Many people like to buy outdoor plants online because it makes things so much easier. You can just use your credit card to make the payment and have the plants delivered to you.

However, there’s quite a bit of fraud in the industry, and there have been many cases where people have lost lots of money.

There are plenty of shops, but if you don’t want to get robbed and want to make sure that you buy the right thing, I have compiled a brief guide that will make matters easier for you. Here are just a few things to keep in mind if you want to find the best place to buy outdoor plants online.

Check for Reviews

There are several different things that you need to keep in mind when it comes to looking for different online plant shops. If you do a simple search online, you will realize that there are plenty of shops that offer plants and other things. It is important for you to make sure that you check reviews about different places.

This is very important because a lot of online stores tend to spend a great deal of money on marketing, but what you should be interested in is the experience of other consumers. If consumers didn’t have a good experience with the place, they are surely going to point it out.

In this day and age, people don’t wait two minutes before writing a review on social media or airing out their grievances on online aggregator websites. You will be able to get a better idea about different places by checking reviews about them. Of course, there are paid reviews too, but the closer you look, the easier it will be for you to figure out which are the right ones.

Join a Few Forums

There are plenty of local forums and subreddits that you can visit and join to stay up to date with the local plant community in your area. This will not only give you important information about plants that can thrive outdoors, but it will also allow you to figure out where some of the best places to buy things are.

Remember, you can always ask questions. If you are caught in two minds about ordering things from a particular place, it is generally a wise idea to ask questions online in these forums.

In most cases, people are quite friendly and will easily give you their opinions. You will have a better understanding about where to buy from.

Gauge Your Expectations

More importantly, you need to gauge your expectations properly when ordering online. Remember, you have to understand that outdoor plants need a lot of sunlight, and as a result, they need to be packaged properly. If you are expecting a lush green plant at your doorstep, you might have another thing coming.

Instead, what you are probably going to receive is a small, potted plant that is going to be properly packaged and will need to be quickly repotted. You have to make sure that you take it out and repot it. As a rule of thumb, all of these plants are shipped in packed containers, so you should know that the plant is going to be oxygen and light deprived.

It needs to be potted as quickly as possible. Most sellers also provide an extensive range of instructions that you can use to repot the plants and make sure that they survive. They are perishable products, so it’s important that you order from a company that takes shipping seriously.

Check Their Shipping Policy

Furthermore, you also need to check the company’s shipping policy. What kind of protective measures have they taken to ensure that the plant doesn’t die during the shipping process? More importantly, you will want to make sure that the plants have been properly cared for, so you have to make sure that you go through their shipping policy in detail.

Guarantees

As mentioned above, all plants are perishable products, and they are likely to die if they are not cared for properly. In some cases, the plants might even die a few days after being repotted. That probably isn’t your fault; it’s mainly because the plants have been exposed to so much stress before they arrived, that they were dying when you received them.

That is one of the main reasons why you need to check the guarantee provided by the company. You have to go through their terms and conditions and make sure that you get at least a 30- or 45-day guarantee period. This is imperative because it’s the least amount of time that a plant needs to adjust in a new surrounding.

Otherwise, your plant is simply going to succumb to its death. If the plant dies within 10 to 15 days of the repotting, you should know that it really wasn’t your fault. It was dying before you received it in your hands.

Buy From Reputable Stores

If you want to play it safe, you should always consider ordering from a reputable store. Why order from an obscure place to save just a bit of money, when you can spend just a little bit more and order a quality plant that is going to last a long while? It may seem a bit complicated at first, but it really isn’t.

Furthermore, when you are ordering from a reputable place, you can also rest assured that the plants will be in prime condition. Remember, at the end of the day, you will always get what you pay for, so it’s important that you buy from a decent place after doing your research. These are just a few things that you should know about shopping for outdoor plants.