For years this Californian has wanted to buy maples from Diana Smith at Topiary Gardens without success because Diana would not ship to California, but now she will and I have placed my first order today. There is a $25 phyto certificate fee which Diana must pay and therefore charges. I often visit her web site to see her trees etc and recently noticed that she WILL now ship to California (and the West Coast in general) so I wanted to make sure my forum colleagues knew what I knew. Colleagues in other states have so often said great things about Topiary Gardens which only enhanced my interest in dealing with Diana which now I am free to do. Good luck for this collector.
I can confirm 100% what Krautz wrote. Dealing with Diana is a pleasure. You won't get wrong. She has outstanding cultivars, and a good inventory of what I call "medium sizes" too. If she doesn't have what you are requesting; she will look forward to find it for you. She's very diligent (and also an excellent "packer"). Nelson
Let me also chime in about Topiary Gardens and the wonderful Diana! Superb customer service, excellent packing, and her trees are beautiful!! She does not ship "liners" or wimpy trees. These plants are sturdy and mature. One thing I really love are the tags she uses on the tree. They have the date the tree was grafted (the 'birth date', if you will!), which is so nice because you know exactly how old the tree is. Many of the trees I have bought from her have graft dates of 2005, 2004, 2003, and one was 2002. I paid nothing extra for these trees, yet I'm getting a stocky, established plant. The other thing I appreciate is that her plants have been grown in a relatively harsh area weather-wise. If they will thrive in her nursery, I can be fairly certain they will thirve in my garden, which has an equally harsh climate (more heat, less cold). She also has over 500 cultivars available - one of the largest collections I know of here in the US. I have found many rare and exciting varieties browsing her on-line catalogue. OK, down off soap box! But truly folks, this is one of our finest vendors! I hope our West Coast members will not hesitate to try Topiary Gardens now that she has an export permit.
I can vouch a 100% for Diana too!! After getting a number of trees from her, I have only good things to say about the transactions. Diana loves her maples and it shows. You can get trees from liners to 6 ft, if it can be mailed she will send it. xman
