Hi Marie,
Cymbidiums, as you know, have declined in popularity over the past 25 years particularly the bulky standard types. Even McBean’s Nursery in the UK who have been internationally renowned Cymbidium breeders for decades, no longer offer a large selection. Most Cymbidiums are currently imported from Holland for the retail trade only because small personal orders are not economic considering the high shipping costs. I think Burnham’s at the Orchid Fair remains the best option for anyone. You can even contact them in advance of their visit to discuss your specific requirements and if available they will bring the plants over for you so saving the postage (I am presuming Burnham’s are continuing to grace us at the Orchid Fair this year?).
However I have seen some nice Cymbidiums for sale periodically at Johnstown Garden Centre and even Woodies especially before Bank Holiday Weekends at Christmas, St Patricks and Easter etc.

Hi everyone!

I meant to write about my experience with online purchases, but never actually did…so here I go…

Best value place would be a German website, Orchids&more
http://www.orchideen.com/Shop/
The plants are strong and healthy, shipping is quick, and you get to pay after you receive the plants…There is also a reward system: 1 point can be collected every 25e spent and 2.50e will be deducted from your next purchase for each point. Packaging isn’t the best, it’s basically a cardboard box with packaging beads, no other protection. Damaged leafs and broken canes are not uncommon! Be warned!

Great German nurseries are: Roellke, Elsner, Lucke, Wichmann, MSB.orchideen, Wlodarzyk…I ordered from all of them before, never had any major issues. You have to pay in advance, but PayPal is accepted. In case of small problems things were sorted quickly and communication is really good! Packaging is first class in case of these nurseries, plants in flower/spike are making the journey without any problem.

Claessen Orchideen is another nursery I ordered from, it’s in the Netherlands…There was always something wrong and communication was really slow. I only have 3 or 4 plants from them I am really happy with, the rest is not great value…

I haven’t tried Akerne yet, but I know people who are happy with their plants…

I have an order pending from Ecuagenera. They are offering to post plants from European orchid shows they attend for a relatively small service charge…I can’t say anything yet, I am getting the plants in September… again, people who ordered from them before recommend them. The plants are coming bare root, so they will be most likely a bit dehydrated… I’ll post an update in the future about my experience if anyone is interested.

There are a few other website I really like but did not ordered yet…

One of them is https://judithprinstuinorchidee.nl/shop/
It’s a specialist of hardy orchids…

Elsner Orchideen had an offer early this year for ordering free of charge some Brazilian orchids from their partner company. These plants came bare root as well and were healthy and quiet big…

Other nurseries import plants relatively often mainly from Asia or South America, it’s good to have a look from time to time at their website, also there are often plants on sale…

Oh yes, almost forgot. Orchidgarden is a Polish nursery but they have an English website as well with a .co.uk web address. The plants are shipped from Poland, so the uncertainty around the UK’s EU membership is not affecting sales…I have some really nice plants from them, again there were a couple of issues that got sorted quickly…

That’s all from me for now regarding online purchases of orchids…I hope I helped with some of the information.

It can be very addictive to strolling trough these websites and making a purchase is tempting every single time! Please use the info provided above responsibly!!!