I have long had a love of growing exotic, tropical plants.  That being said, I had no formal training in horticultural subjects and my parents were not particularly interested in growing plants.  I had no experience in or contacts with commercial growers.  When I finished my dental education in 1970, and began my dental profession, I built my first greenhouse.  That greenhouse began my now four decades long journey into the art and science of growing and propagating tropical plants.  It has been an interesting and certainly enjoyable journey.  I have learned how to grow and propagate tropical plants, not so much from reading books but mostly from simply doing it.  I love to experiment, growing the same plants, such as orchids, in different growing mediums, different kinds of pots/baskets, and variations of fertilizing formulas and dilutions.  I have learned far more from my mistakes than I have from my successes, and like anyone who grows plants, I have killed my fair share of them along the way.  But for me at least,  one of the true joys of growing exotic plants is to try something new, and not only have the plant live but reward me with beautiful flowers as a bonus.  After all these years I still get excited when an orchid blooms, particularly when it is the first time I have ever seen the bloom and experienced the wonderful fragrance.

When I fully retired from dentistry two years ago, at the age of 68, I found that I needed something to keep me busy. Since I had a lot of tropical plants, which over the years I gave away or threw away my excess ones, I decided to see if there was any interest in buying what I had.  I began by establishing a tiny, cottage business that I named Tropical Plants & More.   I created a website, but in truth it was far more an educational site than a commercial site.   I began listing on eBay and Craig's List, and that was the only way I could sell a plant.  But amazingly, at least to me, I actually sold plants using only those two sites.  My business began as a one-man operation and it probably will always be just that.  I am the owner, grower, and shipper, and I am to blame when mistakes happen.   I would not have it any other way!

I still have a one-man operation.  I started with one small, 10x12' greenhouse, and built a second one last spring.   The new greenhouse became my orchid and seedling greenhouse and the old one became my "everything else" greenhouse.  That allowed me to greatly expand my orchid collection as well as to propagate more of my other tropical plants.  Speaking of propagating tropical plants, almost all of my propagation is by air-layering, rooting cuttings, and division, very slow and tedious ways to increase the number of plants.  For example, air-layering my "mother" Fiddleleaf Ficus can take 2-3 months, and I am lucky if I get a dozen plants from a whole year of air-layering.   Rooting a Plumeria cutting can take two weeks and for some species, three months!  Thus, last spring,  I began buying "baby" orchid and "baby" Staghorn Fern plants.  Recently, I found a source for "baby" Fiddleleaf Ficus plants.  The advantage of buying these "baby" plants is that I can quickly increase the number of plants I have, but there is a downside.  I have to grow these tiny plants to a size that is saleable.  For Staghorn Ferns and Fiddleleaf Ficus, that will take 3-6 months and for orchids,  6-12 months.  If one is going to be in the tropical plant business, he/she better have a lot of patience!  It still amazes me to this day the number of people in America who have trouble finding and want to buy the plants I have available.   After my first year and one-half (and I don't ship during the winter months unless the purchaser happens to live in the deep south or southern California) I have shipped to folks in forty-four states.  I don't ship to Alaska or Hawaii or internationally.  The "fun" of this business is actually not in the selling of plants and supplies but in the many plant-lover contacts I have made along the way.  I get emails all the time asking for advice from previous purchasers who have some sort of problem or a question about their plants.  And their problem/question is often about plants not related to what I sold them.   I think that's neat.  Last spring I became a Certified Mississippi Master Gardener, so I now know a lot more about horticulture than I did before.  That being said, if I have any sort of "expertise", it is related to tropical plants.  Anyone is more than welcome to contact me at drdawg97@gmail.com, and I will quickly respond.

Unless a purchaser lives in the deep south or S. California, I won't ship plants from late November until March.  I just won't risk having my plants damaged or killed by freezing temperature while being shipped.  When shipping, I go to an awful lot of trouble packaging the plants so that they arrive in as good condition as the day I shipped them out.  That's just the way I am.  I wrap plants in bubble-wrap and use a lot of newspaper for insulation.  Newspaper is great to reduce heat and cold from affecting my plants during shipment.  I take special care when shipping orchids that are in sheath, spike, bud, or flower, wrapping that extra-tender growth in bubble-wrap and double-boxing when necessary.   Even though I do all this extra packaging, and do so at no additional cost, I want you to understand that I cannot guarantee the sheath, spike, bud, or flower will remain intact during shipment.   I also want to ship everything out USPS Priority Mail unless the box is too large or too heavy.  My postmaster says that my boxes should get to you within 3-4 days, regardless of where they are shipped.  If the box is extra-large, or overweight, it goes out UPS or USPS Ground.    Most boxes ship out between $9.95 and $19.95, depending on size/weight.

I want you to be happy with your purchase and I guarantee my plants/supplies will be as described on my website and will arrive in good condition.  If you are unhappy in any way, I want you to return those plants/supplies to me and I will refund the purchase price of those items.  The return postage is your responsibility. 

Many epiphytic (air) plants grow on trees.  Thus, to mimic what is found in nature, I mount many of my epiphytic plants on natural woods.  All my mounted plants are literally one-of-a-kind.  No two mounts are alike.  I don't "cookie-cut" any of them.   When you order a mounted plant, whether it is a staghorn, tillandsia, or bromeliad (orchids to come), remember that the picture only represents an example of the plant(s) and mount.  I custom-build your mount when I receive the order.   I do have a limited number of all the plants and mounts and that number changes throughout the year.  I occasionally sell out of a plant.  My air-layered, Fiddleleaf Ficus plants stay in such short supply that I always sell out of them quickly and keep a list of those who want one.  You will always want to contact me when ordering these larger Fiddleleaf Ficus plants and probably will want to contact me if you are interested in blooming-size orchid plants.