banana berserker

hi! do you know of any websites that sell tropical plants. and i don't mean like banana trees! i mean more like a site that sells totally out of the ordanary plants like cocoa trees. also i don't know if you'd say these are totally out of the ordinary but im thinking about getting a cinnamon tree and/or dragon fruit cactus so if any of you know a place in northern cal. or a site that sells thoughs i would be grateful to know! thanks! also if you guys have any info about thoughs plants that you figured out from personal experience that isnt really findable on the web id be grateful if you shared it with me!

Chironex

Zone 9 Tropical Plants - Offers Exotic Tropical Plants: Flowering and Fragrant Vine Shrub

"WorldPlants.com,Unusual plants, Rare plants, exotic plants, from around the world, Japanese maples"

Aloha Tropicals - Exotic Trees, Tropical Plants & Flowers

The Fantastic Gardens of the Glasshouse Works

Logee's Greenhouse-

This ought to get you started. I have used nearly all of them and had no issues so far.

Good luck!

__________________
Scot


"Grow 'em if ya got 'em!"

banana berserker

thanks!

lorax

www.ecuagenera.com

Their main business in orchids, but if you click under "tropicals" you'll find that they also sell quite a bit of other plants. And if you ask them really nicely, they will grow or source plants just for you. Very reasonable prices, very healthy plants.

And a caution on Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) - it's a pretty tempremental tree to grow unless you have lots of bananas and can plant it under them (in the shade.) You might want to check elevation hardiness; I never see cacao here below 500 meters above sea level.

__________________
I speak for the trees.

island cassie

Yep Lorax - they only grow cocoa and coffee under shade up in the mountains - none in the lower elevations. Now cashew, coconut, babados cherry and lychee will all grow near the coast - what is your elevation above sea level BB?

Cassie

chong

Scot,
Have you ordered from the above nursery? If so, and you had no issues with them, you are very fortunate. I placed a big order from them several years ago and not only were the orders short but it took a long time before I got the ones I got, and some of them were ultra small, one or two were the wrong variety. To make a long story short, there have been phone calls and emails back and forth, and even the bad ones received were not replaced.

Communication exchange went on for months into the winter and in the following spring my emails were totally ignored. It appears that they start cuttings of the plants you ordered at the time that you order. And then they'll tell you that they were flooded with orders and they are doing their best to fill yours. If the cuttings don't take, they come up with all kinds of excuses, or something to the effect that your plants are not big enough. They even asked me, "You wouldn't want us to send you plants that aren't ready, would you?" What would you respond with a question like that?

Anyway, check out the blog on these guys. They also operate under several other names. Now why do you think that is?

banana berserker

That stinks. They're the only people I can find who sell theobroma cacao. Hey, glasshouseworks.com sells the cinnamon tree (cinnamomum aromaticum) but since you say they messed up your order and never got you what you ordered how do I know they're not selling cassia? I have absolutly no idea about the differeces of the two trees. All i know is that some people try to sell you the wrong tree sometimes. I'm not sure but I think I'm around 60 feet above sea level. I know that doesn't sound right. But I'm in a valley.

chong

If you want Theobroma Cacao, Montoso Gardens and Govardhan Gardens, both from Puerto Rico, have them. And there are several others. I can vouch for these two and have ordered numerous plants from them. With Priority Mail, they'd send them out on Monday and I'd receive the plants on Wednesday of the same week.

T. Cacao seed is very difficult to sprout. But it doesn't mean that you can't do it. You just need to be patient with them because they could take up to 2 months for them to sprout.

I will post other sources for T. Cacao and C. Aromaticum as soon as I can find them in my list.

Lilith

Our Lowes here has Cinnamon trees. I got an allspice tree from a local nursery here as well.

banana berserker

are lowes only has flowers and veggies. DOn't worry about the T. Cacao. I most likely won't get soon.

chong

Here are several other sources that I've ordered from:
This one is very reasonable -
Royal Palm Enterprises - Theobroma cacao
Potted Plants from Hawaii - Royal Palms Enterprises - Plants Grown in Hawaii

This one is a little pricey:
www.TopTropicals.com - rare plants for home and garden
www.TopTropicals.com - rare plants for home and garden

This one is on eBay, has a low positive rating(92%), although reading the comments, it appears to have some retaliatory feedback. The prices are reasonable, and if unhappy, there's always the ebay appeal process and PayPal appeal.
eBay Seller: helixitch: Home Garden, eBay Motors items on eBay.com