FAQ: When I Place an Order, How Soon Can I Expect to Receive It?

Customers often want to know, especially in the fall and spring, how soon they can expect to receive an order that they have placed.

We don’t print anything in our website or catalog about shipping or delivery times because it varies so much depending on the time of year, where you live and what you order.  We don’t have “overnight or express delivery” options on the website because our ability to fulfill an expedited shipping request will, again, depend largely on what you order.  Here is a graphic overview of the times of year when we can ship seed and plants:

SEED is shipped year-round. During the busy months (fall: Oct. and Nov. and spring: April and May), a small order (just a few packets or ounces of seeds) should be shipped in a few days.  A larger order or diverse custom mix may take us up to a week.  During the slower summer and winter months, we can turn most orders around in a day or two. Again, the exception would be diverse customized or very large seed mixes.  We ship smaller orders with USPS and heavier or high-value orders with Spee-Dee Delivery Service for the Upper Midwest (usually 1-day delivery) and UPS for the rest of the U.S. (2-5 days).

BARE-ROOT PLANTS are shipped during optimal planting times for dormant roots: spring (April and May) and fall (Oct.). We take plant orders year-round but only ship during these times.  If, for example, you order in August (after we have finished spring shipping for the season),  we will reserve the plants for you until the next shipping season (Oct.).  We wait to charge credit cards on plant orders until the order ships.

SEED AND BARE-ROOT COMBO ORDERS: If you order seed and bare roots at the same time we will determine if we should send your seed before or with your plants.  Many seeds need 30-60 days of cold, moist stratification before they will germinate and so are best planted in the fall or spring.  If, for example, you order seeds with your plants in August, we will most likely hold the seed and ship it with your plants in October.  If you order seed and roots in January, we will assume you want to stratify your seed indoors or want to do an outdoor frost seeding, so we will split the order and send your seed immediately and hold the roots until April.  We always split the shipping fee so you are not charged extra if we send you two shipments.

TRAYS (POTTED PLANTS): Our trays of 38 potted plants are greenhouse-grown so are not ready to ship until late May.  We continue to take orders and ship through late July.  As with seed and bare roots, if you order a tray of potted plants with seed and/or bare roots, we will separate the tray from the rest of the order and ship it at the proper time with no extra shipping fee.

Having said all this, we are a small company and do our best to accommodate all individual requests, even during our busiest months.  We can respond personally to a request that you include with your order (in the “Special Order Instructions” box as you check out online or via phone, email, fax or mail) and give you more specific details on if /how/when we can honor special order instructions.

Please note: Delivery days do not include the day that we send out your parcel, weekend days or holidays. To assure minimum transit time, we ship plants early in the week.