The FAQ is divided into 4 basic categories. Select the category which best matches your question and browse for our answers to some of the most popular questions. If you do not see your answer here feel free to Contact Us.
Questions About Our Plants
1. What size plants do you ship?
Answer: We ship our hostas in 4" wide by 5" deep plastic pots. We ship our premium perennials
in 4" wide by 5" deep plastic pots.
2. How are your plants different from any other mail order or nursery?
Answer: A simple fact is many of the hostas offered online originate from a handful of
wholesale growers. What happens next is what differentiates the various online vendors.
Our plants are grown for 1 full year in our 4" plastic pots. They have all undergone winter dormancy.
The following Spring we offer our hostas directly to you in the 4" pots. Plants grown in pots do not
endure any transplant shock since we do NOT have to dig and ship bare-root plants. They are
growing naturally when we ship.
You may find other websites offering larger size pots. Please note they charge actual shipping costs.
Most retail garden centers use our 4" pot size to transplant into 1 gallon or 2 gallon pots to offer
to their retail customers.
3. What kind of guarantee do you offer?
Answer: We guarantee our plants to be healthy and true to name upon arrival. If for any reason you
disagree we will glady refund your payment in full upon return of any unsatisfactory plants.
4. Which Hostas do better in sunny locations?
Answer: The following 10 Hostas do very well in Full Sun:
Hosta August Moon
Hosta Gold Regal
Hosta Gold Standard
Hosta Krossa Regal
Hosta Orange Marmalade
Hosta Rascal
Hosta Regal Splendor
Hosta Sum and Substance
Hosta Sun Power
Hosta Teaspoon
5. Hosta Virus X. What is Direct Source Hostas Policy?
Answer: Hosta Virus X is a very serious concern among all of us serious Hosta Collectors and commmerical growers. I had dinner one evening with Dr. Ben Lockhart from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Lockhart is the Hosta Virux X "founder" and continues to work on eradicating this plant virus. He is a very interesting individual.
Direct Source Hostas works very closely with only a handful of wholesale plant providers. Every single one of these plant growers employ the strictest Virus and Disease Testing. I know first hand how important this is to these commercial growers as I previously worked for perhaps the largest wholesale perennial grower in the United States for 8 years. My policy has been to avoid many bare-root plant dealers due to Hosta Virux X being found mostly in bare-root hosta production originated from Europe.
If you cut and divide a bare-root plant which is infected with Hosta Virus X it's just a matter of time before you will infect the next bare-root variety you decided to cut and divide. Hosta Virux X is present in the "sap" you find when cutting into the root stock of your hostas. 99% of our plants are Tissue Culture. This means we buy them directly from these reputable commercial growers and grow them for 1 to 3 years before offering to our customers. The 1% of bare-root plants comes directly from Walters Gardens, perhaps the best commercial grower with cutting edge Virus and Disease Protocol.
I have not seen any Hosta Virus X in any of Direct Source Hostas plants. Regular crop inspections and being very diligent in where we buy our planting stock has helped us maintain a disease free crop. We will continue to be very diligent in obtaining disease free hosta plants and pledge our 110% effort of fighting Hosta Virus X.
Questions About Shipping
1. How much is shipping and handling?
Answer: Shipping and Handling is $9.95 for ANY size order.
2. How will my order be shipped?
Answer: Your order will be shipped via FedEx (Home Delivery). NO Post Office Box Deliveries.
3. When will my order be shipped?
Answer: We ship on Mondays & Tuesdays. All orders received by Saturday evening will ship the
following Monday or Tuesday.
4. May I request a later ship date?
Answer: Yes. Simply request when checking out in the comments or send us an email after you place
your order.
5. May I request a different Ship To address?
Answer: Yes. When you check out you will be given the option of shipping to another address.
6. Do you ship to Canada?
Answer: No. At this time we do not ship any plants into Canada.
Questions About Our Website
1. Do you have a printed catalog?
Answer: At this time we offer a Printable Price List.
2. Is your website secure?
Answer: Yes. We have 128 bit encrpted SSL shopping cart feature installed on our website. We
are GeoTrust verified to accept Credit Cards.
3. Does DirectSourceHostas keep my Credit Card information on file?
Answer: No. We do not collect/store any financial information. We only collect your shipping
information and email address. Each time you pay with your Credit Card you will be prompted
to enter your Credit Card details.
4. I am having problems entering my order with a Credit Card, what do I do?
Answer: Your Billing Address MUST MATCH the address on file with your Credit Card.
Also if your Credit Card has a middle initial you do not have to include this on our website. .
If you continue to have problems please notify us immediately by calling us @ 815.356.8280.
Questions About My Order
1. May I add additional plants to an existing order?
Answer: Unfortunately No. Although we would like to allow this feature it has only proven to provide more headaches than what it is worth.
2. How do I know when my order has been shipped?
Answer: You will receive your FedEx Tracking Number via email the day we ship your order.
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