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If you live out in the country with a big SUV, getting plants is easy. You just drive on over to the local garden center and, boom, seed packets, palettes of plants, dirt, containers… You walk through the well-stocked nursery, load it all in your vehicle, and DONE.

It’s harder in a city. For one, if you’re like me, you don’t have a car. For two, big beautiful nurseries packed with plants are kind of hard to come by. There are really only two sources of plants in my neighborhood. The fancy florist which sells, like, orchids and bonsais, and the hardware store, which has a tiny rotating rack stocked with about five kinds of seed packets. Not exactly an abundance of options.

To procure plants, I’ve rented Zipcars and driven to Lowe’s. I’ve walked to the Gowanus Nursery then called a car service to take me home, surprising the poor driver with a dozen plant passengers. I’ve biked and walked home plants too, generally making a sweaty mess of myself. But that was before I decided on a less crazed alternative: the internet! The internet delivers!

I’m in deep garden planning mode right now. Scanning seed catalogs, loading up online shopping carts all over the place, preparing for spring. If you’re in a similar mindset, let’s talk.

Here are my favorite online seed and plant sources so far.

• RH Shumway’s. I started ordering from these guys because of the name (reminder: I’m Charity Shumway. I like to patronize the clan). But then I kept ordering from them because they have such an abundance of  vegetable seed options. Also, their print catalog (which you can ask them to send you) is old-timey and charming.
• Next up, two sources the magazine Garden Design turned me on to: High Mowing, which is a Vermont source that sells 100% organic seeds, and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, which is, as the name implies, a great source for heirloom seeds.
• Nature Hills Nursery has done right by me with their strawberries, grapevines, and even a nice peach tree.
• Forest Farm has beautiful, hard-to-find specimen trees. I have a dozen or so in my online cart right now. Oh, how I want a Dove Tree.
• Last but not least, I am in love with David Austin Roses. As the name implies, they sell ROSES, but not just any roses. Amazing, lush, old fashioned, beautiful roses. Perhaps you, like me, don’t have a lot of room for roses and would be better served by tomatoes. That doesn’t mean you can’t look. And order one or two despite the impracticality.

So that’s where my internet browser is pointed. Any other beloved online plant sources you’d like to share? I’d love to hear!

Tags: nurseries, plant sources, seed sources