about this website, what to expect

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about us / contact us

 frequently asked questions (faq)

What plants do you carry ?

None physically.  This is a directory, of wholesale plants and nurseries.  
This is not a nursery, broker, agent, association, government. etc. 
Also, we do not give/have plant or gardening advise.

To see all the varieties included in this directory, go to the varieties page.  
To see all the nurseries included in this directory, go to the nurseries page.
Subscribers can use the site to search for plants, matching plants with nurseries,

To see how plants are matched with nurseries, go to the examples page. 
Subscribers can also view/use the Directory page (see examples pages), 
which lists not only all the nurseries included, but also their location 
(sortable by state, zip code, area code, county, city) and phone number, 
and by clicking on a nursery's name can also see that nursery's plant list.

I just subscribed and I can't log in.  What's going on ?

I just paid $36/yr. to PayPal to subscribe, but I can't login.  What's wrong ?
Very soon today you will receive an e-mail 
with a temporary "Username" and "Password"
to use this month, then you regular one will be working. 
If you're in a rush, phone us 206-661-4871, (west coast time zone).
  
Once I've subscribed, how do I use the site ?

If you know the specific variety you are looking for, like 'Shademaster' Honeylocust,
just enter the variety name- Shademaster, select the region/state and click GO.
Or, say you're not sure which variety,  so enterhoneylocust.
select region/state and click GO and you will see all the honeylocust varieties. See more about searching tips at the Searching page.
You can revise/refine your search for  a more specific or other variety.
Or, you can go to the varieties pages and select a particular variety.
Copy the plant name (all or unique part) from that varieties page 
and paste it into the search box.
Or, you can go to the nurseries page, select a nursery (arranged by state), then
copy the Nursery (not the full name) and paste the name into the search box, to see all the varieties at that nursery.
This same list can be obtained by going to the Directory page, selecting a nursery,
and the nursery's plant list will then appear.
See the searching page  for more information.
Take a minute to get familiar with the varieties, nurseries, and search/results.

I'm having a hard time finding the plant what I want.  HELP !!!

If you are looking for a specific variety, be BRIEF and UNIQUE:  enter powis (instead of Artemesia 'Powis Castle', or enter spartan (instead of Juniper chinensis 'Spartan').  Your entry must fit the database entry EXACTLY (but NOT completely), so search ONLY for what you are looking for to avoid discrepancies with what is in the database.  The search tool will look for ONLY and EXACTLY for what you have entered, so keep your entry to the bare ESSENTIAL.   You can always look (and/or copy-paste) at the full variety names on the Varieties page to see full names as they appear in the database.  Alternatively, you can look for ALL Artemesia by entering artemesia or all juniper by entering juniperus.  

If I'm not a wholesale buyer, can I still use the site ?

Yes.  Nurseries included are for the wholesale ('large quantity')  trade,  
but uses of the site can be very versatile, since we are not selling plants here.
We do not restrict who views the site, or who subscribes, but we can tell you that
most or all nurseries included in the site require a minimum purchase amount and/or a resellers license, 
and that no prices or availability are mentioned on the site, and that most or all nurseries 
keep normal business hours and not "retail" hours.  Subscribers can call the nursery directly to learn more details.
Many industry professionals (landscape architects, designers, contractors, nurserymen, propagators, extension agents, 
city/county/state/national officials, educators, distributors, re-wholesalers, garden centers, big-box outlets, resellers, etc.) 
use the site to search for plants, but are not necessarily going to purchase themselves, or on-line.  
Retail buyers can either contact the wholesale nursery to find out if they supply a retail center near you, 
or retail buyers can contact their local retail garden center and tell them that they can find the plant you want here.

Can I buy plants here ?

No.  There are no plants for sale on or through this site.  You can not buy or sell plants on this site.  
Use this site as a guide to find out where or which nurseries a particular variety can likely be found, 
or what varieties a particular nursery probably has.  We do not guarantee that any particular nursery shown in 
the search results has the plant you seek, as availability changes day to day and year to year.  Most nurseries 
change their selection of varieties very little from year to year, but quantities/availability changes frequently.  

Can I get a free trial ?

No, but without subscribing you can see all that the site has to offer. So a free trial is not necessary.
View the varieties page to see all the plant varieties included.  
View the nurseries page to see all the nurseries included.  
View the examples page to see typical search results, directory and links pages available by subscribing.
To match varieties with nurseries you must subscribe.
Without subscribing, you can SEE all the features.  
With subscribing, you can USE all the features (search- match varieties with nurseries, Directory/lists, Links).  
Only with a subscription can you actually "search" and match a variety with one or more nurseries having it.
Consider how much time you spend searching for plants in one year, and how many you just never could find.
The more value you place on your time, the more $36.a year becomes not only very affordable, but necessary.
In fact, our monthly reports show that 
many  thousand people view this site at least once a month. 

Why should I pay, why not the nursery or advertisers ?

Most other nursery/plant websites/publications/media charge nurseries to list and/or advertise their plants.  
As a result of this approach, none of these other sources has even half of the amount of varieties, nurseries or plants as you find here.  Other sites/media (and thereby the viewer) are at the mercy of getting nurseries/advertisers to participate/list/pay
money to include their plants to be shown on the site.  The value (in terms of quantity of nurseries, varieties and listings included) of that source/site/media is limited as a result.  It also requires constantly soliciting nurseries.
Those sites/publications lose control of the amount, value and presentation of the site's content, and therefore compromise the benefit to the viewer of the site.  
Here, by charging the viewer, this site's priorities are with the subscriber by providing the maximum possible quantity of plant listing,  for the greatest benefit of the viewer.  The viewer gains the most benefit, so the viewer pays.
As a result of this approach, we already have over 2,700 nurseries, 33,000 varieties/360,000 listings included, over three times the volume of the next largest similar/plant finding website.
The main accomplishment through this site is to know which nursery or nurseries to contact regarding a plant.
Also, this site is focused on wholesale plants/nurseries only, coast to coast- no allied services, book sales, web design, etc.  Just the most of what you came to see- wholesale plants and nurseries.
Consider how much time you spend searching for plants in one year, and how many you just never could find.
The more value you place on your time, the more $36.a year becomes not only very affordable, but necessary.

Where do you get the information about the plants listed on the site (name, spelling, characteristics, etc.) ?

References used include 16 sources for specialty, 12 for general (including Michael Dirr and others), 18 for herbaceous (including Alan Armitage, Steven Still and others), and 9 for conifers; also a few wholesale nursery brochures which appeared trustworthy.  As many probably already know, there can be differences among sources of information regarding characteristics, and even the plant name itself.  The plant names provided here include as many alternative names, and as much description, as space will allow.  

Explain the meaning of "Update" (seen in the individual state nursery page listings and the search results last column).

The "Update" column tells you the period covered when that nursery plant list was added to the site, as stated by the nursery on their list.  Note that many nurseries do not provide any information about the period covered ("not stated"), so even if a date of including that nursery to the website would be stated, there is no way to know when the nursery made up that list.  So viewer beware!  Note also that most nurseries change their plant selection very little from year to year, and availability can/does change from day to day.  Therefore, we try to include as many nurseries/listings as possible, in order to maximize the choices/alternative sources available and to minimize the overall possible unavailability among all the nurseries listed for that plant, to compensate for this situation.

Why aren't there any prices shown ?

There is no way to restrict who subscribes, so prices don't/can't apply uniformly among all viewers, and many nurseries consider such information confidential.  Also, prices are highly variable depending on total annual purchase volume, single minimum purchase volume, specials, etc..  The purpose of this site is not to facilitate price shopping, but rather to greatly reduce the time needed to find the plant you want, where you want it.  Pricing matters can be taken up directly with the individual nursery.

Do you share/sell viewer or subscriber information or data ?

Privacy Policy: information gathered is for our administration only, not shared, not sold. 

I'm a wholesale nursery.  Can I have my plants listed ?

Wholesale growers can have their plants/varieties listed for FREE, indefinitely. 
There is no monthly, annual, commission or other fee.  You need never pay us anything.
Growers can update as often as they want.
Plant listing by botanic/scientific name is greatly preferred.  
Send a new or updated list by email to plantsearch  AT mindspring.com, or m.m.mccarthy AT earthlink.net, or use this mailing address-  9315 NE 118th Ln. #203, Kirkland WA 98034-3664.

How can I contact you ?

Email m.m.mccarthy  AT earthlink. dot net, or plantsearch AT mindspring dot com
or call (206) 661-4871 (west coast time).  
or mail- 9315 NE 118th Ln. #203, Kirkland WA 98034

Who are you ?

Michael M. McCarthy For about  twenty years, Mike pursued management opportunities in agricultural commodities processing, value adding, and marketing at large and small private and public enterprises in the USA and abroad. In the 1990's he introduced the Australian Dingo mini-digger to the US landscape industry, took several courses in landscape architecture and design, operated a design-build business, and began the plant availabilities and characteristics database which has evolved and grown into PlantSearchOnline.com.  In addition to managing the site, in the 2000's he also taught university graduate and undergraduate core business management courses for four years.

How/why did Why Why did you start this website ?

This website and all the contents was assembled, entered, and paid by, and is the exclusive and sole property of Michael M. McCarthy, for use by landscape,  nursery and other green industry professionals to help in their search for plants, both common and hard to find, near and far.  See below.

Consider how much time you spend searching for plants in one year, and how many you just never can find.  The more value you place on your time, the more $36.a year becomes not only very affordable, but necessary.  To find out which varieties are at which nurseries-  Subscribe now ($36/yr).

PlantSearchOnline.com website traffic volume

Alexa.com (subsidiary of Amazon.com) ranking of PlantSearchOnline.com ( on 6/10/2011) is about #800,000 overall/worldwide (in top 2.5%) , and about #140,000 in the USA.  Ranking is based on site "traffic" (volume  of Alexa unique visitors, total visitors, and page views) in the last three months.  FYI, Google is #1, Facebook is #2, Wikipedia is #8, etc..  Currently there are over 30 million sites with Alexa toolbars, out of about 4 billion websites total worldwide.  The site was started in 2002 and revised beginning in March 2011 to include ongoing design facelifts and content editing, more plant and grower listings, and advertising.  See advertising page for display ad rates.  This includes displaying the entire contents of  the search database (33,000+ varieties,  2,700+ nurseries) to all users, not just subscribers.  Still, only subscribers can search to match which varieties are at which nurseries.