The scoop on 'Shooting Star Nursery'

I just received my first order from Shooting Star and am very pleased. The plants were packaged very well, were good sized for the $$ and in excellent condition.
I will certainly order from them again.

I ordered three Washington Hawthorns from Shooting Star, because they had the best prices with shipping. The three trees arrived promptly and in excellent shape. They were all starting to leaf out. Could not be more pleased. Will order from them again.

This summer I ordered 2 shrub and several perennials. The order came incredibly fast, and I was very pleased with the packaging. None of the plants were broken or crushed, despite the delivery person just basically throwing in the boxes in the general direction of my porch. The only problem was that they had shipped me the straight species Itea shrub, and not the cultivar I had ordered. However, they promptly shipped me the correct shrubs. The plants were a great value for what I paid. Will order again!

My purchase from Shooting Star was satisfactory.

I purchased a Canadian Yew from them. They were the only company who carries it.

While the root ball was small, I wasn't too disappointed because A) I had a very shallow area to plant and B) The plant was robust and is doing very nicely.

The prices were a little on the high side for my taste, for the size you receive.

I would probably purchase from Shooting Star again if they are the only source for something I need.

Communication was very good.

Three weeks ago I went to Shooting Star (3.5 hr drive each way) because I only want native species (no hybrid cultivars, no exotics) and I was having difficulty finding them locally. Yes, I was shocked how small most items were but was truely impressed by the vast choice,reasonable price, and health of their plants. When buying items like giant wood ferns (mature size 3-6'), it's peachy to take home a whole forest in a small Toyota. Natalie willingly pulled out many individual trees or shrubs until I found one or a group with the conformation that I wanted. I was picky and demanding; the staff were always helpful and friendly. My only regret was not buying more!

It's difficult for me to decide how to rate Shooting Star, so it had to be neutral by default.

The plants were small.
I know on the homepage it states the 3½-4½" container size so the size of the plants should be understood beforehand, but some of my plants were small even for that. A few of them (the Roseshell and Carolina Azaleas and the Redbud "trees") should have been labeled "rooted cuttings" because that is what they are- small rooted cuttings.

So on the positive side they are very cheap and a good variety of hard to find native plants. Marie was more than helpful to me and responded quickly to email questions even after I expressed my concerns with plant sizes.
Shipping was extremely fast and the packaging was done very well. I am happy that a nursery is interested in preserving our natives and providing me with a source so I want to support them with my business.

But all of these positives were tempered by my extreme disappointment when I saw the plants themselves. I've shopped online for plants for years and these were by far the smallest and raggediest I have ever received. It was a fair amount of money for such a small pile of plants- I just stood there wondering how I was going to justify the cost to my husband.

If everything lives I will come back and perhaps change or ammend my comments. But when we plant some of these plants this weekend we are going to have to cage them simply to remember where they are and not mistake them for weeds.

So order in good faith but understand that you will could possibly receive very tiny cuttings.

Dear Cearbhaill, Sorry that you did not like your plants! Yes they are small, but none were reproduced from cuttings; all were grown from seed. The Azaleas were over three years old, short (5" aabove ground) well rooted but multibranched and fully leaved out. Because the redbud were small, which I said they would be, giving exact height to the customer when ordering, we sent an extra plant at no charge. They were all well rooted in their pots. (They grow very rapidly and should be several feet tall next year.) The time and care involved to get some of these plants to a size that will grow on for our customers is certainly not reflected in our prices. Cheep is a word that is never used here, we try to make our plants accesable for those who do want to use natives. The image of someone opening a box and being disapointed is a hard image to shake, that is not our intent. We want every one to be as excited and pleased to receive as we are to send them. Marianne

I ordered a Dutchman's Pipe and two Bearberry plants. The nursery held off mailing until the weather was cool enough. The plants arrived well packed and in very good shape. They're all now planted in my garden and are doing well. I'd definitely order from Shooting Star again.

I just received my 1st order from Shooting Star (3 Lonicera sempervirens) and they are very large and in excellent condition!! I'm making a list of more native plants that I "need" to add and will hopefully be able to make a trip to the nursery next spring.

Shooting Star is an exceptional nursery and mail order plant source. Their stock is the hardiest and largest of any company I have ordered from and I have ordered from many over the last 15 years. The packing is excellent, shipping is very fast and the communication on order status is the best I have ever received. The company gets a big A++++++++.

I am new to gardening. I ordered trumpet honeysuckle, and received personal support, several positive communications and, very quickly, two healthy and well packed little plants.

The entire transaction was excellent, and I recommend this company.

Friendly folks, nice plants well packed.

I've ordered from a few native nurseries and I rate these as one of the better ones. This is their first year accepting orders online and while there have been some glitches, they are quick to answer e-mails (BIG +) and are very pleasant on the phone (ditto). They apparently packed my order so quickly I was almost unable to add a plant, but fortunately they read my mind and did it for me before I called. They have an excellent selection and an extensive plant list. Lately I have been trying to go with plants native to my area (as cataloged in 1879) and they had quite a few (too many :)) plants I could buy.

I have ordered from Shooting Star Nursery three times since 2003. Their catalog is well organized with excellent discriptions of each item as well as zone, light and soil requirements. Their web site is easy to use and includes all of the above information plus colored pictures.

Each shipment I received was well packed, all plants were labeled and all arrived in good condition.

I have very sandy soil and am frequently away for several days at a time. The few plants that I have lost I blame on my lack of care, deer or rabbits.

I am enjoying the wonderful shapes, colors and scents of the different plants I have received. I highly recommend Shooting Star Nursery to anyone who wants to try something unique or those who choose to stay with traditional plants.

I ordered some New England Asters and was very pleased with the purchase. I found the company to be very helpful and friendly. I wouldn't hesitate order from Shooting Star again.

I've ordered from Shooting Star several times, and each time have been happy with both the service and the plants I've received. I've had better luck with their perennials than their shrubs, but that's true in general with me and mail-order shrubs.

On the perennials, I've got 100% survival at one year. Shrubs I've been closer to 50/50. Again, that probably means I need to do a better job of keeping the shrubs watered while they get established.

I ordered an Allegheny serviceberry which was beautiful and sturdy and doing fine after being planted.

Two out of three of the wild ginger I ordered are likewise thriving.

The other wild ginger was DOA.

The two Solomon Seal I ordered arrived with their main stems broken, and rapidly died.

The plants didn't seem to have been packed securely. It's entirely possible that this is only a mail-order problem. I regret giving such a negative review, becuase the woman was so friendly on the phone. However -- an almost 50% failure rate is pretty dismal.

I was disappointed to see potawotami's rating on this order. We get so busy in the spring that I did not have time to review your web site, which I wish I had. Please call if an order is not what you expect when it arrives. We will work with you. Shipping can indead be hard on plants and we do try to package them to survive the journey, but every so often they just do not make it. I hope you try again potawotami and please mention your order. I have pulled it and have it out by the phone. Marianne

I've been purchasing plants from them for 3 years and always a positive experience. Great group of folks to do business with. Their new location is tremendous.

We just received our order. The plants look to be in fine shape, and each specimen is labeled - some vendors only label one of each specimen. We would have liked to receive a confirmation of the order when it was placed.

I ordered two $7 Rhododendron calendulaceum and one $8 Hamamelis virginiana, plus $5 shipping. They were out of the H. virginiana (Common Witch Hazel), but shipped the two R. calendulaceum (Flame Azalea)- which were about 1" tall in 4" pots. They did not clearly indicate the size on their site.

Note: they did apologize for being out of the Witch Hazel, and service was very fast - I believe they shipped the day I placed the order. The plants seemed healthy.

Actually, they did indicate the size of the pots on the website - mine were 3 1/2". Although I was disappointed in the size of the plants, I have not ordered enough online to get a feel for what to expect for the money. It seems a local nursery would have better plants available, but Shooting Star had a wide variety of native plants that I couldn't find locally.