*Update*
While picking up my plants this weekend I was informed that one of the boxes shipped had been partially frozen; I was offered a refund, but I just asked them to pick me some nice plants from the table--I mentioned that I grow cool/cold and the rep on hand was quick to pull me some nice plants and a few extras; what I was given to make up for what was lost was very fair... Kudos to Ecuagenera.

...i've dealt with them many times...ivan is great...would recommend...

Ecuagenera is a bit of a gamble.

Their prices and massively diverse inventory usually make ordering worth the risk for me, and I've always received kind and prompt customer service.

But:
Of all the plants I've ordered from them (mail order to Miami from their US shows), most of them have arrived in less-than-good condition.

My Prosthechea arrived with the early stages of a rot in the leaves and the bulbs strangely seemed a bit sunburnt.

My Restrepia arrived with most of its leaves trimmed; She recently bloomed for me and, expecting a brachypus, was surprised to find it's a cross between a brachypus and likely antennifera or maybe even elegans.

One Encyclia was great, the other dehydrated.

I ordered a Bulb. intertextum which arrived completely rotted; They replaced it in the next order and it too arrived completely rotted, so I gave up on it.

I've managed to nurse everyone else to health. I'm a bit of a risk-taker and personally think ordering from them is worth the gamble (particularly for harder-to-find varieties), but not with the more delicate species.

If they ship to you from a show, consider that the plant must travel twice: One freight import to the show location, and then it's shipped from the show to you. That's a lot of stress on the plant.

Tropical Orchid Farm is a good alternative with respect to both variety and price-point.

I always pre-order for shows that I personally ( or a friend ) attends. Then I can pick the best plant available. Only 1x was a plant a problem and then I got another different one as a 'courtesy'.

Just waiting on this year's availability list........

There is a link to their list on the San Francisco Orchid Show site. Here's the link http://pacorchidexpo.org/wp-content/...CUAGENERA.xlsx

I don't know if they will get to shows in your area, but I think they'll ship once they get into the US.

Thanks for the heads up Roberta, they're scheduled to be here in April for the SEPOS show. I spoke with Elizabeth who said that a new list would be coming out shortly.

I have been told by people in my RBG Orchid Society(including the president) that this is the best place to get 'pedigreed' plants for a good price.

I don't have first hand experience though, and I've read some conflicting things

If you're looking for specific hybrids, they have a few, but their specialty is species, especially those native to Ecuador and surrounding countries. Their species IDs are, in general, quite accurate. They have a huge program for growing these from seed (which aids conservation since there is no excuse for buying wild-collected plants when you can get healthy nursery-grown plants for reasonable prices with a better survival rate) I have never done mail-order with them (people have had mixed results) but if you can get to a show where they are selling, you can get some neat plants. Probably more than you set out to get...

Thanks for the feedback! I've been told by a couple of really experienced growers that they are the place to get really nice plants, when they come up for a show.