Rare Plants & Imports

Importing plants is an extremely stressful event for the plants as well as ourselves. We take great care to make sure our plants are fully acclimated and will do well in their new environment. Although most of these plants are extremely hearty and tough, there are a few varieties that will inevitably show signs of stress and damage after travelling 8500 miles in a dark and damp box. Imported plants are not allowed to be shipped with soil to prevent the spread of pests and certain bacteria/fungi. They are shipped bare root, wrapped in a damp paper towel, wrapped in a plastic bag, and then the entire plant is rolled into a tube of thick paper. Many of the leaves will retain the rolled shape for quite a while. This is normal, and to be expected. Sometimes they will flatten out over time and others you will have to help if you care about the curved shape.  Once we receive our plants will will have to clean off any damaged roots and leaves, and then we sanitize our roots to get rid of any bacteria that may have formed in the stagnant conditions while shipping. Once properly sanitized we will transplant the plants to sour custom soil mix and inoculate the soil with beneficial bacteria/fungi. From there they go into the grow room for 3-6 weeks under warm and humid conditions. Each species has their own timeframe in which they recover, and we just have to be patient and wait until they tell me they are ready.  Once I am confident they are ready we bring them into our retail location for purchase.