Frequently Asked Questions

Here are answers to some questions that may have sprouted up for you. If you have additional questions, pop us a message.

We love to hear from you!

  • SHIPPING:  We fulfill orders on Mondays.  We use USPS to ship.  We don't charge any handling fee.  You will receive a tracking code when we ship out your order. 
  • GARDENING QUESTIONS:  If you have questions, we're happy to give you support.  The best way to reach us is through email at:  permagardens@plantonce.com.  
  • I WANT AN ITEM BUT IT'S OUT OF STOCK:  The nature of nature is that we have to cultivate patience.  We can't rush items, even if we wanted to. We've created a notification system so you can enter your email and we'll reach out when your favorite items are back in stock.  Thanks for your patience!
  • ARE PERMA PLANTS GMO? Absolutely not! All of our plants are open-pollinated and many of these perennial plants grow in the wild around the world. For our plant breeding efforts, we simply only allow the plants that have the characteristics we desire to flower and then let the bees do the magic of pollination. 
  • WHEN WILL YOU HAVE ROOTED PLANTS IN STOCK?  We offer rooted plants twice a year in spring and fall during our online plant sale. Sign up for our notifications to make sure you don't miss our sales. Rooted plants tend to disappear quickly!
  • WHAT'S THE BEST TIME TO START PERENNIAL SEEDS?  The beauty of perennial plants is that they're much tougher than their annual counterparts. We actually start the majority of our seeds in the winter time using the Winter Sowing technique. It's by far the easiest way we've found to successfully start plants from seed. If you'd like to learn more, we've made a whole video tutorial for you.
  • REFUNDS/RETURNS:  Because seeds, roots, and cuttings are sensitive to moisture and storage conditions, we don't accept returns.  That being said, we totally guarantee that you receive your package in good condition.  If you have any problems, reach out to us and we'll do our best to make it right.
  • WHAT ARE PERENNIALS?  WHY SHOULD I GROW THEM?  Perennials are plants that live for at least 3 years.  Many of ours live much, much longer. One of the biggest benefits of perennials is that you can plant once and harvest for a very long time with much less work.  Perennial plants also tend to have deeper root systems so they are more drought tolerant and can pull up more vitamins and minerals, making them more nutritious.  Perennials have evolved to be able to survive from season to season, so they have better pest resistance and overall are stronger, sturdier plants. The game we're playing is that we're trying to find a perennial alternative to every common annual garden veggie.  Once you start growing perennials, you'll never want to go back!
  • IS YOUR NURSERY ORGANIC?  We have not yet gone through organic certification for our small, backyard nursery and honestly, we're not planning on it.  We are way beyond organic.  You can have confidence that we absolutely don't use any toxic fertilizers or pesticides on our farm, but we don't stop there.  We practice regenerative agriculture, working in harmony with the land, people, and animals to create sustainable production that benefits all involved.  We're fortunate to be growing on pristine land that has never had a drop of chemicals sprayed on it.  We use fresh, pure water from our spring and well onsite.  We encourage birds, bats, and beneficial insects to keep our pests down.  For fertility, we use organic compost, comfrey, fish emulsion, kelp, and green cover crops.  We use a gopher moat around our entire food forest to keep the gophers out of the space.  We grow a large percentage of our family's food and medicine in our food forest and we are growing for optimal taste, prime nutrition, and medicinal potency.  We're happy to share our surplus with you to nourish your family.
  • WHAT'S YOUR GROWING ZONE?  We are growing in USDA Zone 9b.  Our lowest winter temps are about 27 degrees and we can get as hot as 103 in the summer.  We have a Mediterranean climate, with the bulk of our rain coming between November and March and it is quite dry in between.  For each item that we offer, we've listed the USDA growing zones that it does best in.  If you don't know your growing zone, you can find it here.