The Fine Print

CATALOGSWe no longer issue a paper catalogue. Our website is the only catalogue we issue. A complete list of all of our hostas, or all of our daylilies, is available for the cost of $1.00 each to cover copying and postage. A list of current inventory, updated occasionally, as time permits, is available for a SASE.

ORDERINGAlthough we have no minimum order, we do have a minimum shipping charge of $10.00. This covers digging, packing, boxes when your order doesn't conform to the size and shape of the free Priority mail boxes, mailing labels, plant tags and other items too numerous to mention. Please add $1.00 for each plant over 5, and for each gallon sized plant ordered.

PAYMENTYou may place your order by mail, internet or phone. Please include your email address (if you have one) on your order. We prefer to send confirmations by email when at all possible. We accept checks, money orders, VISA and Mastercard. Payment is expected with written orders; and within 2 weeks of the receipt of email, website and phone in plant reservations. PLEASE NOTE Credit cards are billed and checks cashed when received in order to reserve your plants. Only your received payment reserves your plants.

SUBSTITUTESPlease list any acceptable substitutes on your order form. We inventory our plants in October, organize the catalog beginning in November and don't ship some plants till the next May. In addition to the perpetual problem of more people wanting a particular cultivar than we have plants available, any number of unpleasantries can befall plants over the winter including voles, arctic clippers and the occasional sunspot. If you've been gardening more than a few months, this will certainly not be an unfamiliar concept. If (1) substitutes are not an option, you may choose either to (2) backorder or to (3) receive a Hoot Owl Hollow credit voucher towards a future order. If you do not select one of the above three options, we will substitute something wonderful which just hasn't been discovered by the gardening public and which we therefore have an overabundance of in stock. Substitutes will always be of equal or greater value than your original choice

SHIPPINGAll shipment is by US Postal Service Priority Mail. This is the fastest, cheapest and most reliable method in our experience. Shipping starts in early May and continues until early October. We reserve the right to determine if weather conditions are appropriate for digging and shipping and to hold orders until conditions are in a safe range for the plants. Much as we love our customers, our first concern is with the plants and their welfare always comes first. Shipping is usually on Mondays and Tuesdays.

PRICINGThe prices in this list cancel all previous lists, and will be valid through the end of October 2006. If shipping costs increase inordinately, we will have to pass those along.

GUARANTEEWe guarantee our plants to be true to name, healthy and free of pests and disease. All of our plants are inspected by the Ohio Department of Agriculture. Plants become the property of the customer upon delivery to the Postal Service and we cannot be responsible for loss, damage or delay. Not to belabor the obvious, but we sell living plants and we have no control over their lives or living conditions, weather extremes, etc. after they leave the Hollow. We cannot therefore, guarantee their survivalЕ.you are responsible. If you would rather someone else assume responsibility, we suggest that you do your plant shopping from the mass marketers who offer extended, moron-proof warranties, much like those on Veg-O-Matics and 8 Tracks. Claims for damage in transit are to be made to the Postal Service, if you have purchased insurance. We have never had a shipment lost and only a few "fried" boxes, but if you're the nervous type, PLEASE add the appropriate amount to your order to cover the insurance. Remember, plants may be perennial, but they're not immortal, so please don't buy a plant you can't afford to lose or kill.

SELECTING PLANTS FOR YOUR GARDEN With the huge number of plants we have on the website and at the nursery, we cannot provide you with specific written planting instructions for each plant for your part of the country. We recommend that if you are not familiar with a plant that you do some research first to see if it has a good chance to grow in your garden. Talk to your local County Extension Service or refer to any or the reference books which are readily available. You are responsible for the care and feeding of your new "babies", and need to know what they need long before the box arrives.

WHEN MY BOX ARRIVESThose of you who regularly order plants by mail should know all of this by now, but for those of you new to this method of obtaining plants, a few words of advice. When the box arrives, unpack it immediately The plants have been shut up in a hot, stuffy, dark box for several days and are just screaming to get out. Daylilies and most hostas are shipped bare root. If these cannot be planted immediately in the garden, they should be potted. If the roots seem especially dry, you can soak them for an hour or so in a bucket of water, no longer. Most other plants are shipped either in their pots, or with the soilball enclosed in a plastic bag for ease of shipment. There is not the same rush to get potted plants into the ground and they will benefit from a few having a few days to reacclimate to garden conditions. Those shipped in plastic bags should be temporarily potted while they reacclimate.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU WANT TO KEEP ORDERING FROM USWe reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. If you fall into this category you won't be reading this in any event;; so far, so good. Please do not call us 2 years after you place an order and ask for replacements for plants which didn't come up this year. Don't neglect to open your box for 10 days and then call to tell me the plants don't look so good. Do not open things up so roughly that you break the roots from the crown and tell us you want a new plants because yours fell apart. I do have a rather vivid imagination, but I didn't have to use it to write this, former customers wrote it for me. I could go on, but I think by now, you get the picture. Remember, you wouldn't take your ruined rump roast back to the butcher for replacement, so ЕЕ

CONTACTING USThe telephone is our least favorite appliance. We have only one, on my bedside table, and can not hear it ring from the gardens, or hope to pick it up before the voice mail answers even if we did hear it ring. Those rare times when we are in the house, the computer is usually online, thus making the telephone useless. Email affords more clarity and speed of communication. Whether by email, phone or postcard, please use clear literate English so that we don't have to guess who you are or what you want. Incomplete and inaudible messages simply cannot be answered. In any message please include your name, phone number and/or email address, the best time to get back to you (we DO NOT play telephone tag) and a concise, clear explanation of the reason for your communication. Please alert your family members that you are expecting a return call from us. We don't deal with rude teenagers who say things like "We didn't order no plants from nobody" Also, to paraphrase Pogo, "Nice is always better than nasty, 'cause it's nicer."

VISIT THE GARDENS The gardens are open to the public according to the following schedule. May through September we are open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 to 5. Other days by appointment. From October 1st to April 27th we are open by appointment only. Please email well in advance. Dogs, including our own, are not allowed in the gardens. For their own safety, not to mention the plants, children are best kept on short tethers

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This page was updated on December 27, 2005.