Just as it is happening with airlines and food companies, mail order nurseries are consolidating into businesses focused on promotion rather than horticulture. We may be in the last days (years really) of small, family run operations. Scale brings with it cost savings that can be substantial, but all too often in this business also brings a different level of quality as far as the plants are concerned. He says, putting on his preaching hat: As consumers we need to be very careful these days, as the old companies we knew and loved are changed into something very different. This is the third mail order nursery in the last year that I am aware of that has changed management.
