Ordering from Plant Delights Nursery

So you've picked out several of our rare and unusual plants for sale and now you want to order your plants. This page should answer any questions that you have regarding our ordering and checkout process.


Quick Index: Domestic Shipments |  International Shipments |  Local Pick Up |  Shipping Charges | Payment |  Substitutes, Refunds, Credits |  Guarantee Policy

Domestic Shipments

Our shipping season typically runs from the end of February until the end of November, though it is driven by the weather, so in warmer years it may expand to nearly year-round. Our shipping rate is the same for up to 6 plants.

Weather permitting, our spring plant orders will be shipped on your preferred shipping date indicated on your plant order form. If you do not indicate a preferred date, we will assign a date according to your USDA Hardiness Zone. Be sure to indicate any specific dates when you will NOT be available to receive your order. Email confirmations are sent after the order is entered into our order processing system, so please watch for and review emails regarding your order. If you are not an email-friendly customer, we will be happy to send you a paper order acknowledgment via snail mail. If your ship date arrives and we see that potentially damaging weather is predicted, we will delay shipping until conditions improve. We want to be sure you are ready to receive your new adoptees.

Before we got into this business, we thought companies were making a lot of money on shipping...maybe so, but nurseries aren't. After careful analysis of the time required to take an order for plants, pull the plants from the growing area, assess the weather, review the state agricultural requirements, prep the plants for travel, wrap them, pack them, generate the shipping paperwork, and acquire shipping boxes (are you tired yet?), there is no profit from shipping...it is break-even at best. And, like our federal government, we are dedicated to continuing this nursery tradition.

We offer Next Day Air, and Second Day Air premium services to the continental United States at an additional cost. Second Day Air charge is $17.00 per plant with a $102.00 minimum. Next Day Air is $23.00 per plant with a $138.00 minimum.

Shipping Charges by Region: Our shipping rate is the same for up to 6 plants.

State Your minimum shipping charge
(if ordering 6 plants or less):
Addition per plant charge We usually ship via
Region 5: AK, HI*, PR*, VI* $81.00 $13.50 Air Service
Region 4: AZ, CA, ID, MT, NV, OR, UT, WA, or WY $75.00 $12.50 Air Service
Region 3: CO, KS, NE, ND, NM, OK, SD, or TX $57.00 $9.50 3-day Service
Region 2: AL, AR, IA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MI, MN, MO, MS, OH, TN, or WI $51.00 $8.50 Ground Service
Region 1: All other states not listed above $49.50 $8.25 Ground Service
*$10.00 NCDA Inspection & where applicable $5.00 per plant to Bare Root
United States map depicting shipping regions used by Plant Delights

Site Order Pick-Up

If you are near our Raleigh, NC location, you can skip the shipping-fee by picking up your plant order on-site at the nursery. If you place your order on-line, just click the box for site pickup (on the shopping cart page), and our customer service staff will be in touch with a time and date when your order is ready for pick-up. If you place your plant order by phone, just ask about site pick-up. Our long time local customers like to place their orders when the catalog first comes out in January to ensure their favorites are not sold out, and then drop by to pick up the plants they ordered months later in April or May when it is time to plant. Pretty clever of them!

International Shipments

We work closely with the USDA and shipping companies to ensure that your plants pass inspection and are allowed entry into your country. Scheduling the shipping date of your plant order is dependent on the plant inspector's visit and the volume of international plant orders. Unless we are at fault, we do not refund or replace plants that die due to time in transit or customs delays. A $200 plant purchase minimum is required for all international plant orders.

Charges for foreign plant orders are as follows: the actual price of the plants, a $115 phytosanitary certificate fee, and a handling fee of $5 per plant. Shipping costs will be charged to your credit card separately on the day of shipment. To avoid any misunderstandings, we will not quote estimated shipping charges in advance. Until your plants are bare-rooted, packaged, and weighed we do not know how much the shipping charges will be. The amount charged by the shipping company is the amount that will be charged to your credit card. Additional costs associated with a broker, including any duties and taxes, are your responsibility. Whenever possible, PDN uses the less expensive US Postal Service as the primary international carrier.

Please check with your country's Ministry of Agriculture to determine if any plants you wish to order require an import permit or are listed on a prohibited plants list. If an import permit is required, we must have this document prior to the shipping date for your plants. The import permit must be the original document issued by your Ministry of Agriculture, not a photocopy and it must be in English. If you cancel your order after USDA inspection, the $115 phytosanitary certification fee is non-refundable. If you cancel your order after the plants have been bare-rooted, the handling fee is non-refundable and there is a $3 per plant re-potting fee. Orders that are refused due to transit delays or unpaid duties and taxes will not be refunded. Regardless of the circumstances, you are expected to accept delivery of your order. Should you experience a legitimate problem after unpacking your order, we will be happy to assist you.

Consider coordinating with your friends to pool several separate orders into one large, single plant order. That way you and your friends pay a single phytosanitary fee and a single shipping fee which can save you a lot of money.

Reminder for Foreign Shipments:

  • $200 Minimum plant order
  • $115 for Phytosanitary inspection & certificate
  • $5 per plant handling fee
  • Shipping is weight based and is determined on the day of shipping and charged to you on the day of shipping

Once your plants arrive they should be unpacked immediately. Soak the roots for a few minutes in warm water, then repot or plant in the ground as usual. Herbaceous perennials are tough plants and will bounce back from shipping stress with your tender loving care.

Payment

Payment by check, Visa, Discover, Mastercard, American Express, or PayPal (for web orders) must accompany your plant order. Make checks payable to: Plant Delights Nursery, Inc. We also accept cash, but only the kind with dead presidents pictured on the front. Orders will be filled on a first-come, first-paid, first-served basis. All items in this catalog are currently available but quantities may be limited. Ordering early will greatly increase your chances of receiving all of your first choices. Your credit card will be charged when your order is placed, which reserves the plants you have chosen. In spite of our best efforts, a reserved plant may occasionally fall prey to disease, fail to break dormancy, or develop other concerns that do not meet our quality criteria. Should this be the case, you will receive a credit/refund as outlined under Substitutes, Refunds, Credits.

Advisory - If you have already run your credit cards up to the limit, we suggest that you get a higher credit limit before reading through this catalog.

Substitutes, Refunds, Credits

Please list acceptable plant substitutes on your order form. While an item may sell steadily through the season, one customer, an insect, or disease can quickly wipe out those available plants. Because of the minimum shipping charge, it is to your advantage to list a few substitutes. We may need to contact you should there be a balance due on your order. When substitutes are not possible, indicate on your order form whether you prefer credit towards a future order, a refund, or a backorder (must have $20 minimum for backorder). If no preference is listed on your order form or in the comments field on your web order, we will issue a customer credit or gift certificate to use on a future order. If you prefer a refund, please let us know.

Making Changes to Your Existing Order

We are happy to make changes to your existing plant order as long as the plants have not been pulled for shipment. Our orders are pulled on Fridays and Mondays for shipment the following Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. Once the plants have been pulled for shipping, it is impossible for us to locate your order and exchange your plants, or to keep it from being wrapped and packaged.

You must call or email us with changes to your shipping date or additions to your order by 4:00 p.m. on the Wednesday before your scheduled shipping week. A phone call is best to ensure order changes are processed prior to pulling.

Once orders have been pulled, in order to prevent errors and keep our sanity, we are unable to reschedule orders for a later date.

Orders staged in our staging greenhouse prior to shipping

"Where's that order?" - Our staging greenhouse filled with orders ready to be packed.

Packing

We grow all of our plants in containers. Most plants are grown in 24 oz. (3 9/16" square) containers, with some of the larger plants in 2 qt. (1.892 L) or 3 qt. (2.83L) pots. All 24 oz. plants are shipped in their containers, while plants grown in larger containers will have their containers and loose soil removed before shipping. Dormant bulbous plants are packed and shipped in peat moss. Click here for more information about what you will receive.

Website Security

You may place your orders through our on-line catalog without worry. Our shopping cart uses industry standard Secure Socket Layer (SSL) to encrypt your credit card information during the payment collection steps. We further promise that your card number will be kept encrypted and secure after it arrives on our server.

Guarantee Policy

There are no guarantees in life. But there is a guarantee for our mail-order plants. View our guarantee policy.

How to be a Good Customer

After all, there's 7 billion of you and only 2 of us to answer the phone. Click here for good-customer pointers.

Guide to Using the Catalog

Don't know the difference between a genus and a cultivar? Find out more about plant names here.

Shipping Department Images

Photo montage: How do our unique, rare, and native perennial plants move from our growing greenhouses to your front porch?

Contact Us

Via phone, fax, e-mail, letter, or passenger pigeon! We'd love to hear from you. Click here for contact details.