The Encyclopedia of House Plants

Click a link for description, or click a picture to see a larger image

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q 1. Why are home grown plants better than plants bought in a retail store? A.
  • Home grown plants do not need to adapt to ordinary room conditions. Store-bought plants might not adapt well and die within a few days of purchase.
  • Retail store plants face stress every time they are transferred from place to place (nursery to warehouse, warehouse to store, etc), while home grown plants are not stressed, since they are shipped only once.
  • Plants grown in nurseries are spoiled with perfect growing conditions, while home grown plants are cultivated in ordinary room conditions, and will not need to adapt to less than perfect conditions, unlike store-bought ones.
  • Retail store plants are grown and kept in large groups, which makes them more likely to have diseases and pests, while home grown plants which are grown individually, are far less likely to contact any harmful organisms.
Q 2. Is it safe to buy plants online? A. It depends on the seller. Gflora sends the orders Monday-Wednesday via USPS Priority mail only, to ensure the plants arrive within two days safely. We ship only when the weather permits.
Q 3. Do you grow and sell all the plants presented on your Web site? A. No. The site is a free online encyclopedia. However, some plants are occasionally available in our online store. Do not ask us to sell the plants not presented in our online store.
Q 4. Why the plant's pictures are small? A. Click on any picture to see a larger image.
Q 5. I need help! Will you answer my question about my house plant? A. Sure you'll get the answer! Post your question to our forum.
Q 6. Why do you sell young plants only but not a mature ones? A.
  • Young plants are more tolerant to shipping. The mature plants are more likely to die after long transportation.
  • Shipping cost of a mature plant is too high because of heavy weight.
  • We try to keep the price low. Just repot a young plant, and you'll have a mature plant in 2-3 months in a fraction of other stores price. Compare our $2-6 range with $8-15-35 range in other stores.
  • Some stores often post a pictures (and price :-) of the mature plants, but actually they ship a young plant instead, sometimes in a poor condition and not well rooted (the plants might loose the roots during transportation), trust my experience. The pictures in gflora.com store are usually the pictures of the actual plants, you know what are you buying.
Q 7. Why do you have only a few plants for sale? A. We are not a nursery, we grow plants for ourselves. Our online store is not for profit, it's just an attempt to partially cover our expences (like web hosting, photo supplies, exhibitions admissions to take the pictures of plants, books etc) to maintain FREE online encyclopedia of house plants. If you buy something in our online store, you help to support the web site. We appreciate your support!
These materials are freely provided for instructional and educational purposes. Any duplication or publication of text or images herein for commercial gain without explicit written permission of the owner or photographer constitutes breach of trust and violation of copyright.
Copyright © Galka Okhapkina 1998-2024