White Oaks Orchids

[Grandma M]

Has anyone had any experience with this vendor? I had never heard of them but it came up on Google when I was searching for Aerides houlletiana.

Marilyn

[Bird Song Farm]

Nope, not me Marilyn, but keep us posted. Always glad to find a new vendor!

Al

[epiphyte78]

Visited their nursery several months ago and purchased a few orchids. It was by appointment only and when I asked if they were retail or wholesale the nursery owner emphasized that they were neither retail nor wholesale...but some other term I can't quite remember.

I was impressed with the selection of species but the prices were rather on the steep side. Of the 3 orchids I purchased, one had some buggies...but that's pretty standard for nearly all of the orchid nurseries I've purchased from. Suppose it's not an issue if you are just going to mail order but I found the nursery owner to be a bit...hmm...on the brusque side.

Afterwards we visited Hanging Gardens which is around a mile away and by appointment only as well. I wished that we had visited there first. The selection of species wasn't quite as good as White Oak Orchids but the owner was very friendly and the prices much more reasonable.

Hanging Gardens doesn't show up for internet searches for specific orchids because Dan has yet to put his inventory on his website but he's the first person I e-mail when I'm looking for a specific orchid.

[Grandma M]

epiphite
I talked to Scott, he didn't say if he was the owner. He was very friendly. I left a message when I called and he called me back within an hour. He was so helpful about helping me make a selection and giving me info about culture and eventual plant size. He made suggestions, and told me he didn't think I would be happy with one plant I asked about. He said it would grow too large for in home growing, and talked to me about mini orchids. I said I don't do well with mounted orchids so he told me which ones he had which are mounted and he felt I would not be happy with.

Isn't it strange how we come up with different impressions about people. I have no idea about the quality of the plants I ordered, the houllentiana and an Aerangis articulata, but I got a favorable impression of him. Could it be you just caught him in a bad mood? We all have those some days.

The plants are to be shipped tomorrow. I'll report later in the week about packing, quality,and if I find any livestock.

Marilyn

[epiphyte78]

I think that's who we dealt with but it's entirely possible that we caught him on a bad or busy day. We met him in the morning so maybe he's not a morning person. And its certainly true that people respond to other people in different ways. It also didn't help that we visited Hanging Gardens right afterwards so perhaps Dan's very personable demeanor made the guy at White Oak Orchids seem even less personable. I suppose if we had met him right after meeting the "Cactus King" guy down in San Diego ("RING THE BELL IF YOU WANT TO ASK A QUESTION!") then he probably would have seemed like a super nice guy.

[Grandma M]

I had asked about White Oaks Orchids. After my order arrived, he is no longer on my dealer list. Need I say more. If you want more info PM me.

Marilyn