From one season to another, we have changed our packing methods. In the summer, to protect from the heat, we are dipping all plant roots in water, wrapping the roots in 3-5 layers of newspaper, wetting the newspaper with additional water if needed, sticking the wet, paper-wrapped root ball into a plastic grocery bag and lightly tying the bag closed. We use additional plastic to line the box if necessary, to keep moisture contained. Some of the liners we are shipping have such bulky root systems that they don't roll up in the newspaper well. For them, we line the box with a big garbage bag, put extra newspaper into the bag to retain/contain the moisture, and layer the plants directly into the box. 4-6 layers of newspaper separate the varieties of plants from each other, if we are sending more than one thing that needs to be layered. Otherwise, we just put in a top layer of newspaper as a separator, lay in any other bagged plants and loosely tuck in the garbage bag around everything to keep in the moisture. It seems to be working. We are shipping in 100 degree weather and it works. Customer Comment: Wrapping the rootball in moist paper towel and then placing that into a grocery bag is working great. Susan

Question: 8/20/08 I have one more question about shipping. :) You said that you figure the shipping before you bill for the order. Do you pack the order, go to the post office, get the shipping costs, take the package back home, bill the client, wait on the money, then go back to the post office and actually mail the package. I may have this confused because I was wondering, what if it takes a while to get payment and the plants are already packaged. Tell me where I may have this wrong. Again, I appreciate so much all your help. You have turned in to quite the expert. Believe it or not, I am going to eventually sell something on the Internet!! :) Take care. SG Answer: We pack the plants first. (only those plants that have already been paid for) We have a nice electric scale I got at Office Depot that weighs up to 50# or something like that. We weigh each package. I have online accounts (no charge to set up) with both the Post Office and FedEx. I could also have one with UPS if I shipped with them but they are way higher than FedEx. My accounts are linked to my credit card. I enter the address of the person I'm shipping to. I enter the weight and the size of the package (inches long, high, wide) It calculates the postage for me. I then print out a bar-coded address label and put it on the package. I take the package to PO or FX and that is all there is to it. They scan it in and email me the tracking numbers. (Usually before I even get home) I then go into PayPal and invoice for the sh/h. Payments come in over the next few days and all is well.

Question: 4/15/08 How do you send the plants? How are they packaged? Thanks, Rebecca Answer: We ship plants via FedEx or by US Priority Mail. Packages that weigh less than 5# usually go US Priority. We package the roots in something damp, such as wet newspaper or paper towel and wrap that part in a plastic baggie or even in newspaper. Sometimes the tops of the plants are left without wrapping and on the more succulent plants we may wrap them in newspaper to help protect them.