseries will say so. If you are buying from outside the US, you are an importer under USDA rules: see our guide to plants and seeds across borders and state lines.

Compare what you actually get

Two listings for the same plant at very different prices may be offering very different things.

Listed as	What it usually means	Ask or check
Plug or liner	A young plant in a small cell	Cell size or depth; time to flowering
Quart, 1-gallon, 2-gallon	Potted plant by container volume	Age and height of the plant, not only pot size
Bare-root	Dormant plant shipped without soil	Grade or number of canes, eyes or fans
Bulb size in cm	Circumference of the bulb	Bigger bulbs usually mean more or larger flowers
Seed packet	A quantity of seed	Seed count or weight, not the packet's price alone

Our guides to plugs, liners and potted plants and to bare-root plants explain the trade-offs.

Read the guarantee

What is covered: arrival in good condition only, or survival through the first season?
For how long, and from which date?
What you must do: photographs on arrival, a claim within a set number of days, returning the plant?
What you get: a replacement, store credit or a refund, and whether shipping is refunded.
What is excluded: weather, planting outside the listed zone, late planting, pests.

Shipping times: a rule that does not apply

For most mail and online orders, the Federal Trade Commission's Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule requires sellers to ship within the time they state, or within 30 days if they state none, and to tell you about delays and offer a refund. The FTC's business guide lists a few exemptions, and one of them is sales of seeds and growing plants. Nurseries legitimately hold orders until the right planting time for your area, sometimes for months.

That makes the supplier's own written policy more important. Before ordering, check:

When your order will ship, by zone or by date, and whether you can choose or change it.
Whether you will be charged at order time or at shipping time.
How you will be notified, with tracking, before plants leave.
What happens if an item sells out before your ship date.

Paying safely

Paying by credit card gives you dispute rights under the Fair Credit Billing Act: according to the FTC, charges for goods that were not delivered as agreed count as billing errors you can dispute in writing, generally within 60 days of the statement on which the charge first appeared. Debit cards are covered by different, generally weaker rules. Keep your order confirmation, the shipping policy as it stood when you ordered, and all correspondence.

Choosing ship dates

Pick a ship date that lets the plants arrive when you can plant them within a few days.
Avoid arrival just before a weekend or a holiday, when boxes may sit in a depot or on a hot porch.
In hot regions, ask whether the nursery pauses live-plant shipping in heat waves, and whether it ships early in the week.
For bulbs, order early for the best choice, but plant at the right time for your area: see our bulb guide.

When the box arrives

Open it the same day, check every plant against the packing list, photograph anything damaged or missing, and contact the supplier at once. Then follow the care steps in our guide to unpacking plants: water, shade, and plant or pot up quickly.

If something goes wrong

Contact the supplier first, in writing, with photographs and your order number. Most nurseries replace dead or damaged plants without argument when contacted promptly.
Keep to the deadline in the guarantee.
Escalate politely: ask for a supervisor and set a reasonable deadline for a reply.
Dispute the charge with your card issuer if the goods were never delivered as agreed.
Report unresolved problems to your state attorney general's consumer protection office, and fraud to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Reviews: reading between the lines

Reviews help, but read them carefully. A plant that died for one buyer in a different climate tells you little about your garden. Look for patterns over several seasons: consistent comments about packing, plant size, accuracy of names and how complaints were handled. Be wary of review pages with only five-star ratings, and of sites that look like independent review portals but only promote one seller.

Order to a list, read the guarantee, and be ready to plant the day it arrives.

Sources

Federal Trade Commission, Business guide to the FTC's Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule (exemption for sales of seeds and growing plants).
Federal Trade Commission, Using credit cards and disputing charges.
USDA Agricultural Research Service, USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
USDA APHIS, How to buy plants and seeds online.