Comments regarding Prairie Moon Nursery

Great source for native bare root plants! I only wish they had a wider selection from the western US. The bare root plants I have ordered here have varied in size, but that is somewhat expected, given that we're working with living organisms. I recently placed an order and had to submit a revision before it shipped and they promptly made the adjustment.

I have noticed that some of their prices have crept up in recent years, but still feel they generally offer good value for the money.

the plants were a bit smaller than I expected, but they are doing well and growing quickly. I really can't complain.

"On Jun 15, 2017 10:44 AM, Prairie Moon Nursery responded with:

We appreciate your positive rating and comments. We try to provide bare root plants that are at least as large as the ones shown on our website. If you had potted material then they should have a well developed root system. I'm glad these are growing well for you but if you should have any problems please do not hesitate to contact us. Thanks, Bill"

Great prices on seed packets. Prompt shipping and excellent instructions.

I don't know yet how the seeds will do, but it's an experimental year for me.

In an age where many online nurseries exploit customers, Prairie Moon is a refreshing, trustworthy site. Each plant profile shows the exact range map of the species - unlike many other sites that simply say what region the plant is from. Scientific names are displayed first before common names, which is a massive plus when searching for a specific plant. They even will say if a plant is potentially aggressive - which is extremely nice of them.

Not only are they trustworthy, but they have some of the best prices and variety for native seeds. My only wish is that they would sell more southwestern endemic species - but I can see why they don't since they're based in Minnesota. The staff is eager to help - and each plant profile lists a germination code - and some even will say it may be difficult to grow from seed. Seeds are nicely packed in a plastic baggie, which is nice considering many other online nurseries just throw the packets in the bag where they're susceptible to damage. Some of the smaller seeds are double-packed! They'll even scarify seeds if needed and requested - and since I have carpal tunnel, I have a hard time doing it myself so its really nice of them.

Seed packets will also say what year they were bagged, which can be helpful if you store seeds for a long time. I have bought many seeds from them, and many of my plants are happily growing! Any that have died have been because of mistakes made by myself. As for bareroots and potted plants... I'm not sure! I was thinking about ordering witch hazel and some rosa species from them at some point. I'll update my review if I do! But in conclusion, I highly recommend this website for your native needs.

They shipped quickly and answered questions about seed germination promptly. I'll update this later on as my plants grow, but so far this company's service has been excellent, and they offer a very large selection of native plants and seeds.

I have been buying seed from them for a few years. I have not bought plants from them. I am doing prairie rehab in Missouri and they have a great selection. They are good about designating those plants that are hard to start.

I ordered a dozen bare-root Veratrum virginicum. They were sent out the next day. Well-packed, plump, and huge. Price was very reasonable, especially for nursery-propagated plants. Company communication was prompt and businesslike. I look forward to dealing with this nursery again.

Germination rates have been good. Shipping is a little more than expected.

Very nice and healthy bare root plants, shipped quickly. Answer emails in a timely fashion. Have order from Prairie Moon more than once. Will order from them again.

First time customer in winter 2016. Purchased seeds of Asclepias exalta, Chamaecrista fasciculate and Pycnanthemum tenuifolium. Order shipped quickly and germination percent and seedling vigor has been great. Will buy from them again in the future.

I got seeds from Prairie Moon last fall. They were wintersown in December '14 and sprouted wonderfully this past spring. I was very impressed with them and have made another recent purchase for winter sowing this year. I really love their selection of native plants and the germination instructions make it easy for seed sowing newbies like me.

I needed to order milkweed seeds for my daughter's Girl Scout troop project. I ordered A. Syriaca, Exaltata, Tuberosa, plus the company sent along a free packet of Incantata (rose/swamp milkweed). My order arrived promptly--within a couple of days. Because we were short on time, I did the cold stratification myself using the directions supplied by Prairie Moon. The day before we were scheduled to plant, I soaked the seeds briefly in warm water and kept them in coffee filters/baggies at room temperature.

Based on what I had read, I was very, very worried about what our germination rate would be. However, the seeds started to germinate within a couple of days (really!) and almost all the flats were well under way by two weeks EXCEPT the free seeds supplied by the company. Not sure what happened there, but I would guess there is a link between the fact that they were free and their poor performance.

I had also separately ordered planting cells and trays from the company but they did not arrive in time. I sent the whole box back and Prairie Moon not only reimbursed me for my order but the shipping as well, which is not something I had asked for or expected.

They have a gardener on staff and I emailed her a couple of times before placing my order but never heard back. She was probably overwhelmed.

In short, the only blips were the staff gardener not getting back to me and the poor performance of the free product. In the future I suggest if you really want a particular seed, order it and do not rely on free samples. The rest of the customer service and performance of the seeds I ordered was fantastic. I would definitely order from them again.

"On Jun 8, 2015 10:04 AM, Prairie Moon Nursery responded with:

Sorry to hear of the difficulty you had getting the free Rose Milkweed Seed to germinate. I'm not sure what the problem was but our free seed is of the same high quality. I will check and see who was supposed to call you back. Our goal is to always return calls in a timely fashion. We very much appreciate the positive rating! Thank-you, Bill"

Have ordered many times from Prairie Moon and plants and seeds are always very good. Almost my entire garden in Texas was planted with seeds or plants from Prairie Moon and even after moving the owners there still enjoy my garden and send me pictures of the flowers. I always had good germination success with the seeds and the BONAP maps really helped with what types of plants would work well in the extreme heat and droughts of Texas. Would highly recommend this nursery!

We are restoring a 5 acre parcel and have seen great results from their seed. They do a great job with service, provide information when trying to select seed and determine the site conditions, provide plant plugs with strong root development and have the most comprehensive native variety out of all Midwest vendors of which I'm aware. They recently added a map to show the origin of each plant. I find this highly useful as I used to use a second website to make sure I was selecting only plants native to my area.

Prairie Moon Nursery remains the vendor of choice for my restoration goals and I highly recommend them for your project.

I really like this company. Seed prices are quite reasonable for a small gardener, shipping costs are reasonable, and I have gotten great customer service. Once, I forgot the whole reason I was on their site, looking for native aquilegia, and ordered everything but that. By the time I had realized my mistake, I had already completed the transaction. I emailed them, told them what I had done, and they sent them in a separate shipment with no shipping charge! I can't tell you how much I appreciated that! I have had good germination results, some things they offer need cold stratification or outdoor fall planting, but I feel good that I can get native plants from seed for a great price. I hope they are able to offer even more varieties. Prices on seed are still very reasonable, in my opinion. Some plants take a few years to get to a sale able rootstock size, so I understand why some things might seem a bit pricey to some but in reality it is still a good price. Hope they stay in business forever. One of my favorite seed companies to deal with.

I have been using Prairie Moon since about 2011, almost exclusively ordered bare roots. They offer several bare roots hard to find elsewhere. I have noticed that they are becoming more popular and their prices are starting to rise, and their orders are becoming somewhat backlogged IMHO, but they still offer extremely high-quality plants and they are shipped healthy. They routinely sell out of products every year. I appreciate the email notification features and special offers this nursery provides, and I will use them again in the fall. My advice is to shop for the plants you want, and when their shipping season starts jump on the plants you want because they are selling out faster every year.

My Dad I help maintain an adopt-a-highway site in New York City. This year, I wanted to try planting a variety of low-maintenance flowering perennials on the site for the benefit of both passer-bys and pollinators alike. I was blown away by the large variety of plant species offered as both seeds, plugs, and bare roots. The descriptions of the plants and the associated cultural information was very detailed and were of great help in guiding me to the right plants for the adopt-a-highway site.

When I inquired about adding some more bare root plants to a previous order, I was quickly contacted by a P.M.N. worker who informed me that the nursery would combine the shipping charges of my two separate orders. If you are looking for native plants that can be hard to find at your local nursery of big box store garden center, this company offers an excellent service at a very affordable price.

I can't wait until the weather is ripe for planting and I will definitely be coming back next year! Thanks so much!

I'm a bit late adding my strong endorsement for Prairie Moon, but wanted to be sure I added my say on what a great company this is. They helped us out with plugs last year for an annual community plant sale. Really worked with us on what for them, I'm sure, was a small order -- 3 trays of native perennials. The plugs came and we were blown away. They were amazingly large, with incredible root systems. We potted them up right away, and they took off. By the time of our sale, a few weeks later, the plants were beautiful and strong. We were proud to offer them. I wouldn't hesitate for one minute to order from Prairie Moon and to recommend them to one and all.

You'll be hard pressed to find a company with better customer service and great seeds than PMN...and the prices for these wildflower seeds are incredible. 6th year ordering from them..never an issue, not once. Great source of seeds.

Fast! Fast! Fast!

The seeds arrived in three days! (That is very quick from MN to VA). I love the packaging! The company has an excellent selection of native plants, and the prices are great. I found this company by reading their negative feedback regarding seed germination, but I have to disagree. From my experience, some native plants can germinate for up to 2 years, and that is normal.

I ordered 9 packets of seeds, and I am already planning to put another order in. I am so happy that I found Prairie Moon Nursery!

I ordered native seeds from Prairie Moon Nursery last fall, wintersowed them, and planted the seedlings this spring and summer. It was my first year with native seeds, and I am happy with the results.

Posted on May 19, 2011, updated May 8, 2012
I have been a customer of Prairie Moon Nursery for numerous years now and the order I just received yesterday shows why. I ordered 17 bareroot plants from their bareroot clearance sale, they came yesterday (2 days after ordering), packed, as always, in bags of peat moss. It was when I opened the bags that I could not believe my eyes!!! I figured, being the end of the shipping season for bareroot plants, they would be somewhat dried out and stressed, boy was I wrong! These plants looked amazing! Many had young, healthy top-growth beginning, and several of the ordered items had 2-3 roots in the bag when only one was ordered! No signs of drying or stress whatsoever, just beautiful, large, healthy roots. I have absolute confidence that all of these will grow and thrive in my woodland / savannah garden, if they do not, I can assure you, it will be my own fault and not that of this awesome company. Thank you so very much Prairie Moon Nursery...I will be ordering again and again!!!!!

These folks really have it together. The bareroot plants that I ordered for last fall have come up almost without exception. My spring order, in which I took advantage of some of their sale items, was also well packed, and the plants healthy. I have never been shortchanged on barefoot plants, on the contrary, many of the plants they send are able to be further divided and occasionally they simply send more plants than ordered. I appreciated that bonus, and look forward to my fall order.

To those that feel unsure about taking care of bareroot plants, I would suggest you try this company, pot up what you're not ready to plant, and just watch them wake up into beautiful healthy plants. Don't be afraid!

excellent prompt service, plants arrived in great condition. Very pleased with the plants I received!

Ordered 36 Actaea rubra, and overall the plants are healthy though the sizes varied greatly. Some were larger than expected, but others were really tiny. It would have been nice if they had sent a couple extras to go with the small ones, and that would have made this an extra positive review. As it is, the large ones sort of balance out the tiny ones, which might be what they thought too, but I was slightly disappointed. They are all actively growing and several are going to flower and I would order from them again.

"On Apr 23, 2012 10:26 AM, Prairie Moon Nursery responded with:

Hi Chris,
We appreciate your review. I thought it might be a good opportunity to explain how we pack plants. We try to be consistent in the sizes we supply but sometimes when we only have a certain number left we have to supply plants of various sizes. Even the smaller plants should have been at least as large as the root shown on our website for that species. It is our "minimum" size. If it was not of minimum size or if that plant fails to thrive then we will provide a replacement or refund. I will also follow-up with the folks who pack the plants to make sure we are doing a good job.
Thanks, Bill
"

If you are a native plant enthusiast, PMN is your source! Such a fabulous selection of native plants. I've placed several orders with them over the years, and the bare root plants arrive healthy, robust and sprouting! Plus, there is sometimes 1 or 2 extra roots in the bunch, which is a nice bonus! Courteous customer service, great selection and timely accurate shipping all add up to a superior company to do business with!

Love, love, love Prairie Moon. I've been ordering from them for three years now, and have had good success with their plants. Their plant finder makes the experience easy.

I just received my first order from them, and was delighted with it. The plants were in excellent condition, healthy and vigorous. They were extremely well packaged, and came with clear, detailed planting and care instruction.

I have placed several seed orders with Prairie Moon and been pleased each time to receive a correctly filled order without delay. One variety that I purchased was rather finicky, and I emailed for help. The staff at Prairie Moon replied with excellent and friendly advice.

Prairie Moon has an excellent selection. I especially appreciate their automatic inclusion of any required inoculant for leguminous species. In particular, they offer inoculant for Desmanthus species, a type of inoculant that I had been completely unable to locate despite extensive searching online--if only Google had known that Prairie Moon carries it, my searching would have been done much quicker! (For some reason, Google had dropped that ball.) Whenever I am looking for perennial legumes, I go to Prairie Moon first--and then while I'm there, I find myself tempted my many other fantastic plants.

In short: highly recommended.

Posted on July 2, 2004, updated May 27, 2011
I have ordered seed and plants from this nursery over the past ten years and have never been disappointed. Plants are of high vigor and seed has great germination rates. Their packaging and shipping is always prompt and reliable.

I ordered some Astragalus, Delphinium, and an Amorpha. Everyting had some top growth and should acclimate just fine, as a rainy week is expected. I was a little leery about the Astragalus as the tap roots were cut back a bit. I am hoping mature plants can survive this treatment. Astragalus are notoriously difficult to transplant, so it will be interesting to see how they grow. I also appreciate the metal labels. All told, an inspiring experience!

"On Apr 25, 2011 1:28 PM, Prairie Moon Nursery responded with:

These Astragalus plants were too small last year so they are two years old but nothing like mature salvaged plants which probably would not transplant. We have not had problems with these before but please do call us (toll-free) if anything fails and we will replace or refund. Thank-you for taking the time to comment! Bill"

Have purchased numerous times over past few years, seeds and bareroot, and have nothing but praise for this company. Had a small problem with 1 seed pack. Ann suggested a different germination code to try and sent 2nd packet . Excellent selection of natives and super service. Buy with confidence.

I was very wary of the concept of a bare-root perennial when placing my first order, but am now convinced it is a wonderful idea. Without all those pesky leaves in the way, shipping is much simplified. I received plastic bags full of dry loose peat containing roots much as pictured on the website. While the packing material was dry, the plants themselves were no drier than any other dormant plant, and some had beginnings of new white top-growth. The roots I planted much like a regular transplant, and dumped the extra peat on top so as not to shield delicate emerging leaves from the sun and temperatures without crushing them. The plants all did well.

One of the plants I ordered (lobelia cardinalis) had some very small root clusters, but there appeared to be one or two extra to compensate. After observing the plant for a while, it seems to just be that plant's habit to have lots of very small plants, rather than a few large ones, but I appreciate the consideration shown in shipping multiple 'mini plants' in the place of the larger plant that might be expected.

You do have to be sure to order early, as you are essentially planting things before they break winter dormancy. If you cannot plant immediately, they did very well potted up, but do not hold barely for any time at all as shipped - you really need to un-bag them and expose them to light and water within a day or so (duh?).

Posted on February 6, 2010, updated January 25, 2011
Finally, a company and people who know the difference between "wildflower" and "native". Before finding Prairie Moon, I had ordered wildflower seed mixes and individual species of wildflowers from several different companies and found that their mixes often contained non native "wildflowers" that were invasive. Staff at Prairie Moon is very helpful and knowledgeable. Catalog is full of great information, prices are very reasonable and service is quick. A true find for anyone looking for true natives.

Prairie Moon has a great selection of interesting seeds. My seeds were well-packaged and sent quickly. LOVE the wishlist feature on their website.

1/16/11.....Placed an order to Prairie Moon Nursery in
January of 2011....Received the seeds ordered quickly
and well packaged....Customer service called due to a
choice not made on an innoculent....very courteous and
helped me decide on an alternative option....generous
amounts of seeds for the price....lots of native seeds
available, along with plants....great information on cold
stratification required for some seeds....

This company has EXCELLENT customer service! 9 days ago, I received 5 Amelanchier stoloniferas and the peat was dry - a packing error. I planted them immediately and 2 seem to have a couple of swelling buds, but I'm not sure. I called because I knew their stock was low and Steve replaced all five - no questions asked! I said if the two woke up, I would send money for the replaced ones and I will. Great place!

Have ordered seeds from them for several years. They have a wide selection and give good quantities. Service is fast and staff is friendly, knowledgeable and helpful.

Excellent range of offerings, reasonable prices and very quick shipping. Very good germination rate.