Shipping Schedule for Live deliveries placed in Spring & Summer (October-Early April)
When will my Live Pond Plant Order ship?
Unless otherwise discussed for shipping during fall and winter Live Plant orders are held until proper planting time in spring.
Some plants can ship in winter if they are available and you let us know you want them before ordering so we can confirm please: Email us PondQuestions@gmail.com
Submerged Pond Grasses like Vallisneria
Water Hawthorn (the winter waterlily)
Also a few floating plants (all tropical in nature) can ship.
Dwarf umbrella palm, dwarf papyrus, taro (elephant ears) and a few other plants that do not go dormant. Note these wont tolerate cold weather so these are more for southern mild areas in winter.
Spring Shipping is determined by multiple factors and may have a short delay before plants ship, after early June all regions of the USA are shipping within 1-4 days of orders coming in. April and May orders normally have a delay as new orders placed are at the back of our Pre-Order line so ordering early is a great idea if you want to get the items as close to the earliest shipping date for your area as possible.
Live orders also ship when all items are available. Tropical/Annual waterlilies do not get to shipping size until late May or first of June so these can delay orders to folks who want plants in the south early. You can always separate Annual/Tropical lilies into a separate order if you would like a delivery of other plants earlier than this in the south. In the north or central states this is just a week or two past the time the other plants will ship so it makes less of an issue to have to separate into separate orders.
With the exception of Lotus your plants will probably arrive together at the proper planting time for the most cold sensitive plant on your order.
Our live plants are greenhouse grown, shipped in mid to late spring and early summer rate of growth. You and cannot move into cool nights or they are thrown out of whack into dormancy and we will not take order date moving or requests. They are not semi dormant like emerging perennials still enjoying cool soil or water.
The Basics of when it is safe / proper to plant most pond plants that are coming out of a steady warm greenhouse, you don't want to throw them back into dormancy, and you cannot keep these plants inside for weeks to "start them".
We adhere to our schedule we will not move orders as these requests set us back substantially in spring and is not an option offered.
| Minimum Night Temperatures | Safe to Ship & Plant the following |
|---|---|
| 40-45°F Minimum Night temperature | Safe to ship and plant: All Submerged oxygenating grasses, frogbit, azolla, some hardy shelf plants. |
| 50-55°F Minimum Night temperature | Safe to ship and plant: All Lotus, All Hardy Waterlilies (not ISG waterlilies) Most annual shelf plants, all floating plants. |
| 72°F minimum water temperature For instance nights 55-60°F and days well over 80°F | Safe to ship and plant: Mosaic Plants, Annual & Tropical Waterlilies |
Shipping Guide for Lotus, Submerged Oxygenators and Floating Plants, Waterlilies, Marginal Pond Plants, Fish, Snails and Tadpoles
Please note: Water Lotus Tubers are sent early and separate from other plants and live orders. We grow our lotus at a separate growing facility on a farm in southern Alabama. Your Lotus Tuber will arrive in early spring, and because they are dormant, they will store easily in the crisper of your refrigerator until proper planting time.
We sell and send our lotus tubers on a first come, first serve basis from the second week in March until early May each spring.
We sell and send our lotus tubers on a first come, first serve basis from the second week in March until early May each spring.
*Please carefully follow the planting directions that we send to you along with your lotus tuber!
2.) Submerged Oxygenators and Floating Plants
For those of you ordering submerged, oxygenating plants or floating plants for indoor use, lab use, pet use, etc. We can usually send these submerged oxygenating pond plants year round. There may be a few days or weeks it is just too cold to ship in which case we need to wait until the weather breaks.
Please Note: We do not ship by zone as that is not a uniform measure of planting time and day to day night temperatures.
USDA zones have nothing to do with spring temperatures.
An example would be that coastal west zone 9 is far colder than southeast zone 9.
We use Accuweather.com to assign ship dates based on the requirements of the plants you order.
Also, we can no longer ship most waterlilies or marginal bog plants in winter or until late March or April 1, due to the small size of the plants at that time of year and due to the cold.
Our customers expect these plants to be large sized all year long.
These plants are smaller in size during the winter months as they are in dormancy.
Waterlilies and Marginal Bog Plants will ship to warmer areas beginning in mid-March.
Plants to warmer locations like Florida and Hawaii will begin shipping sometime in March and April.
*Contact us and we can let you know what plants will be available early!
PondQuestions@gmail.com
Orders that consist of all Hardy/Perennial Waterlilies or Hardy/Perennial Marginal Pond Plants can be shipped when night temperatures are consistently 45 degrees and day temperatures are in the 70s.
We use ACCUWEATHER.COM historical temperature averages to assign earliest spring dates to orders. Once the weather breaks we will not hold orders.
If any of the plants you order are cold sensitive (Tropical/Annual), it will push your order back 2-3 weeks until lows are around 50 and days are in the 80s.
Tropical plants will be shipped when temperatures are consistently 50 degrees F without exception.
4.) Pond Fish, Snails and Tadpoles from our fishery.
Bulk Size (that will be noted in the title) Fish, Snails and Tadpoles are cold blooded and can be shipped in early spring.
We advise that you DO NOT ship your live order (plants, tadpoles, fish or snails) to postal boxes as postal boxes can become quite hot or may be overlooked.
We no longer trust or use the post office for any live deliveries.
We do realize the cost differential, but with our experience with live plants, fish, snails or tadpoles, FedEx is a much better option!
Placing Orders
Fish and Tadpoles are shipped most of the year except during extreme cold or when lack of availability. Orders placed by Friday at 10am will ship the Following week via Fedex overnight.
All time requirements for placing orders are relevant to eastern standard time.
Please Note:
During summer months; Most orders placed Tuesday 6:30 am through Thursday 6:30 am will ship the following Monday, or 1st day of the week if Monday is a holiday. This applies to both UPS and FedEx options. More than 80% of our orders ship UPS.
ALL TIMES ARE EASTERN TIME!
