Sorry for the double post but this doesn't appear to be getting any attention in the cold hardy forum. I guess I could just ask Skeeter but that kinda defeats the reason for the forum doesn't it. Probably some lurkers out there. This is a good reson to jump in and say something. Here is what I posted there.

I have worked my wish list down to my semi final selections for my Citrus planting and now I am looking for places to purchase the trees. The big box stores are out there but the reliability of the tagging comes into question unless you know where they got the trees from. I am looking at:
Flying Dragon Nursery
Just Fruits and Exotics
Record Buck Citrus - I know a retailer that sells their trees

My requirements are:
Must be in Florida preferably North Florida
Have excellent quality trees
Have good customer service - be willing to talk to me about their plants
Doesn't mind visits to their place - unless you are talking about a wholesaler

I am especially interested in bad experiences you may have had too so that I can avoid any potential problems.

Thanks

Briteleaf was where I got my last two--I wanted a Dwarf Minneola and a Dwarf Moro and could not find one locally. I got my satsumas, kumquat and lemon locally several years earlier.

The trees I got from Briteleaf were in excellent shape.

I have heard good things about Just Fruits and Tropicals, but have never ordered from there.

Three months ago I looked for an astringent persimmon and found one in nursery, that's located in Milton. They had many different citruses and as I have understood all of them are imparted on Poncirus trifoliata. It was noticeable on tops from some root-stocks, but the woman there could not tell precisely on which one they were.They are located on Avalon Blvd in Milton.

I would highly recommend Just Fruits and Exotics. They really know their stuff and they have a huge selection of citrus and other fruits. They are by far my favorite nursery of all time. I was just there this past weekend and bought a really nice 5 gallon Page Orange Tree from them for $39. The other place I would recommend is Espositos in Tallahassee. http://www.espositogardencenter.com/
They have a good selection of all sizes but for some larger trees (10 gallons) they are all on sale for $69 right now.

For places near Tallahassee I find that Just Fruits and Exotics and Espositos have the largest citrus selection. Tallahassee Nurseries has a small selection that may be worth checking out as well if you are in the area.

Thanks All,

Just Fruits and Exotics is apparently a top notch organization. Thanks for the tip on Espisitos. I will look them up. The nursery on Avalon Blvd is very close and I have been there before but it was probably ten years ago. Honestly I had forgotten they are there. Skeet thanks for the Briteleaf look. I worked all morning pulling stumps and got most of what I can with hand tools and a F-150. It is almost time for the backhoe. Thankfully the weather was nice this morning. I don't think it even got over 90 and low humidity. Two weeks ago the temp was in the 90's and the heat index was near 115. I guess I should post some before and after pictures of the area I'm planting.

Before the Florida quarantine, I purchased most of my citrus from Briteleaf Nursery. I never received a bad tree. The quality of their trees is very consistent. I have never purchased trees from Flying Dragon nursery, but I have seen their trees at the Charleston Citrus Expo. If you wish to purchase dwarf trees grafted on Flying Dragon, they were excellent trees. .I have also heard high remarks from Lazz about FD's trees. Actually, with only a very few exceptions, most all citrus nurseries supply quality trees - Millet (866-)

I also should meantion Harris Citrus Nursery http://www.harriscitrus.com/store/

I purchased several plants from them and they were very helpful. They are located near Tampa but if you are buying a lot of trees it may be worth it. They sell the trees at the nursery for $10. They are wholesale and retail so they have a lot of selection. They have more than is listed on their website. If you contact them using the contact us link they are very helpful in setting up a time to visit them. They let you go into the nursery and pick out the plants you want. The plants are the same size the orange groves use to stock their lots.

Harris Citrus Nursery is a member of this forum. I have also ordered a tree from Harris. The lady you talk to on the telephone is the daughter of the owners. She is indeed a very nice, helpful person. If I remember correctly (as it has been a while) the owners, her parents, are transplanted Eskimos now living in, and running their business in Florida. - Millet (865-)

February was when I purchased my plants from Harris. It ended up being a great time to plant citrus trees in Tallahassee for me. I purchased (1) 5 gallon tree from them and 6 of the $10 ones. It really didn't take long for the $10 ones to catch up with the 5 gallon one. Although I did allow the 5 gallon to produce fruit so that helped allow the $10 ones to catch up with it.

Firebirdbandit,

What did you buy and were they planted before the 2010 freeze?

I'm located in town so it usually stays a few degrees warmer than it otherwise would.

Owari Satsuma (in ground)
Nules Clementine (in ground)
Page Orange (in ground)
Washington Navel (in ground)
Meiwa Kumquat (in ground)
Nagami Kumquat (in ground)
Key Lime - (in a pot, not in the ground)

I also have a meyer lemon (in ground) and persian lime (in pot, not in ground) that I purchased elsewhere

They were planted in February after January's big cold. There was one day in February I protected them just in case since they were all newly planted. They made it through that cold unscathed. I still do plan to protect them if it is forcasted to get cold enough.

Just Fruits and Exotics is the best I have been to in North Florida. They have a lot of cold hardy varieties of citrus as well as figs, blueberries, blackberry's, banannas, etc. and so on.

I'm looking forward to seeing JF&E. Skeet has a good Blueberry source but I'll look at their inventory of other fruits.